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