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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.
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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. |
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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. |
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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"?
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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?
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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. |
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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.
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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.
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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 |
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Sometimes
there's another reason however. Let's do a little test to show
what's meant.
Switch yourself into "Brainless-Mode" and
take 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!!
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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 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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???
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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 .....
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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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