The Elvis Beat Newsletter

The long wait ends: Elvis’ 70s MASTERS arrives [The Elvis Beat newsletter]

/ TY

I was 20 when I wrote this article back in 1995 for The Elvis Beat #13, my official Elvis Presley Fan Club newsletter.

A little late, Elvis’ new boxed set hit the stores on October 10. The 5-CD release from RCA is titled ELVIS: Walk A Mile In My Shoes – The Essential 70s Masters. The set contains 26 previously unreleased tracks, including seven new songs.

The Essential 70s Masters features 120 tracks in all, many of which have never been available on CD. An accompanying 94-page booklet contains many rare photographs as well as liner notes by Dave Marsh. A sheet of stamps depicting some of Elvis’ LP album covers from the period is also in the boxed set. Each of the 5 CDs is pressed with a different photograph of Elvis on the top.

Discs 1 and 2 contain all of Elvis’ 1970s singles, with the exception of those released after his death. Discs 3 and 4 contain other studio highlights of the era. Disc 4 is devoted to a sampling of his 1970s concert performances and rehearsal tracks.

Among the previously unreleased tracks are studio versions of “My Way” and “For The Good Times,” prior releases of which had been concert recordings.

The “new” songs never before released by Elvis in any form are:

  • A Hundred Years From Now
  • Lady Madonna
  • I Shall Be Released
  • It’s Diff’rent Now
  • The Twelfth Of Never
  • Alla’ En El “Rancho Grande”
  • Froggy Went A Courtin’

All of the new songs are either informal jams or rehearsals.

With the releases of ELVIS: The King Of Rock ‘n’ Roll – The Complete 50s Masters in 1992 and ELVIS: From Nashville To Memphis – The Essential 60s Masters I in 1993, many fans anticipated seeing the 70s set last year. Instead, the 2-CD Elvis Presley: Amazing Grace – His Greatest Sacred Performances collection was released and The Essential 70s Masters was pushed back a year.

This year, RCA originally scheduled the 70s set’s release to be September 12 – which was soon moved to September 26. When the release date was changed once again, this time to October 10, many fans undoubtedly wondered if it would ever be released.

On the tenth of October, what seemed like the “Twelfth Of Never” was finally here.

According to posts to an Elvis newsgroup on the Internet, Roger Semon of RCA states the next big Elvis project will be a boxed set for his legendary 1968 ELVIS “comeback” television special.

Elvis takes his place at new Rock Hall [The Elvis Beat newsletter]

/ TY

I was 20 when I wrote this article back in 1995 for The Elvis Beat #12, my official Elvis Presley Fan Club newsletter.

On Labor Day Weekend, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame & Museum will finally be opening. Although there have been annual inductions into the “hall” as a concept since 1986, the physical building itself has been plagued by delays.

Elvis will be prominent in many of the exhibits, and an entire section of the museum will be devoted to his 1968 ELVIS television special.

To complement clips from the show, which has become known as ELVIS: ’68 Comeback Special, some key items will be on display. An article in Graceland Express said, “Graceland presented to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame the black leather suit Elvis wore in the special, along with his gold album award for the soundtrack, his personal scrapbook and script from the production, and his 1960 Gibson J-200 guitar which was one of several he played in the show.” The items are considered “on loan” to the museum.

Rock fashions will be featured in another section of the museum, for which Graceland loaned a jumpsuit worn in his 1970 documentary Elvis: That’s The Way It Is.

The items “are the most valuable that have ever left Graceland’s archive for any extended length of time. . . . The sacrifice was deemed worthwhile to ensure that Elvis is represented in the best possible way in the museum,” stated Graceland Express.

In 1992, the museum acquired Elvis’ karate jacket, a blue suede coat, and a sign from the Crown Electric Company, where Elvis worked in the early 1950s. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame & Museum is expected to draw 800,000 visitors each year.

“Elvis On Beale” restored to glory [The Elvis Beat newsletter]

/ TY

I was 20 when I wrote this article back in 1995 for The Elvis Beat #12, my official Elvis Presley Fan Club newsletter.

The restoration of the statue formerly known as “Elvis On Beale” has been completed. Although the awesome Memphis statue, created by Eric Parks, once had an outside home on Beale Street, it will now be displayed inside a new Tennessee welcome center, scheduled to be opened in Memphis by early next year.

The 10-foot-tall bronze statue was originally unveiled in 1979 but fell prey to erosion and other deterioration.

A new, weather-proof statue of Elvis is being designed to fill the vacancy on Beale Street. There will also be a better plan for the care of the statue and the surrounding Elvis Presley Plaza.

The “E” in “E-mail” [The Elvis Beat newsletter]

/ TY

I was 20 when I wrote this article back in 1995 for The Elvis Beat #12, my official Elvis Presley Fan Club newsletter.

E-mail has a new meaning. Forget “Electronic mail.” Now there is only one definition: “Elvis mail.” Graceland now has two Internet E-mail addresses for fans with access to a computer and a modem.

Fans can send questions, comments, or suggestions about Graceland or Elvis directly to the Graceland corporate office. The addresses are: [. . .].

The Internet addresses are the result of Graceland recently opening the Elvis Presley Fan Club Forum on the InterComm Bulletin Board Service. To connect to the InterComm service for the first time with a modem, dial [. . .].

According to Graceland Express, the fan club forum will include “a bulletin section which lists the latest news from Graceland, Elvis Week and other event information . . . and interesting Elvis facts and trivia.”

“Tenere me ama” [The Elvis Beat newsletter]

/ TY

I was 20 when I wrote this piece back in 1995 for The Elvis Beat #12, my official Elvis Presley Fan Club newsletter.

“Latin is an eternal language, so what better way to immortalize a legend?” asked Professor Jukka Ammondt of Finland. He is the creator of a new CD that contains songs made famous by Elvis performed in Latin by the Eurovision Choir.

Some of the songs featured on the unusual disc are “It’s Now Or Never” (“Nunc hic aut numquam“), “Surrender” (“Nunc aeternitatis“), “Love Me Tender” (“Tenere me ama“), and “Can’t Help Falling In Love” (“Non adamare non possum“).

Presently, the CD has solely been released in Finland, where Latin has a devoted following. Ammondt said the idea for the project came to him in a dream.

Elvis’ new job [The Elvis Beat newsletter]

/ TY

I was 20 when I wrote this article back in 1995 for The Elvis Beat #12, my official Elvis Presley Fan Club newsletter.

Fans visiting Graceland this summer can look forward to a revamped tour of the mansion, featuring a new audio guide system and the addition of the home’s kitchen to the experience.

The audio tours were slated to begin in the spring. According to Graceland Express, “Guests will pick up a headset and tape machine in the visitor center. . . . Then the tour of the house, grounds, fan mail office, racquetball building, and trophy room will be presented almost entirely on tape.”

The audio tour will include a narrator, but will primarily feature the voice of Elvis from spoken material and musical recordings. “It is expected to feel very much as if Elvis himself is giving the tour, especially in the trophy room,” stated Graceland Express.

The kitchen is the first new room added to the public tour since the opening of the mansion in 1982. The kitchen has been restored to the way it was when Elvis was alive. “It has harvest gold appliances and avocado-colored appliances. It’s very much the ’70’s,” a Graceland spokesperson said.

The audio tour was expected to be available in several different languages by the summer. In the future, the audio concept will also be considered for the other Graceland attractions, including the airplanes and the car museum. Traditional tour guides will remain on staff at the mansion to answer questions or offer other services.

Elvis Treasures [The Elvis Beat newsletter]

/ TY

I was 20 when I wrote this article back in 1995 for The Elvis Beat #12, my official Elvis Presley Fan Club newsletter.

1995 marks the return of Elvis Presley on tour. Well, sort of. A nine-state tour of Elvis memorabilia made ten stops across the nation from April 28 to June 22. The tour, known as “Elvis Treasures: The Great Road Show Of ’95,” featured a $150,000 collection.

The collection included an authentic Elvis jumpsuit, a TCB necklace, guitars, and other items. The tour began on April 28 in New York City and concluded on June 22 in Colonial Heights, Virginia.

Viewers of the exhibit had the opportunity to win various Elvis prizes, including the grand prize of a trip to Graceland.

“Elvis Treasures” promoted the newly released Official Price Guide To Elvis Presley Records And Memorabilia by Jerry Osborne.