Tupelo’s Own Elvis Presley (DVD Only)

We already got the DVD/ book combination, and at first I thought what’s the sense of reviewing this one, but I decided to give it a go anyway after watching it.

Design

The DVD is accompanied by a nice booklet with of course the content, an introduction and several great shots of the afternoon show in Tupelo (and some others). There’s also some commercial activity regarding MRS’s other releases, done in a very classy way. How I wish that Turner and Paramount gave this attention to their releases.

Now the reason why I decided to give it another go: the DVD itself. In my case it is a huge improvement. For some reason my DVD player prefers DVD audio above video, so I had to change the settings manually with the original DVD. Stop the DVD, enter the setup of the player and change it from DVD audio to DVD video. Not real hard work, but still a pain in that famous body part. This disc just does what I expect it to do… it goes to the menu where I can choose between film and audio. Next to that the intro has changed: the copyright warning and the Memphis Recording Service logo both looks like they are from ancient reels, a nice finishing touch. The biggest improvements are made on the menus itself: you can choose now for playing all songs or select a song and thus the whole thing is better readable, since the full track listing on the original one was just too much.

Content

For the content I can only repeat Kees for the main part. It is Elvis at his best and if only for historical reasons you need to have his “home coming show” in Tupelo on September 26, 1956.

This is what Kees had to say about it:

“The most important part of this audio-visual presentation is of course the before mentioned footage, and it blows you away! Not because of the quality of the footage and audio, but because of the combination! Never before did I see Tupelo’s own Elvis, which hangs in my living room on a big poster, perform in my living room.

Elvis rocks through six classic songs and really appears to be enjoying himself and the audience; he performs with a big grin on his face while the audience screams their lungs out. He sure must have felt welcome. During his performance he gets more and more into it and especially during “I Got A Woman” (unfortunately only a short clip) and “Hound Dog” he really shows he is the world’s first “atomic powered” singer gyrating that atomic powered pelvis. So this is what it was like to see Elvis perform in the fifties! If only more of this material had been made (and rediscovered!). This actual concert footage shows a very different Elvis than the one we knew from the television shows. This is real live action, Elvis playing to 8000 fans and friends contrary to the middle aged television studio audience.”

Conclusion

Those that have the original might consider picking up this one too, especially if they have the same problems with their players that I have. Those that missed the original, shame on you and hurry to get this one!