Lonesome tonight .......I am, and I was

[JRtherealJR]

There virtually is NO voice there.

What a ridiculous statement. Just listen to Tying To Get To You, Hawaiian Wedding Song, CC Rider, How Great Thou Art. All wonderful performances beautifully sung.

[drjohncarpenter]

Perhaps you're right. His daughter doesn't know he was addicted to drugs and od'd while she got to witness it. Shush, let talk softly and maybe she won't find out. The truth is sterile. That i have sympathy for the man's demise doesn't mean that the discussion shouldn't be truthful. This thread started with the assertion that AYLT in EIC was a strong performance displaying Elvis wit when the truth is it is the King at the very bottom, drug addled and hanging on for dear life. Sympathy and compassion for the man doesn't alter the reality that he shouldn't have been performing and this was no career highlight. Learning to deal with facts is part of growing up. It is not good or bad or cold or compassionate. Lets just say we agree to disagree. You keep believing Elvis was the victim and if only he was mollycoddled a bit more he would have cleaned up his act and i'll keep believing he cheated the world of 40 more years of great music.

Bingo.

[jurasic1968]

The Colonel was addicted to gambling which is in the same league with addictions like alcohol and drugs, if not even worse. And I believe he was a contributing factor in Elvis's decline and early death.

[matilda]

There virtually is NO voice there.

What a ridiculous statement. Just listen to Tying To Get To You, Hawaiian Wedding Song, CC Rider, How Great Thou Art. All wonderful performances beautifully sung.

Lmao. No wonder elvis fans are not taken seriously in the public.

[Juan Luis]

Some think they've got an upper hand by stating "stoned out of his mind", "brain ravaged" is doing a service to the Legacy? Why buy the book "ELVIS" when we got you guys? Why worry about EIC being released at all. For we got you guys! And then on a public forum pretend that this will hurt Elvis if it comes out? You guys already done it! Thousand fold and counting. Remember the best selling FTD is the Jungle Room Sessions. And all the soundboards you love to hate. BTW, the sales of them soundboards keep FTD alive and well. Alive and well enough to provide OTHER very, very interesting EP releases. I dare say the 1970's lovers keep the collector's label afloat. That's what sells. A lot of fans (gasp) don't care for 1950's much. I am not one of them. But respect any fan that loves "Help Me Make It Through The Night" over "Don't" for example. Elvis for everyone. I'll play "True Love" now.... Wait, on second thought. "Danny Boy" is better from 1976. I'll listen to that now.

[Tony C]

Hawaiian Wedding Song is little more than an embarrassment - Elvis can no longer reach the bottom note, and his voice fails to hold on to the long notes in tune once again: "this is the momENT of Sweet AlOHA" is a key example.

Stuff and nonsense.

Have you actually heard the two clips I cued up? If so, and you still think that, an ear syringing might be of use.

Some people have rose tinted hearing to match their rose tinted glasses.

[Fish]

S A lot of fans (gasp) don't care for 1950's much.

How many? Factual numbers? If this is just you guessing, make clear you are doing this and try to avoid presenting your opinion as fact....

I love 70s Elvis. I love 60s Elvis. I love 50s Elvis.
I do not like Elvis wasting his talent or seeing Elvis completely wasted away. EIC does not do anyone favours, I think. Neither Elvis fans nor the general public. I cannot see nor hear anything redeeming in that particular TV show.

[Juan Luis]

S A lot of fans (gasp) don't care for 1950's much.

How many? Factual numbers? If this is just you guessing, make clear you are doing this and try to avoid presenting your opinion as fact....

I love 70s Elvis. I love 60s Elvis. I love 50s Elvis.
I do not like Elvis wasting his talent or seeing Elvis completely wasted away. EIC does not do anyone favours, I think. Neither Elvis fans nor the general public. I cannot see nor hear anything redeeming in that particular TV show.

"Much" is keyword here. "Much" means not as much as 1970's for example. And therefore the Jungle Room sessions was best seller. FACT. And that still is not the point that was given before your edited quote. It was an example to have respect for all decades even what you do not like. That was the point. Not an exact number. So how can you ask for detail on a vague word in the first place?

[Fish]

S A lot of fans (gasp) don't care for 1950's much.

How many? Factual numbers? If this is just you guessing, make clear you are doing this and try to avoid presenting your opinion as fact....

I love 70s Elvis. I love 60s Elvis. I love 50s Elvis.
I do not like Elvis wasting his talent or seeing Elvis completely wasted away. EIC does not do anyone favours, I think. Neither Elvis fans nor the general public. I cannot see nor hear anything redeeming in that particular TV show.

"Much" is keyword here. "Much" means not as much as 1970's for example. And therefore the Jungle Room sessions was best seller. FACT. And that still is not the point that was given before your edited quote. It was an example to have respect for all decades even what you do not like. That was the point. Not an exact number. So how can you ask for detail on a vague word in the first place?

I can't see how the number of sales of FTD Jungle Room Sessions proves that 'a lot of fans don't care for 1950s much'. I think your statement could do with a bit of revision.

[midnightx]

The original telecast seems like a quick edit (show footage) with the director seemingly not knowing, the better moments captured. "Unchained Melody" alone, could have eliminated a significant portion of the quick throwaways. The buildup to the show, and the hack on CHFIL at the end, was an ode to Parker. The question about special being released at all, is another matter. Just pointing out the director could and should have, made a better edit with the material that was usable.

Here we go; the tired excuse that the EIC-enthusiasts and apologists always revert to. The producers actually created a viable edit of the footage. The "throwaways" are not the fault of Hemion and Smith; they are the fault of Elvis. The producers were expected to include some of Elvis' biggest, and well-known hits; that is what a large faction of a casual television audience expected to see. It is inconceivable to think the producers should have bypassed mega-hits such as Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock, and Teddy Bear/Don't Be Cruel in favor of solely obscure or non-hit material such as If You Love Me (Let Me Know). The sequencing of songs is actually well done on paper; a nice mixture of classic hits, career staples (ex: That's All Right), and vocal highlights (ex: How Great Thou Art). The reality is that Elvis did not deliver the goods. Creating a different edit of the show to trim off the substandard performances would have left the producers with about 4 or 5 songs and 40 minutes of "fan comments" and pre-show footage. Everyone always comes back to Unchained Melody as if is a glaring omission, a performance at the level of If I Can Dream from the Singer Presents Special in '68. It is no such thing. Unchained Melody has moments of greatness, but is also unsteady and shows an artist up-close struggling and looking very unfit and unhealthy as he battles through the performance barely making it to the finish line. Perhaps it was a bit too revealing. Unchained Melody was not going to save Elvis In Concert; not only was the footage of the performance damaging in its own way, but there was at least 30 minutes worth of inferior footage and performance quality all over the rest of the television special.

[Juan Luis]

S A lot of fans (gasp) don't care for 1950's much.

How many? Factual numbers? If this is just you guessing, make clear you are doing this and try to avoid presenting your opinion as fact....

I love 70s Elvis. I love 60s Elvis. I love 50s Elvis.
I do not like Elvis wasting his talent or seeing Elvis completely wasted away. EIC does not do anyone favours, I think. Neither Elvis fans nor the general public. I cannot see nor hear anything redeeming in that particular TV show.

"Much" is keyword here. "Much" means not as much as 1970's for example. And therefore the Jungle Room sessions was best seller. FACT. And that still is not the point that was given before your edited quote. It was an example to have respect for all decades even what you do not like. That was the point. Not an exact number. So how can you ask for detail on a vague word in the first place?

I can't see how the number of sales of FTD Jungle Room Sessions proves that 'a lot of fans don't care for 1950s much'. I think your statement could do with a bit of revision.

And that is your opinion. The FTD sales of Jungle Room Sessions proved fans preferred the 1970's over the same 1950's CDs to this day top seller. They purchased more 1970's... because they cared for 1950's more? Certainly does not mean not caring at all. I am not going that road on semantics and on something that was not the main point. As I have stated before. That's it. Make a poll if you want. Had you read the sentence after that. I stated I wasn't one of them. So in the poll. If the 1950's wins. I'll be a happy camper too!

[Juan Luis]

The original telecast seems like a quick edit (show footage) with the director seemingly not knowing, the better moments captured. "Unchained Melody" alone, could have eliminated a significant portion of the quick throwaways. The buildup to the show, and the hack on CHFIL at the end, was an ode to Parker. The question about special being released at all, is another matter. Just pointing out the director could and should have, made a better edit with the material that was usable.

Here we go; the tired excuse that the EIC-enthusiasts and apologists always revert to. The producers actually created a viable edit of the footage. The "throwaways" are not the fault of Hemion and Smith; they are the fault of Elvis. The producers were expected to include some of Elvis' biggest, and well-known hits; that is what a large faction of a casual television audience expected to see. It is inconceivable to think the producers should have bypassed mega-hits such as Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock, and Teddy Bear/Don't Be Cruel in favor of solely obscure or non-hit material such as If You Love Me (Let Me Know). The sequencing of songs is actually well done on paper; a nice mixture of classic hits, career staples (ex: That's All Right), and vocal highlights (ex: How Great Thou Art). The reality is that Elvis did not deliver the goods. Creating a different edit of the show to trim off the substandard performances would have left the producers with about 4 or 5 songs and 40 minutes of "fan comments" and pre-show footage. Everyone always comes back to Unchained Melody as if is a glaring omission, a performance at the level of If I Can Dream from the Singer Presents Special in '68. It is no such thing. Unchained Melody has moments of greatness, but is also unsteady and shows an artist up-close struggling and looking very unfit and unhealthy as he battles through the performance barely making it to the finish line. Perhaps it was a bit too revealing. Unchained Melody was not going to save Elvis In Concert; not only was the footage of the performance damaging in its own way, but there was at least 30 minutes worth of inferior footage and performance quality all over the rest of the television special.

I thought a better edit should have been done. That's it. But you know very well I am of the opinions of not releasing oficially. So just go bark up another tree. It's tiring.

[r&b]

The only redeeming value of EIC is that it aired after he died. If Elvis had lived, this would have put the final nail in his career coffin. I dont think anyone would have wanted to book Elvis for another TV special, and I bet some fans would even stop going to the concerts. Some always will of course. But after seeing those performances I truly believe his career would have either slowly ended or a major intervention/change would have had to taken place. I watched with a few Elvis fans that Oct 1977 evening and of course it was tolerable because we all knew that Elvis died 8 weeks later. The excuses for the bad performances and appearance all centered around that fact. If Elvis was still living that Oct 3rd evening, Im sure more than shock would have registered with fans at the deterioration of such a young man and talent. Some maybe not having seen Elvis since Aloha. Elvis dying is a major reason why EIC is tolerated as much as it is. It is a terrible show.

[ICanHelp]

The original telecast seems like a quick edit (show footage) with the director seemingly not knowing, the better moments captured. "Unchained Melody" alone, could have eliminated a significant portion of the quick throwaways. The buildup to the show, and the hack on CHFIL at the end, was an ode to Parker. The question about special being released at all, is another matter. Just pointing out the director could and should have, made a better edit with the material that was usable.

Here we go; the tired excuse that the EIC-enthusiasts and apologists always revert to. The producers actually created a viable edit of the footage. The "throwaways" are not the fault of Hemion and Smith; they are the fault of Elvis. The producers were expected to include some of Elvis' biggest, and well-known hits; that is what a large faction of a casual television audience expected to see. It is inconceivable to think the producers should have bypassed mega-hits such as Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock, and Teddy Bear/Don't Be Cruel in favor of solely obscure or non-hit material such as If You Love Me (Let Me Know). The sequencing of songs is actually well done on paper; a nice mixture of classic hits, career staples (ex: That's All Right), and vocal highlights (ex: How Great Thou Art). The reality is that Elvis did not deliver the goods. Creating a different edit of the show to trim off the substandard performances would have left the producers with about 4 or 5 songs and 40 minutes of "fan comments" and pre-show footage. Everyone always comes back to Unchained Melody as if is a glaring omission, a performance at the level of If I Can Dream from the Singer Presents Special in '68. It is no such thing. Unchained Melody has moments of greatness, but is also unsteady and shows an artist up-close struggling and looking very unfit and unhealthy as he battles through the performance barely making it to the finish line. Perhaps it was a bit too revealing. Unchained Melody was not going to save Elvis In Concert; not only was the footage of the performance damaging in its own way, but there was at least 30 minutes worth of inferior footage and performance quality all over the rest of the television special.

Nicely done. Elvis' barely audible and comprehensible pre- UM comments to Charlie are particularly painful to watch. My 21 year old caught me watching the performance and simply said: "How sad."

[JRtherealJR]

There virtually is NO voice there.

What a ridiculous statement. Just listen to Tying To Get To You, Hawaiian Wedding Song, CC Rider, How Great Thou Art. All wonderful performances beautifully sung.

Lmao. No wonder elvis fans are not taken seriously in the public.

Is that all you could come up with for your first comment on this 4-page thread? LMAO.

Very disappointing.

If you want to contribute something worthwhile, I'm all ears.

[sweetangeline]

Everyone always comes back to Unchained Melody as if is a glaring omission, a performance at the level of If I Can Dream from the Singer Presents Special in '68. It is no such thing.

...whoever made that statement must have been a real drug addict...I`ll take IF I CAN DREAM

[mike edwards66]

I always thought it was incredibly sad when I first heard him say "We did a song called Are You Lonesome Tonight....and I am....and I was" it's like the most famous man on the planet had been lonely way back in 1960 and still felt lonely in 1977.

Thank you, buddy, you get it.

...those that feel the need to critique the performance are void of any understanding and emotional connection that they are seeing Elvis reveal, a man exposing a vulnerable part of himself to those who loved him dearly, his fans.

Thank you, buddy, you get it.

And hardly anyone has really given thought of what the OP meant. Most are trigger responses that brought the whole debate about Elvis being great or magnificent in the 1977 Special. No one ever came close to saying that. That wasn't even the point.

Thank you, buddy, you get it.



As for the trigger-happy, hard of thinkers, a refersher is in order:

Shorn of his vitality and strength, relying heavily on guile and savvy, Elvis Presley rescued the attempted straight-recitation that had just ran away from him.

Standing centre stage, metaphorically for the last time, before his adoring public. In one micro-moment, and with a telling slip of the tongue, the King confides in us........."We did a song called ah, Are You Lonesome Tonight.....I am, and I was."

Straining for breath, but never for effect, as his friend and employee Joe Esposito said, "To the end, Elvis' greatest gift, his incredible voice, never failed him."

He was right. The magical element of that incredible and unique voice, the ability to move the listener, never deserted him.


..

[Juan Luis]

"The magical element of that incredible and unique voice, the ability to move the listener, never deserted him"...

[r&b]

S A lot of fans (gasp) don't care for 1950's much.

How many? Factual numbers? If this is just you guessing, make clear you are doing this and try to avoid presenting your opinion as fact....

I love 70s Elvis. I love 60s Elvis. I love 50s Elvis.
I do not like Elvis wasting his talent or seeing Elvis completely wasted away. EIC does not do anyone favours, I think. Neither Elvis fans nor the general public. I cannot see nor hear anything redeeming in that particular TV show.

"Much" is keyword here. "Much" means not as much as 1970's for example. And therefore the Jungle Room sessions was best seller. FACT. And that still is not the point that was given before your edited quote. It was an example to have respect for all decades even what you do not like. That was the point. Not an exact number. So how can you ask for detail on a vague word in the first place?

I can't see how the number of sales of FTD Jungle Room Sessions proves that 'a lot of fans don't care for 1950s much'. I think your statement could do with a bit of revision.

And that is your opinion. The FTD sales of Jungle Room Sessions proved fans preferred the 1970's over the same 1950's CDs to this day top seller. They purchased more 1970's... because they cared for 1950's more? Certainly does not mean not caring at all. I am not going that road on semantics and on something that was not the main point. As I have stated before. That's it. Make a poll if you want. Had you read the sentence after that. I stated I wasn't one of them. So in the poll. If the 1950's wins. I'll be a happy camper too!

Key word here is the same 1950s CDs. The Jungle Room sold so well for a nuumber of reasons. 1) It was Elvis' last recording session, 2) it contained a lot of outtakes minus the overdubs, and 3) curiosity. If a 1950's session was discovered with new outtakes of classic songs, it would blow the Jungle Room sales out of the water. You could bank on that!

[Juan Luis]

S A lot of fans (gasp) don't care for 1950's much.

How many? Factual numbers? If this is just you guessing, make clear you are doing this and try to avoid presenting your opinion as fact....

I love 70s Elvis. I love 60s Elvis. I love 50s Elvis.
I do not like Elvis wasting his talent or seeing Elvis completely wasted away. EIC does not do anyone favours, I think. Neither Elvis fans nor the general public. I cannot see nor hear anything redeeming in that particular TV show.

"Much" is keyword here. "Much" means not as much as 1970's for example. And therefore the Jungle Room sessions was best seller. FACT. And that still is not the point that was given before your edited quote. It was an example to have respect for all decades even what you do not like. That was the point. Not an exact number. So how can you ask for detail on a vague word in the first place?

I can't see how the number of sales of FTD Jungle Room Sessions proves that 'a lot of fans don't care for 1950s much'. I think your statement could do with a bit of revision.

And that is your opinion. The FTD sales of Jungle Room Sessions proved fans preferred the 1970's over the same 1950's CDs to this day top seller. They purchased more 1970's... because they cared for 1950's more? Certainly does not mean not caring at all. I am not going that road on semantics and on something that was not the main point. As I have stated before. That's it. Make a poll if you want. Had you read the sentence after that. I stated I wasn't one of them. So in the poll. If the 1950's wins. I'll be a happy camper too!

Key word here is the same 1950s CDs. The Jungle Room sold so well for a nuumber of reasons. 1) It was Elvis' last recording session, 2) it contained a lot of outtakes minus the overdubs, and 3) curiosity. If a 1950's session was discovered with new outtakes of classic songs, it would blow the Jungle Room sales out of the water. You could bank on that!

It already happened! And it sold less. For example...50 million fans cant be wrong? Ring a bell? There's more... That's it. This is just to sidetrack.

[mike edwards66]

I am dreading (maybe a bit strong a term, but you know what I mean) the release of Elvis Files 8, with its abundance of 1977 shots.

Sounds like Hog Heaven to me.

........It's going to be a few weeks of, "He looked terrible... he should never have been on a stage..............So let's all bear that in mind, and when the time comes not bother even starting a thread, eh?

First the Bimbo thread, now this. You've been doing a lot of moaning about threads today. Have you lost a pound and found a penny.

Chill.

[elvis-fan]

[drjohncarpenter]

"Much" is keyword here. "Much" means not as much as 1970's for example. And therefore the Jungle Room sessions was best seller. FACT. And that still is not the point that was given before your edited quote. It was an example to have respect for all decades even what you do not like. That was the point. Not an exact number. So how can you ask for detail on a vague word in the first place?

I can't see how the number of sales of FTD Jungle Room Sessions proves that 'a lot of fans don't care for 1950s much'. I think your statement could do with a bit of revision.

Indeed, the analogy is completely invalid as Follow That Dream has released over 100 titles, and the vast majority derive from the 1970s and 1960s. The main reason is there are not a lot of unissued concerts from the 1950s, nor are there reels and reels of studio outtakes. If I am not mistaken, the only single disc from FTD with 1950s outtakes was bundled with the Flashback book in 2004. What a surprise a limited-edition, more costly FTD release sold less than the single disc title, The Jungle Room Sessions.

[Hard Rocker]

Plenty of gems amongst the 60's FTD's. How did The Jungle Room Sessions do against those?

(Anyone have an idea of how many copies The JR Sessions sold?)

[fn2drive]

The original telecast seems like a quick edit (show footage) with the director seemingly not knowing, the better moments captured. "Unchained Melody" alone, could have eliminated a significant portion of the quick throwaways. The buildup to the show, and the hack on CHFIL at the end, was an ode to Parker. The question about special being released at all, is another matter. Just pointing out the director could and should have, made a better edit with the material that was usable.

Here we go; the tired excuse that the EIC-enthusiasts and apologists always revert to. The producers actually created a viable edit of the footage. The "throwaways" are not the fault of Hemion and Smith; they are the fault of Elvis. The producers were expected to include some of Elvis' biggest, and well-known hits; that is what a large faction of a casual television audience expected to see. It is inconceivable to think the producers should have bypassed mega-hits such as Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock, and Teddy Bear/Don't Be Cruel in favor of solely obscure or non-hit material such as If You Love Me (Let Me Know). The sequencing of songs is actually well done on paper; a nice mixture of classic hits, career staples (ex: That's All Right), and vocal highlights (ex: How Great Thou Art). The reality is that Elvis did not deliver the goods. Creating a different edit of the show to trim off the substandard performances would have left the producers with about 4 or 5 songs and 40 minutes of "fan comments" and pre-show footage. Everyone always comes back to Unchained Melody as if is a glaring omission, a performance at the level of If I Can Dream from the Singer Presents Special in '68. It is no such thing. Unchained Melody has moments of greatness, but is also unsteady and shows an artist up-close struggling and looking very unfit and unhealthy as he battles through the performance barely making it to the finish line. Perhaps it was a bit too revealing. Unchained Melody was not going to save Elvis In Concert; not only was the footage of the performance damaging in its own way, but there was at least 30 minutes worth of inferior footage and performance quality all over the rest of the television special.

I thought a better edit should have been done. That's it. But you know very well I am of the opinions of not releasing oficially. So just go bark up another tree. It's tiring.

The best indicator of what was really going on was to take a time series of his NY appearances. 4 shows at MSG to 4 shows on long Island to 2 shows on long island to 1 show scheduled for Aug 1977. Had that show taken place with or without EIC, it would have been all over in a major media market like NYC. After seeing him in New Haven in 1976 i remember leavimg in stunned disbelief. Of course i fully expected to see an Elvis in better shape in Aug of 77 in long island. I cant even predict my reaction if he looked and performed as he did in EIC. Elvis' career dispite the often touted tour stats was in a death spiral playing smaller arenas which were no longer sold out ( eg New Haven 76). The man was reduced to rubble with no choice but perform to feed his family, his and Parker's addictions and the synchophants who surrounded him. A greek tragedy if ever there was one.