Elvis in Concert

For the soundtrack album from this special, see Elvis in Concert (album).
Elvis in Concert
Directed by Dwight Hemion
Produced by Dwight Hemion
Gary Smith
Rita Scott (associate producer)
Bernard Sofronski (supervising producer)
Written by Annett Wolf
Starring Elvis Presley
Music by Joe Guercio
Felton Jarvis
Edited by Andy Zall
Distributed by CBS Television
Release dates
 3 October 1977
(Original airdate)
Running time
 50 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Elvis In Concert is a posthumous 1977 TV special starring Elvis Presley. It was Elvis' third and final TV special, following Elvis (aka The '68 Comeback Special) and Aloha From Hawaii. It was filmed during Presley's final tour in the cities of Omaha, Nebraska, on June 19, 1977, and Rapid City, South Dakota, on June 21, 1977. It was shown on CBS on October 3, 1977, two months after Presley's death. It is one of only few of Elvis' programs which remains unlikely to ever be commercially released on home video and is only available in bootleg form.[1][2] However, parts of the special were used in the documentary This is Elvis, which was released on home video.

Description

On June 1, 1977, it was announced that Elvis Presley had signed a deal with CBS for a new television special. It was agreed that CBS would videotape concerts during the summer of 1977. The final special was culled from footage from two performances on June 19, 1977, in Omaha, and June 21, 1977, in Rapid City, although much of the footage from Omaha was considered unusable due to sound and performance problems.[3] This concert has been heavily edited and bootlegs have appeared on auction web sites over the years. The show was shot on NTSC videotape although many film conversions have appeared over the years. The crew also filmed footage of Elvis at the airport in Indianapolis, receiving a gold record from RCA on June 26. This is the last known footage of Elvis ever filmed, and he can be seen wearing his favorite DEA jacket.

During the special, Presley performs a number of songs spanning his career. During one song, "Are You Lonesome Tonight?," just before Elvis goes into the recitation part of the song, the music is faded down and a devoted female fan is shown talking about her determination to see Elvis live in concert, then it switches back to Elvis after the recitation was finished. This may have been done so that viewers would not have to see Elvis fumbling through the recitation, although this footage was included in the later documentary This Is Elvis to illustrate his poor condition at the time, and the recitation was left intact on the soundtrack album as well. However, a strong case is made in Darrin Memmer's book "Elvis Presley - The 1977 CBS Television Special," published in 2001 by Morris Publishing, that Elvis regularly played around with the words during the recitation of the song when performing it onstage, rather than it being a case of poor memory. Indeed, a concert recording of Presley similarly joking around during the recitation of "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" dating from 1969 has been issued by RCA on numerous occasions. Dubbed the "Laughing Version" (due to Elvis breaking into fits of laughter during the recitation), it even made the UK charts after Presley's death; and he also poked fun at the song during his 1968 Comeback Special, pretending to mumble the recitation instead of speaking it.

Presley also sings his much-performed "My Way," although he has to use a lyric sheet on this occasion, despite having performed the song several years through the 1970s without having to refer to a lyric sheet. Presley also removed both of his then-current singles, “Moody Blue” and “Way Down,” from the setlist; Presley had forgotten the lyrics to "Moody Blue" when attempting to perform it earlier in the tour and never performed it live again.

According to Roy Carr and Mick Farren in Elvis: The Illustrated Record, CBS officials considered postponing broadcast of the special in hopes of obtaining better performance footage of Presley, but his death in August 1977 cancelled this plan.[4] Its broadcast received mixed reaction; Carr and Farren condemned it as a "travesty", adding, "Had it been shown during his lifetime, it would have caused more irrevocable damage to what was left of his career than almost a decade of starring in third-rate movies."[4]

A misconception regarding Elvis in Concert stems from a statement broadcast by Presley's father, Vernon Presley at the program's conclusion (and also included on the soundtrack album) in which he told viewers that they had just witnessed Elvis' final performance. In fact, Presley made five more concert appearances before giving what would be his final show in Indianapolis, Indiana, on June 26.[5] However, the CBS special was Elvis' last professionally recorded concert. The special actually contains two messages by Elvis' father: one taped in a hotel room during the tour in June when Elvis was still alive, and the other taped in the back office of Graceland shortly after Elvis death where he thanks the many people who sent letters and cards after Elvis' death.

Reviews

Allmusic called it Presley's worst, saying, "it's hard to believe that CBS-TV actually would have aired the show if Presley hadn't died two months later, making it his final recorded performance (and making his records big sellers again)."[6] The fan site Elvis Information Network deemed the program "a challenging special to watch... The pudginess of his face and his substantial girth is a long way from the panther like sleekness exhibited in Elvis: That's the Way It Is, a documentary about Presley released in 1970."[2]

Official release

This special has never been released on VHS or DVD, and Elvis' estate has issued a statement saying that they have "no plans" to release the special, due to the fact that Elvis was visibly "far from his best in the way he looked and the way he performed."[1]

Footage from this special has, however, appeared elsewhere on home video: "Are You Lonesome Tonight", "Love Me" and "My Way" were used in 1981's This Is Elvis, and "Unchained Melody" appeared in the 1990 home video release, The Great Performances, Volume One: Center Stage.

List of songs / scenes

  1. Elvis fans' comments/opening vamp
  2. Introduction/Also sprach Zarathustra
  3. "See See Rider"
  4. "That's All Right"
  5. "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"
  6. "Teddy Bear/Don't Be Cruel"
  7. Elvis fans' comments
  8. "You Gave Me a Mountain"
  9. "Jailhouse Rock"
  10. Elvis fans' comments
  11. "How Great Thou Art"
  12. Elvis fans' comments
  13. "I Really Don't Want To Know"
  14. Elvis introduces his father, Vernon, and his girlfriend Ginger Alden
  15. "Hurt"
  16. "Hound Dog"
  17. "My Way"
  18. "Can't Help Falling in Love"
  19. Closing vamp
  20. Final message from Vernon Presley

Personnel

Soundtrack

RCA released a soundtrack album in conjunction with the television special's broadcast. The album augments the televised performances with a second album of additional recordings made during the Omaha and Rapid City concerts. The concert soundtrack album was released in October 1977 and peaked on the chart in November 1977. The album reached #5 on the Billboard album charts.

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 For Elvis Fans Only: Press Release From Presley Estate.
  2. 1 2 Elvis Information Network: Elvis in Concert VCD Review.
  3. ↑ "Focus on Elvis: Elvis on Tour 1977". Archived from the original on 2006-01-04.
  4. 1 2 Carr and Farren (1982), p. 166.
  5. ↑ Carr and Farren (1982), p. 140.
  6. ↑ allmusic.com, "Elvis in Concert". Accessed 11 December 2012.

Bibliography

External links

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