Our products in the print media

Elvis Presley has always been an inherent part of the media, when he was alive and after his early death in 1977. Nearly no day passes where it is not reported in the media about anything concerning Elvis. No other artist has more active fans in fanclubs than Elvis. Nearly all of this clubs have their own magazine or a so called newsletter where they report about things worth knowing about new releases of upcoming Elvis products. Since the release of our first Elvis product in 2002 (Elvis - Behind The Image - Volume 1) we are enhanced in every worldwide publication. The leading journalists of the Elvis scene have capaciously dealt with our releases and not only detailed reported about them, but also the through our products new gained information evaluated and analyzed.

The fan community and the experts have praised out efforts and the whole team of Praytome Publishing and Bud Glass Productions (known in the Elvis world as the The Behind The Image Team) would like to thank you for this positive cooperation.

Also in the future we will make every effort to support every respectable publication and are looking forward to a contined cooperation in the coming years. Because of the large amount of magazines and published articles on our products please understand that we can publish here only a small selection. But, however, we will update this part of the website from time to time, to let you enjoy the outstanding articles from often exotic countries.

Our products in the World Wide Web

The triumphal precession of the internet in the 90's didn't go past Elvis traceless. Elvis regularly has a neck-and-neck race with the Beatles and both parties displace each other constantly in the amount of relevant worldwide websites. After nearly every Elvis fan created a small Elvis-homepage some experts, however, focused on certain topics and areas from Elvis's career and life.

The topic Elvis was just much to large, to bring out on a website. A lot of sites for example only deal with his music, only with his movies or only with the recordings sessions. A wonderful relevant website is Elvis-History.com, which deals with Elvis's whole life. On this website you can call up events and information in Elvis's life, chronologically structured and sorted after date. A wonderful complement to deepen the time frame we cover with our documentaries.

Today it is usual for an Elvis fan instead of having the newspaper on the table, to go to his favorite news sites and to read first the morning Elvis news. A site which has excelled itself is EPGold.com which is the original source where all the other Elvis sites take their news from.

Unfortunately the internet is not always as reliable as it should be. After our first release "Elvis - Behind The Image DVD - Volume 1" in 2002 we got thousands of requests via E-Mail and the operators of Elvis websites wanted a free DVD for a so called review on their site. A lot of the considered themselves unbelievably important and reacted very disgusted, when they received a polite answer-mail that said we wouldn't give out any review-copies. Accordingly you can find in the net very adventurous articles about the different products of the different producers from the so called Elvis experts. We totally distance ourselves from such things.

We stopped the cooperation with two international sites. One was caught several times with faked reviews and constitutes itself with stealing news from other websites and the operators always sick against everybody with other names in their own messageboard. The other a so called collectors website is lead by bootleg producers who push their own products and lie about other products. All that together with a messageboard which is surely one of the worst in the Elvis scene (and we are very happy that it is not allowed to mention our name there). [………………….]

But those are only a few black sheep and they are absolutely not representative for the whole internet, which has mainly well researched works with lovingly made websites. On hundred thousands of sites are products are represented and it is really fun to surf at these sites for Behind The Image Products. 5000 websites are in our so called allocator and also here we were able to get a good cooperation over years. With the upcoming of the internet a lot of print media had to fight to keep up with the speed of the internet especially in the news area. Here we will make well researched articles from all countries concerning the according product available for you.

Our books in the media

Elvis - Behind The Image - The Book - Vol. 1

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Print Media

World Wide Web

  • Online-Interview with Bud Glass on www.suite101.com
    Suite 101
    Online Interview with Bud Glass
    http://www.suite101.com/article …
    Publishing date: July 2003
    Behind The Image

    © 2003 www.suite101.com

  • Opinions by the Fans, taken from Emails the producers received
    Flaming Star Magazine No. 24
    Reviews and comments by fans (with permission to be published)

    Just received the 'Behind The Image' book, of which I had great expectations & told my friends that this would be real quality, It has actually surpassed my expectations, this is SUPERB !!!! so I just thought I'd drop you a quick note of congratulations to yourself & those involved in the bringing of these very important images to us. QUALITY IMAGES on QUALITY PAPER = QUALITY BOOK !! Considering some of the High priced Black &White books we have been subjected to over the last few years this is a breath of fresh air worth every penny.

    All the best

    Chris from England


    Just received stocks of Behind the Image - The Book and wanted to congratulate you and your team on an astounding piece of work. The careful way that it's been put together, the clever layout and the stunning photographs really will ensure that this book will always be amongst the best. I know that my customers will be as thrilled as I am with the amazing content, the nice price is a pleasant bonus too! Well done on a great product which allows everyone to see the true Elvis in his own surroundings, off-stage and enjoying himself with his fans. Amazing!

    Andrew from UK


    I got the dvd and the book at last. OooooH MY Gooooood, GREATS! I have never ever seen shining Elvis, like that. Thank you so much. I can not waiting till this fall for Vol.2. I'll also purchase absolutely next time.

    Thanks again, Best wishes

    Miyuki from Tokyo


    The quality of your new book is excellent. I like the way you displayed all the photos. Especially putting the ones from the same time period all together. Kind of like telling a story. I've never seen a color Elvis photo book that turned out so well. The color turned out great. I love the addition of the photos of all of his houses. Of course Sandi was so fortunate to have been able to get inside like that. I Love candids so much, and you put together photos from the best times in his life. On a scale of 1-10, it's an 11. I love it. Anyone knows that your name associated with a project is excellent quality. I'm looking forward in seeing the second dvd.

    Tanya from Texas


    I got my book in today and it's even better than I had expected. The pictures are just simply gorgeous and I love the stories. This is one of the best Elvis books out there!! It was well worth the wait and worth every single penny.

    Kathy I am delighted with the books - You have done a fantastic job!! Personally I consider it the best Elvis book I have ever seen, thanks largely to Sandi Miller's contribution, and I will be adding it to my own small (yes small) collection which I rarely do! Please keep me informed of future products and prices.

    Bud & Greg - Thank you!!!!!

    David from Australia


    I just wanted to let you know that I just received the book and dvd today a few minutes ago. Thank you so very much! What can I say except WOW! I am speechless. I haven't had the chance to watch the dvd yet but I plan to in a few minutes and I can't wait to watch it and read the book. The book looks absolutely amazing. You did such a fantastic job on it. This has to be the most beautiful book of Elvis I have ever seen when it comes to photos. The front cover is just beautiful and it catches your eye from the minute you see it. The photos inside are just incredible also. I can't wait to read what everyone wrote in it and to read all of the great stories that Sandi also shared with us in the book. I know I am thoroughly going enjoy both the book and the dvd and I am very proud to add this to my extensive collection of Elvis books that I own. You did a wonderful job Bud and you have something here to be very proud of. I can't wait to see volume 2. So A Big Congratulations Goes Out To You On A Job Well Done! I can't imagine the hard work and long hours you put into this beautiful book but I can see it was well worth it.

    Gigi


    I would like to say how very much I enjoyed the first DVD you did, and am looking forward to the 2nd [and any others that may follow] LOL. Fabulous work!!! I was lucky enough to be visiting in Vegas the day Sandi got her book, and I must say I was absolutely mesmerized by it. I CAN HARDLY WAIT to get mine.

    Again, it is my pleasure to talk to you and let you know directly how much I admire and respect your work. I have heard a great number of things about you from both Sandi and Bev, and it really is wonderful to see publications about Elvis and know they are done with so much respect and honesty.

    Those words were so easy to say because they come from the heart. I have been a die-hard Elvis fan since I was 10 years old and didn't know from anything. All I knew [at such a young time] was the feeling deep in my heart that he was someone very special. Little did I know. I have had many struggles throughout my life, beginning as a child and many throughout my adulthood. I certainly know I am not the only one but, the one thing that remained a constant in my life all those years was my love for Elvis and the soothing capabilities he had over me. There were times when I just wasn't sure I really wanted to go on but, somehow, listening to Elvis' music ALWAYS pulled me through. I developed a deep love for this man I always dreamed of having the honor of meeting; though was never blessed to do so. I only got to see him in concert 2 times, much to my dismay. But the music was always there. Having such a deep love for who he was and what he did, I have thirsted for any information I could come upon. Most of the time though, I discovered it was garbage; which was so disheartening.

    Therefore, when I am able to come across anything from people who are honest and represent Elvis truthfully, it is, Indeed, a welcome experience for me.

    Knowing of your integrity makes me a customer for life - and I will promote anything you endeavor because of that.

    Kathy


    " The Best candid book so far! Great story by Sandi Miller ! Great website! This Book was the first one were the fans can see an making of and praytome publishing did also a fantastic trailer of this book!(this is never done before! This books belongs to the DVD releases Elvis behind the Image Vol. 1+2. A MUST MUST have! "

    " This is one of the best Elvis books ever released - Don't miss this opportunity to add this fantastic book to your collection! Includes Memories From The Private Journal Entries Of Sandi Miller to go along with her personally taken photos of Elvis, as well as the inside of many of Elvis' homes in California. A Must Have Book!!!!! Elvis: Behind The Image (The Book) includes some of the images from the dvd, but mostly contain photos that were not included on the DVD plus ... Memories From The Private Journal Entries Of Sandi Miller to go along with her personally taken photos of Elvis, as well as the inside of many of Elvis' homes in California. source http://www.elvis.com.au/ "

    " Elvis Behind The Image is surely the best candid book ever ! You get interesting stories to the pictures and information, that is normally not given. The quality of the photos is outstanding, the print quality is just excellent. The pics are cleaned and not, as usual in other releases, dusty and dirty. This book is worth every cent and it's the cheapest you can get in that quality. The BTI team did a great job on this release, just as on their great DVDs Elvis Behind The Image Vol. 1 & 2 ! For the first time ever there was produced a breathtaking trailer for that book, that shows us its emergence. The book contains more than 400 color pics, most of them never published before. For the first time you get an inside look of Elvis's California Homes.This book is just stunning !!! Buy it ! Every fan should have this book in its collection - you'll have a lot of fun with it ! "

    " king of candid! "

    " superb book for a great prize! "

Elvis - Behind The Image - The Book - Vol. 2

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Print Media

  • Announcement in the "Essential Elvis" Magazine No. 39 (March/April 2005)
    The Elvis Mag
    Announcement taken from the TheElvisMag No. 39 (March/April 2005) of the English Club "Essential Elvis"

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the club please use the following website for more information: www.essentialelvis.co.uk
    Behind The Image - The Book 2

    © 2005 by Essential Elvis

  • Article the "United Elvis Presley Society" Magazine No. 75 (2005)
    Elvis Presley Society Maganzine No. 75
    Article taken from the Magazine No. 75 (2005) of the French / Belgian Club "United Elvis Presley Society"

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the club please use the following website address for more information:
    Hubert Vindevogel (France)
    Jean-Claude Piret - Colette (Belgium)
    Een nieuw fotoboek

    © 2005 by United Elvis Presley Society

  • Advertisement in the "Graceland" Magazine No. 164 (July/August 2005)
    Graceland Maganzine No. 164
    Advertisement taken from the "Graceland" Magazine No. 164 (July / August 2005) of the German "Elvis Presley Society"

    If you want to get in contact with the author of the clipping or are interested in a membership please use the website of the German Elvis Presley Society: www.EPG-ev.de
    Een nieuw fotoboek

    © 2005 by Elvis Presley Gesellschaft

  • Review in the "Graceland" Magazine No. 165 (July/August 2005)
    Graceland Maganzine No. 165
    Book - Review, taken from the "Graceland" Magazine No. 165 (July/August 2005) of the German "Elvis Presley Society"

    If you want to get in contact with the author of the clipping or are interested in a membership please use the website of the German Elvis Presley Society: www.EPG-ev.de

    By Maria Hesterberg - Translation by Nadine Schwenk

    Did you ever wonder how it was to be photographed all the time ? Being all the time surrounded by people, who have nothing to do but taking pictures of you ? Elvis Presley is arguably the only huge entertainer who never became tired of being photographed together with his fans. Just for this patience he has deserved a platinum award. But how do you review a book which consists to 90% of photos in a way, that the reader can imagine the content of the book. Let's have a try. With "Elvis Behind The Image", shortly "BTI" a series began in 2003 which will bring the Elvis world hopefully a lot of releases in the future. As the title undoubtedly clarifies the reader shall get an insight view of the life of Elvis Presley behind the curtains. Who owns the first part already knows the background of the material. Who doesn't own the first part shall get an introduction here: The two Behind The Image books are mainly based upon photographs from the collections of Bud Glass, Russ Howe and Sandi Miller, who also allows the fans an insight in her diaries. The photos are mainly unpublished and show Elvis mostly in private aside from stages and studios.

    "Elvis Behind The Image, Volume 2", released in July 2005, has 144 pages with more than 500 b/w and colored pictures. The hardcover and the DIN A4 format makes the book good to handle. The paper and print quality is first class. Although the BTI products are especially popular on the German market, also the second part will be in English. Maybe the authors and publishers should be geared to other releases of the past, which were published bilingual and by that surely had a bigger audience. Because even if the photos are reason enough to buy "BTI2", the non-English reader misses a lot.

    The preface was written by the "beautiful high voice" Kathy Westmoreland, who accompanied Elvis from August 1970 to June 1977 on concerts and was his beloved from time to time. But the more interesting piece of text comes from Sandi Miller: She describes in easy words that Elvis influenced her life a lot but never became her only purpose in life. Sandi describes shortly the transformation she had gone through at the time when she had intensive contact with Elvis. From a die-hard fan to a woman who got, through the collective experiences, an insight into Elvis's world only a few people on earth had. Insights that made her realize that even the biggest entertainer of the 20th century was only a human being! But she also tells the reader that Elvis was often worried about his fans: especially when they - in his opinion - exaggerated it with their adoration and aligned their complete life to his shooting and concert plan and nearly lived in front of his house. Something impresses me especially in Sandi's statements as a fan and reader. Something that probably a lot of us feel: " If I could do it again, I would put more attention to everything, the bad things as well as the good things… I think I took too much as a matter of course. Because I always thought he would always be there, that there would always be a 'next time'".

    While the focus of the first book is Elvis's houses on the west coast and his stays there, this book deals with the general memories of his fans und the according photos: There is something for everybody. The 50s and 60s as well as the 70s are documented photographically. Very felicitous is the layout of the memory reports: color- stepped and in the style of a personal handwriting they are easy to distinguish from the regular explanations. Unfortunately there is also a downer. Not all of these memories can be clearly assigned to an author. Names under the texts would have been nice and would have enabled a quick identification. The photos in "BTI2" accompany Elvis's career until the day of his funeral but the artist and entertainer Elvis is not in the focus. He is barely shown in the glamorous environment of the show business but more likely in a kind of backstage atmosphere. From time to time you can even talk about private moments.

    The first 23 pages cover the years 1956-63 and present, with two exceptions, only b/w photos. But especially the Elvis expert knows to appreciate such photos, because they bribe only because of the motive: Elvis in person! Gail Sanders, a member of the Fan-Club "The Presleyettes" remembers the time and tells that Elvis humor on stage was unbeatable. She confesses that surely not everybody understood his jokes, and that he had the most fun nearly lying on the floor due to laughing. Besides that she tells that she always knew where Elvis was when he was on the west coast and under which name he had checked in which hotel, due to Tom Diskin, "Colonel" Parker's assistant. (Not bad, is it ?). So he used during the shooting of "Love Me Tender" the name Clint Reno. I can't keep back one anecdote from this memories to the readers of GRACELAND: Gail also had telephonic contact to Elvis when he was in Los Angeles and so Elvis called back one day having not her but her mother on the phone. Elvis greeted her with a loose and happy "Hi, mom!" and Mrs. Sanders was shortly before unconsciousness. The according photos show us Elvis with his motorcycle cap and the green-blue bolero (despite b/w we can recognize the color"), which is corded at the sleeves and front pocket. The pictures which were taken in 1957 of Elvis show through some of the outer arrogance for which Elvis - especially in the early years - was criticized a lot. But with tie and collar he makes a rather attractive impression on me. What do you think dear female readers ?

    The 60s are mainly documented with photos showing Elvis in California. If you look at the pictures very intensively and read some of the reports the coincidences are near and not nearly 40 years away! A lot of designer would love this photos ! We see Elvis in outfits that are sometimes more sportive-dressed down, sometimes more trendy and just elegant and chic. No matter what they are - they are always Elvis ! This photos prove the statements of many persons around Elvis, which all remember independent from each other, that Elvis was always dressed very well. He put great attention to his physical appearance and probably never went "unprepared" out of the house. Also other are well prepared for a meeting with the King, as this story proves: "In spring of 1968 Elvis was just shooting "Live A Little Love A Little" in Hollywood. When the shooting began at the Citizen News building, some people gathered before it to watch the location shots. Some people noticed that a woman, also standing there, had an usual deep voice. After a closer look they noticed that "she" also needed a shave. It didn't take long to realize that this was really a man wearing a dress, green pantyhose and a blonde wig.

    After the director had finished the scene, Elvis took some time to greet his fans and to allow them to take pictures. While the other fans were waiting, the "blonde woman" went to Elvis and laid his arm around him. Due to all the people Elvis didn't realize who was beside him and also laid his arm around "her" for a photograph. Another fan took this pictures and later showed it to Priscilla and Patsy, who were rolling on the floor laughing and couldn't wait to kid Elvis with it. The other day Elvis came and asked the photographer for the picture. After looking at it carefully he asked: "Are you sure this was a man ?" she answered: "yes he needed a shave!" Elvis shook his head and said: " I don't know, honey…!"

    Not only because of the according dates to the pictures but also due to the following photos the Elvis expert sees that the pictures are getting closer to the legendary 1968 Comeback show. Elvis changed. He changed to the man who would shortly show the whole world, that he is still the undisputed number 1 and is not going to leave this place during the next time. If anyone still doubts this, please look at the pictures in this book: We can see a human, who is content with himself and his decisions and - despite all the nervousness before the big event - is emanating a self-confidence which can hardly be beaten.

    A special photographic goody from the 70s are the b/w pictures showing Elvis in unusual outfits and in unusual company (Page 106/107): Even in a simple white shirt with turned up sleeves this guy still looks fantastic. But who does he meet at the gate of his Hillcrest Home ? There is really an impersonator of the first generation ! How is this scene being described ? "It was funny watching Elvis's face talking with this guy and it was very weird to see them side by side…!" Look at Elvis's face yourself and you know that every word is needless. Unfortunately it would extend this review to much, to repeat all the impressions, experiences and memories of the persons in the book. There would be a lot more interesting material worth mentioning, which intensifies the look behind the image: Jean-Marc Gargiulo, founder of the "Treat Me Nice" fan club in France, who saw Elvis several times on and back stage; Livio Monari, the founder of the first Italian fan club who saw 14 Elvis shows and also met him back stage; or just the anecdotes Sandi Miller tells us.

    Conclusion:

    Of course there are a lot of illustrated books within the Elvis literature but the BTI series has a special charm. It is not primarily the professional realisation but the fact that photographs are being brought into a textual, temporal and local context so that the gain even more fascination. Although the linguistic one-sidedness might be hindering to certain people is "Behind The Image, Vol. 2" a big enrichment for every Elvis collection. I'm already looking forward to the third part.

    Artikel von Maria Hesterberg Teil 1
    Artikel von Maria Hesterberg Teil 2

    © 2005 by Elvis Presley Gesellschaft

World Wide Web

Elvis - Born To Rock

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Print Media

  • Advertisement in the Spanish "Club Elvis" Magazine No. 46
    Fanmagazine Club Elvis No. 46
    The Advertisement for the book "Elvis - Born To Rock" in the Spanish Fanmagazine "Club Elvis" No. 46, September 2003
    Behind The Image - The Book 2

    © 2003 Club Elvis - Spain

  • Article the "United Elvis Presley Society" Magazine No. 75 (2005)
    United Elvis Presley Society Maganzine No. 73
    Article taken from the Magazine Nr. 73 (2005) of the French / Belgian Club "United Elvis Presley Society"

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the club please use the following website address for more information:
    Hubert Vindevogel (France)
    Jean-Claude Piret - Colette (Belgium)
    Born To Rock

    © 2005 by United Elvis Presley Society

  • Advertisement in the English "Essential Elvis" Magazine No. 39
    Essential Elvis Magazine No. 39
    Advertisement taken from the TheElvisMag No. 39 (March/April 2005) of the English Club "Essential Elvis"

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the club please use the following website for more information: www.essentialelvis.co.uk
    Een nieuw fotoboek

    © 2005 by Essential Elvis

  • © 2005 by Essential Elvis Review in the English "Essential Elvis" Magazine No. 39
    Essential Elvis Magazine No. 39
    Review taken from the TheElvisMag No. 39 (March/April 2005) of the English Club "Essential Elvis"

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the club please use the following website for more information: www.essentialelvis.co.uk
    Article of Andrew D. Snelgrove
    BTR Review 2
    Flyer Essential Magazine

    © 2005 by Essential Elvis

  • Advertisement in the German "Graceland" Magazine No. 165
    Graceland Magazine No. 165
    Advertisement taken from the "Graceland" Magazine No. 165 (September/October 2005) of the German "Elvis Presley Society"

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the club please use the following website for more information: www.EPG-ev.de
    Article of Andrew D. Snelgrove

    © 2005 by Elvis Presley Gesellschaft

  • Review in the Spanish "Club Elvis" Magazine No. 51
    Club Elvis Magazine No. 51
    Book Review taken from the Spanish "Club Elvis" Fanmagazine No. 51 (2005)

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the author of the article, please use the address given on the flyer below.
    Club Elvis - Review Part 1
    Club Elvis - Review Part 2
    Club Elvis - Review Part 3
    Club Elvis - Advertisement
    Club Elvis - Flyer

    © 2005 Club Elvis - Spain

  • Review in the German "Graceland" Magazine No. 166
    Graceland Magazine No. 166
    Book Review taken from the "Graceland" Magazine No. 166 (July/August 2005) of the German "Elvis Presley Society"

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the club please use the following website for more information: www.EPG-ev.de

    By Maria Hesterberg - Translation by Nadine Schwenk

    An illustrated book on the Elvis concerts in New York 1975 and Largo 1976 whose mainly professional photos show the biggest entertainer of all time. This article was twice-overdue because the book “Born To Rock” by American Bud Glass was already published in 2004 and has found a lot of friends since. Bud Glass’ book features on 158 pages more than 250 photos of a 1975-Elvis Presley and in a bonus section also photos from the year 1976. Except for a handful of photos all other photos are color-shots which come into their own on the high gloss paper. Glass concentrates in “Born To Rock” mainly on the pictures and sets detailed texts aside. The few articles are however worth reading and offer some interesting details.

    Unfortunately the producers again limited the text to the English language. Especially for this book it would have been good to publish the texts in two languages, because the amount of translations would have been small. If you take the book in your hands and run over the pages the extremely good processing quality stands out. A special binding and gluing technique compared with a linen stripe avoids the book looking used even after repeated running over the pages. This effect is in addition reached by a special transparent ink, which avoids finger prints on the pages. The landscape format of the book is surprising but the pictures are mainly in that format and the producer wanted the pictures to be unaltered, uncut and whole. The preface for “Born To Rock” was written by Al Dvorin, who should be known to everybody as the voice who informed the audience after Elvis’s appearances with the frustrating message: “Elvis has left the building. Thank you and good night!”. It is however less known that Al Dvorin was more than the voice that closed Elvis' performances. In this preface he reports shortly that he had been friends with Tom Diskin since 1955, who became the right hand of Colonel Parker and so he came in touch with Elvis and his show. Slowly Dvorin undertook all the tasks belonging to an Elvis show and passed through all the stations of the organization and accomplishment of this mega-event: “…Tom Diskin told Colonel Parker I could do it, so I ended up doing every job on the road with Elvis except dying his hair.” (p. 3). Like everyone who has worked with Elvis Dvorin describes his work for the king as something special. “With Elvis it was a thrill every night of the week. When he was on tour, it was a "happening". It was a "happening" in every city, and the fans knew that. They felt his love. They felt his enthusiasm and knew he was the greatest entertainer the world has ever known. I worked with the best people. I loved what I did and did what I loved. I am the luckiest guy in the world.” (p.3).“Born to Rock” is one of the last projects Al Dvorin finished before he was killed in an accident in August 2004.

    Paul Larsen, whose introduction comes after the preface, reports enthusiastically of his Elvis concert experience on July 19th 1975 in the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. An introduction from what I only want to quote two sentences to show the GRACELAND readers Larsen’s feelings: “I realized he was doing it to me again, touching the deepest part of my soul as no artist has ever done in my life .” (p. 4). Larsen remembers the process of the concert and its summits and refers at the same time to the following photos, which back his reports up. Finally we learn something about the year 1975 and its meaning for Elvis, about his activities on the stages of the United States and about his health problems in the year of his 40th birthday. In contrary to the previous texts, this author does not report any personal memories, but gives facts to the readers, which are being complemented from time to time by personal comments. Unfortunately we don’t know who has written the text because the name is not mentioned and so we can only guess that it is Bud Glass himself, who says in the last line “…Proof positive that even in his forties, there is no doubt…Elvis was BORN TO ROCK!” (p. 7). Now we see Elvis on the following 39 pages on July 19th 1975 in the Uniondale, Nassau Coliseum, where his first show on that day began on 2:30 pm. He wore the “Dark Blue Aztec Suit” with the corresponding original belt. Afterwards, after a short break for relaxing and changing, Elvis walked on stage at 8:30 pm for the second time on that day this time wearing the “Dark Blue Gipsy Suit”, also with original belt.

    The pictures are actually self-explanatory, but anyway let me bring some things to the foreground. Apparently Elvis was in top form on that day and on a lot of pictures we see the king the way we like him best: he sings and lives the songs, shows the audience how much his fans mean to him; takes gifts, gives scarves to the audience, kisses his fans, flirts with thousands of people in the arena and is the boss! Especially the close-ups showing Elvis alone have their own charisma: The viewer sees the Elvis Presley who attracts the masses and with his show – actually already with his single presence – brings them to ecstasy. That Elvis was in the mid 70s at a point where there was no turning back becomes clear in the bonus section, which shows Elvis during the afternoon concert on June 27th 1976 in the Capital Center in Largo/Maryland. These pictures, on which Elvis wears the so called “Blue Pre-Historic Bird Suit”, can not hide Elvis’s state of health. Although it is great that we are presented this pictures coherently, they leave a depressing feeling, especially as the end of this book. No matter how the people may think about it, Bud Glass emphasizes with his choice of photos consciously the sensational form of Elvis in July 1975 in Uniondale/New York. The pictures were taken by James Faro, a professional photographer with professional equipment, what you can see on most of the pictures. Faro must have pressed the trigger during the show nearly continuously; fantastic that there are so many pictures showing Elvis the way he was during 90 per cent of career: as the biggest entertainer the show business has ever seen and will ever see. The photos from Largo however are from Faro’s brother John.

    Technologically seen it is interesting that all the pictures of the brother are slides. Editing them, Praytome Publishing worked with a big technological effort. All the slides were cleaned with a laser cleaning procedure. Afterwards with luminance, contrast and color corrections the constant quality was reached we can see in the book. When we are talking about “Born to Rock” we may not forget the well done Elvis Trivia sections, which appear here and there between the photos and tell short stories about the concerts and Elvis and document them with photos or special photo extracts. Conclusion:The book “Born To Rock” from Bud Glass and Praytome Publishing contains a nearly complete documentation of the two concerts in Uniondale/New York from July 19th 1975 and a less detailed bonus section with pictures from June 26th 1976 in Largo/Maryland. The complete material stands out because of the closeness and charisma Elvis can transport even after 30 years and the medium paper. Always fascinating! The chosen texts are worth reading and contain some unknown details. Due to “Born to Rock” dealing with a very special topic, a very small extract from Elvis’s career it is surely no standard book in the Elvis literature. However this release is a piece that should not be missing especially in the library of the fans being interested in the concerts. Also the ones in favor of live pictures get their money worth.

    Graceland - Review Part 1
    Graceland - Review Part 2

    © 2005 by Elvis Presley Gesellschaft

  • Advertisement in the German "Graceland" Magazine No. 178
    Graceland Magazine No. 178
    Advertisement taken from the "Graceland" Magazine No. 178 (November/December 2007) of the German "Elvis Presley Society"

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the club please use the following website for more information: www.EPG-ev.de
    Graceland Magazine - Advertisement

    © 2007 by Elvis Presley Gesellschaft

    • World Wide Web

  • Review by Jörn Büter (www.elvisbay.com)
    Born To Rock Front Cover

    Elvis - Born To Rock

    (Praytome Publishing/ Bud Glass Production)

    The book lying before me includes Elvis pictures from July 19th 1975 and as a bonus also pictures from 1976. Would you mind? Pictures of Elvis from the years 1975 and 1976?

    Maybe the generality would be shivering. In all probability they would name all the prejudices about Elvis that they know: Elvis was fat and lost his own accord, Elvis was a miserable drug addict, Elvis was almost a living dead in his last days and so on and so on. You could go on with all these stereotyped ideas. The attempt to disprove these clichés is almost ineffective.

    All those yellow press-reports about Elvis - even in his lifetime were mostly ungracious (f.e. "fat and forty") - and the sensationalism by authors like Albert Goldmann ("Elvis" & "Elvis - The Last 24 Hours") still have big influence on the public opinion about Elvis nowadays. Even Elvis Presley Enterprises has obviously difficulties to accept the fact, that Elvis didn't die after Hawaii 1973.

    Elvis in 1975. All those who are familiar with the live-recordings from Uniondale on July 19th 1975, will know what to expect from this book. It opens with a foreword from Al Dvorin, who died in a car accident short time ago. He remembers the co-operation with Elvis, which started in 1955 as he became acquainted with Colonel Parker. His foreword leads over to the foreword from Paul Larsen, who was present at the afternoon show on this particular date - July 19th 1975.

    The afternoon show is treated with a comprehensive documentation. It starts with a picture, that shows Presley as he left the JFK Hilton Hotel on his way to perform the afternoon show - and it ends with a picture from the end of the concert. What you get inbetween? Pictures, pictures and even more pictures. In comparison with other books the most obvious difference is the quality of the majority of the used photos, which is nothing less than superb. Not alone the motives which are mostly unpublished - especially the full-paged close-ups - are convincing, even the paper-quality and the printing are first-class. Nearly all pictures are very sharp - which is very impressive with regard of the fact that Elvis moved a lot in this concert. The same goes for the quality of the private candids, which are very good.

    Partly the material gets short explanations. Also you can read the monologues and the band-introductions that were done by Elvis during the afternoon show - plus pictures from that particular moment of the show. In addition to that, you have full pages - called "Elvis-Trivia" - which are revealing, if you want to know for example which jumpsuit did Elvis wear during the show, why he gave away scarfs and so on and so on. This part of the book finishes with excerpts of a concert review from John Rockwell, which was published in the New York Times at that time.

    The next chapter about the evening show is presented in a similar manner.

    First you got an oversight of all the songs Elvis performed during the show, which was also done for the afternoon show in the first chapter. At this point it should be said, if one never heard the concert presented on the import "America's Own Vol. 2", than this should be changed as fast as possible. The concert is nothing less then breathtaking and presents the only known live-recording of "You'll never walk alone" with Elvis on piano offering a topnotch performance.

    Exactly this concert is also comprehensively documented throughout the second chapter of "Born To Rock". Elvis changed the overall and wore the gypsy-jumpsuit for the evening show, after he had worn the aztec-jumpsuit on the afternoon performance. Because of the high quality of the photos it looks much more colorful and very impressive. On every page you can see unpublished pictures, which are showing an Elvis, who has nothing to do with all those stereotyped ideas that circulated after 1973 until today. He looks good, he is obviously in a very good mood - and judging on the pictures - he is very active on stage. The import CD confirms the pictures and the pictures are confirming the CD.

    In the second chapter you also got printed monologues, the band introductions added with fitting pictures from the introductions and also full-paged "Elvis Trivia" inserts. Beyond dozens and dozens of impressive photos, one special photo should be mentioned here: a photo that shows Elvis in his gypsy-jumpsuit, sitting at the piano - photographed during the performance of "You'll never walk alone"! How can you ask for more? This part closes also with excerpts from newspaper reviews.

    After that a summary follows about the tour-dates from Elvis in 1975 - added with lots of candid-shots: Elvis in the hotel, Elvis backstage, Elvis at the airport etc.etc. - the quality of them is unquestionable good. The chapter is closing with a private story by the photographer John Faro, who travelled together with his wife from New York to Memphis to meet Elvis. The story gets completed with fitting candid-shots from the meeting. A survey about the recording sessions, single- and LP-releases in the year 1975 and a general view from the year 1975 are closing this chapter.

    Next is the bonus-section, which documents the concert from July 27th in Largo, Maryland. Needless to say that it is done in a comprehensive way. Like before you got a summary about the tracklisting, musicians and the back-up singers. Similar to the concerts from 1975 it starts with pictures from the beginning of the concert. In comparison to the pictures from July 1975 you have to say, that Elvis has gained weight through the year. Also you have to admit that Elvis looks in his blue bicentennial jumpsuit only "puffy", but not really fat.

    The picture material gets completed by printed monologues from the performance. The bonus-section, which offers also high quality photos, gets closed with a concert review by Phil Gelormine ("Crocodile Rock meets Jailhouse Rock"). Partly the review tells the story from a backstage meeting of Elvis and Elton John before the concert.

    If the publishing of the pictures from Largo '76 contradict the well known clichés about Elvis the same way the pictures from July 1975 are doing is maybe questionable, but in every case the photos are doing one thing for sure - they're showing an entertainer, who's doing his job after 22 years still and obviously with great enjoyment.

    Before the book was released they were discussions and arguments, that the book would be to expensive. To sum it up: There's no kind of pressure to buy Elvis-books, Elvis-CD's or other Elvis related material, so that everyone can decide for him-/herself, if he wants something or not. In this case the only thing that can be discussed is the context, not the product itself. What you get is a more than a pleasant product that convinces in its entirety: that goes for the high-quality paper, the printing, all the rare photos (most of them in color, less in black/white) and nontheless in its circumference with 150 pages. The price for the book is much more like a inducement to buy it when you see it. Highly recommended!

    © 2005 by Review by Jörn Büter (www.elvisbay.com)
  • Review by Björn Bergmann (Collector's Service)
    Born To Rock Front Cover

    Elvis - Born To Rock

    (Praytome Publishing/ Bud Glass Production)

    Good things take a while, but now we can present you with the latest joined venture of Bud Glass and Gregor Retkovski. Great expectation resting on this literature publication and the release was anticipated with excitement and honest interest in the Elvis-word.

    Due to high-quality publications like "Behind The Image" (Book & DVD), "Behind The Image, Vol. II" (DVD) and "Adrenaline" (DVD) the experts of praytome publishing made themselves a name with their evidentiary work in the Elvis world and managed to make the label praytome publishing one of the highest standards.

    No exception is the latest piece of work: ELVIS - BORN TO ROCK, the literature release of two concerts of Elvis Presley on the 19th of July 1975 from the Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, New York.

    The book contains exiting moments of the 19th of July 1975 and presents us with the chronological complete day of the American superstar on that eventful day.

    Exiting close-up's are documenting both of Elvis performances on that hot summer day in July 1975 and gives us an impressive insight view into a normal "working day" in the life of this popular musician.

    Everything is documented:
    Elvis arrival at John F. Kennedy Airport, the breathtaking afternoon show just as well as the return to the JFK Hilton Hotel, where Elvis got prepared for the evening show. Dressed in a brand new rock'n'roll outfit Elvis heads of to his highly demanded and completely sold out evening show. Once again there where photographers about who managed to document the second performance on that evening of the 19th of July 1975, where Elvis performed such excellent songs like "Big Boss Man", "You'll Never Walk Alone" and I'm Leavin'".

    The book that's filled up to the top with brilliant colour photographs doesn't just make a difference to other photo books by the diversity of colours to the photographs used, but impresses by including additional interesting information, such as the background report of the Faros, a married couple who visited Elvis concert in New York and met him again a few days later in Memphis.

    Pictures of the designer sketches of his new stage outfit bring us a slight insight look into the preparations of an Elvis Presley concert event.

    A total concert- and record chronology complete the positive overall impression of this book and give us a representative overview of Elvis musical creativity in the year 1975. It's also interesting to notice the list of most important musical, political and social events in context with the Elvis activities of the year 1975.

    With all this information; a flood of life-, private- and backstage photographs; the picture of Uniondale Concert Arena and a 5 $ concert ticket of the 19th of July 1975 the book could have easily come to a dignified end on page 122. But the publisher toped all that with a bonus chapter and added another extra-chapter with 41 additional colour photos of the 27th of June 1976 to this marvellous book!

    Open the book and be overwhelmed by the intensity and power of the colour prints. Most of them are presented in large format.

    All we dreamed of for a long time as collectors is brought to life by the praytome products: rocking crystal clear video tapings in an almost perfect TV quality, crystal clear views into the wild Elvis Presley concerts in the early 70s and literature publications that bring tears of joy to the eye of us collectors. The legendary books of Joe Tunzi, Roger Semon and Ger Rijeff are sacrosanct, but praytome managed to present the same high quality and for the first time in colour! In brilliant, luminous and crystal clear colours! Embedded in the most high standard cover the Elvis world has ever seen. This piece of work was handpicked and bounded in a hard cover binder and equipped with the high classed 158 pages one could get ones hands on. Every single page of this book was covered by a special print protective lacquer, so that even after several times touching the pages browsing through this book there will be no visible finger prints left behind.

    The following literature publications will be compared with the high quality of this product in the future…

    Translation by Claudia Senor


    © 2005 by Review by Björn Bergmann (http://collectors-service.vu.de)

Elvis - Paternity Suit

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Print Media

  • Review in the German "Elvis Club Berlin" Fanclub Magazine No. 134
    image
    DVD / Book Review taken from the magazine No. 134 by the German "Elvis Club Berlin"

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the club please use the following website address for more information:

    Elvis Club Berlin e.V.
    c/o Werner Strube
    Postfach 16 02 09
    10338 Berlin

    info@elvisclubberlin.de
    www.elvisclubberlin.de


    Review by Nadine Steffens - Translation by Nadine Schwenk

    Elvis Presley - Paternity Suit

    At the end of 2006 Praytome Publishing released its latest product. This time it was not a book like "Born To Rock", nor a DVD like "Behind The Image". It was a premiere, because this time it was a combination of a book and a DVD.

    Paternity Suit is not a common DVD either, or a book with a lot of pictures and very tense stories. Praytome Publishing reveals background information on a topic which was totally ignored until now. It is about the paternity suit Elvis was confronted with in 1970. I never would have thought, that it is possible to do a complete book - or in this case even a complete book and a DVD - on this topic. I was wrong.

    The whole case lasted for more than 6 years in Elvis's life and was not such a small thing as most people thought. To write down the complete story of the book, would be too much. Shortly about the content: In 1970 a young woman named Patricia Parker visited the Elvis Opening Night on January 26th. She somehow managed it to go backstage and get a picture with Elvis. This picture was later the only evidence, the two of them ever met.

    According to her statement Elvis invited her to his suite and seduced her, shortly after that she noticed that she was pregnant. During the seventh month of her pregnancy she assigned the famous lawyer Paul Caruso to her case. This should be the beginning of a 6 year fight if Elvis was the bodily father of the child or not.

    A lot of background information is mentioned here for the first time, as for example, that they ambushed Elvis shortly before his concert on November 14th 1970, to serve him the court papers. I also didn't know that after Patricia Parker Elvis only allowed photos with his fans, when one of his bodyguards stood in the background. This was a safety measure , so nobody could later claim she was alone with Elvis and to avoid further freeloaders. But these are not the only things you learn in this DVD. If you think back and see the lots of covers of the yellow press you can understand why Elvis talked so bad about the press (TV gossip magazine) in the famous Desert Storm concert. He made it public so that certain persons (maids among others) who had spread rumors about him, noticed that he was very well aware of it. Knowing that, I see this concerts differently than before.

    What fascinates me about the book is that everything that is written in it is proved with court documents and/or pictures. Blood tests, polygraph tests, even the envolvement of a former NBC employee, who had worked on the 68 Comeback Special, you get everything and it is no fiction.

    Praytome Publishing managed it once more to do a detailed research and to come up with results based on facts, instead of repeating the common lies and rumors, as it is unfortunately done so often. I am amazed of the professionalism and the will to report about facts instead of legends. In addition you get great candids (the famous hidden camera pictures) and never before heard audio comments of Elvis himself.

    The book is correspondingly thick and the quality of the paper is outstanding. No fingerprints remain on the pages. The combination is very succesful. What I also liked was the fact that the DVD included for the first time German subtitles. This is important for this kind of material, because not everybody can speak English. I would recommend this combination to every fan who is interested in Elvis as a private person. In my opinion it belongs to the household of every fan. To the ones saying "I'm only interested in the musician" : this case has also accompanied Elvis on stage.

    And last but not least: I have also friends that are not Elvis fans. They have watched the DVD as interested as I did. So it is not only for die-hard fans.

    Elvis Club Berlin - Review 1
    Elvis Club Berlin - Review 2
    Elvis Club Berlin - Review 3

    © 2007 by Elvis Club Berlin

  • Advertisement in the German "Graceland" Magazine No. 173
    image
    Book/DVD-Advertisement taken from the "Graceland" Magazine No. 173 (March/April 2007) of the German "Elvis Presley Society"

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the club please use the following website for more information: www.EPG-ev.de

    Graceland Magazine - Advertisement

    © 2007 by Elvis Presley Gesellschaft

World Wide Web

Elvis On Tour '75

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Print Media

  • Review in the German "Elvis Club Berlin" Fanclub Magazine No. 136
    Elvis Club Berlin Fanclub Magazine No. 136
    DVD / Book Review taken from the Magazine No. 136 by the German "Elvis Club Berlin"

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the club please use the following website address for more information:

    Elvis Club Berlin e.V.
    c/o Werner Strube
    Postfach 16 02 09
    10338 Berlin

    info@elvisclubberlin.de
    www.elvisclubberlin.de


    Review by Nadine Steffens - Translation by Nadine Schwenk

    Elvis on Tour '75

    Photos From The Heart
    By Sandi H. Pichon
    Author of "Raised on Elvis! Elvis! Elvis!"

    I was looking with great expectations at this Elvis year, but as the anniversary of the death approached, I was increasingly disappointed in the abstinence of the official side. This year I was expecting a box set or Elvis on Tour SE. But what can the fans look forward to? To "Elvis at the movies".

    The more delighting are the releases of the Memphis Recording Service. Or the latest release of Praytome Publishing. After "Paternity Suit", "Elvis in Tour '75" follows. An announcement I was looking forward to because I don't have a lot of the pictures in my collection and it is, besides 72, one of my favorite Elvis years.Let's get to the content of the book. After the forewords of Sonny West and Charles Stone and a short introduction of the author Sandi Pichon we directly go to the Tour summary of 1975. The summary is very felicitous, besides the sales of the concerts, other suits of 1975 are being shown, amongst others the Penguin Suit. The concerts included in this book are:

    Jacksonville, FL - April 25, 1975
    Atlanta, GA - April 30, 1975
    Atlanta, GA - May 1, 1975
    Atlanta, GA - May 2, 1975

    It starts with the concert of April 25th in Jacksonville. Besides the basic data like the venue, the suit, the number of visitors ect. we get a picture of the arena as well as the track listing of that day. Sandi reports in an interesting and funny way, how she experienced the concert back then: the surroundings of the concerts, and how a city can go crazy when Elvis was there for several concerts. She mentions that Elvis tickets were to be raffled over a radio station. Jacksonville was - just as the other concerts of that tour - completely sold out in advance. So the rush on the radio station was so huge, that the lines of the telephone switchboard in the station failed. Not bad for someone the press called "fat and forty" at that time... The radio station then chose a different way, and informed that the first person to show up at the station with a Hound Dog or Blue Suede Shoes would get the tickets.

    Parallel to that story you see pictures of Elvis on his way to the concert, entering the stage and starting the concert. All pictures are in chronological order, theoretically you could make a flip-book out of it. The pictures of Elvis you see on the first pages are "stunning". Elvis looked great and even though it is only pictures, it is easy to see that there is an artist on stage who has absolutely everything under control. Except a handful, I don' know any of the pictures in the book and they are in an unbelievably good quality. In addition you also get the information on which record the concert was "released". Elvis also talks in this book. The reports of Sandi are being followed by quotes of Elvis. When you read her stories and look at the pictures that are arranged matching the text, you get the feeling of attending the concert. One of the most beautiful pictures in this book for me is from the concert described in this book: the show from April 30th, 1975. Sandi gives Elvis a picture of him in 6th grade. The way Elvis looks at the picture makes you smile. You can see how much he likes it. It is really amazing how much effort the fans put into their gifts for Elvis and how much thought they must have given them.

    After reading the book, I first listened to a show of Atlanta and looked at the pictures again. This book is related to the concept of "Born to Rock" (also released by Praytome Publishing), respectively a successor.

    It is not a book that shows concert pictures of Elvis from different years with such informative subtitles as "Elvis laughing on stage" - where you see a picture from 1971 but the subtitle indicates 1975…You get details and facts with the matching pictures. The book covers one closed topic with 400 unreleased pictures. The layout and content fit together and you will find a new highlight on every single page whereas the design stays the same, which is very rare for an Elvis product nowadays. Persons are not being introduced in the beginning of the book - so that in the middle of the book you can't remember who is who - but within the story. Highlights are also the perspective shots of Elvis. You see from different angles, from the side or as a close-up, what Elvis is doing at a certain moment. That gives you an extensive insight of the concert and Elvis, where the design is really a big eye catcher because of the different angles you are about to see.On the website of Praytome Publishing you find video clips of the "Making Of" the book. They put great effort in showing the fan the process from the PC to the finished book. Praytome Publishing talks about the restoration of every single photograph of the 400 used pictures, details of the concerts were put together with a lot of effort, and you can literally see that in the book. The processing is - as usual for Praytome Publishing- really high quality: hardcover and especially the coated paper.I have to add one more thing.

    At the end of the book you will find an advertisement for upcoming products, amongst others an ad for "the world's best kept secret": "Elvis Live at Sahara Tahoe"… If that book is similar to this one and has the same quality, it will surely become a classic.

    Elvis Club Berlin - Review 1
    Elvis Club Berlin - Review 2
    Elvis Club Berlin - Review 3
    Elvis Club Berlin - Inside

    © 2007 by Elvis Club Berlin

  • Review in the Spanish "Club Elvis" Magazine No. 62
    Club Elvis Magazine No. 62
    Book Review taken from the Spanish "Club Elvis" Fanmagazine No. 62 (2007)

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the author of the article, please use the address given on the flyer below.
    Club Elvis - Article
    Club Elvis - Advertisement
    Club Elvis - Fyer

    © 2007 by Club Elvis - Spain

Elvis live at Del Webb's Sahara Tahoe

image

Print Media

  • Review in the German "Elvis Club Berlin" Fanclub Magazine No. 136
    Elvis Club Berlin Fanclub Magazine No. 136
    DVD / Book Review taken from the Magazine No. 136 by the German "Elvis Club Berlin"

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the club please use the following website address for more information:

    Elvis Club Berlin e.V.
    c/o Werner Strube
    Postfach 16 02 09
    10338 Berlin

    info@elvisclubberlin.de
    www.elvisclubberlin.de


    Review by Nadine Steffens - Translation by Nadine Schwenk

    Elvis on Tour '75

    Photos From The Heart
    By Sandi H. Pichon
    Author of "Raised on Elvis! Elvis! Elvis!"

    I was looking with great expectations at this Elvis year, but as the anniversary of the death approached, I was increasingly disappointed in the abstinence of the official side. This year I was expecting a box set or Elvis on Tour SE. But what can the fans look forward to? To "Elvis at the movies".

    The more delighting are the releases of the Memphis Recording Service. Or the latest release of Praytome Publishing. After "Paternity Suit", "Elvis in Tour '75" follows. An announcement I was looking forward to because I don't have a lot of the pictures in my collection and it is, besides 72, one of my favorite Elvis years.Let's get to the content of the book. After the forewords of Sonny West and Charles Stone and a short introduction of the author Sandi Pichon we directly go to the Tour summary of 1975. The summary is very felicitous, besides the sales of the concerts, other suits of 1975 are being shown, amongst others the Penguin Suit. The concerts included in this book are:

    Jacksonville, FL - April 25, 1975
    Atlanta, GA - April 30, 1975
    Atlanta, GA - May 1, 1975
    Atlanta, GA - May 2, 1975

    It starts with the concert of April 25th in Jacksonville. Besides the basic data like the venue, the suit, the number of visitors ect. we get a picture of the arena as well as the track listing of that day. Sandi reports in an interesting and funny way, how she experienced the concert back then: the surroundings of the concerts, and how a city can go crazy when Elvis was there for several concerts. She mentions that Elvis tickets were to be raffled over a radio station. Jacksonville was - just as the other concerts of that tour - completely sold out in advance. So the rush on the radio station was so huge, that the lines of the telephone switchboard in the station failed. Not bad for someone the press called "fat and forty" at that time... The radio station then chose a different way, and informed that the first person to show up at the station with a Hound Dog or Blue Suede Shoes would get the tickets.

    Parallel to that story you see pictures of Elvis on his way to the concert, entering the stage and starting the concert. All pictures are in chronological order, theoretically you could make a flip-book out of it. The pictures of Elvis you see on the first pages are "stunning". Elvis looked great and even though it is only pictures, it is easy to see that there is an artist on stage who has absolutely everything under control. Except a handful, I don' know any of the pictures in the book and they are in an unbelievably good quality. In addition you also get the information on which record the concert was "released". Elvis also talks in this book. The reports of Sandi are being followed by quotes of Elvis. When you read her stories and look at the pictures that are arranged matching the text, you get the feeling of attending the concert. One of the most beautiful pictures in this book for me is from the concert described in this book: the show from April 30th, 1975. Sandi gives Elvis a picture of him in 6th grade. The way Elvis looks at the picture makes you smile. You can see how much he likes it. It is really amazing how much effort the fans put into their gifts for Elvis and how much thought they must have given them.

    After reading the book, I first listened to a show of Atlanta and looked at the pictures again. This book is related to the concept of "Born to Rock" (also released by Praytome Publishing), respectively a successor.

    It is not a book that shows concert pictures of Elvis from different years with such informative subtitles as "Elvis laughing on stage" - where you see a picture from 1971 but the subtitle indicates 1975…You get details and facts with the matching pictures. The book covers one closed topic with 400 unreleased pictures. The layout and content fit together and you will find a new highlight on every single page whereas the design stays the same, which is very rare for an Elvis product nowadays. Persons are not being introduced in the beginning of the book - so that in the middle of the book you can't remember who is who - but within the story. Highlights are also the perspective shots of Elvis. You see from different angles, from the side or as a close-up, what Elvis is doing at a certain moment. That gives you an extensive insight of the concert and Elvis, where the design is really a big eye catcher because of the different angles you are about to see.On the website of Praytome Publishing you find video clips of the "Making Of" the book. They put great effort in showing the fan the process from the PC to the finished book. Praytome Publishing talks about the restoration of every single photograph of the 400 used pictures, details of the concerts were put together with a lot of effort, and you can literally see that in the book. The processing is - as usual for Praytome Publishing- really high quality: hardcover and especially the coated paper.I have to add one more thing.

    At the end of the book you will find an advertisement for upcoming products, amongst others an ad for "the world's best kept secret": "Elvis Live at Sahara Tahoe"… If that book is similar to this one and has the same quality, it will surely become a classic.

    Elvis Club Berlin - Review 1
    Elvis Club Berlin - Review 2
    Elvis Club Berlin - Review 3
    Elvis Club Berlin - Inside

    © 2007 by Elvis Club Berlin

  • Review in the Spanish "Club Elvis" Magazine No. 62
    Club Elvis Magazine No. 62
    Book Review taken from the Spanish "Club Elvis" Fanmagazine No. 62 (2007)

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the author of the article, please use the address given on the flyer below.
    Club Elvis - Article
    Club Elvis - Advertisement
    Club Elvis - Fyer

    © 2007 by Club Elvis - Spain

My Years With Elvis And The Colonel

Print Media

Our DVDs in the media

Elvis - Behind The Image - The DVD - Vol. 1

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Print Media

World Wide Web

  • Review on the website www.Elvisbay.com
    image
    In 2002, after much anticipation, this long awaited documentary finally found its way to thousands of fans. The critics were enthusiastic and the DVD is still available and selling well everywhere in the world. To celebrate the upcoming sequel "Elvis Behind The Image Vol. 2 Welcome To His World", we want to go back in history to let (especially the younger) fans know what this special is all about. The DVD is filled with great quality 8mm footage digitally transferred from the original master- reels to it's perfection for the very first time. You can enjoy thrilling interviews with Sandi Miller, Kathy Westmoreland and John Wilkinson, who share their personal memories of Elvis on this DVD for the very first time. Finally a there's a sneak-peek inside the famous "Elvis-A-Rama " museum in Las Vegas. This was the first and only time that they allowed filming inside! This special preview of the biggest museum outside of Graceland was definitely a nice bonus.

    Furthermore this DVD set new standards in quality, content and running time. Normally we get our 60 minutes and the fun is over! Here we have 75 min., which is the longest running time of a DVD in this genre. Compared to all the other collectors DVD´s, this release was a real bargain. At only US$ 39,95 (official retail) it was about 10-15 US$ cheaper than other releases ! (hey producers out there.. please follow this standard of great quality and content at a reasonable price!)

    Unlike the cheap midi file quality background music of so many productions in the past, Behind the Image had incredible background music custom performed in true James Burton fashion. The theme song "Behind The Image" written by the executive producer, Bud Glass and sung by Russ Howe was really touching and one of the highlights of this DVD.

    Beside seeing Elvis in 1970 on tour, this DVD sheds a light into the unknown parts in Elvis life. We all have seen Vegas and Graceland over and over again. But Lake Tahoe (not included on this DVD, this is meant as an example), or California is very less known. On Elvis-Behind The Image Vol.1 we are able to see (for the first time ever) the Californian houses of Elvis. We can see (from 8mm film) what they looked like when he was living there. But that wasn't all. We also got the man himself in private!!! I will never forget the moment when I first saw this killer footage. You see Elvis crystal clear and so near that he almost bumps with his nose into the camera. This is a dream come true and every real fan has to thank Bud Glass for sharing it with the fans! If you don't get goose bumps while watching this incredible candid footage than you better stick to watching "Tickle Me" or "Aloha fron Hawaii" compilations!

    To me the candid part alone is worth more than I've paid for the complete DVD.

    You have to understand that BTI is so much more than just pure 8mm footage. This is just one part of the whole content of this DVD. The Co-Producer (Praytome) and the inventor (Bud Glass) of Behind The Image, always stated in many interviews in the past that the 8mm footage (no matter how good it is) is only a bonus feature on their DVD´s and this is how it's labeled on the menu of this DVD.

    Still, on this DVD you'll find the longest running concert footage ever released on an official and legal release (for example; on the nice Ed Bonja DVD you only get short clips of concert footage. On Return To Splendour you get a nice variety of jumpsuits but only short fragments of the show).

    image
    Funny enough, this wasn't welcomed by all with enthusiasm. One so called news web site even claimed in their review that there is only 8 minutes of Elvis on this DVD, which was a complete lie. (Later on they got caught by the fans a few times for incorrect reviews and statements and the fans gave them the new nickname "Faked-Reviews.com")

    It seems to be a personal thing, because when Praytome Publishing released the Behind the Image book, they stated that the pictures in the book were "only the same photos which were on the DVD and nothing new". Strange behavior, since there is no slide show on the DVD (and the book contains over 400 photos, most of them never seen before). It is hard to understand the intentions behind this, but if the fans buy these products and find out that every written word was a lie, they look stupid afterwards. Don't they?

    To fully understand why the fans reacted so extremely positive on this DVD you have to understand the history of this kind of footage.

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    In the 80´s, a few years after Elvis' untimely death, all we got were the same pictures, the same jumpsuits, the same footage, the same songs again and again. Maybe because of the coolness of the outfit (which can be seen on the "You'll never Walk Alone" LP), the fans always dreamed about seeing pictures of Elvis wearing this classic and very rare outfit, known as "The Fringe Suit" (Elvis wore this stage costume only on a few occasions).

    You must know, that under the big collectors there were much more pictures circulating than there were published. But from these concerts there was nothing! You couldn't even find a blurry picture taken by a fan in those days! There was completely nothing!Than the myth of these concerts and the outfit started. The big picture-collectors started doing heavy research and hunting .... but there was nothing .... and the myth started to get even bigger!

    In late 1997 -17 years later- rumours were circulating that there were pictures from this big event. No one believed that rumours, because it just couldn't be!

    Then suddenly, out of the blue in 1998, Paul Lichter released his book " Elvis - Thank You Very Much" (a coffee table book selling for US$ 65). This Book was packed with (b/w) shots of Elvis wearing the fringe suit on stage. This book was a sensation, it was breathtaking, even for insiders and the big collectors. A pure beauty! This added to the myth. No one in these days knew about what would happen in the future … we still had six years to go!

    8mm material had it's big, all time high in the 80´s. All 8mm fans spend a lot of money to get their hands on the different (mostly import) releases of these days. Most of the time this material was shot from row twenty and Elvis was only a blurry white dot. Because some "heroes" who did not own the original material started copying it and selling twentieth generation copies for as much as 50 to 60 dollars per tape (a very high price in the 80's), many fans stopped buying them. In the end no one was interested in them anymore. Highlights of this time were without doubt Return To Splendour and Joe Esposito's "Home Movies" (for the candid material).

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    When the CD appeared on the market these same "heroes" did the same as they did before, only this time using a new media. They put their bad (stolen) VHS copy on a VCD, using a bad encoder and a wrong compression making the endresult even worse.They sell this crap with nice covers illegal on Ebay and earn a lot of money. This market is again nearly destroyed and our "heroes" only profit from the newbies who were not active collectors when it was being pirated in the late 80's. 90 % of the market on 8mm film is a trade-market and the real insiders do not even put this crap in their packed bookshelves anymore. Still, the enthusiasm for this kind of material never leaves because it is the only possibility to see how Elvis was on stage.

    Now, how can anyone invest thousands of dollars these days, to produce such nice things as "Return To Splendour", when our "heroes" copy this new release one day after it's release. So it looks bad for a major project of this size.

    Then the new century came with a big bang. No one believed anymore that we would have big surprises on the 8mm market. Even if collectors would've given their right arm to get bad quality footage of this 70 events and a short glimpse of the concert with the famous fringe suit, there was nothing.

    Suddenly the famous American mega collector Bud Glass got his hands on one of the biggest collector dreams of 8mm material. He already left his footprint in the Elvis world, he was one of the guys who discovered the first signature ever given by Elvis and was known as a huge 8 mm collector - The reels not the VHS. This new original footage would be the rarest and best quality home movie footage that was ever known to exist. Still more then 2 years to go!

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    To make a long story short, Bud spend more money on this footage alone than other people pay for their mid-class car. But that doesn't mean already have a DVD. He partnered with a friend in Hollywood who helped him with this huge project. They worked together with Spotlight films.

    For the digital transfer they used the same machines the big Hollywood companies used to transfer their celluloid Motion Pictures on DVD. In the end this project was the most expensive private production ever to see the light of day in the Elvis World.

    Note : "The Definitive Collection" beat this large production price later on. But remember this was a set of 8 DVD´s and they got in serious law problems afterwards, because they used material which was not their own. You must also consider that it was produced for the "normal" market and BTI was only produced from fans for fans.

    When the Behind the Image DVD finally came out it hit the scene like a bomb.

    What we got was unbelievable: Not only the exclusive guest list but also the great, never before seen candid footage. Finally after 32 years we got to see Elvis performing live "on tour" in 1970 wearing the legendary fringe suit. And the quality? To say it in one word: stunning. The most steadiest footage we have ever seen in our lives. And as an answer to our prayers..center stage, first row and crystal clear!

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    But there was so much more

    We got footage never shown or circulated in any kind of form from the famous I got lucky suit (See picture on the left).

    On this footage our man moved so much, that you understand why they called him "the atomic powered singer" in the 50´s. And if this wouldn't be enough, we got Vegas footage of Elvis in the suit he wears on the cover shot of the Elvis LP "Now".

    This DVD offers us the whole treatment. Unedited footage nearly the complete thing (as much as possible for the 8mm format) and not only little clips from the original longer footage. Maybe you can now understand why the biggest persons and magazines in the Elvis world already state that Elvis Behind the Image Vol.1 is a classic.

    Hope you liked our little time-travel back in time to celebrate the new upcoming Bud Glass Production and Praytome Publishing release "Elvis Behind The Image Vol. 2 - Welcome To His World". In part two of this article we will talk about BTI - The Book and hopefully we will have the first news on the new DVD. So please stay tuned!

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    Happy End

    When this exiting DVD came out it was only copied a few times and not circulating very much! It looks like the fans understand the situation and supported this project from the very first second of it's release. They want to have that item in their collection and they have understand if people buy cheap copies instead of supporting the efforts of the people who are working hard to bring us this great material, there will be no more volumes in the future.

    Text and Pictures were taken from the Elvisbay Website
    Review © 2003 www.elvisbay.com

Elvis - Behind The Image - The DVD - Vol. 2

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Print Media

World Wide Web

  • Review on the website www.Elvisbay.com
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    „The wait is over!“ it said in the add for this new 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 amazon and see people like Einstein, Martin Luther King, Hitler, Ronald Reagan and Elvis.

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    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.

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    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 !!!

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    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"?

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    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.

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    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 who were actually there. So, let’s face the facts.

    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 as well. 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.

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    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.
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    Next point of discussion were the so-called Graceland sessions. 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 that completely. 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.

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    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 !!

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    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.

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    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.

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    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???

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    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 .....

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    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 is 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.


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    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 peanut butter sandwiches had to wait for their execution.

    Stacks Image 145

    Text and Pictures were taken from the Elvisbay Website
    Review © 2004 www.elvisbay.com

Elvis - Adrenaline - Las Vegas, Nevada - 1970

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Print Media

  • Advertisement in the English "Essential Elvis" Magazine No. 35 (2004)
    Essential Elvis Magazine No. 35
    Clippings taken from the Magazine Nr. 35 (July 2004) of the english Club "Essential Elvis"

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the club please use the following website address for more information: www.essentialelvis.co.uk
    Advertisement Adrenalin 70

    © 2004 by Essential Elvis

  • Review in the Spanish "Club Elvis" Magazine No. 50 (2004)
    Club Elvis Magazine No. 50
    DVD Review taken from the Magazine No.50 of the Spanish Club Elvis

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the club please use the following website address for more information:

    Club Elvis
    Aptdo de Correos 347
    08910 Badalona (Barcelona)
    Spain

    93-4731311 (Joaquin Luque)
    clubelvisjl@eresmas.net
    www.clubelvis.es.vg
    Review Adrenalin Part 1
    Review Adrenalin Part 2

    © 2004 by Club Elvis - Spain

  • Review in the German "Graceland" Magazine No. 164 (2005)
    Graceland Magazine No. 164
    DVD - Review, taken from the "Graceland" Magazine No. 164 (July / August 2005) of the German Elvis Presley Society

    If you want to get in contact with the author of the clipping or are interested in a membership please use the website of the German Elvis Presley Society: www.EPG-ev.de

    Adrenaline' 70 Review

    by Peter Beines (Bonn, Germany)

    While the previous DVDs of Praytome Publishing from the "Behind The Image" series always aimed at documenting Elvis altogether or at least in several parts of his legislating, this new series seems to be different..

    One of the specialities of the company, the presentation of barely known or totally unknown Super 8 footage in never before seen quality was always only a stylistic device, which was complemented by interviews with important contemporary witnesses. Therefore the Super 8 material was only in extracts integrated in the documentary although they were available entirely as bonus features on the DVDs. In contrast the concept of the DVD "Adrenaline '70", which was released at the end of 2004, is different. The footage takes center stage, constituting a fundamental part of the main movie, while the pure documenting takes a back seat without going under totally. "Adrenaline shall only be fun" say the producers Greg Retkowski and André Mester. "We just want to show this great material. It's more about the footage itself than about a documentary."

    The footage is the recording of an Elvis concert in the international Hotel in Las Vegas/Nevada in August 1970 on Super 8 film. The French fan Jean-Marc Gargiulo managed to record a full 40 minutes of the show from a slightly elevated center position, whereas the perspective shows Elvis always full screen as well as important parts of the stage and the musicians. Although this footage has exsisted on VHS for years in the collections of some fans, the transfer was crude and the finished product was copied and re-copied so many times, Elvis appeared as a colorless ghost. But what the Praytome Publishing people did with the film they had available as original is just amazing and comes up to the quality of similar material in their previous DVDs. To get everything out of the 35 years old 8mm film, it was first complexly cleaned. Following it was digitally transferred with a special laser scanning method and with further modern technology the colors and the brightness were beind corrected. The result is sensational: the colors are vigorous, the picture is as clear as can be in an amateur film and shows in the background even the musicians and the stage decoration in an astonishing way. The only but unavoidable disadvantage of the pleasure is the fact that the original sound and Elvis's voice are missing. Due to technological and legal reasons. Technically you have to understand that nearly all 8mm films were recorded without sound, at least until the beginning of the 70s. Adding the sound later to the recordings might have been possible technologically, but not legally. The production of a bootleg like the mentioned VHS videos of the show, was not considered by Praytome Publishing.

    That brings us to the date of the show. The producers remain silent about the date, and Jean-Marc Gargiulo says he doesn't remember it. But if you consult those old VHS videos you come to the result that it might be the midnight show of August 19th 1970, of which the audio was released on the import double CD "Double Dynamite" from Rock Legends. CD 2 of the set contains those show as very good audience recording, which was used to add the sound so well to the VHS video that you are convinced that it is the same show. But Praytome Publishing has again, similar to the "Behind The Image" DVDs, made the best out of it by adding self produced instrumental music, which is mixed with instrumental passages and applause segments from Elvis concerts, to the actually silent movie. And so the viewer experiences for 40 minutes an Elvis in top form, dressed in the White Chain Suit (with White Macrame Belt) in one of the best shows of the summer festival 1970, as the audio recording from the Rock Legends CD already showed, in the best picture quality. The first 30 minutes of "Adrenaline" are dedicated to the documentation and to light up the historic context of the concert movie in professional competence. A lot of very rare photos are being shown, as well as further very rare footage from 1968/69 which lightens up the triumphal comeback of Elvis at the end of the 60s together with the voice of the narrator Bud Glass. Outstanding are the also technologically perfectly processed Super 8 concert recordings of Elvis in Vegas in August 1969, a with fitting pictures highlighted self portrait monologue of Elvis as well as a short Super 8 clip of Barbara Streisand's engagement in the International Hotel in July 1969 straight before Elvis's comeback concert series.

    Also worth mentioning from this part of the DVD is the actually known film of the signing of the contract between Elvis and the International management on the building lot of the hotel: longer than known and in a better quality. Praytome also had this original film and was able to edit it. One and a half small factual mistakes strike: the famous "International Gold Belt" was already in 1969 given to Elvis as a trophy by the International Hotel for his attendance record and not in 1970. The other thing is that they say the LP "Elvis - That's The Way It Is" was sold 750.000 times. But that's only the sales at that time in the USA and not the worldwide sales, which was already at that time more than 1 million.

    "Adrenaline '70" has a running time of 70 minutes plus 18 minutes bonus material. The image format is 4:3 (NTSC Region Free), the sound is Dolby Digital AC 3. There is an interactive menu with chapter selection and bonus section which contains a lovely Making Of and trailers for all previous products of Praytome Publishing. Unfortunately the DVD doesn't have any language selection or subtitles just like the other Praytome documentaries so that the comment of Bud Glass in the first 30 minutes is only available in English. However, this drawback doesn't carry authority due to the historic footage being the main fun of the product. The cover is accordingly designed and shows at the front a fitting concert photo of Elvis in August 1970.

    Conclusion:
    With "Adrenaline '70" Praytome Publishing has focused on the pure fun factor of Elvis on stage. That the documentary of the historic context was not forgotten, proves once again the general intention of the producers to show the real Elvis behind his (public) image. The technological effort that was put into it is immense and makes the DVD a product everybody should have.

    Graceland Review

    © 2004 by Elvis Presley Gesellschaft

World Wide Web

  • Online-Review from the German Collectors Service
    Adrenaline

    Seconded only by its predecessors "BEHIND THE IMAGE Vol. I" and "BEHIND THE IMAGE Vol. II" this DVD by Praytome Publishing is unrivaled.

    Besides a professional, competent, illustrated Introduction into the "Comeback-phase" of the King that includes noumerous photographs , this DVD starts with a detailed monologue (Vegas '69) of the King about his reasons to start a comeback. Rare movie clips show Elvis inspecting and signing the contract of the International Hotel, which is still under construction and go into a short privately filmed 8mm sequence of the comeback-engagement from the summer of 1969.The actual highlight of this DVD is, however, a nearly complete concert appearance of the "Elvis-Presley-Summer-Festival" of 1970.

    Unfortunately without original sound (instrumental sound was added) but in great, privately filmed 8mm quality, this DVD gives us a fantastic impression of Elvis's stage impact from the time when MGM filmed Elvis for their cinema production, "ELVIS - THAT'S THE WAY IT IS". While MGM could work with the latest equipment and numerous effects, camera angles and zooms to beef up the cinema production, the passion that Elvis fan Jean-Marc Gargiulo filmed from his seat captured the true essence of a 1970 "live" Elvis performance. Plain and true.What we see here is not the studio edited highlights from several different concerts, no sophisticated camera angles and no exciting show effects but a "quite normal", amazing concert appearance of the legendary Elvis Presley!

    Rocking, breathless, dancing and making music. From the authentic perspective of a fan in the audience!The privately filmed 8mm shots are brilliant and present us the extremely good looking Elvis in top form. You can see Elvis good and clearly. And we experience him throughout in full size, without the "from the waist up" zooms that are annoying during rock songs with plenty of action. How often have we been complaining about the ignorant camera work, which deprived us so much of Elvis's moves !? Oftentimes, when Elvis's body fell for the rhythm, the camera was zooming him, faded in his musicians, confused us by changes of the camera angle as quick as a flash and offered us by so called triple-screen actions three perspectives at the same time of the dancing Elvis. Surely it was well-meant and on a silver screen it was surely combined with breathtaking effects in the audience. But in the TV format rather irritating.

    But as a concertgoer you didn't see a impressive tripartition, no cuts and no different perspectives and production effects. During the concert Elvis was alone on stage with his musicians. Elvis was the central point and he manage to amaze us just by his uncomparable stage presence.

    "ELVIS - ADRENALINE" offers us 40 minutes pure Elvis! The way Jean-Marc Gargiulo and another 2500 fans saw him at that time. No well-meant selection of the best moments of his concerts, but a coherent, authentic appearance of the King, at the summit of his physical shape, the way the concertgoers were able to see him at that time.

    "ELVIS - ADRENALINE" is the perfect complement of "THAT'S THE WAY IT IS", "THE LOST PERFORMANCES" and "THAT'S THE WAY IT IS - SPECIAL EDITION". A nice, conscientiously produced high class DVD, that offers besides the hottest rock show of the King also several trailers to the Praytome Publishing releases. Trailer, which are so well produced, that they are alone already an experience.

    Let's hope, that the production team will make it to elicit more treasures of this caliber and to make them available to the public.

    What Ernst Jorgensen offered us accustic on the FTD-label during the past years, finds a competent visual complement in the Praytome Publishing releases.So the reader won't wonder, why we are extremely looking forward to the next Praytome Publishing release.

    © 2004 www.collectors-service.de.vu

  • Review on the website www.Elvisbay.come
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    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 chance 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!

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    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

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    Starting with Elvis as an actor in the 60s, you’re taken to the historical ’68 Comeback show. This makes you clear that Elvis was born to rock and not born to act!

    Sure, Elvis was a very successful 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!!

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    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!

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    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!!

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    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:

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    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

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    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.

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    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 fan release 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.

  • Review on the website www.EPGold.com
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    DVD ELVIS ADRENALINE.
    A Review By Andylon Lensen.

    Praytome Publishing released a new interesting product.
    After the release of two volumes of the successful DVD series "Elvis
    Behind The Image" (in association with Bud Glass Productions) they have
    developed a new format:

    ELVIS - ADRENALINE

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    The new documentary supplement a premium DVDs of Elvis Presley. It does not replace the documentary series "Elvis Behind The Image". This DVD contains a documentary about Elvis Presley and the basic changes in his life and career in 1968, 1969 and 1970.

    They have found (again) the original source of incredible Super-8 footage and is transferred for the first time in highly professional quality from the original Super-8 reel.Now, these are the facts, and I have no intention to write that after seeing this DVD "My pants are falling off" or "the heaven opened itself and I saw the light" .

    I rather stick to the details and facts and use some questions from other Elvis Fans who have seen and purchased this DVD. I have gathered here some questions and remarks:

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    The footage is 40 minutes, is it from one concert? Yes, it is almost a complete concert, which is very rare on the Super-8 format!

    The material on this DVD, can you also see this on the TTWII DVD? No, this is completely different material. First of all according to the French mega-collector Jean-Marc Garguilo who filmed this on Super-8 the MGM Crew already left with their material. This is clearly mentioned on the DVD.

    Do we know this 40 minutes almost complete concert? Yes, there are analog Video tapes circulating for many years before. But this footage on VHS cassettes is extremely bad on quality compared with the DVD Adrenaline.

    The Material was never offcially released on DVD or on the video format. The material was circulating only on a trade basis in very bad quality. How come there is so much difference on Quality?

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    This time the original reel was digitally remastered and done at the famous German Bavaria studios. This might ring a bell for European ElvisFans who all know the Series "Derrick". This is one of the biggest movie studios in Europe which where in charge of many international productions like "The Boot" or "The nerverending Story". So, I do not talk about a normal standard transfer which you can get everywhere.

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    There is sound on this footage? The 40 minutes I'd seen on the VHS analog copy,this footage had sound. Yes correct, Jean-Marc Garguilo added Elvis "Live Music" to his silent 8-mm reels from different soundboards because he didn't only want to let the ElvisFans see his silent footage.

    It's not the actual concert that was put under the footage? No, the footage is silent, this footage was filmed in 1970 and the first Super-8 mm film WITH sound was introduced in late 1974...early 1975.

    Is it not possible to add sound to this footage? No, This is not allowed for legal copyright reasons and we probably never will get an official release with sound. Praytome Publishing at least did not use the ringingtone mp3's for the footage and made for this footage professional high quality instrumental songs.

    Is the 30 minutes long, narrated documentary Elvis '70 - "The historic context", interesting? What makes this documentary as a production so special, when you hear "ELVIS HIMSELF" do a part of the narration and talks about his life from the day he was born, till the day he was performing On stage at the International. Which means it's not only a narrated documentary, the soundtrack makes it also special on the background "while Elvis is talking" .... it really gives you the atmosphere you are directly into the specific room with Elvis.

    This is never done before!!! It shows how much the producers took love, care, knowledge and technical wise make this DVD entertaining and interesting as it could be. Yes, the documentary brings you to Elvis's career "right on TOP" where the concert footage was filmed, August 1970 , after the filming of "That's The Way It Is" from MGM.

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    View Elvis as an actor in the 60s, the '68 Comeback show, see and hear Elvis during the recording sessions in the American Sound Studios, Elvis' return to live performances in Las Vegas, how the International Hotel was build, Elvis signing his contract and how Las Vegas looked like in those days. Sensational 30 seconds stunning footage of Elvis's comeback engagement in 1969, unseen in this high quality.

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    Why Barabara Streisand was the first person to premiere at the International and not Elvis?

    Including a footage of Barbara Streisand performing at the Las Vegas International.

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    The documentary is filled with rare and never before seen pics and
    footage from Elvis at the Las Vegas engagement ' 69.

    The "making of" documentary Creation of Dreams


    The almost 6 minutes "Making Of" documentary is for the viewers also quite interesting!!!
    See how super8 reels are digitally transferred, enchanged and remastered at the famous German Bavaria studios.

    The Menu

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    This DVD contains an inter-active menu, Documentary (Elvis-70- The Historic Context) … Pure Adrenaline (Elvis On Stage 1970) … Super 8 mm … Credits

    Conclusion

    The way this DVD is presented, it resemblance the exact specific styling as "That's The Way It Is" release. It starts with the cover, the colors and the credits … it all breaths that same atmopshere. To my knowledge this is the 1st time ever that there is a documentary made on DVD about Elvis's engagement of Las Vegas 1970, filled with new interesting information and details, unknown and rare pictures & footage.

    If anyone would like to have my opinion and/or advise on this DVD "Elvis Adrenaline"

    For the overall Fans this is an extraordanary entertaining DVD. The ElvisFans who are interersted in the '69 - '70's this is a comprehensive and interesting DVD to add to your private collection.

    As for me being an ElvisFan for 43 years and collecting Elvis Super-8 material for many years "I was davistated and shocked " to view this footage from '69 and ' 70's in the best quality I have never seen before in my life and this is a fact!!!! This is a MUST for all die hard ElvisFans who are into collectting Super-8 footage. It certainly gave me an Elvis Adrenaline …

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    proudly presents


    Details

    Company: Praytome Publishing
    Released: 2004
    Total Running Time: 88 Minutes.
    Regionalcode: RC-0 (Codefree)
    TV-Norm: NTSC
    Screen-Format: 4:3 (Full-screen)
    Audio: Englisch (Stereo) AC3 Dolby Digital
    Subtitles: Non
    Bonus: Trailer "Making-Of" Elvis Adrenaline
    Retail Price: Euro 29,95 + tax

    For More Information and to order:
    http://www.praytome-publishing.com

    "The Elvis International Shop" in The Netherlands, has also all other Elvis
    products from the house of Praytome Publishing in stock.

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    © 2004 www.EPGold.com

  • Online-Review from the German Collectors Service
    Adrenaline

    © 2004 www.collectors-service.de.vu

Elvis - Adrenaline - Las Vegas, Nevada - 1970

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Print Media

Elvis - Paternity Suit

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Print Media

  • Review in the German "Elvis Club Berlin" Fanclub Magazine No. 134
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    DVD / Book Review taken from the magazine No. 134 by the German "Elvis Club Berlin"

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the club please use the following website address for more information:

    Elvis Club Berlin e.V.
    c/o Werner Strube
    Postfach 16 02 09
    10338 Berlin

    info@elvisclubberlin.de
    www.elvisclubberlin.de


    Review by Nadine Steffens - Translation by Nadine Schwenk

    Elvis Presley - Paternity Suit

    At the end of 2006 Praytome Publishing released its latest product. This time it was not a book like "Born To Rock", nor a DVD like "Behind The Image". It was a premiere, because this time it was a combination of a book and a DVD.

    Paternity Suit is not a common DVD either, or a book with a lot of pictures and very tense stories. Praytome Publishing reveals background information on a topic which was totally ignored until now. It is about the paternity suit Elvis was confronted with in 1970. I never would have thought, that it is possible to do a complete book - or in this case even a complete book and a DVD - on this topic. I was wrong.

    The whole case lasted for more than 6 years in Elvis's life and was not such a small thing as most people thought. To write down the complete story of the book, would be too much. Shortly about the content: In 1970 a young woman named Patricia Parker visited the Elvis Opening Night on January 26th. She somehow managed it to go backstage and get a picture with Elvis. This picture was later the only evidence, the two of them ever met.

    According to her statement Elvis invited her to his suite and seduced her, shortly after that she noticed that she was pregnant. During the seventh month of her pregnancy she assigned the famous lawyer Paul Caruso to her case. This should be the beginning of a 6 year fight if Elvis was the bodily father of the child or not.

    A lot of background information is mentioned here for the first time, as for example, that they ambushed Elvis shortly before his concert on November 14th 1970, to serve him the court papers. I also didn't know that after Patricia Parker Elvis only allowed photos with his fans, when one of his bodyguards stood in the background. This was a safety measure , so nobody could later claim she was alone with Elvis and to avoid further freeloaders. But these are not the only things you learn in this DVD. If you think back and see the lots of covers of the yellow press you can understand why Elvis talked so bad about the press (TV gossip magazine) in the famous Desert Storm concert. He made it public so that certain persons (maids among others) who had spread rumors about him, noticed that he was very well aware of it. Knowing that, I see this concerts differently than before.

    What fascinates me about the book is that everything that is written in it is proved with court documents and/or pictures. Blood tests, polygraph tests, even the envolvement of a former NBC employee, who had worked on the 68 Comeback Special, you get everything and it is no fiction.

    Praytome Publishing managed it once more to do a detailed research and to come up with results based on facts, instead of repeating the common lies and rumors, as it is unfortunately done so often. I am amazed of the professionalism and the will to report about facts instead of legends. In addition you get great candids (the famous hidden camera pictures) and never before heard audio comments of Elvis himself.

    The book is correspondingly thick and the quality of the paper is outstanding. No fingerprints remain on the pages. The combination is very succesful. What I also liked was the fact that the DVD included for the first time German subtitles. This is important for this kind of material, because not everybody can speak English. I would recommend this combination to every fan who is interested in Elvis as a private person. In my opinion it belongs to the household of every fan. To the ones saying "I'm only interested in the musician" : this case has also accompanied Elvis on stage.

    And last but not least: I have also friends that are not Elvis fans. They have watched the DVD as interested as I did. So it is not only for die-hard fans.

    Elvis Club Berlin - Review 1
    Elvis Club Berlin - Review 2
    Elvis Club Berlin - Review 3

    © 2007 by Elvis Club Berlin

  • Advertisement in the German "Graceland" Magazine No. 173
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    Book/DVD-Advertisement taken from the "Graceland" Magazine No. 173 (March/April 2007) of the German "Elvis Presley Society"

    If you are interested in a membership or want to get in contact with the club please use the following website for more information: www.EPG-ev.de

    Graceland Magazine - Advertisement

    © 2007 by Elvis Presley Gesellschaft

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