| Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special |
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''Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special'' is a 1968 United States Television Special starring Elvis Presley . It was directed by Steve Binder and produced by Binder plus Bones Howe and Phil Spector . Sponsored by the Singer Sewing Machine Company , it aired on December 3 , 1968 with the title '''''Elvis''''' on the NBC television network. Since the special was scheduled to be broadcast during the Christmas season, Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker , wanted the show to be little more than Elvis singing Christmas carols. Binder argued that the special needed to reestablish Elvis as a going musical concern after years of formula movies and moderately successful recordings. As part of the program, four one hour shows - 2 sit down with band mates and 2 stand up singing to a re-recorded track - were taped at the NBC studios. These sessions are known as the Burbank Sessions. The musicians were:
Filmed in the round before a live audience (Presley's first live performances since 1961), only a small portion of this was included in the televised special. Presley and the others sat on chairs, playing and singing while interjecting personal stories of his music and early performances. Referring to his religious upbringing, in this segment Presley says: "Rock and Roll is basically gospel (music), or Rhythm & Blues (is too). It sprang from that, people have been adding to it." The stand-up shows featured Presley performing by himself on a lit stage surrounded by admiring fans, backed by an unseen live band and also singing to a backing track on a few numbers that were intended to be integrated into other parts of the show. Also incorporated into the show was an extravagant musical number featuring Gospel music, and a "mini-movie" centered around the song "Guitar Man". Network censors forced the removal of one segment set in a Bordello . The special ends with Presley appealing for world peace with the song "If I Can Dream", one of the few protest songs he ever recorded. An enormous success, the show was the highest-rated television special of the year. It is widely credited with revitalizing Elvis's career, considered by many to be artistically fallow since his return from the Army and the subsequent Beatles invasion. The dominant image of the special is of a toned Presley in a black leather outfit. Two versions of the special were initially aired by NBC. The first included Presley singing " Blue Christmas " -- the only seasonal song Binder agreed to use. When the special was rebroadcast the following summer, this was replaced with a performance of "Tiger Man". In 1984, one of the sit down sessions was released uncut and unedited session was released by Media Home Entertainment, Inc. in its entirety on a 53 minute video as '' Elvis--One Night With You '' while RCA Video Productions made a 42 minute version for television. An album is available as well. The original special itself has also been made available both to television and to home video. The reissued version restores the censored musical numbers from the "Guitar Man" segment, and features both "Blue Christmas" and "Tiger Man". In 2004 , RCA issued a deluxe DVD release containing every scrap of video footage still in existence from the making of the special, including bloopers, alternate performances, and complete and unedited versions of the four Burbank shows. A number of songs were recorded for the special but not used. One of these was a re-recording of " A Little Less Conversation ", a track from Presley's then-current film release, '' Live A Little, Love A Little ''. This version wouldn't be released for many years, and in 2002 the vocal track from this recording was used as the basis for a popular remixed version of the song, giving Presley his 2nd posthumous #1 hit in Britain (he has now added an additional three, making it a total of 21 times he`s been at the top of the British charts, more than anyone in UK chart history). The re mix reached #1 in an additional 20 countries, and was added, at the last minute, to the 3X Platinum album "Elvis 30#1 hits", which has sold 9 million copies worldwide. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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