"ELVIS - ADRENALINE" DVD --- WORTH PURCHASING?

[Jungleroom76]

Hi Everyone:

I've been kicking around the idea of purchasing the DVD ELVIS - ADRENALINE...I've read on several websites that it is a decent enough DVD, with some great video footage (but not original sound, for legal reasons obviously).

But, before I invest the money into it, I thought I would post the question here to ask everyone's opinion if it is worth the money. Since everyone here is like family to me, I trust your opinions and so I thought I would see what everyone here thinks about the DVD. (I did notice in the other recent thread about import DVD's that Snowbird listed ADRENALINE as an interesting DVD.)

THANKS IN ADVANCE TO EVERYONE FOR THEIR INPUT!!
TCB!
Mike

[carolynlm]

Good morning Mike...
I also thought about buying this DVD, but isn't it mostly using the Vegas shows that we have on TTWII? That's what I thought anyway. I have become quite 'picky' on my purchases lately. I have seen copies of 'The Final Years' in my local shop, but passed on that one as well. The way I think about it, is that only a couple of years ago, did we ever imagine that we would get the '68 Special and the Aloha shows in the spectacular fashion that they have been recently released? I live in hope that one day we will be fortunate enough to have the rest of the August 1970 Vegas shows and of course EOT and EIC......then I will gladly part with my hard earned cash.

[Jungleroom76]

Hey Carolyn --

THANKS FOR THE POST!!!

I'm also getting a little more picky about which import titles I purchase these days as well, especially with so many being released and the cost of them being what they are. I'd like to think that, eventually, I will pick up all of the import DVD's that are out (of course, this probably won't ever happen...but I can dream, can't I? ). But, I want to make sure I invest my money wisely into the best DVD's first, thus my question about ADRENALINE and whether it's worth the money!

As for your question about '68 and ALOHA....I agree with you! 2 years ago, I'd never have believed that we'd be treated to the comprehensive packages that we were lucky enough to get this year! Now, let's hope that someday EPE sees the light, and releases ELVIS IN CONCERT in the same "deluxe edition" style (although, now I REALLY am dreaming!!! )

TCB!
Mike

[hounddogone2000]

i purchased the dvd some time ago and thought it was well worth the money(40 dollars australian) there is some great footage on it although not a lot different from what we've seen , also interesting was the feature on how they restored the film, also very interesting is a preview of the soon to be released behind the image vol 3 . although the dvd is not a must have i would say get hold of a copy if you can as im sure you will be impressed

[Jungleroom76]

THANKS HOUNDDOGONE2000!!

I appreciate your opinion of the DVD! I had heard that the footage on ADRENALINE was similiar to footage we've seen before, which is why I thought I would ask the opinions of other board members before investing my money!

THANKS AGAIN for taking the time to offer your opinion!!

TCB!
Mike

[Albert]

Releasing live footage without matching (or any) sound should be against the law. Also those documentaries with simply guitarmelodies on the background that sound a bit like Elvis' hits, but aren't really the same songs. How can you expect to have a decent documentary when they cannot even work out those copyright contracts?

[Jungleroom76]

GOOD POINT ALBERT!!!

TCB!
Mike

[8mmlowa]

its maybe because you will say uhhgh thats too expensive!
on the other hand you buy a documentary not 8mm footage.
if you want to hear elvis music why not buying a cd or see aloha!
this is a statement from the publishers website:

A Comment about the Soundtrack:

All amateur recordings of this footage were recorded in 1970 without sound. Cameras with sound were not before the end of 1974/ beginning of 1975 available and payable for normal human beings.

Also because of the legal situation it is not possible to add original Elvis music to such recordings. Even if you would be allowed to use it, this opportunity wouldn't be the right solution for the most footage. This results from the fact, that a reel was only 3 minutes long. The filming person wanted to capture as many impressions of the concert as possible, so he or she filmed as many sequences as possible, which are, however, only a few seconds long, due to the total running time of the reel. If you would try to lip-synchronize the recordings the resulting material would sound like a broken record. Apart from that, only a fraction of the amateurish recorded live appearances is suited for the so called overdubbing. Even if the person filmed 3 or 4 reels per concert, you would have to cut a concert of one hour down to 9 or 12 minutes, and here is again the "broken record-effect.

If you eclipse the lip-synchronity, you could use Elvis songs as background music. But Elvis moves wouldn't fir to the music. It would all seem "out of tempo" and seem strange to the fans which would keep them away from the actual pleasure.

You have to see Super8 recordings as what they actually are: The gives us the opportunity to experience Elvis in situation during the several years, which wouldn't be available for us otherwise, because from the official side it was failed to make film documents for the posterity. To make only one example: if amateurs didn't film Elvis in 1975 it wouldn't be possible today to see the star in the according year live.

We didn't want to expect of the fans to watch a silent movie, so Bud Glass Productions decided to go a different way. Instead of using, like in cheap productions usual, some non fitting karaoke tracks or some kind of elevator music, the team used especially for this DVD composed songs, which were recorded in a studio by musicians. For the first time ever you can find such high quality music on an Elvis-collectors-DVD, which underlines the shown recordings stylishly and enjoyably. So you can totally enjoy watching the most charismatic artist of music history working on stage. Also here the producers wanted to add up and let compose new tracks, which were again recorded by top-class musicians. This DVD has, too, its own theme songs which accompanies the viewer in the menu navigation.

The actual theme song of the documentary series "Behind The Image" - sung by Russ Howe, has already such a recognition under the fans, that the producers decided to use it for part 2, too, so that the viewers immediately while putting the DVD in, feel at home in the "Behind The Image" world.

end of the quote


and i can tell you i hate seing elvis doing this song and in the background you hear a not matching complete diffrent song!

[Jungleroom76]

EXCELLENT POINT 8mmIOWA!!!

I've got many fan-shot videos in my collection that have music dubbed over the footage which clearly doesn't match the video so I understand that point very clearly!!! (Elvis can drink water while he is singing...did you know that? )

My main question regarding Adrenaline '70 (and now the upcoming Adrenaline '71) is whether the fan-shot footage and other material on the DVD's is worth the price? Is the fan-shot footage crisp and close up, decent, or does it look like it was shot from the lobby of the arena across the street? I guess that was the main question I had about these DVD's!!

Thanks for posting the statement from the publisher's website!!

TCB!
Mike

[KPM]

Good morning Mike...
I also thought about buying this DVD, but isn't it mostly using the Vegas shows that we have on TTWII? That's what I thought anyway. I have become quite 'picky' on my purchases lately. I have seen copies of 'The Final Years' in my local shop, but passed on that one as well. The way I think about it, is that only a couple of years ago, did we ever imagine that we would get the '68 Special and the Aloha shows in the spectacular fashion that they have been recently released? I live in hope that one day we will be fortunate enough to have the rest of the August 1970 Vegas shows and of course EOT and EIC......then I will gladly part with my hard earned cash.

The footage used is not from TTWII having watched the trailers for Adreniline And the Behind the Image 1 and 2, I have never seen any of it before. My question is how much footage like the trailer is there in the whole DVD. If its 5 or 10 minutes I'm not sure its worth the cost. But the trailers are done so very well that it sure peaks your interest.

[Jungleroom76]

PRECISELY KPM!!!

I've seen the trailers for the DVD's also, but wanted to get some opinions from other fans who have purchased/seen the videos to see if they are worth the price! Obviously the producers of the DVD's are going to put together tantalizing trailers to attract more business, so that is why I decided to ask first and buy later!!

TCB!
Mike

[Leroy]

A good friend of mine loaned me his copy of Adrenaline and I must say I was/am a little disappointed. There is some live footage on but a lot from a distance and a greater part is just a narrative voice and photo's coming by with here and there a live clip. I do not know what '71 will bring but I'm sure not gonna buy '70.

[KPM]

A good friend of mine loaned me his copy of Adrenaline and I must say I was/am a little disappointed. There is some live footage on but a lot from a distance and a greater part is just a narrative voice and photo's coming by with here and there a live clip. I do not know what '71 will bring but I'm sure not gonna buy '70.

Thanks Leroy, I figured probably the best footage was already in the trailer and what else would be a let down.

[8mmlowa]

don?t know if we are talking about the same dvd?

here is a review taken from elvisbay and as you can see on the screenshots it is not filmed from far away and you can see that the view is better than on ttwii!!!

source www.elvisbay.com

Only a short time ago we were surprised by the announcement of a new Praytome Publishing

DVD release. Since this company is known for high quality and in-depth releases I could hardly wait to get the change to see the material.
Being an Elvis-addict, just like you are, I took the afternoon off when my wife called and told me the DVD had arrived. My boss didn?t like it that much, but hey, he?s one head smaller than I am !!
As usual I started skipping around the DVD and soon found out this was a silly thing to do. Again it seemed that the guys behind Praytome Publishing put some brainwork behind the sequence of the material presented on this pretty looking DVD.



As we could expect from the previous Praytome Publishing releases, this DVD is different!
Before getting to the concert footage you'll get to see a nearly 30 minutes long, narrated documentary.

Subtitled in the interactive DVD-menu as "Elvis '70 - The historic context", this is exactly what the documentary is and does. It takes you exactly to the point in Elvis' career where the concert footage was filmed. August 1970, shortly after filming That's The Way It Is.

The documentary.

Starting with Elvis as an actor in the 60s, you?re taken to the hystorical ?68 Comeback show.
This makes you clear that Elvis was born to rock and not born to act!
Sure, Elvis was a very succesfull actor, all his movies were watched by millions and made big profits. He certainly enjoyed making them -in the beginning-, but after watching the '68 Comeback performances there can be no doubt about what he liked the most .... performing to a live audience!!

After this comeback it was time to do some serious studio recordings and put out an album. We now got to see and hear Elvis during the recording sessions in the American Sound Studios in Memphis.
I think this is the right place to mention that there seems to be a "soundtrack", made especially for this documentary. It's not only narrated, but the background noises also fit the context. Like in this situation.








You're told about the recording sessions and what do you hear in the background? Exactly .... Elvis in the American Sound Studios !
Okay, there's no music because that's not allowed due to copyright laws. But you can hear a lot of talking during the session and it really makes you feel you're right there.
If you'll look at this documentary again -and you'll certainly do that a couple of times-, pay attention to these background noises. It's very interesting!






From this legendary 1969 Memphis sessions you?ll be taken to Elvis? return to live performances in Las Vegas. Again this all was preceeded by lots of interesting information.
For example, you?ll get to see how the International Hotel was build, you?ll see Elvis signing his contract and you?ll fly over Las Vegas just to show you what it looked like in those days.
You?re told why Barabara Streisand was the first person to perform at the International and not Elvis. You'll even get to see footage of Streisands Las Vegas International performance.






And than suddenly, out of the blue, a mouthful of coke flies towards the television!
Can this be true .....?
Is someone trying to tease me .....?
Am I dreaming .....?
Or even worse
Am I going nuts .....?!?!?!

A picture is shown of Elvis while going on stage during his 1969 Las Vegas comeback engagement.

Suddenly this picture starts to move and we?re treated to more than 30 seconds of footage.
The quality is more than stunning, it?s unbelievable. Where in the world does this come from!! Who had this material and didn?t share it with us!!

After viewing it a couple of times I started to wonder if maybe this DVD was subtitled ?Viagra?. But it wasn?t !!
Now, if you?re talking about adrenaline, you?ll get a whole bucket full when looking at this footage!!
After my private blond nurse gave me some oxigen and relieved me from this ?shock?, it was time to hit the play-button again for more facts, pictures and footage (does this never stop?)
As for the complete documentary, you?re bombed with detailed information, pictures and footage. When you look and listen carefully, you?ll notice that there are some hidden messages in this documentary.
I?ll give you just one example, maybe you can use the forum on this board to discuss the others.







You are told what Elvis was paid for his Vegas performances and that it took a common household 125 years to earn what Elvis got in 8 weeks.
Consider than that Elvis? popularity only grew over the years to come (and so did his earnings). If you also consider that this sum of money is just the smallest part of Elvis? earnings, it must make you laugh when looking at all those internet discussions about Elvis being broke and that he had to perform because he had financial problems!






Hey guys !! Stop telling/reading that ?Goldman?-crap and start using your own brains.
Elvis was broke ?? yeah sure and the Atlantic Ocean will be a desert by the end of the week !!

There are 2 more things I'd like to point out. First, it's said that Elvis sold 14 million records in 1970. That's only true when you look at the the records that came out in 1970 and don't include the backcatalog. Secondly it's said that TTWII sold 500.000 copies which is also true for the first run in the USA alone, it doesn't represent the sales untill today worldwide.







The next very special feature in this documentary is Elvis? monolog from Aug. 23 1969 at the Las Vegas Hilton. During this monolog Elvis states that it?s about time to tell his side of the story and that?s exactly what he does.
He tells how his career started and developed from his point of view.
Yes, I know that all hardcore fans know this monologue, but because it is underlined with pictures and/or footage this time, the complete monologue is taken to another dimension.
You hear Elvis and you see what he?s talking about, it?s simply marvelous.






The documentary ends with some early pictures of Elvis. It first seemed to make little sense to me, but then I noticed something in Elvis' face. It reminded me of pictures I saw from Elvis in 1975!
I can't say if this was done on purpose, but it's a nice way to end the documentary. Linking the early and the latter years through Elvis' face. Just look and tell me that I'm wrong.







To recap this documentary:

First of all it?s rather unusual to find a documentary on this kind of DVD, normally you would expect to start and end with only the concert footage.
The next thing is, that the information presented to us is not only very detailed but also accompanied by pictures and/or footage. As said before there are many hints in this documentary that should make you re-think the things you "knew" about Elvis.
Last but not least this documentary sets you in the right mood to really appreciate the concert footage.








The footage.

After looking at the introduction you?re ready to go for the 1970?s footage.
The footage is 40 minutes long, which is almost the complete concert!! The quality is again unbelievable. It was filmed by the French mega-collector Jean-Marc Garguilo.
Some of us have seen this footage on VHS cassettes. The tapes that have been circulating vary from extremely bad quality to even worse.
This time the original reel was digitally remastered.

Please read again: original reel, digitally remastered !! I?m sure that even Jean-Marc never saw his footage that good!
You can see some very interesting details, not only from Elvis but also from the band.

It?s very interesting to compare this concert with the concerts we know from TTWII.

It?s hard to go into details about the footage, because I would simply run out of words to describe what I see. Just have a look at it and you?ll know what I mean.
Pay attention to the musicians, for example the percussion guys, I think it's funny to watch them chat with eachother and have a good time.
There's plenty to see, take your time and go for the details.

The footage is silent, which some consider as something bad. I can't follow that, first of all this footage was filmed in 1970 and the first 8mm film with sound came around 1974.

Second, it's not allowed -for copyright reasons- to use the sound on this kind of footage. That's the reason you'll probably never get an official fanrelease with sound.
I personally don?t like footage with sound that much, simply because it starts and ends so abrupt. I'm also not too fond of putting other Elvis music to the footage. I hate to see and hear Elvis when it doesn't fit together.
Praytome Publishing didn?t use the usual ringingtone mp3?s for the footage but they've used real songs. To be honest with you I must say I did like the music, but that?s just a matter of taste.









To recap the footage:40 minutes of footage from the same show, digitally remastered from the original reels in a professional studio.

END OF DISCUSSION !!







The DVD ends with some bonusmaterial: trailers for other Praytome Publishing products and a ?making of? documentary of this DVD.
If you haven't seen the trailers before, have a look at it and ask yourself if you ever saw a trailer for a book before. If you did, was it as bombastic as the one for "Born to Rock"?








The ?making of? documentary, subtitled: Creation of Dreams, is very, very interesting. I never knew how a reel was digitally transferred and remastered, now I had the change to see it with my own eyes. It was a real surprise to find out that the remastering was done at the famous German Bavaria studios. These are real professionals!If you look and listen closely you?ll notice that the remastered reel has sound.

Didn't I just tell you there was no sound on 8mm films untill about 1974? I guess I did.
The reason you hear a sound during this "Making of" documentary is simple. Jean-Marc Garguilo manually added a soundtrack to his 8mm reels, because he didn't only want to hear a fan and the clicking of the reel when looking at this footage.
It's not the actual concert that was put under the footage, in fact Jean-Marc can't even remember when this footage was shot.





All in all this DVD is an incredible piece of art which fits perfectly to the other Praytome Publishing items. This DVD has been made with love, care, devotion and knowledge.
The contents of this DVD is presented to you just like "That's The Way It Is". The colors and end-credits look exactly the same. Which is a nice touch and makes this DVD a companion release to TTWII.
The footage has been professionally remastered. This whole project seems to be a very costly one. We must consider us very lucky to be able to see this kind of footage in such a great quality. It?s worth every cent (and more) you pay for it. It?s a priceless piece of history!!

By the way, all pictures used here are screenshots from the DVD.
Nice to know there are still fans who care about fellow fans !! Thanks guys !!
Nofrad 2004.

[KPM]

40 minutes of good footage is a pretty good chunk . Maybe i'll rethink this one.

[Jungleroom76]

I guess I'll have to give this one some more thought myself...

40 minutes of footage DOES sound like a good deal for the price, plus all of the other inclusions on the DVD do make it sound much more tempting...

THANKS A MILLION 8mmIOWA for posting the review!!

TCB!
Mike

[geordie]

i bought the 1stand 2nd behind the image d.v.d.,s i must say i was dissapointed,at 30 pound each i expected a lot more for my money.no elvis performances ( vocally ) the footage was good,but without the vocal it left me a little cold.as for the adrenaline d.v.d. i have not bought this because of the same reason

[8mmlowa]

Disapointed ?too expensive ?

These are all private productions (that does not mean boot /import)
These productions (even when bti is the best seller in the Elvis world) are pressed in small quantities . With production cost of over 150 000/DVD euro which is much more than any other private production ( ed bonja 10 000 euro ,hot clips 5000 euro ,return too splendour 10 euro to give you an example) it cost in production money even more than elvis by the presleys but it is not sold worldwide millionfoldly like the official releases.
And when you compare (I don?t think you can compare these masterpieces to any productions of the past) this releases to other productions bti and especially adrenaline are the cheapest ever!!!

I paid 58 bucks + shipping for hot clips
I paid 55 bucks + shipping for bonja
So the pp products cost nearly half of the prize of the other releases but gives you two to three times the running time than all the other releases?

A normal documentary have a running time of 60 minutes and we fans are used to get never a minute ?too much? - the new dvd will have a running time of 155 minutes ? hallo still awake?
This is a triple more as this normal running time for less money than all the other products?. How in the world can someone be disappointed or talking about to much money ???

The music is top notch music there is no doubt about it! I don?t need elvis music in a documentary I already know teddy bear and if I want to hear an elvis cd I take 30+ 1 hits!

For a tunzi book you have to pay 58 bucks in this documentaries you get 10 tunzi books on never before seen pics and this is no slideshow dvd like some others?
As an long time Elvis fan ? I learned never more about our man than in these productions every second is thrilling and interesting and worth every cent! And they killed so much rumours and stories that this will blow your mind!

bti 2 dvd marks the first dvd which has all the modern features of a dvd and as elvisfans we normaly only get a play button!

You can watch aloha a hundred times ? ok
But I want to see elvis in the cisco suit doing some action in 71 that?s for sure!
if you see this documentaries and see this footage for that bargain prize and you are not impressed - noone can help you anymore and you really kept watching ttwii for the hundred time

[8mmlowa]

?The waiting is over !? it said in the add for thisnew 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 amazonas 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 whowere actually there. So, let?s face the facts.

First of all here and here is proof that both Ed Hill and Ed Enoch were there.
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 aswell. 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 Gracelandsessions.

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 thatcompletely.
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 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!!

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.

You don't have to agree with Elvis' choice of songs during these sessions. Elvis always sang with feeling, which was okay to us during the biggest part of his career.
So why isn't it right now? Simply because we don't like this kind of songs? That's unfair.
You can't sing "Danny Boy" after winning a million in a lottery, you also can't sing "Take me to the Fair" shorty after your loved-one died. Capice ?
I'd like to mention one thing more. It's the situation where Elvis shot the TV-set. Is this so shocking? To me it?s just cool, it?s Elvis!! It would?ve been shocking if he?d missed the TV-set.

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.


taken from elvisbay.com

if this leaves you cold who can help you :-)

[8mmlowa]

there are so much first time evers on this dvds that its too much to post them all

the stuff is so good that you do not even find a review which includes everyything cause its THAT much cool stuff!

here is also a nice one hope you enjoy reading it!

Last year the BTI-Crewannounced on their website that the waiting time was almost over and that Volume 2 of ?Behind The Image? was on the run. Being as impatient as I am, I couldn't wait for it to be released. But now I finally got the DVD in my hands and the only thing that bothers me is: What can I expect from this DVD?

The first volume of ?Behind The Image? offered us interviews with John Wilkinson, Kathy Westmoreland and Sandi Miller.As a bonus we got an awfull lot of 8mm-video-material, which was not only stunning in quality. The content was truly amazing, as we saw Elvis for the first time in his legendary ?fringe suit?, that he wore on November 14th 1970 in LA. We also saw the "I Got Lucky" suit for the first time, which was another sensation.

But that?s enough about Volume 1, let?s take a closer look on the follow-up and see if they were able to beat it .......

First of all: the Crew around Bud Glass and Greg Retkowski followed the course they took on ?Behind The Image Volume 1?. Which means, that they offer us a documentarywhere people who worked very close with Elvis Presley tell their story. The "interviews" are filled with background information, unseen pictures and 8mm clips. At the end of the DVD the 8mm films are presented as a whole, as bonusmaterial.
Don't expect to see a sort of ?Return To Splendour 2?, because this DVD is not a compilation of available 8mm material. It's far more than that, it's a true documentary.

On we go!
The first thing that strucks your eyes is the menu, which gives this DVD a very professional looking start. You can use the menu to jump to (almost) everything on the DVD. Some parts are "hidden" which means you will only see them when looking at the complete DVD.
The backgound music used on the menu is not the expected "Nokia-Ringingtone" midi-file.
It seems to be a full orchestra that's playing there.

The main part of the DVD starts with an unusual and more than impressive introduction.

You?ll see an animated Elvis, dancing and doing some karate moves to a digderidoo (one of the oldest instruments on earth). The shots we see are taken from the bonus 8mm material and are unseen to these eyes. Then suddenly the scenery changes and you travel around the world and you?ll see and hear different people who had a massive impact in the history of menkind ? like Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Adolf Hitler, Desmont Tutu and Elvis (offcourse).

The intro ends with the following narration: wherever you are,
wherever you go,
to the deepest jungles in the amazon,
to the farest corners of the earth,
one name has the same remarkable meaning .....
Elvis.

I?ve never seen an intro like this! It gives the viewer lots to think about and enough space for each and everyones personal interpretation. It's telling me that Elvis is a timeless phenomenon who had a big impact on the world as it is today.

Surely my opinion is subjective and it can differ from others, but when you?ll see the intro, you?ll know what I mean!

To start with it must be said that the interviews are not interviews in a sence that you'll hear a question and an answer. It's more presented as a sort of monologue, which makes every interview

to a documentary.

First in line is Cynthia Pepper, who played the character of ?Midge Riley? in "Kissin' Cousins" Elvis 25th film.
Before she starts to tell her story you?ll get to see some facts
and background information about ?Kissin? Cousins?.
Despite the opinion of several fans, facts prove it was a successful movie (#28 on Variety?s yearly top-grossing-films from 1964)
and a more successful soundtrack that reached #6, staying on
the charts for 30 weeks!

Suddenly I remembered the words of one of my professors at the university, where I studied history. I don?t remember his words exactly, but it was something like:

?You have to watch history, in it?s own time. Do not make the fault to judge history from what you know today or what you believe you know about it. Try to see it like you are a part of it and free your mind from what you know about itnow. If you don?t do that, your opinion will never be objecitve!?

This words came to my mind, while listening to and looking to the background information.
I never was a big fan of the movies from the mid-sixties and I always thought that most people must have thought the same way, when the movies opened at the cinemas.
Now I know that I certainly was wrong about ?Kissin? Cousins? and I will check on the other movies as well.

So probably we should change our minds about Presley?s movie career in some way.
Surely the movies didn?t have had any big messages, but the people liked it anyhow. If you have a look at the movies that came out in 1964, you'll see most of them are from the same genre. You should also not forget that Elvis' movies financed a lot of the big productions in the 60s -Period.
Back to Cynthia Pepper. She tells her story about working with Elvis in person and the mood in which the movie was made. The interview is accompanied by inserts from LP?s, movie posters, movie clips and other (rare) memorabilia.
At the end of the 17 minute lasting interview she ends with some quotes about Elvis?s passing and how she remembered the day, where she was and how she's got the news about Presley?s death.

My conclusion has to be that in this interview Peppers sayings are more interesting than informative (but quite entertaining), whereas the background information given, is both.
Put this all together and you have a kind of "Making of ..." documentary of "Kissin' Cousins".

After Cynthia Pepper it's time for Ed Hill to tell about his
time with Elvis. The interview lasts for almost 29 minutes. During this time he tells his story, a story we didn't hear before. Simply because he's a very rare interview partner.

He starts explaining about his beginnings in the show business as a singer of a gospel group.
At some point he acquainted with JD Sumner. He became a member of ?The stamps? when Sumner was looking for a new bass singer for his group. This part of the interview is filled with pictures of the younger Hill being a member of the

gospel group and also with pictures of JD Sumner and The Stamps. Ed Hill also mentions that Elvis' concerts were preceeded by an opening show and that The Stamps were part of it.

It was a big surprise that the producers also added some rare and unreleased pictures from The Stamps during an opening show. An even bigger shock was the inclusion of footage from an opening show!! As I?venever seen footage from The Stamps, this was to me the highlight of the DVD, so far.
Ed Hill further talks about his first contact with Elvis and mentions that is was in San Bernadino, which might be the concert on May 10th 1974.He also is talking about the mood at the rehearsals.

When asked what was Elvis best performance he tells us that he can?t do that, because Elvis had done so many outstanding performances that it would be impossible to date one specifically.

All in all Ed Hill is talking about Elvis as a dear friend who never forgot where he came from. This part is packed with footage. You'll get to see the CBS announcement of Elvis? passing, an emotional explanation of JD Sumner saying that (in his opinion), ?there was no greater man next to Jesus than Elvis? andwe also seesomefootage that was formerly used in ?Behind The Image Vol.1?.
At the end of this interview Ed Hill tells us how he remembers August 17th 1977.



They were standing at the airport and waiting for the plane to get on a newtour, which in fact never came and never started.

The last part of the interviews was done with Ed Enoch, which is also the longest of the three interviews and lasts for 45 minutes. He also is talking about how it was to work with Elvis on stage. Enoch explains, that he came ? just like Ed Hill ? from the gospel scenery, before he met Elvis for the first time in fall 1970. He is talking about the mood at the rehearsals with Elvis and more about the work on stage. He mentioned that he never met or worked with anybody else that was so much in control on stage just like Elvis. He claims that Elvis was and is without a doubt one of the greatest entertainers of all time. Enoch remembers how it was to work with Elvis as a musician, where his background singers never knew what would happen at the next moment, because ? in his opinion - Elvis only did what he liked to do on stage ? nothing more and nothing less than that.

The interview is accompanied by a bunch of mostly unreleased pictures. For example we see beautiful pictures from November 10th 1971 in Boston.
There is also a lot of 8-mm-footage that is put inbetween the interview. One of the highlights is footage from an airport in 1977. I?m not sure if it is from Indianapolis (but it likely is) because Elvis wears the black DAE-dress that you can see on the pictures where he gets his last goldenrecord.




The interview part of the DVD ends with a sort of summary where everybody of the above mentioned three people speak there ?closing words?.

What is there to say about this three interviews?
Cynthia Pepper's part was not as revolving as the other two interviews, mainly because she only worked with Elvis once and never met him again after finishing the work on ?Kissin? Cousins?.
She seems to be a very nice person and for sure she had really fun working with Elvis, but it seems she never was that close to Elvis the way Ed Hill or Ed Enoch were.

The interviewswith Ed Hill and Ed Enoch are much more emotional. Both menstill seem to be very, very sad and claim they miss him dearly as a friend, even after more than 25 years since Elvis?s untimely passing. Both men sound very sincere and the fact they don't show up in so many other documentaries (to make some money) add to their credibility.

To conclude the interviewsection of this DVD it must be said that this part is all in all 90 minutes long. This seems to be very long on first sight, but the things that all three are talking about are interesting, amusing and informative. Futhermore some stories we took for granted are corrected by both men. (like the stories about the "Jungle Room" sessions)
If you don?t like this type of interviews you might skip them and enjoy the bonusmaterial.

The next part could well be the most interesting part for quite a few buyers of this DVD. Still it's qualified as bonus material only!! Let's take a close look at the 8-mm-footage of Elvis concerts.

Among the fans of concert footage, ?Return To Splendour? is considered the best available.
At the time of its released I was thrilled by the close-ups and the incredible quality.
Allthough it's not possible to compare these two releases, we'll have to change our minds after watching the footage on this DVD! I haven't seen all the collectors-footage available, but I?ve seen a lot of it. Never ever did I see anything like this or something that even came close to it !!

We are treated with footage from:

Houston, TX (November 12th 1971), Dallas, TX (November 13th 1971).San Bernadino, CA (May 10th 1974), Los Angeles, CA
(May 11th 1974) and Las Vegas, NV (September 1st 1974).

Before each part startswe're presented witha small documentary about the events and a pictureof the place Elvis played at, just like the Hofheinz Pavillion.

The longest part of footage is from Houston. It lasts something about 20 minutes, which is absolutely incredible! Until now we've only got bits and pieces of concerts, but now you get

footage that is unbelievable long. The camera-position is steady in a way you would expect from professional filmings! Elvis in total, showing some new moves and in full action. This footage is spectacular ? and nothing less.

The second part is from the concert next day.
It lasts roundabout 15 minutes. The quality is a little less than the one from Houston, but nevertheless far, far above all the footage you?ve seen until now.
The third part is only five minutes long, and you?ll ?only? see Elvis leaving the stage ? one time in San Bernadino and two times in Los Angeles.
The quality is equal to the one from Dallas.

The last part ? which has the shortest footage of all with only 2 minutes - shows Elvis in Las Vegas on one of his September ?74 concerts. He is wearing the ?Black Spanish Red Flower?-suit.
The picture quality is less than the former mentioned ones, but I?ve never seen any footage
from this suit, so it is highly recommended. The shortness of the footage is compensated by the extra information we get on this show.







I think that this proportion is quite impressive. You?ll get in-depth background information from people who worked very closely with Elvis and you?ll get also the most impressive footage that you can watch at this time!

Hopefully we can expect the same quality DVD on ?Behind The Image Volume 3?.
The added trailer of it seems to be very promising!! It is one of five trailers that conclude the DVD: trailers to the forth-coming book ?Born To Rock? (what an impressive trailer that is!!!),
the making of the book ?Behind The Image? and also trailers to the DVD?s ?Behind The Image Vol.1? and ?Behind The Image Vol.3?.

To conclude my review, this DVD is ? IMO- an absolutely first-class product.

You?ll get ca. 160 minutes of entertaining interviews, background information and unbelievable concert-footage for a more than reasonable price, when you compare it to prices for similar products.

This DVD is highly recommended!!
(J?rn B?ter)

that keeps you cold....not me
and i can?t wait...to tell you the truth i count the days cause ad?71 will be released on oct.24 and please don?t ring my bell or call me cause i will watch this 3 days in a row