Elvis Presley - Elvis: The Great Performances
by Kevin Wierzbicki
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Fans of the King's very early work will find this 2-DVD set to be an absolute treasure as it collects more than thirty video clips, many rare, culled from a wide range of sources. The first disc is subtitled Center Stage and it focuses on the gyrating performances that earned Presley the nickname Elvis the Pelvis with black & white clips of "Money Honey," "Hound Dog," "I Want You" and "Love Me Tender" taken from 1956 broadcasts of the Dorsey Bros., Milton Berle, Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan television shows. Other similarly vintage clips of the hits "Teddy Bear," "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Jailhouse Rock" are included as is Presley's first screen test for the movies; a take on "Blue Suede Shoes." A couple of clips from the '70s finish out the disc, including a clip of "Guitar Man" taken from the television extravaganza commonly referred to as the '68 Comeback Special. The second disc is subtitled The Man and The Music and is very similar in content but there's a slight difference in the tone as Elvis performs emotional numbers like "American Trilogy" from 1973's Aloha From Hawaii and croons his first ever recording, "My Happiness," to a video montage of photos of his mother whom he had recorded the song for. There's also a take on "G.I. Blues" that features video snippets of Presley in the service, including a clip of him getting his famous pompadour shorn. As with Center Stage, The Man and The Music contains clips mostly from the '50s but also a few Vegas-era performances including footage shot just weeks before his passing.
Elvis Presley - Elvis: The Great Performances
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