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Released back in August, this official EPE sanctioned EMI released DVD promises a lot... The cover states…. "Mention "Love Me Tender" and a hundred images spring to mind. The same can be said for Elvis’ many other songs of romance. Elvis and his love songs had remained an unexplored area of Elvis’ remarkable career. Now, "Love Me Tender…The Love Songs Of Elvis Presley" tells the warm story of the tender side of the King of Rock and Roll. Narrated by Ashley Judd, "Love Me Tender" is Elvis as you’ve never seen him." Obviously a very mainstream release, the DVD is an incredibly superficial look at Elvis’ "tender side" – not one Elvis girlfriend is featured or mentioned and unfortunately it doesn’t deliver anything that we haven’t seen before. But having said that, it’s not all bad! A compilation of Elvis kissing his fans through the years works as a very nice introduction to the DVD before narrator Ashley Judd begins. As a positive Ashley Judd has been given a script full of interesting titbits of information, about every song and era, which helps keep the narrative entertaining. However some of her comments are excruciating cliched and totally superfluous, ie... "It seems as if Elvis Presley’s entire life and career were one big love song." and… "Elvis always had love to give and he showed it over and over." and.. "Everyone knows the myths about Elvis but not everyone knows the depths of his feelings." I also spent a lot of the 90 minutes waiting for those Elvis-loved girlfriends such as Dixie Locke or Linda Thompson or even Priscilla to appear to add some real emotional content but sadly they don’t. And where is Sheila Ryan when the stunning Elvis comment "C’mon over here Sheila and let me sing to you" comment could have been perfectly used intro-ing the lesser-known "And I Love You So"? The DVD features 22 chapters selecting 20 Elvis love songs starting with ‘I Want You, I Need You, I Love You’ from the Steve Allen Show and going through to ‘I’ll Remember You’ from Aloha. The DVD also uses interviews from Joe Moscheo, Ed Enoch and Myrna Smith with Jordanaire Gordon Stoker making the majority of the insightful comments. Listening to him talk about recordings sessions and times with Elvis (Trying to sing after a studio break for Elvis favourite hamburgers!) is delightful. For serious fans that have bought the recent Aloha, Ed Sullivan and other official DVD releases perhaps the disappointment will be the quality of the clips used in this compilation. ‘The Wonder Of You’ from TTWII is a terrible copy and the Frank Sinatra, Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan, even the Aloha clips, all should have been better quality. (Where is EPE’s Andrew Solt when you need him?) The MOVIE clips that are used however are in fact all in fine quality. Other major annoyances are the fade-out of ‘Always On My Mind’ (which only uses a photo-compilation) and on a couple of songs Ashley Judd is even allowed to narrate over Elvis’ singing!
I would have enjoyed more clips from Elvis’ sixties movies over the five that are used. The use of ‘I’m falling In Love Tonight’ only helps emphasise the stupidity of Elvis travelogues - as Elvis burst into song in a revolving restaurant! Other gems such as ‘I Need Somebody to Lean On’ and ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is’ would have been wonderful additions.
In an amazing stumble the script tells us that ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’ was recorded at a "marathon three day recording session in Honolulu in March 1961"! Now where on earth did they get that fact from? It is certainly not any book that I have read since the Blue Hawaii soundtrack was recorded in Radio Recorders, Hollywood. But the use of the stunning ‘Comeback Special’ ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’ version saves them in this instance. The TTWII clips are as magic as always – just a shame they used low-quality versions over 2000 released upgrade – and where is the sadly-absent ‘I Just Can’t Help Believing’?
I also realised that while the various stories and titbits of information about Elvis’ legacy were a bearable narrative, the DVD in fact told me NOTHING about this "unexplored area of Elvis’ remarkable career." Why did Elvis love the women and fans that he loved and why did he love recording ballads? It’s never really explained. The Bonus Interviews that follow run 35 minutes and again Gordon Stoker and Joe Moscheo are a joy to listen to. Similarly Myrna Smith takes a strong stand noting that Elvis was positively anti-racist which is great to see. Three short commercials for Graceland are also included. Also note that despite the DVD stating that it is in 5.1 surround that is not true. The genuine 5.1 audio clips of TTWII and Aloha are not used and a fake surround format is used throughout instead.
Review by Piers Beagley Click to comment on this review Available in the US for US$18 from Amazon
1. "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" (STEVE ALLEN SHOW)
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