By Joseph A. Tunzi
J.A.T. Productions (1998)
Review :
This is the latest photo book from J.A.T. Productions and although it's not a bad book, I cannot say either it's the best ever produced by Joe Tunzi.
There are indeed several nice pictures in the book, mostly the ones taken at the Honolulu press conference of November 20th 1972 and the color sections containing several nice photographs of different events related to the Aloha concert, or appearances done by Elvis in Hawaii in November of the previous year.
The big disappointment comes from the concert shots of the Aloha Special. Several of these photos are quite ordinary and have that feeling of déjà vue.....Indeed this is the second book on the Aloha concerts by J.A.T. Productions and mostly, the nicest concert shots were in his first effort.
I know, this one is offering some colors and also photographs of other events related to Hawaii, but to me it's not enough considering the book is a bit on the high cost side. Yeah, there's a bonus CD coming with it, but who really needs a BMG special CD containing five tracks taken from the " Aloha From Hawaii " concert? well not me certainly, and as the price of that book is at a higher cost when comparing to the previous one,then we are paying the CD and it doesn't sound like a bonus CD to me.
We are also getting a 8 x 10 bonus color photograph, but here again I cannot be thrilled with that as the quality of the paper used for reproducing this is rather cheap,in fact it's a laser photocopy quality shot,nothing more nothing less.
Still there are very interesting informations throughout the book considering all the events related to the " Aloha Special ", and to me the best part of the book with some really nice photos here and there.
Given the above, I found it quite strange that Mr. Tunzi mentioned in his book that the bonus Aloha songs were recorded after the actual January 14th 1973 show when in his book " Elvis Sessions II " he stated these were recorded after the " Alternate Show " of January 12th 1973. Indeed in my view everything leads to the fact that these songs were recorded and filmed in the night following the first concert and not after the actual broadcasted show.
Did Mr. Tunzi mention it was done after the broadcast show because Ernst Jorgensen said so in the latest re-issue & improved Aloha CD ? I guess so, but the funny thing is that the same book is given the answer to this question. On page 32 & 33 there is the complete schedule of " The Aloha From Hawaii - Via Satellite " from January 2nd to the 14th, now as a picture is worth a thousand words, take a look at the latest part of this schedule reproduced here.
If you look closely at the schedule on January 12th 1973 at 3:00 am, you can notice that Elvis,his backing vocals and musicians were on stage, I don't think they were being there only for killing times, weren't they ? The show that night is being represented as 9:00 PM-10:00PM VTR: DRESS, so it's very unlikely that Elvis returned on this stage for fun several hours later. The BMG " Alternate Aloha " CD has a few tracks with some chats between Elvis and the producer, listen to them and you'll understand that the hour represented on the schedule make sense. Now do you read something similar after the January 14th 1973 concert on the schedule ? The answer is no!!!
I might sound like being from not reviewing the book anymore, well it's a bit true but at the same time I like when things are being given in a precise manner and it was my chance to do it here, so I did it.
If you are a die hard photo collector or/and BMG Special Product CDs, then this book is for you. Here's the informations for ordering this book right from J.A.T. Publishing in Chicago.
Back To Book Reviews