Search - Elvis Presley :: Elvis: Close Up

Unsurprising but solid close up on Elvis

Marc Haegeman | Gent, Belgium | 07/01/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Following last year's release of the "Today, Tomorrow & Forever" box, RCA/BMG Heritage strikes again with yet another classy 4 CD-box, containing nothing less than 89 tracks of unreleased Elvis Presley material. "Close Up" is definitely less ambitious than its predecessor, which aimed to cover the whole of Elvis' career, but focuses on some more or less interesting periods from the King's cornucopian recorded legacy. Disc # 1 features 20 songs from 1957, mostly taken from the "Loving You" and "Jailhouse Rock" sessions, released here in primitive (binaural) stereo. Since "The Essential Elvis, Vol. 2, 1957" these takes no longer contain any surprises, even if all the material Elvis recorded then is rock solid. Some masters can be heard now in stereo ("Is It So Strange", "Blueberry Hill", "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You", "Jailhouse Rock"), but I doubt whether these reveal anything more about the songs. They were great as they were. The outtakes released here are fascinating stuff, though (especially "Treat Me Nice", and more takes of "Young and Beautiful" and "Loving You"). Disc # 2 has 25 outtakes from Elvis' early `60s movies "G.I. Blues", "Flaming Star", "Wild In The Country", and "Blue Hawaii". Even if the material is not always of the highest order, Elvis' voice was superb in those years (the songs for "Wild In The Country" are particularly appealing) and this disc gives further insight in the "live-in-the-studio" recording manner which Elvis continued to uphold, with sometimes endless takes until the final "perfect" cut was nailed down. Disc # 3 is to my mind the most interesting of the box with 21 outtakes from the ever outstanding Nashville studio sessions, covering the period from 1960 to 1968. Like some of the releases in the "Follow That Dream" collector's label ("Long Lonely Highway", "Fame And Fortune", and most recently "Studio B") this disc browses through some of Elvis' most distinguished recordings of his career. >From the opening take 1 of "Make Me Know It" by way of the hits "Surrender", "His Latest Flame" and "Ask Me" to the closing "U.S. Male" almost eight years later, this is required listening for anyone interested in sixties rock, country, pop and gospel. Disc # 4 presents the complete concert recorded on April 18, 1972 in San Antonio, Texas, parts of which have been used in the 1972 "Elvis On Tour" rockumentary, sadly, totally overlooked last year. The sound quality and the present mix are top notch. (What are you waiting for RCA/BMG to release the other taped concerts?) It is a pretty straightforward, if none too surprising concert (repertoire-wise), yet with Elvis in good spirits and good voice, virtually bringing the house down. The hysteria the man could still generate, as witnessed by this concert, is quite thrilling. Great versions of "Suspicious Minds", and of the new songs "For The Good Times" and "Burning Love". "Close Up" is presented on four differently coloured discs, linked to the four chapters in the 48-page book, with excellent liner notes by Colin Escott. It contains a good selection of photos and among others useful introductions of the leading Nashville studio musicians of the sixties. Guitarists like Hank Garland, Jerry Kennedy, Grady Martin, Chip Young, and pianist Floyd Cramer, previously remained mostly uncredited, but nonetheless helped to shape Elvis' music for one of the longest periods of his career. Running between 49 and 66 minutes the 4 CDs are not exactly over-generous, but all songs are presented in excellent sound quality. Even if "Close Up" doesn't hold any more surprises or real revelations (but then again, who could expect any more after all these years?), anyone interested in Elvis' recorded legacy, indeed the most remarkable and influential in popular music, doesn't need to hesitate."

Totally Unnecessary Barrel Scraping

T. Schmidt | Mansfield TX USA | 08/01/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

"There were signs of trouble last year when BMG released the "companion" box set to -Elvis: Close Up-, -Elvis: Today, Tomorrow, & Forever-. While not a bad compilation by any means, it really didn't come across as revelatory or overly-necessary. This latest release, however, is a blatant slap in the face to fans of the King.Disc One is hyped as containing unreleased stereo masters from the 50s. In reality, the tracks are primitive binaural mixes of songs from his first gospel album and the movies "Jailhouse Rock" and "Loving You". In addition, these are not and were never intended to be master recordings. They were backups recorded on a two-track machines. Most egregious is the inclusion of 3 versions of "Young and Beautiful", 2 versions of "I Want to Be Free", 2 versions of "Treat Me Nice", 2 versions of "Loving You", and 2 versions of "Don't Leave Me Now" (none of which were exactly standouts in Elvis' recording career). In all, disc one boasts only 14 actual songs.Disc Two "treats" the listener to 25 alternate versions of songs from Elvis' first 4 post-army films. While not really bad, there is nothing here that's particularly memorable. One should check out the 2-CD -Command Performances- for better renditions of his 60's movie songs.Disc Three, the strongest of the four, contains highlights from Elvis' Nashville sessions of 1960-1967. Unfortunately, the best outtakes from this era are available elsewhere (Disc 5 of the stunning -From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential 60s Masters I- box set and the criminally out-of-print -Such a Night: The Essential Elvis, Vol. 6-). Highlights include the bouncy "Make Me Know It" as well as "Marie's the Name" and the pre-comeback "U.S. Male"Disc 4 consists of a complete 1972 performance from San Antonio, Texas, excerpts of which were included in the film "Elvis on Tour". Unfortunately, this was not a particularly good night for Elvis. He sounds tired, distracted, and not a little bored. Much better examples of Elvis live in '72 can be found on the exciting -An Afternoon at the Garden- and the -Burning Love- compilation. There is one stunning exception, however. Towards the end of the show, Elvis launches into a rough-and-tumble version of "Burnin' Love", which at the time of this concert had yet to be released. Other than that, there's nothing remotely memorable here.On the plus side, the entire box boasts crystal clear sound and well-written, thorough liner notes. That is not enough, however, to hide the fact that, with this release, BMG has begun a slide into a level of blatant Elvis exploitation not seen since the late '70s. Pass this one up."

Hup, 2, 3, 4!

Johnny Heering | Bethel, CT United States | 09/05/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Another year, another Elvis box set. Unlike last year's box, which tried to give an overview of Elvis' entire career, this one concentrates on four distinct aspects of the King's career.



Disc one contains binaural (two-track) recordings from the '50s. These are great performances, you can't go wrong with Elvis in the '50s. Of course, most of these performances have been released before, but it is interesting to hear them in stereo, albeit primative stereo.



Disc two contains alternate takes of songs from his first four post-Army films. A lot of negative things have been said about Elvis' soundtrack recordings, and rightly so. However, the soundtracks for these four films weren't that bad (the worst was yet to come). Sure, there were some corny songs like "Big Boots" and "Slicin' Sand", but at least Elvis seemed to be having fun. These tracks are a lot of fun to hear.



Disc three contains alternate takes of songs recorded in Nashville in the 1960s. To my mind, Elvis' '60s Nashville recordings are perhaps his most underrated recordings. Here we have alternate versions of great hits like "Surrender", "His Latest Flame" and "U.S. Male", some of his classic gospel songs, and great album tracks like "The Girl of My Best Friend" and "Night Rider". This disc is a treat from start to finish.



Disc four features a complete concert from 1972. This was recorded for the feature film Elvis on Tour. Elvis seems to be in pretty good spirits on this night. At least he doesn't sound as bored as he did at the Madison Square Garden concert from around the same time. Elvis concerts tended to have a sameness to them, and this one doesn't have very many surprises to it, other than his then current single "Until It's Time For You To Go" and an early version of the yet to be released "Burning Love". This is probably the most uninteresting disc in the box.



Overall, how much you like this box set depends on how much you like Elvis. If you can't get enough of him (like me), you should get it. If you are just a casual fan of the King, this isn't a vital purchase."