Back in 1977 the great music critic Lester Bangs, in his epitaph for Elvis Presley, wrote something along the lines of "people will never agree upon anything in the way that they agreed upon on Elvis". In some way that insight was probably true; in the ensuing years American society has definitely fragmented in ways which make any kind of united stance increasingly less possible. Bangs himself, in concluding that piece stated "I bid you farewell", a very prescient declaration indeed. Over the years Elvis has become some kind of figure of projection: he's been used as a signifier for many and varied stances, something that, had he known to have been the case, probably would have felt insulted by. Pure projection there, so perhaps Disaster Amnesiac is also guilty of using the King, but the fact is that I always love his music and tend to agree with the late David Thomas that Elvis fans are just nicer people in general. This being the case, when I saw the preview for EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert I was excited at its existence and made sure to catch in the theater. Having done so, it must be stated that there are mixed feelings on my part as regards to the film. On the plus side, there are several minutes of wonderful live footage of Elvis and his band in rehearsal and performance. These scenes show how much he loved music, and musicians, along with his deep skills as a band leader. The man really knew how to tune a band, and a very large one at that, in to the audience for very effective results. His goofy humor and resultant asides made for a very down to earth atmosphere for everyone. Many frames show his men Scotty Moore and Ron Tutt in obvious delight as they follow along with E's spur of the moment cues. Audience shots show just how much regular people responded to him. Elvis's charisma is undeniable. He drove people wild and it was fascinating to watch frames of some of these people as they shook off their inhibitions and went there. EPiC also shows how much of a talented singer Elvis was. Frames during which his tenor voice concluded the endings of various songs prove that, along with sequences during which he belts out Gospel tunes to stunning effect. Again, Presley loved what he was doing, and that shines through within the film. Getting back to Moore and Tutt and the other band members, Disaster Amnesiac was completely stoked to be able to see and hear clear live footage of them as they rocked the deep repertoire that they drew from during a stretch of over 1000 shows in the period 1969-77. Tutt especially is shown as one of the great drummers of the era. Why do so few talk about his playing? Director Baz Lurhmann utilized interesting, almost Dub effects at times in order to let Presley's voice emerge from live recordings, which struck me as very astute and creative. On the down side, a lot of the film's duration was spent on more nostalgic aspects, with clips from home movies and voice overs culled from interviews with Elvis. Surely some people will enjoy those frames, but I just wanted longer sequences and full pieces of the King and his band as they rocked the house. Perhaps a physical release of EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert will be forthcoming and feature extended live clips? Hail to the King!
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