Elvis - Aloha Via Satellite

Please no more Aloha. How many times can you milk someting?

I would much rather watch the Aloha DVD or listen to the CD than leaf through a massive book.

I cant believe there is a market for this kind of release,enough with aloha!

I can't get enough of the Aloha Shows. I listened to the LP and later on the CDs countless times. I watched the DVD big screen so many times. Always fascinating to hear and see that unique entertainer ELVIS was. However for me it is all in the music and his performance while singing. The few books I do have seem to gather dust on the shelf, while most of my CDs pass by regularly. So I rather spend my hard earned money on CDs rather than on books. Happily I do so as that leaves more for the book-fans.

The DVDs are all one needs. My wife was watching the live broadcast from Hawaii in 73 at 3.a.m here in Switzerland. She was a 7year kid back in the day and her mom was all for Elvis ;-)

I empathise entirely with the views here as the magnificent DVD package is all we need or for others the condensed version. The problem I find is that not enough of his career was filmed/recorded so we receive the same subject matter served up in another form. I watched the Rolling Stones the other night and they had fantastic professional film from 1969. Elvis other than poor amateur film has nothing from his 1969 Vegas comeback, nothing from his last 2 concerts for years in 1961. nothing, from 1971, nothing from 1974-1976, no Madison 1972, no Pittsburgh 1976 and that is the real issue. Other artists could be seen more in 3- 5 years than he could through his whole career.

These eye catching photos should be the cover of a DVD Re Release for the 40th anniversary of Aloha.. Come on Sony team up with boxcar.. I now have this on my computer as a desktop picture...Fantastic

It has just been announced that there will be a legacy release of the two aloha shows next year, and the rehearsel show will be remixed. Go to elvisinformationnetwork for details.

Thanks for your note alanfalk! Really looking forward to the remixed and remastered version of the alternate Alohas show. For me the sound of the evening show on Prince From Another Planet was a big improvement. I think the Aloha shows were a highlight of Elvis his career and masterful performance, especially given the pressure of a worldwide live audience.

Hello, a 450 page book about a concert notorious for a patchy set list and an uneven central performance? It's 'iconic'! It's the 40th Anniversary! It's pointless!

Gorse, you are quite right about filming ELVIS. Apart from the two movies and the Aloha Shows nothings was taped. In those days neither ColParker nor RCA realized the importance of moments like his comeback after the NBC TV Special. And truely what to say about the Madison SG! The fact that groups like the RStones got filmed is because they were still highly in vogue and thus lit. in picture. And at that time it became more common to do so. ColParker was in one way a genius in promoting, but a absolute failure when it comes down to being a visionary. He should have realized that filming ELVIS in the fifties would have been a goldminein the sixties and later as history was made. I hope that the remixes will be such an improvement that my ageing ears will notice that! Yet it will be a fantastic release for the younger generation and for the general public. Jamie, I have shown the Aloha show to many non-ELVIS fans. They were all highly impressed and profoundly enthousiastic about the performance. So I don't understand your scepsis. I recall the show being broadcast world wide. It was a sensational day in which he did set a completely new standard. For that moment in time a unique event. Worthwhile to call it 'iconic' and worth an anniversary.

Hi All, Their is professional film footage of Elvis performing live in Hawaii in late 1972. Filmed by a Japanese professional film crew.We need this to get out to us fans remastered. He's wearing a shirt rather than a jumpsuit. Plus Elvis Enterprises promised us a multi-angle experience for the dvd which never happened. So with blu-rays you can remaster old film. See the Star Trek The Next Generation blu-rays. Filmed with inferior film quality it set the standard for bring old film to the 21st Century. Packaging wise of the dvds were quite bad. No image of Elvis on the packaging? We all know he wears a jumpsuit & it was cool in the 1970s but tackie today. But who cares as it a time capsule of my childhood & 1970s were cool! Also I'm annoyed at the Prince From Another Planet packaging. Michael Jackson's Bad Anniversary box set with dvd / cds in a hard cover book! CDs & dvd & in cardboard slits which is hard to remove & can scratch the disc itself. Slip case is just soft cardboard. Come on Sony BMG get your act together. Memphis recording Service has great packaging, please see their work please.

Iconis and historic yes, but to me ultimately the dullest live performance i've ever seen from Elvis. A middle of the road set list and Elvis looking very laboured in his movements. No doubt he was in great voice but nowhere near his peak as i've often heard said about this show. In the end no matter what they do to it it is just another re release. Just one question Natha, who exactly did Elvis set the standard for here?

Andy-2, he was the first one to go 'live' world wide. In those days that was unheard of. Not even the big names of that time achieved that. Only later on world wide programmes were organised and only for a combination of artists. Also the show was being watched by more than a billion people! And only 'just' because it was ELVIS. In those days the digital revolution was still far away. The people I spoke to in those days (non-fans) were stunned. ANd even now-a-days I meet people who are at least highly impressed by it. Yes, there were better shows. But still! Can you imagine what this would have done with the world if this would have been possible in the fifties?!! Agreed, now-a-days it is indeed just a re-re-release. But that does not take away the intrinsic value and impact it had at the time.

alanfalk, thanks for the tip on the Legacy release! I went straight to Amazon and pre-ordered it. I really enjoy the Legacy releases, and I have no doubt this one will be fantastic.

It's true that aside from the historical aspect of this concert, the performance is nothing to write home about. By this time his show had become pretty routine. Even the director of the show Marty Passetta said his show was boring, and had to spice it up for TV with the mirror back ground and the runway stage. It was the last time we would see him look so good physically, but he is definitely not comfortable in this performance, and it shows. Imagine how great it would have been if they would have put as much thought into this show as they did the 68 special (thank you Steve Binder)

MightBelvis, I agree with you that the show had become a routine (at least for us fans), yet for the general public this was a very special performance. Yes it would have been great for the legacy if there had been a show like Steve Binder's.

To me this show was a magnificent extravaganza, a main event, something to savour, a piece of entertainment that will be heralded for years. Sure he did not move around like the previous few years, or even in 1974 as seen in amateur film, but on a night when any mistake would be magnified a 1000 times this very nervous guy set out to prove to the World, across different cultures, that this showman could really sing. I don't think he ever really cared for rock 'n' roll so concentrated on more dramatic performances such as American Trilogy, What Now My Love, and I'll Remember You which were some of the finest filmed sequences of his career.

And I meant, apart from the outstanding Aloha From Hawaii performance which I watch regularly up to this day. It would have been great for him as an Entertainer to have that as a challenge after the Aloha show.

Gorse, I couldn't agree more ! Very good description of how Our Man must have felt ! What a responsability he had on his shoulders that night, and probably scared to death a couple of minutes before appearing on that stage. As for his voice: my boy , my boy . Gave ( and still gives ) me goosebumps hearing him nail a full octave in songs like What Now My Love and Steamroller Blues , and also the beauty of the songs you mentioned,( and many more of course !) Natha, splendid answer from you regarding " setting the standard" , how true this is and how right you are ! Always El.

Thanks Benny. I have noted your comments for a long time on this site and you have always been one of the truly consistent sane ones :-)

Natha, from your answer i can see what you mean and tend to agree. Gorse, don't agree with you 100%. I can understand the fact that appearing in front of so many people would make anybody nervous but this show to me is just not Elvis as he normally was, set list was too mundane and it had none of the high energy of his normal stage show. Although i was too young to remember seeing it live were none of you who did see it live just a liitle bit alarmed at how tame it all was especially as a little over two years earlier with TTWII you'd all seen the excitement of an Elvis concert. Aloha pales in comparison. As for the songs you mention, only Trilogy can be counted as finest moments on screen, the others are middle of the road standards i can easily do without.

Hi Andy, although it's not completely mine ,fully respecting your opinion, let this be clear. So really out of interest : what would have been your preference setlist for this occasion ? Seasons greetings ! Always El.

Andy-2, as a matter of fact I was not ashamed at all. We had the fifties, the nbc show, ttwii, on tour and then a matured ELVIS. And yes, I rather had the wild one, but let's be fair he was no longer 20 and he was adressing a WORLD audience. He had that flair. I watched the NBC special with my brother (a real sixties man and definitely no ELVIS fan, rather the opposite) and he was deeply impressed, changing his view about the KING. Again I watched the Aloha show with him and he was eqally impressed with the all round performer ELVIS hd turned in, playing the audience of that time perfectly with a mix. I think he did wisely reluctantly keep up his fifties radience. Re: his age.nevertheless he should have had the opportunity to ADD a show on tv like the NBC sp. as to show his prowess on other levels too. that challenge would have revived his genius mind in stead of going on in Vegas likehe did/was forced to. He was a performer pur sang, he needed a manager for that, one he did not have.

Andy - I saw him at MSG and of course saw this show in April the following year on US television. The MSG shows were by far more focused & higher energy. Although I thought Elvis looked great in Aloha, I thought he went thru the motions on many songs, playing it a bit too safe. I was expecting fireworks on songs like Suspicious Minds and I thought it was the worst performance of that song up to that time. I didnt expect TTWII on it, but a bit more than what he put into it. To me , he really only gave his all on the ballads, What Now My Love, American Trilogy and the like, songs that are not Elvis songs to me. For that reason, I dont play this show all that often and I dont even own a CD of it anymore. Even though he added some new songs because of the telecast, did we really need Welcome To My World, I'm So Lonesome, etc? How about adding new Elvis songs? Lord knows he had a lot to choose from. I will never understand the songs he chose and why. Not my favorite show by any means.

Seriously? Fans need to come to grips with the fact that E could have tripled his sales and boosted his sales and popularity into the next two decades..at least. C'mon..do you see the Stones or any still-famous act NEVER do their hits on your. This was a pitiful performance. He absolutely should have sung IN THE GHETTO..KENTUCKY RAIN..MYSTERY TRAIN/TIGER MAN..TRUE LOVE TRAVELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD..a quick line of VIVA LAS VEGAS..NOW OR NEVER...sure, Burning Love..but his voice was in that high whiny drug addled voice by now. Do we really want to lie to ourselves and say the Elvis standing in the dark singing Don Ho songs without moving a finger? or a leg? Really? The suit?..for gods sake could he be any more corny...No talking..No smiles..Just sweat. No quick talk about how fun it was to film all of his movies there."brings back good memories, man"... I mean...c'mon everyone. ALOHA is right. It was the beginning of the end..not a triumph. and no. 1.5 billon people did not actually watch the show. That was the potential audience.and I love the man more than God..so I can say this proudly.

There are fantastic performances on the Aloha show, notably Steamroller blues, What now my love and American Trilogy. When the NBC TV Special came around, he wanted to move away from the whole Hollywood routine, and returning to rock 'n roll was the right route to go. After the successful return as a live performer, it seems that Elvis focussed on getting accepted as singer and performer, and to get rid of the rock 'n roll image. Wise decision in my opinion, as Elvis was a versatile talent and could deliver much more than Blue Suede Shoes and Tutti Frutti, unlike some of the other rock 'n roll singers from the 50s. It is a pity though that after Aloha there was not another challenge, such as touring the big stadiums of the world instead of returning to Las Vegas and doing more tours through relatively small US cities that no-one living outside the US has heard of before.

I like many others when i was younger found Aloha to be a bit lame compared to TTWII and On Tour. Then one night way back when i was at college i decided to watch it at 1am, about the same time that it was recorded, and suddenly .. I got it! I don't know how or why but I just thought, wow, this is substance over style. The recent remastering has only made it more enjoyable to me. He must have been nervous as hell and incredibly humbled. Now I'm older i do appreciate the quality of songs and Elvis' silk voice especially with the excellent deluxe edition DVD. Its a shame the single DVD disc wasn't jazzed up a little. It should have been given a decent intro the minute you access it from the menu instead of jumping straight into the concert. Some interviews would have been nice too.

As for the setlist, no singer had a better back catalogue so why plunder other peoples especially middle of the road crooners. It should have been all his own, right back from the start to the present day. How could it be any better than that. Just as in the 68 special they could have updated them but this obviously wasn't what Elvis wanted. A shame as the show could have been so much better. Natha, i said alarmed not ashamed as there is nothing to be ashamed about but he was 38 not 60. Why shouldn't he still rock, after all that is when he was at his best no matter how good he sang a ballad. I think one reason he didn't do rock numbers anymore is that he was struggling to do them. This show to me is the first sign that the decline was starting. I don't say that easily but it's there for all to see.

Andy_2, I fully agree that he should have taken more or just songs from his own legacy. We may only guess why he did not. Maybe he was still insecure about his own songs as being enough for the challenge. Yet he also had abandoned them in his live shows. So one way or another he also did not feel connected to that too. The same holds for the 'tameness' of the show, unlike the fifties (my fav) and the NBC Tv. Was it that he 'grew up', was it his health? It is all so hard to be conclusive about it. Yes, I would rather have seen the early ELVIS being back. For me that would have been the best - maybe even the re-invention of ELVIS as an icon of the seventies. Yet, I have to say that the show was extremely well received by my friends and family. So he touched a chord, a sentiment there. Actually it was also this show that opened me up for this part of his legacy (being a rocker myself). And as I mentioned before, this should have been taken up by him, his entourage etc. as a stepping stone to new grounds and even Europe and Asia, in stead of ending up in a routine like In-a-Flash refers to. Possibly he was too insecure or even wired the wrong way to see that. Parker was a hindrance that's for sure. And ultimately he relied too much on him.

I´m on the yes-team here, I have loved his performance on the Aloha since I first saw it on german television back in 97 . I bought the delux release when it came out and I still watch that on a regular basis . Maybe the setlist could have been different, but today I,m really happy that the three big shows we have; 68´, TTWII and the Aloha are so different instead of being copies of each other. Another thing I think is worth remembering when we watch Elvis, is that he was doing a live show without having the words to the songs on a screen somewhere on the stage as todays artist have, so the presure must have been crazy for a guy who always was worried about forgetting the words, therefor he probably used a great deal of his energy on remembering the songs, instead of moving around like he did in TTWII. I also think it is great to see how he improved his timeing from the rehearsel and to the "real" show, try to comepare the two versions of An Am Trilogy for instance. Now I will go watch this great show once more ( including Welcome to My World and I´m so lonesome, I could cry, which I like a lot).

Two years ago I was in Turkey, and in this little bar/restaurant they showed the aloha show on a big screen , it was really cool to see how people seemed to enjoy it, even though they just were non fans (I guess) who just happend to drop in . In my oppinion it really added something to the Elvis leagacy, and today it is one of the reasons to why we have some of his best songs in great quality (movie wise); What now my love, Steamrollerblues and My way, etc.