Elvis Aloha From Hawaii : Deluxe Edition

It seems that if producers, the Presley estate, and probably most fans had their way, there were would be enough Elvis Presley video material around to allow one to watch a different feature or performance document for every day of the year. The Deluxe Edition of Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii, when paired with the Deluxe Edition of Elvis: '68 Comeback Special, go toward that goal (taking care of three days of good viewing, actually), pairing the complete January 14, 1973 concert that was the basis for the NBC special (broadcast almost three months later), the January 12 rehearsal concert (often referred to as "The Alternate Aloha") on one disc; and the NBC special itself on the second disc. The January 14 show remains genuinely exciting 31 years later, and the camera moves and live editing show the value of the rehearsal show; the latter is clunkier, obviously, as the participants were working out what they would actually be doing, but it is a whole additional Elvis Presley show, so it's difficult to complain of its existence or presence here. The broadcast version is a good piece of marketing, nicely put together and smoothly executed -- by contrast, the un-edited version of Elvis greeting his fans seems bizarre at times, in its efforts at generating spontaneity and excitement for the cameras. Each disc opens to a menu that works in two layers, offering a "Play All" function (which should be skipped) and individual selections, and a separate layer of song selections, relevant to each section. The color is bright and the detail is sharp throughout, and the audio is good and loud, as well as crisp -- on the other hand, comparing this NBC special as represented here (assuming that's all one is interested in) with the old Lightyear DVD from the end of the 1990s, it's difficult to say that there's a significant difference in quality between the two. The BMG Heritage double-disc set offers a lot more than just the special, but one can't say that anyone who only wants to watch the broadcast special should upgrade. As for the rest of us, it's a good example of total-immersion-Elvis, and slots in beautifully with the various special editions of his albums on CD and the various boxed sets on the rock & roll legend. ~ Bruce Eder