Taken from his seminal book "Mystery Train" (1975, fourth revised edition 1997), American music critic and historian Greil Marcus is referring to the now-famous "sit down" shows given by Elvis Presley for inclusion in his 1968 TV special. This disc contains exactly half of the music that he justifiably praises, not that you'd know it from the looks of RCA's new CD 'Tiger Man.'
This historic release, the first official sanction of the complete 8pm concert by RCA, is one of the most significant musical events of 1998. Unfortunately, his record company falls short in many areas. The packaging is decidedly minimalist, with a black, white and gold layout suitable for a high school yearbook. Certainly there are COLOR photos made this night, as the booklet reprints several from the original 'TV Special' LP back cover, albeit in black and white.
The liner notes, by respected music historian Colin Escott, reveal a rushed and disinterested prose ("It was always the blues that drew out the best." -- the best what??). There's NO mention of the men who took the stage with Elvis that evening (not even Scotty and D.J.!!), the atmospheric screaming of the girls at the side of the stage (they were notably less vocal at the 6pm show) or any real recognition of musician and friend Charlie Hodge, whose backing vocals and emotional support next to Elvis ON-stage (not "from the sidelines") pushed Presley to blow the roof off of Studio 4. In fact, Charlie is credited by Escott as "Hodges" and miscredited as saying "play it dirty" during "Blue Christmas," when it is actually on-stage friend Alan Fortas.
Escott doesn't place the performance into a musical context (recall Elvis' backhanded compliment to the "Beards" [Byrds]), note that Elvis ad-libs lines from 1968 hits "MacArthur Park" and "Funny (How Time Slips Away)" or even emphasize how rough, violent and awesome Elvis' singing and previously-unheard-anywhere electric guitar playing is. And what about D.J. keeping time by banging his sticks on a guitar case? It's MTV's "Unplugged" twenty years early! Escott claims that Elvis "later joked" about "Tiger Man" being his second single, when Ernst Jorgensen's recent sessions book claims that Sam Phillips may well have cut a version by Elvis at Sun. Ernst is listed as the CD's co-producer, for those who care.
The sound quality is really no better than the original, 1978 two LP bootleg set ('The Complete Burbank Sessions, Vol. 1'), save for its being sourced from tape. There is no digital audio restoration or balancing here. Even the announcer's introduction gets truncated!
The notes also fail to mention it was visionary director Steve Binder's idea to capture this informal jamming (first done in Elvis' dressing room for fun, with original bandmates Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana), and one evening (June 27, 1968) was set aside to simply tape these moments and see if they yielded anything worthwhile. They succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams. At least the show proper, which represents Elvis at his very greatest, is now available, complete, to everyone.
