ELVIS PRESLEY > Elvis on Elvis

Neither a comprehensive documentary nor a particularly exciting collection of footage and interviews, Elvis on Elvis will fail to excite either general fans or devotees. The general fans will be disappointed to find that much of the rare footage is comprised of silent, home-movie type clips, and much of the soundtrack of rather dull and depressing onstage Presley raps (including an infamous self-damning one where he defends himself against accusations of being “strung out”).

Videos by American Songwriter

Label: WELL GO
[RATING: 1]

Neither a comprehensive documentary nor a particularly exciting collection of footage and interviews, Elvis on Elvis will fail to excite either general fans or devotees. The general fans will be disappointed to find that much of the rare footage is comprised of silent, home-movie type clips, and much of the soundtrack of rather dull and depressing onstage Presley raps (including an infamous self-damning one where he defends himself against accusations of being “strung out”). Elvis obsessives will likely already be familiar with much of the information (obscure or otherwise) covered, and the only genuinely exciting live performance scenes-all from early, pre-Army TV programs-have all been in circulation for a while (most notably on Rhino’s three-volume The Great Performances series). Interviews with some of his Memphis retinue and army buddies offer little in the way of insight or even revelatory dirt, and his hairdresser’s account of working on the freshly-dead Elvis’s coloring skirts the unnecessarily gruesome. The bonus feature of Presley working on his karate moves onstage is especially cruel and unusual punishment.

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