Product Details

• Actors: Elvis Presley
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Eagle Eye/Pioneer
• DVD Release Date: February 12, 2002
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005UBKE
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #55,419 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  #26 in	Movies & TV > Music Video & Concerts > Series > Classic Albums
  #96 in	Movies & TV > Music Video & Concerts > Artists > Presley, Elvis

• This item is part of The Classic Albums Series.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

"It was like the world went from black & white to Technicolor," says Keith Richards of the emergence of Elvis Presley in the mid-'50s, and this look at the King's first official album (the legendary Sun Sessions weren't issued in album form until well after the fact) backs up that claim. The one-hour program (plus 40 minutes of bonus interview material on the DVD) combines performance footage (the early TV shows are not to be missed), photos, and more to limn Presley's early days, when he combined country, blues, and R&B to forge a unique, galvanizing style. Sun producer Sam Phillips, author Peter Guralnick, Presley's musicians, and others are on hand to provide insight and background. But in the end, of course, it comes down to the music--and when you're talking about the likes of "Blue Suede Shoes," "Tutti Frutti," "Money Honey," and "Heartbreak Hotel" (a single that actually wasn't on the album), "classic" hardly begins to cover it. --Sam Graham

From the Back Cover

This film tells the unusual story that lies behind the making of Elvis Presley's first album for RCA Records, in 1956, and his meteoric rise to superstardom.

In Memphis, Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records, gives the inside story of those groundbreaking days when he auditioned, produced, and befriended Elvis. Scotty Moore (guitar) and D.J. Fontana (drums) describe how they helped Elvis record the album in Nashville and New York, aiming for "feel, not perfection." They recall, with rare home movie footage, how they toured 400 miles a day in Elvis's Pink Cadillac, rehearsing the songs that Elvis would immortalize in that first album. Dixie Locke, then Elvis's steady girlfriend, describes how shy, mercurial, and glamorous the young Elvis appeared, and how he coped with his newfound stardom. Record producer/historian Ernst Jorgensen and biographer Peter Guralnick describe the shock impact of 20-year-old Elvis and the astonishing simplicty of this album's execution. Musicians B.B. King and Keith Richards tell us what made Elvis the King of Rock 'n' Roll.

The film is filled with performances from '55 and '56, interviews with Elvis, and rare home movie footage of him at play and work, offering fresh insights into his life and his recordings. Featured songs include "Blue Suede Shoes," "Shake Rattle and Roll," "Tutti Frutti," "Money Honey," and Elvis's first million-seller "Heartbreak Hotel," and songs from his early Sun sessions: "Mystery Train," "Baby Let's Play House," and "That's All Right." Elvis Presley is a record that changed forever the look and sound of popular music, a truly Classic Album. 100 minutes.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The bopping hillbilly, November 29, 2003

By	Ring of iceman (Cape Town,South Africa) - See all my reviews

This is a truly great dvd for those interested in how Presley recorded that classic early sound and more specifically his epic first R.C.A album (which The Clash later paid homage to by copying the lettering for their most revered masterpiece, London Calling)and the effect that these recordings had on so many.It also gives us a view of the hurricane that Elvis created when he exploded on the scene.What is refreshing are interviews from other famous musicians and music aficionadas like Keith Richards and Peter Guaralnick(author of Last train to Memphis) as opposed to "those who were close to him" which are often very subjective.There is also some rare footage of Elvis in concert in 1954.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Later Edition "Classic"., March 17, 2002

By	plsilverman (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Classic Albums - Elvis Presley: Elvis Presley [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Maybe somewhere along the way they filmed somebody explaining to the viewer that they are *apparently* discussing the *reissue* of Elvis Presley's first album - it contained five additional songs. With that explanation, the viewer used to the original twelve track edition isn't confused. Whatever hit the editing room floor, the results are still top notch: the interviews are expertly conducted and provide fascinating details for diehards and casual fans.
Ofcourse many have wondered why the first album for RCA's biggest star would contain leftovers from his C & W past, in fact, cuts which on their own could not have supported Presley's global success. Unfortunately, this tape does not really address that question, the answer to which is rather obvious - before Rock and Roll, albums were not, as in later decades, the primary money makers for the company, so perhaps it was felt that if a teenager could afford the album and the single (and the Extended Play?) then the tentative Country ballad "I Love You Because and the innocuous uptempo "Just Because" would loom as worth-hearing but not essential material. To put it simply, hit singles (i.e. "Heartbreak Hotel") and contemporaneous hit albums ("Elvis Presley") were essentially two separate entities.
There are some amazing segments here, most notably *previously unreleased* 1956 television footage and recording studio outtakes on "Shake, Rattle, and Roll". The tape closes with a rare 1956 narrative beautifully delivered by the star.
One "missing" piece: a reported audio interview with Elvis conducted in New York around 04-56 in which he is asked if he actually likes his first album and he responds that he is pleased with about half of it and thinks "One-Sided Love Affair" is a standout.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The history of this man in this classical dvd, June 16, 2002

By	Daniel Sarti (Sao Paulo, Brazil) - See all my reviews

The one-hour program (plus 40 minutes of bonus interview material on the DVD) combines performance footage (the early TV shows are not to be missed), photos, and more to limn Presley's early days, when he combined country, blues, and R&B to forge a unique, galvanizing style.1956 was the year of Elvis in my opinion, all the rockstar make history in rock and roll but "The King" is elevated the rules of rock in 50's.This dvd provides this