Elvis Presley (View Discography)

Release Info

The King of Rock & Roll's 1968 Christmas television special and corresponding LP needed no other title than ELVIS (emblazoned in letters as tall as the record itself), but it became enshrined as "The '68 Comeback Special." During the late '60s, several years removed from live performance of any kind, Elvis had become something previously unimaginable: safe. His recorded output and material were strictly controlled to maximize profits, his appearances were limited to movie theaters, and only his friends saw the uninhibited rebel that had shocked America during the mid-'50s. But when Presley and Colonel Tom Parker agreed to record a Christmas television special to be directed and co-produced by Steve Binder, it became the catalyst for a comeback. Binder's previous involvement in television (the widely respected T.A.M.I. Show and Hullabaloo) had proved that he understood the best way to present rock music in a television context. On the eve of recording, Binder and his tested crew were on track to produce an excellent show (with dramatic and thematic set pieces tied to Elvis' performances), but it was Binder's chance witnessing of an informal after-hours jam in Elvis' dressing room that transformed a sturdy television vehicle into one of the signal moments in Elvis' career. Binder proposed that Elvis perform part of his special in an informal sit-down jam session, spending time reflecting on the Elvis sensation of the late '50s while he performed some of his old favorites with a group of friends. Although initial reception to the idea was lukewarm (from the Colonel especially), Elvis finally agreed and, with only a few days before taping, invited two of his earliest bandmates, Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana, to join him.
Although he exhibited more nerves than he ever had in the past -- a combination of the importance this chance obviously presented plus the large gap between the psychedelic music culture of 1968 and the rather quaint rock & roll of ten years earlier -- Elvis delivered an incredible performance throughout the television special. His vocal performances were loose and gutsy, and his repartee was both self-deprecating and sarcastic about his early days as well as his moribund film career ("There's something wrong with my lip!...I got news for you baby, I did 29 pictures like that"). He was uninhibited and utterly unsafe, showing the first inkling in ten years that life and spirit were still left in music's biggest artistic property. The resulting LP, NBC-TV Special, combined sit-down and stand-up segments, but probably over-compensated on the stand-up segments. Several previous RCA compilations (Memories: The '68 Comeback Special and Tiger Man) issued more of the sit-down shows, but for the 40th anniversary of its recording, RCA released The Complete '68 Comeback Special, a lavish four-disc box set. It collects the original LP plus bonus tracks on the first disc, then presents Elvis' complete performances of the two sit-down shows and two stand-up shows on two successive discs. A fourth disc includes earlier rehearsals for the special that find Elvis incredibly loose and joking with friends as well as the audience. Although four discs centering on a single show verge on overkill for any but the most enthusiastic fans, what impresses about The Complete '68 Comeback Special is how much it prefigures the rest of Elvis' career. Dramatic, intense, driven, and earthy, frequently moving but not without the occasional cloying note, Elvis during the '70s was the apotheosis of rock music, a righteous blend of rock and soul, gospel and pop, blues and country. ~ John Bush

Tracks

1. Trouble/Guitar Man
2. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy/Baby, What You Want Me To Do/Heartbreak Hotel/Hound Dog/All Shook Up/Can't Help F
3. Where Could I Go But To The Lord/Up Above My Head/Saved
4. Blue Christmas/One Night
5. Memories
6. Nothingville/Big Boss Man/Guitar Man/Little Egypt/Trouble/Guitar Man
7. If I Can Dream
8. It Hurts Me
9. Let Yourself Go
10. A Little Less Conversation
11. Memories
12. If I Can Dream

1. Introductions
2. That's All Right
3. Heartbreak Hotel
4. Love Me
5. Baby, What You Want Me To Do
6. Blue Suede Shoes
7. Baby, What You Want Me To Do
8. Lawdy Miss Clawdy
9. Are You Lonesome Tonight?
10. When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again
11. Blue Christmas
12. Trying To Get To You
13. One Night
14. Baby, What You Want Me To Do
15. One Night
16. Memories
17. Heartbreak Hotel
18. Hound Dog
19. All Shook Up
20. Can't Help Falling In Love
21. Jailhouse Rock
22. Don't Be Cruel
23. Blue Suede Shoes
24. Love Me Tender
25. Trouble
26. Baby, What You Want Me To Do
27. If I Can Dream

1. Heartbreak Hotel 8
2. Baby, What You Want Me To Do
3. Introductions
4. That's All Right
5. Are You Lonesome Tonight?
6. Baby, What You Want Me To Do
7. Blue Suede Shoes
8. One Night
9. Love Me
10. Trying To Get To You
11. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy
12. Santa Claus Is Back In Town
13. Blue Christmas
14. Tiger Man
15. When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again
16. Memories
17. Heartbreak Hotel
18. Hound Dog
19. All Shook Up
20. Can't Help Falling In Love
21. Jailhouse Rock
22. Don't Be Cruel
23. Blue Suede Shoes
24. Love Me Tender
25. Trouble/Guitar Man
26. Trouble/Guitar Man
27. If I Can Dream

1. I Got A Woman
2. Blue Moon/Young Love/Oh, Happy Day
3. When It Rains It Really Pours
4. Blue Christmas
5. Are You Lonesome Tonight?/That's My Desire
6. That's When Your Heartaches Begin
7. Peter Gunn Theme
8. Love Me
9. When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again
10. Blue Christmas/Santa Claus Is Back In Town
11. Danny Boy
12. Baby, What You Want Me To Do
13. Love Me
14. Tiger Man
15. Santa Claus Is Back In Town
16. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy
17. One Night
18. Blue Christmas
19. Baby, What You Want Me To Do
20. When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again
21. Blue Moon Of Kentucky