Kindle Edition
Amazon
http://tinyurl.com/mhyaouz
Category:
Biography
Publisher: Beats & Measures Press LLC
ISBN-10: 1500320072
Type: Non-Fiction
Pages: 320
Copyright: May 1, 2014
ISBN-13: 9781500320072
Price: $19.95 (eBook)
A fresh look at Elvis Presley's 20-year career through the unique lens of television. Only television captured the King at each crucial moment in his career, from start to finish, and also left us the largest body of Presley performance footage.
Based on more than a decade of research, dozens of fresh interviews, and hours of viewing television and other footage, Channeling Elvis; How Television Saved the King of Rock 'n' Roll takes a long-needed close-up look at Elvis Presley's career through the unique lens of television and reveals the role it played in his success. Only television captured the full arc of the King's career, from his first steps onto the national stage in 1956, to his long anticipated return from the army, his breakout from a stale movie career, his return to the concert stage and, finally, to his sad exit in 1977t; television captured it all. Television also provides us the single largest body of footage of Elvis performing live, the role he most cherished.
Excerpt
Someone in the audience shouted for “Moody Blue” and Elvis promised to do it, but said there was something else he must do first. Making his way to the piano, he said, “This is . . . an old song called ‘Unchained Melody.’ I don’t know all the chords, so if you hear me get my fingers caught in the keys back here you’ll know what it is. ‘Unchained Melody,’ from an album called Unchained Melody. Makes a lot of sense.” After a long pause, another swig of water, and a brief silence, he quipped, “How do you like it so far?” which elicited enthusiastic applause. Despite the lagging, comic introduction, Elvis turned in one of the most memorable moments of his later career. “Unchained Melody” was not a great performance, and Elvis strained for breath at times, sweated profusely, struggled to hit some notes, and had to employ every ounce of strength he had to bring it to a powerful ending. It was late in the evening, and he was clearly tired, but he poured everything he had left into the song, showing the degree of effort that had once made him great, even though the result was a far cry from that greatness. The camera fixed tightly on his face, bathed in sweat, then cut to several women watching him intently from the audience. When he finished, the place erupted into the loudest and most sustained applause of the evening. He rose from the piano smiling, clearly delighted to have brought it off. It was not the Elvis of old, but it was all that Elvis had left.
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