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Post by rick on Jun 9, 2023 13:20:13 GMT -5
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Post by erik on Jun 9, 2023 18:22:23 GMT -5
It's great to see this collection coming out, because Aloha From Hawaii was arguably the very last time Elvis was ever this superhuman onstage in his life.
Context is important here as well. Ever since he had done the Singer Special for NBC in 1968, Elvis had not only wanted to tour again, but he wanted to do so in places like England, the European continent, and Japan, as well as America. Apart from three dates he had done in Canada in 1957, he had never performed outside of the United States. But apart from all the movies he did in the 1960's and the money he was making from them (while they nevertheless made him something of a laughingstock), the Colonel always found an excuse not to accede to his one client's desire in this area, including the supposed concerns with security, and the idea that there was always money to be made by keeping Elvis strictly on his home ground.
None of these things was exactly true, of course. The way the world was back then may have caused legitimate concerns for security, but that was what you paid bodyguards and cops for between stage and hotel; and this was true whether you were in Hawaii, New York, L.A., or London.
As for the idea that there was always money to be made by not touring overseas--well, that was true as far as it went, but Elvis was touring at least three or four times per year between 1970 and 1977, along with two month-long stints in Las Vegas from 1969 to 1976. The Colonel was doing exactly what Elvis' mother Gladys was worried about back in 1957--in other words, working this man virtually to a premature death. And the only reason Elvis was forced to play Vegas at all after, say, 1971 was because the Colonel was gambling his client's money away.
And the only reason Elvis never toured overseas was the fact that Colonel Tom Parker was neither an actual "colonel" nor even named Tom Parker. His actual name was Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk, he was from Holland, he was living in America illegally; and he feared that if he let Elvis tour outside of the U.S., and the Immigration and Naturalization Service ever found out about all this stuff, he'd never be allowed back in.
Aloha From Hawaii was as close to a live international audience as Elvis ever got in his entire life, which was quite tragic, given that his status abroad, especially in England (without Elvis, of course, there would never have been The Beatles, as John Lennon once said), was at times even greater than it was here. Thus, it is great to have this collection here, especially his earth-shaking performance of "An American Trilogy".
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Post by rick on Aug 14, 2023 15:40:37 GMT -5
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