Elvis: The Great Performances

Those hips, those eyes. Elvis the Pelvis. The man with the gyrating torso, the patented sneer, and a ton of posthumous cover shots on such respected titles as the Weekly World News (not everyone agrees that the King truly left the building in 1977). Originally shown on TV, Elvis: The Great Performances covers the years 1953-1977, and includes 20 minutes of "never before seen" footage and generous samples from 23 songs. Narrated by Priscilla Presley as she takes viewers around Graceland, the program traces the basic facts of Elvis's career and includes many wonderful clips (including an early screen test of Elvis performing "Blue Suede Shoes;" the legendary performance on The Milton Berle Show in 1956, which earned Berle 700,000 pieces of "pan" mail; and "Jailhouse Rock," credited here as being the world's first music video). Keeping in mind that this is pure rock ‘n roll (no sex or drugs or guns) bracketed by bio-lite segments, Elvis: The Great Performances is sure to be a popular addition, and it is recommended on the strength of its wonderful clips not its surface portrait. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)