Personnel includes: Elvis Presley (vocals); J.D. Sumner & The Stamps, Kathy Westmoreland & The Sweet Inspirations (background vocals).
Compilation producers: Ernst Mikael Jorgensen, Roger Semon.
Recorded live at the Honolulu International Center, Honolulu, Hawaii on January 14, 1973.
Personnel: Charlie Hodge (vocals, guitar); J.D. Sumner & the Stamps, Kathy Westmoreland, The Joe Guercio Orchestra, The Sweet Inspirations (vocals); John Wilkinson, James Burton (guitar); Glen Hardin (piano); Ronnie Tutt (drums).
Liner Note Author: Stuart Colman.
Recording information: Honolulu International Center (01/12/1973); Honolulu International Center (01/14/1973).
Photographers: Tim Mulrenan; Robert Brower; Ed Bonja.
Throughout the late-'60s and early-'70s, Elvis Presley and his manager Colonel Tom Parker staged a series of media events designed to keep Elvis in the spotlight. The NBC comeback television special, Elvis' return to live performance, and a four-show run at Madison Square Garden (with a live album released one week after the final concert) were all publicity coups that focused national attention on the King. Each, however, required that the next event be even larger and more spectacular. This is certainly the thinking that motivated ALOHA FROM HAWAII VIA SATELLITE, a concert broadcast live to the Pacific and (one day later) to Europe (the show did not air in the U.S.until several months later).
A reported one billion viewers tuned in, undoubtedly making the ALOHA show the single-most watched concert of all time. ALOHA is a mix of rockers, quiet ballads, and bombastic pop, all performed with full-throttle energy and emotion. This edition of ALOHA includes for the first time several Hawaiian-flavored songs recorded immediately after the concert, to be used on the soundtrack of the U.S. broadcast. Also among the after-hours batch of songs is Elvis' version of Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain."
