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The wait is over !“ it said in the add for this new DVD „Behind the Image vol. 2 - Welcome to his world”. Sure it was, but that wasn’t my problem, the question that struck my mind was:

was it worth waiting for ?

To find out, every arrangement was made to have a nice evening with some fellow Elvis addicts and watch the show. The kids were sent to their grandparents (thanks mom & dad) and my wife was sent to the local restaurant and disco. The table was filled with coke, peanuts and popcorn. The peanutbutter-sandwiches were lying in the fridge and were waiting for their execution. (as usual)

So the lights went down, the volume went up (as a compensation) and 4 noses and 8 feet were pointing towards a 42” flatscreen.
The DVD started.
 

Suddenly all 8 feet jumped simultaneously from the table …..   

   
what the hell is this
….. !!!!!!!

Unseen shots of Elvis, dancing to a didgeridoo !! Suddenly we fly over the amazon and see people like Einstein, Martin Luther King, Hitler, Ronald Reagan and Elvis.
We see Elvis’ arrival in Germany. We see the festival in Edinburgh. Why do I
get to see this, what do they want to tell me !!
I’m confused but also very fascinated.
Suddenly I hear 3 people yelling at me: again, again, show that again .. !!We looked at this intro about 4 times and stopped the DVD. We just had to talk about it !!

We saw a man of our time and heard his heartbeat, suddenly he starts dancing to one of the oldest instruments of the world. A great way to show how timeless Elvis is. Than we fly over the world and see its history, humans come to the world and change everything. People have changed the world in a good way and in a bad way. We see both. This explains why we see Hitler, but why do we see
nazi Germany a second time? The first time it’s part of the history of the world. The second time it’s part of Elvis’ career. This was the reason for Elvis coming to Germany. Elvis’ stay in Germany had a big, big impact on his career. Just think about what would’ve happened if he didn’t went to Germany. (this may be a good topic in a forum by the way)
The conclusion of this intro has to be that only a very few people changed the world in a way that never will be forgotten. Elvis is one of them. A heavy start in every way.






As this was supposed to be an interview documentary, we decided to have a look at what Cynthia Pepper has to say first. The interview starts with information about “Kissin’ Cousins” which flows into the actual interview. Since this is no review, I will not go into details about the interview. What’s interesting me is the question why they took Cynthia Pepper, why about “Kissin’ Cousins” ? Tell someone you like this movie and you’ll be smashed in the face and killed with words. How can you like one of the worst movies Elvis ever made !!!  Nobody does or did !!!!! 
And that’s a fact !!!







After looking at this interview, it seems appropriate to
re-think this fact.
It may be that “Kissin’ Cousins” doesn’t fit into this time, where Schwarzeneggers, Stalones and others massively reduce the over-population of this world.
But what about the 60s ? Was it such a bad movie back than ? The facts, provided in this interview, certainly show me it wasn’t.

Take another look at the figures in the interview and you’ll see it was a successful movie. Which means that it was exactly what people wanted
to see during that time.
Or do you think a little kid
, called Schwarzenegger, forced everyone to go to the movies and buy the Soundtrack?
“Kissin’ Cousins”
will certainly not be nominated for an Oscar. Compare it to the Rock Hudson and Doris Day movies of that time and you'll see no big difference. Why is it than that we complaint about Elvis and not about the other 200 similar movies that came out that year?

Think and try to find another reason for Elvis being the
highest paid actor of that time, besides he’s just simply worth it! Hell, he even got more than Elisabeth Taylor (the best paid actress)Actors like John Wayne got $100.000 for a movie, Elvis was paid $1.000.000. (this would be about $75.000.000 in our time) Any questions left?
By the way, did you know that "Kissin' Cousins" grossed more than "Jailhouse Rock"?

 

What about the soundtrack, was it really that bad?
The single itself reached #12 in the top-50.
No #1 hit, I agree but still a big selling single.
We're talking about the time the (lord have) mersey-beat came up.
During this time Elvis continued to pop up in the top-50, which is a big succes.
Stars of todays music (like Jennifer Lopez) have
1 or 2 hits a year and what about Elvis?

Kiss Me quick ( #34) - Viva Las Vegas EP (#29) - What I’Say ( #21) - Such a Night ( #16) - Ask Me (#12) - Aint That Loving You Baby (#16) and his biggest hit Never Ending b-side of Such I Night ....... a million seller !! 

Don't forget "One broken heart for sale" a big hit outside the US.

Still not convinced? The album sold around 3,000,000 worldwide (in 1964/65), that's something Michael Jackson can't achieve these days. How many copies are sold until now is not known. Take for example the 30 #1 Hits CD, it sold 7.000.000 about a year and a half ago. Even though it's still in the charts and being sold all over the world, the sales figures are stil at 7,000,000 today ?!? 

Our (grand)children will laugh about the things we like today. But does
that make those things bad during our time? Do you really consider throwing away “Lord of the Rings” because of what your (grand)children might think??  
It seems to be the right time to re-think Elvis’ movie career !! We should see it in the perspective of the time when it was made.

I'm pretty sure we all would dress up like a clown and dance the hula for half the money that Elvis got.

 


As it was getting late, we decided to have a look at Ed Hill and Ed Enoch without stopping the DVD.
It seemed to us that both would tell the same story we heard 1000 times before
from others.After the lengthy interviews, we were totally confused.
In fact, confused is an understatement.

What are they trying to tell us??? 
What did they say exactly ???
First both
men tell us how they respected Elvis as a musician. I must admit, I always feel good to hear a musician,
who worked with Elvis, confirm my own opinion about Elvis. (His music is the reason why I became addicted to Elvis)

But that was not what confused
us.

There were three things, told by both, that started a lengthy discussion. First it was the way Elvis was on stage during the last years of his life, second it was about the Graceland sessions and last but not least it was the news about Elvis’ death.

I always had a problem with those who know better what happened on stage than the once who were actually there. So, let’s face the facts.

Elvis never thought that anyone would listen to all of his concerts, they were not intended for that. It was a show to be performed in different places to a different audience. So why can anyone complaint about the shows being so similar? In fact, Elvis changed his act very often compared to modern day bands and singer.

People are listening to soundboards to judge Elvis’ performance.
Hey, what’s that !!!!! How can you judge a live performance by a soundboard. I think you can only really tell when you were there,
because it seems to me there’s a visual part to a live concert as well. Maybe, but just maybe, you could whisper your opinion after listening to an audience recording, but never after listening to a soundboard. That’s just insane and shows how much these experts know about what they’re talking about. It seems that they don't know what a soundboard is. For those a small (incomplete and simple) explanation. There were two different kinds of soundboards. One was taken from the soundsystem that was responsible for he sound the audience heard. The other soundsystem was responsible for the sound the band heard.
The soundboards we have come (mostly) from the "band" soundsystem. These can be used by a musician to study certain songs, but cannot be used for reviewing a show.




Next thing is that we don’t have all concerts on tape and that we only have a few concerts on film. How can you judge about Elvis’ concerts if you know so less about them? Why is Elvis out of breath at a certain point in the show? Is it possible he just did some heavy karate-moves? Was he standing on his hands and singing with his head down? WE JUST DON’T KNOW !!!  Perhaps this is a reason to keep quiet and listen to those who were actually there ?? I’ve heard some very humorous stories about Elvis on stage, it tells me a lot about this man. It was a delight to hear some positive things again, I was getting tired of all those experts bashing on Elvis.
Next point of discussion were the so-called Graceland sessions.
We were always told how high Elvis was, how strange he behaved and how bad his voice was.
After the release of The Jungle Room Sessions I had some doubts about these stories. Somehow it just didn’t fit. Now, after listening to two men who were there, my suspicion was confirmed.
Sure, Elvis sung moody songs during this time. Emotionally he was down and I can understand that
completely.
He had been locked up most of his life, locked up in a golden cage, but still locked up.
Around the age of 40 you start thinking about your life.
A life that wasn’t too good to Elvis or do you want to live like him? I certainly won’t.

I can't help but think this is not the only lie we were told about these sessions. How about the
X-rated version of "Hurt". We were told it was burned by Felton Jarvis' wife after Felton died.
Now you tell me how she's supposed to do that !!!! First of all, we have this version on bootleg, second we did get alternate takes of "Hurt". Do you really think this woman cut this special part out of the tape and burned it??  Burn a piece of tape with Elvis' voice on it ???
Come on, tell this to your grandmother !!!


About his so called strange behavior, I can be very short. It’s all a matter of interpretation. You can always tell a story in a negative way if you want. But it’s funny that most of the guys who were there at those moments don’t recall it in that negative way



Sometimes there's another reason however. Let's do a little test to show what's meant.
Switch yourself into "Brainless-Mode" and t
ake a look at the pictures that were taken at the "Jungle Room Sessions".  What do you see? It's Elvis at home (posing for a picture) wearing a police uniform. What comes to your mind? Probably something like: What a weirdo.. did they remove his brain.. is he high on drugs.. ??? In every case, the conclusion will be that Elvis is totally insane and stoned as a rock. Period!!

Now it's time to put your brain online again. Take a look at the pictures again and explain what you see. It's still the same Elvis at home (posing for a picture) wearing a police uniform. Now you see a man who collects everything related to the police (like we do with everything related to Elvis). You see a man so proud of what he has, that he wants to show it to others (like we do). His only problem is:  he's Elvis Presley !!!  He can't go out (like us), he can't invite other collectors (like we would), he can' go to any convention (like we do) and he even has no friends to share his passion with !!

And ehhhhh ........... wanna hear something else !!! Elvis invited a few police officers to join the session and the guy on the picture with Elvis is a police captain who gave Elvis the uniform !!!!! Elvis put the uniform on and posed for a picture. What's wrong about that?? Hell...... there are even Elvis fans wearing jumpsuits in public !!!!! Now, you tell me who the weirdo is !  How stoned can we get !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Next thing that comes to your mind: Is that Elvis in 1976? Is this the same fat, bloated and stoned Elvis, all the others are talking about? (or are the others constantly talking about Elvis Costello?) I don't know, I can't tell because I wasn't there. But if I look at the pictures and listen to the (horrable mixed) sessions, I tend to believe that the two Eds are telling the truth.

Okay, back to the interviews.
It was really puzzling to hear the reaction of both
men when they were told the (last) tour was cancelled.
None thought Elvis would’ve died!!! 

No, it was Vernon they were thinking of !!

Isn’t that strange ??? 
Why didn’t they expect that Elvis died ?? 
All the experts told us Elvis was high on drugs 26 (twenty six !) hours a day,
that he was carrying suitcases filled with pills and bottles filled with liquid heroin.

This is all BULLSHIT. Read the autopsy report and you’ll know what was in Elvis’ body
when he died. Or could this also just be another complot to sell rose tinted sunglasses?
Come on guys, read the facts and not the gossip!!! Phewwwww, that’s a discussion !!!  It sure gave us something to think about and changed our minds (and the DVD had only just started.)

Next thing we wanted to see was the 8mm bonus material.


The first thing that struck our minds was that some of the dates didn’t fit to the shown pictures. Strange !!!
Didn’t the producers know what they were talking about, did they make a mistake or was there (again) something they wanted to tell us?
Let’s take 
the 8mm film from San Bernadino May 10, 1974 for example. The picture shown is from 1976, which a blind person wearing sunglasses will even see at night. This is so obvious, we couldn’t believe it wasn't done on purpose.


So what are they trying to tell us?
Elvis, wearing the same jumpsuit in
1974 and 1976 ??
Hmmmm ….  1976 …  wasn’t that the year
where Elvis was supposed to be so extreme
fat, bloated and out of shape?
So we immediately started looking at
pictures of Elvis during 1974 to 1977.
As we all know, pictures sometimes don’t
tell the truth.

But if you look at a lot of them you can build an opinion pretty close to the truth.
Looking at Elvis’ body, you can’t see anything unusual.
We all change when we grow older, no one looks like twenty when he is over fourty.
That’s something we have to accept, it’s nature. Elvis isn’t thin, but you can’t say he’s really fat.

What makes Elvis look fat, is his face. His face is bloated, which is very common with people who take cortisone. Back in the 70s people were given cortisone very easily, nowadays this has changed because we know about the side-effects. And these are exactly what Elvis was fighting against. Trying to get rid of the water in your body is almost impossible and that’s what Elvis tried to do with dieting. We now know this is the wrong way, but back in the 70s???



What about Elvis’ so-called aggressive behavior?
Did you ever talk to a bodybuilder and ask him how they are when loosing weight before they compete?
Yup, they become extremely aggressive.
Some become so aggressive they leave their family during this period.

It has something to do with loosing too much fat and extreme dieting.
   


But, hey .... what are we talking about ....  wasn't this supposed to be a nice and relaxed evening to see a simple DVD ??? After looking at the clock, we found out that the local disco will be closing in just a few hours and we didn't see any of the bonusmaterial yet !!
It was time to make a decission and we decided to shut up and see the 8mm stuff without saying a word. So, on we went .....



After seeing the first live shots you could feel a tension coming up, a strong desire to shout things like "great stuff, never seen that quality before !!!" 

Than Elvis makes a big, big mistake. He starts to move like someone putting a 10.000 Volt wire in his behind.
Gone was the silence and on was the discussion.
Was this the same guy we knew from TTWII and On Tour ?? In what physical shape must this guy be to move that way, sing and don't be exhausted ???

We all thought we knew how Elvis performed on stage. Didn't we see TTWII & On Tour a quadriple times, even backwards and in slow- motion?



Sure we did !!! But we often forget, we don't see the real Elvis in those documentaries. Elvis knew they were filming, so he acted different than he would've done during his normal concerts. Another good example for this is the Aloha-show. You can clearly see he's not comfortable with all those cameras around. So in fact we have no idea what an Elvis concert was like! There we were, sitting around the table in silence. Four Elvisfans, good for at least 150 years of collecting, thinking they knew it all !!  Just to find out they know only a very small part of Elvis.
Behind the Image vol. 1 allready proved us completely wrong and now with vol. 2 we get another smash in the face.




What bothered us the most is that we believed all the bad stories they told us about Elvis, without thinking about it. We just didn't THINK, we wanted to believe that gossip. Suddenly we felt like small kids running around the streets yelling: Elvis is a junky ... Elvis is a junky ...
We were unfair to a man who gave us some of the greatest moments in our life, a man who made us friends. A man who could easily have stopped working in 1970 and have a wonderfull life. But he didn't do that, he didn't do that for US, the fans. We all think that we know what happened, in fact we don't.
We believe the Goldmans among us, and we call those who were there liars. Isn't that strange??

Ed Enoch told us that Elvis was a "live-performer" and that he didn't like singing to a wall.
After seeing this incredible quality 8mm footage, it becomes clear that Elvis loved to do live performances. You can clearly see this by the way he performs, by the expression on his face and by the way he interacts with the audience.
He didn't need a big show with flashing lights, dancers or computer animated tricks to entertain the audience. He's just out there on his own, with some musicians and a guy at a switch to put the lights on and off. No artist of today could do that, they probably even don't know it's possible to do a show without all that crap. The bonus material on this DVD showed us very clearly what a great performer Elvis was. There have never been anyone like him until today.
 
This DVD made us think about the man behind the image, exactly what the title was !!
Thanks guys.

With the coke, peanuts and popcorn still on the table we decided to call it a day. The peanutbutter sandwiches had to wait for their execution.

  It was an incredible experience to watch this DVD. We didn't make it to see the complete 160 minutes, simply because we spent so much time on discussing what we saw and what it meant for the stories about Elvis that are circulating. After reading this little article, go on and see the DVD again. It may change your mind.


I fell asleep with a big smile on my face. I was sure that this DVD would kick some asses.
March 2004, Nofrad.


Text and Pictures were taken from the Elvisbay Website
Review © 2004 www.elvisbay.com

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