[.ca] Elvis - Aloha From Hawaii: Deluxe Edition (2DVD)

From Amazon.com essential video:
Far superior to any previous home-video version, the huge deluxe edition of Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii captures over four hours of footage from the King's historic televised concert from January 1973. The main concert is presented in its entirety for the first time since its original worldwide satellite telecast, and reedited to remove the now-dated split-screen "montage" look. But that's not all--as a prelude to the concert, the first disc includes 17 uncut minutes of the "Elvis arrives" footage (only 2 minutes of which appears in the concert film) followed by the complete rehearsal concert that took place two days before the telecast. This rehearsal, which was released separately on video as The Alternate Aloha Concert, is rougher than the official show, but more relaxed and often more satisfying musically. Leading off disc 2 is footage of five songs ("Blue Hawaii," "Ku-U-I-Po," "No More," "Hawaiian Wedding Song," and "Early Morning Rain"), including multiple takes, recorded after the performance, four of which ("No More" was the exception) were incorporated into the American television special that was shown a few months after the live telecast. Those four songs are not included in the uncut version of the concert on disc 1, but the original version of the American television special is also on disc 2 so you can watch the concert the way you've always watched it for the sake of nostalgia, or you can compare it to all the other pieces you've seen and decide which you like better. Either way, Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii is an embarrassment of riches that's rivaled only by its companion release, the three-disc deluxe edition of Elvis's '68 Comeback Special. --David Horiuchi

For Elvis diehards, fascinating scraps and a so-so concert:
BMG continues to sweep out the Elvis vaults for any unused tidbits from The King's glorious career, some of the packagings more exploitive and demeaning than others. This DVD collection is one of the better efforts, though it's definitely for diehards and Elvis completeists only. The 1973 Aloha concert is certainly well-known, having been rebroadcast many times and long available on home video (along with the rehearsal show two days earlier). Here the two shows have been recut and remastered, discarding the outdated 1970s edits and block montages. This is the jumpsuited, gilded, self-parodying Elvis most imitated by the legion of Elvis impersonators. It's an Elvis a long way from The World's First Atomic-Powered Singer of the 1950s who was so coarse and unwieldy that he couldn't be kept in the TV frame. Here Elvis seems to be auditioning for The Lawrence Welk Show. He's more Liberace, Perry Como and Don Ho than The King Of Rock N Roll. It's Elvis the Commericial Artist, running through his standard Vegas lounge act without too much enthusiasm, the drug abuse beginning to take its toll. Most fascinating in the DVD collection, I believe, is Chapter 1 of the first DVD, titled "Elvis Arrives and Greets Fans." It's over seventeen minutes of raw footage sloppily shot, without reflectors, by a single camera in the harsh midday Hawaiian sun. Bits of this footage would eventually be cobbled together for broadcast with travelogue shots of the islands and a soundtracked Elvis singing "Paradise, Hawaiian Style." The broadcast version creates an excitement--the screams were definitely overdubbed--totally absent from the clumsy raw footage. A rather small, almost entirely Caucasian crowd was apparently goaded away from their beach blankets to witness The King's arrival by helicopter. It's a pop-music version of Der Fuhrer descending through the clouds to 1934 Nuremburg in "Triumph Of The Will." Only this was hardly a wild, out-of-control crowd panting to meet its demigod. This would be a far cry from The Beatles in New York or even Elvis' own frenzied past receptions. This was a stone-faced, bemused, disinterested bunch of people who seemed embarrassed to be standing there. The director has to exhort the crowd "You can do better than that" to get any kind of response. The camera pans about desperately seeking any usable footage. A few tourists liven up a bit when the camera dollies right in their faces; in fact, some these shots were falsely inserted AFTER Elvis arrives in the broadcast segment. The helicopter finally sets down and the cabin door opens. Elvis gets out and gives a gyrating hula girl greeting him a cruel, mocking glance and briskly walks away. (This was edited out of the broadcast.) Elvis begins working the crowd, sticking out his hand, searching for the few excited middle-aged women who drape leis around his neck. In fact, the crowd looks about as excited as if the vice-chair of the Honolulu Beautification Committee had arrived to lecture on trash disposal. There's a lot of confusion with the video crew as well, who bark about commands and trip over wires. While this hastily assembled photo op seems more a debacle than anything else, it does highlight something very fascinating. Elvis was a star, and became a legend, not only because of his glorious, one-of-a-kind voice. Elvis stuck out in a crowd, really stuck out, even outside of carefully controlled studio conditions. Director John Waters once remarked that a true star was a person you'd never run into in everyday life. Thus Elvis. Better-looking, more graceful, more original, more identifiable than the rest of the crowd on the beach combined. A man apart. Don't you wish he were still around??

Great Dvd!!!!:
I highly recommend using Amazon for the site to buy it from because from beginning to end is top notch service & shipment! PLUS if you buy this & another DVD...you could qualify for free shipping & also if you buy from other sites...they tax you like Walmart.com...Amazon is about to be my only source for dvds...I do use Borders and Walmart.com but Amazon has slowly creeped up there to be my main source because they email you for future releases...even dvds not even available for pre-order yet!

Amazing remastered Concert Classic!!!:
As an entertainer myself I can truely appreciate having this Elvis footage finally released in this beautiful quality Digital format of Elvis in one of his most memorable performances,this performance is one of the best and one I have studied to a tea for my own shows. with footage from Elvis' earlier show never before seen,this truely is a much better quality dvd or dvd's that have not been released before in this collection or qaulity. A must for those that not only love Elvis music but that also love good qaulity music dvd's \ohttp://www.deke-rivers.com\c

A Mind Blowing Dvd Set.:
Finally with the release of this set Aloha From Hawaii gets the treatment it deserves. Excellent picture, awsome sound what more could you want? Well lets start off with the "Elvis Arrival" scene. Elvis arrives looking fantastic and greets the fans with enthusiasim and its all done in excellent picture quality. Its a nice touch to start off the dvd set. Then its onto the Concerts themselves. For a long time I've wanted to see the Aloha concerts done in this fashion and thanks to EPE/BMG the wait is finally over. The January 12th and 14th Concerts are in their entirety with awsome sound and picture, different camera angles and ALL songs are included. Finally we get to see the January 14th Satelitte show from beginning to end which means you get EVERYTHING no extra aftershow songs nothing just Elvis as he performed the show for the world. Disk two you get to see Elvis doing the aftershow songs which were inserted in the American Broadcast of Aloha. You can tell here that he is tired and just wants to wrap things up but again this is a nice touch because you get to see Elvis doing what he had to do to make his fans happy. Then we get the American Broadcast as it aired on April 4th 1973. Watching this makes me happy to get what we got on disk one because we here in America got a chopped up version and didnt get to see how good this show really was until the release of this dvd set. Although its nice to relive the April 4th Broadcast its something I wont be watching all to much because of whats on disk one which is the complete show's from beginning to end. This dvd set is what every Aloha fan has been waiting for, I know its a dream come true for me in every sence of the word. If you dont have GET IT because you wont be disapointed. Its Elvis at his very very best giving one of the greatest concerts ever in front of a worldwide audience. Like I said what more could you ask for if your an Aloha fan? Coming from me I say "Nothing" because this dvd set delievers through and through.

Take the Rose Colored Glasses off:
Everything said about the excellent quality sound and picture quality is correct. Everything said about this being Elvis at his best is not. This is his worst performance at a time when he could have consolidated and increased his fan base substantially, given the exposure this special received. The closest we get to getting the "real" Elvis is in his performance of Fever. I'll Remember you is excellent. In reference to the few of his earlier hits, Elvis clearly gives his fans "the finger" - that is, " I really don't want to be singing this stuff". The cameras move more than he does (if he moves at all). Elvis seems content to just sleepwalk through the whole show, and given this historic performance, this is tragic. I've been a fan sinceI was about 5 years old, so of course I have bought the DVD. But, from an Elvis performace perspective, the show was a dud. Even the 1977 CBS TV special had more energy than this.