Earlier last year I looked back at Elvis Presley's April 1972 tour, the proposed album and film and the article can be read here... Standing Room Only.
In this latest article I will be looking at the release and success of the movie Elvis On Tour and reviewing the new Sony/Legacy release.
Colonel Parker had already planned the next major event in Elvis' career, the televised Aloha From Hawaii via Satellite special, which had been scheduled for mid-November. To avoid clashing with the release of Elvis On Tour, MGM executive James T. Aubrey, requested that the special be delayed. Fortunately Parker agreed and the special was postponed until January the following year.
Unlike his previous concert film, That's The Way It Is, which concentrated on his August 1970 Las Vegas appearances, the new concert documentary followed him on his fifteen city spring 1972 tour.
As well as the concert footage, filmed in four different cities during the tour, the film also included backstage footage, rehearsals, meeting fans at airports and hotels (some of which is embarrassing) along with some some cringeworthy scenes including meeting a local mayor and a discussion with an unknown gentlemen discussing the lift and door he would use to enter the auditorium!
A short black & white sequence covering Elvis' career, while an instrumental version of Don't Be Cruel was heard, was also included. This led into footage from one of his appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show with part of Don't Be Cruel and then a complete performance of Ready Teddy.
Elvis was persuaded to allow the filmmakers to interview him and parts of the interview were used throughout the movie, linking many of the performances and scenes. As always, Colonel Parker intervened and asked MGM to not use the singer's negative comments about his music. However, his films were covered with short clips of him kissing his co-stars while a live version of Love Me Tender played in the background.
The film opened with the photo of a young Elvis with his mother and father, Gladys and Vernon, the same image that had appeared on his 1970 album Elvis Country. As the photo enlarges on the screen, Elvis can be heard saying, "My dad had seen a lot of people who played guitar and stuff who didn't work. So he said, make up your mind, he said, about either being an electrician or playing a guitar. He said, I never saw a guitar player that was worth a damn." This led into the opening titles/sequence which is accompanied by a rehearsal version of Johnny B. Goode which fitted perfectly with the images and is something we will discuss in more detail later.
The film made good use of split-screen, something that had worked well on the 1969 film Woodstock. Edited by Martin Scorsese, the split-screen allowed the viewer to focus on Elvis as well as individual members of the band.
The film cost $600,000 but would recoup that money over the months following the films release. It covered most of the expenses in the first three days when it was shown in more than 180 theatres grossing almost $500,000. In January 1973 the film grossed a further $131,000 when it was shown in Japan, to an audience of more than 52,000 movie-goers. In Variety's National Box Office Survey the film was placed at number 13.
Several different posters were produced to promote the film, along with a set of lobby cards that would feature 'front of house' at the cinema. A press book was also available with images, adverts, synopsis, cast and credits which was aimed at the press for use in the various movie papers and magazines.
Taglines included, 'MGM presents a very different motion picture that captures all the excitement of ELVIS LIVE!' and 'MGM presents the magic & excitement of Elvis live in concert.'
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Reviews were mixed. The Los Angeles Times felt the film was 'unpretentious' although they did prefer the atmosphere of watching the tour over the Vegas performances featured in That's The Way It Is. Closing their review they described Elvis as an 'American institution' and felt the film was 'highly enjoyable.'
Vincent Canby, writing in the New York Times, considered the film 'okay' but remarked that the documentary just showed Elvis as he appeared in the Hal Wallis films he starred in rather than showing his personal persona.
Rolling Stone wrote, '...the first Elvis Presley movie' compared to the content of his previous films.
The split-screen effect divided opinion. In the San Fransisco Examiner, the reviewer praised both Adidge and Abel for the use of split-screen and felt they were used, 'with taste.' However, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, whilst praising the editing reckoned the use of split-screen would become too much.
Elvis On Tour was first shown on television in 1976 on NBC and has been screened many times in the years that followed both in the USA and UK. In the past few months the film has been a regular on the listings of Sky Arts here in the UK.
It's first appearance on VHS video was in 1982 and a few years later a new edition was released which removed the split-screen footage and received substantial negative criticism. Finally making its way onto DVD and Blu-Ray in 2010 it caused further criticism when the opening song Johnny B. Goode was replaced with the medley of Teddy Bear and Don't Be Cruel due to copyright issues!! It just doesn't work and why the copyright issues couldn't be resolved is beyond me.
As I wrote in my earlier Standing Room Only article an album was originally planned that would mix live and studio material, but with his planned appearances at Madison Square Garden and RCA's intention to record the shows, the album to accompany Elvis On Tour was dropped.
One show from the tour was included on the box set Close Up, released in 2003 and some rehearsal material has been issued including the FTD releases 6363 Sunset and On Tour-The Rehearsals, but now Sony/Legacy have issued Elvis On Tour, a deluxe set that includes six CDs and one blu-ray disc.
I have looked forward to this material being released for many years and was so pleased when it was finally announced. However, I do have a few issues with the new set which I will cover in my review.
This new set includes the four concerts filmed and recorded by MGM and RCA during Elvis' April 1972 tour... Coliseum, Hampton Roads, Virginia (9 April), Coliseum, Richmond, Virginia (10 April), Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina (14 April) and Convention Center Arena, San Antonio, Texas (18 April) along with the rehearsals held at the RCA Studios in Hollywood on 30th and 31st March. Also included is a blu-ray copy of the movie.
From Hampton Roads, and featured in the movie, are See See Rider, I Got A Woman, You Gave Me A Mountain, Polk Salad Annie, A Big Hunk O' Love, Can't Help Falling In Love and the Closing Vamp. Excerpts of both Suspicious Minds and Love Me Tender also appear in the movie. No complete songs from the show in Richmond made it into the movie, while Bridge Over Troubled Water, An American Trilogy and Funny How Time Slips Away were taken from the Greensboro performance. Three further songs, Proud Mary, Never Been To Spain and Burning Love come from his concert in San Antonio.
Five additional songs were included on the Lost Performances video, released in 1992. All Shook Up, Teddy Bear/Don't Be Cruel, Are You Lonesome Tonight? and I Can't Stop Loving You from Hampton Roads and Release Me from Greensboro.
All four concerts are exciting and show Elvis at the top of his game, maybe the last time as far as live performances are concerned. There are many great performances and I won't go into them here as listeners will all have their own personal favourites.
The sound quality is very good throughout although a few tracks do sound muddy. This could be due to the conditions under which the shows were recorded. It has to be remembered that this was the first time that Elvis had been professionally recorded outside of Las Vegas and the venue and conditions may not have been ideal. The San Antonio show was previously available on the Close Up set but sounds much better here.
Of course, sound is very subjective and what is good for one person may not appeal to another listener. I have seen many debates on the sound quality and of course it does depend on how you listen to the music. It will never sound as good on computer speakers as on a decent hi-fi system or a quality pair of headphones. I have listened on various devices and am happy with the sound and pleased to finally have them available on CD.
The rehearsals give the listener the opportunity to hear Elvis and the band working on several songs for the upcoming tour. Among the songs featured are Burning Love, Proud Mary, Polk Salad Annie, Never Been To Spain, Release Me, Funny How Time Slips Away and For The Good Times. The latter appears ten times and does become repetitive. I guess it was a song Elvis really loved and he wanted to work hard on a great performance.
They also revisit many of the early hits, Love Me, Heartbreak Hotel, Hound Dog, All Shook Up and Teddy Bear.
A few songs never made it into the live performances including Always On My Mind, Separate Ways, Johnny B. Goode, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and a song from his 1957 movie Jailhouse Rock, the lovely ballad Young And Beautiful.
A gospel segment finds Elvis and J.D. Sumner and The Stamps performing a number of religious tracks including You Better Run, I John, Bosom Of Abraham, and Lead Me Guide Me.
Most of the first disc of rehearsals is previously unreleased while the second has all been out before on various CDs. However, the sound is far better on this new release.
However, I did enjoy watching the film again and, unlike earlier releases which edited the split-screen effect, it was good to watch the film as originally released, well almost.
There is talk that Baz Luhrmann, following the success of his recent film Elvis, is working on new versions of both That's The Way It Is and Elvis On Tour. I think this is just speculation and I'll be surprised if it ever happens.
I always preferred Elvis On Tour over That's The Way It Is, and on it's original release I went to see the film several times and have watched it many more times in the years that followed. Despite my comments about the new blu-ray disc I am sure it will be watched many more times in the years to come. Hopefully one day the film will get the treatment it deserves, extra footage, original trailers and photo gallery, but I won't hold my breath.
Moving on to the packaging, which is where I have most of my issues with this set. The CDs and blu-ray are housed in gate-fold card sleeves that open out and feature many great photos from the tour. However, as with other recent Elvis releases, you need small fingers or a pair of tweezers to remove the CDs without tearing the packaging. Worse still is the blue-ray disc which is housed in its own sleeve and is almost impossible to remove from its housing.
The 32-page booklet includes notes by Elvis' friend and Memphis Mafia member Jerry Schilling which make interesting reading. Extracts from the original 1972 press book give an insight into the making of the movie from directors' Pierre Adidge and Robert Abel. The main note is written by Warren Zanes and there are excerpts from the interview Elvis recorded for the movie. Full credits include track details, with recording dates and details of what had been released previously and where they were first issued.
The booklet includes many images from the different shows along with pieces of memorabilia, posters, lobby cards, adverts, album sleeves and much more from the period.
Unfortunately the booklet does include a few mistakes, spelling errors and sentences that do not make complete sense. Worst of all is the list of musicians that manages to leave out Ronnie Tutt, the drummer who was the driving force in the band. This is unforgiveable and mistakes like this should never happen. It doesn't take much to proof read before printing but it seems that the producers don't care about quality control. They seem to have the attitude that it's only Elvis fans and they will buy anything, so why bother. It is disgraceful, especially when this set was priced at over £80!
I also recently purchased the Beach Boys set Sail On Sailor and Bob Dylan's Time Out Of Mind both of which have the CDs housed in the packaging but, unlike Elvis On Tour, they are easy to remove, less likely to get scratched and no chance of tearing the packaging when removing the discs. Furthermore, the Dylan set is housed in a strong box and includes a hard-backed booklet printed on high-quality glossy pages.
I feel Elvis deserves more than flimsy packaging and stupid errors in the liner notes. Sadly it has become more frequent over the years and the fans deserve better.
I didn't want to be too negative in my review and overall I have enjoyed this set which has been a long-time coming. Personally I feel that 1972 was the last great year for Elvis' live performances and he never again put the same effort into future live performances.
Hopefully in a future blog I will review the FTD book on Elvis On Tour which was due at the end of last year but for unknow reasons has been delayed and no confirmed details or publication date has been announced.
