Elvis’ ‘Aloha From Hawaii’ Concert Gets 50th Anniversary Edition

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Elvis Presley’s monumental Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite global concert telecast has received a 50th anniversary edition. The newly remixed and remastered set arrived in a definitive 3CD + Blu-ray combined deluxe package as well as a 2-LP edition on August 11, 2023, via RCA Records and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment. Listen to many of the King’s performances below.

From the June 9 announcement: Recorded live on January 12 and 14, 1973 at the Honolulu International Center Arena (capacity approximately 6000) and beamed into an estimated billion-plus television sets around the world, Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite made a new kind of broadcast history as Elvis and emerging global satellite technology instantaneously connected a major artist with his audience in previously unprecedented numbers. Initially, Elvis’ January 14th concert was telecast live via satellite to viewers in Asia and Oceania and presented with a delay in Europe. Needing to avoid a programming conflict with Super Bowl VII while also acknowledging that the film Elvis on Tour was enjoying an actively successful run in U.S. movie theaters, NBC decided to air their ninety-minute version of Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite (featuring bonus performances recorded for the stateside broadcast) on April 4, 1973. It became NBC’s highest-rated program of the year.

Feeling the heat from the Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite global telecast, RCA Records fast-tracked a companion double album soundtrack into production with first pressings hitting U.S. stores on Feb. 4, 1973. The album was Elvis’ first #1 in years, reaching the top on the Billboard pop and country charts, becoming the fastest-selling chart-topping album of Elvis’ career.

The 50th anniversary edition of Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite is produced by Ernst Jørgensen and newly mixed by Grammy® Award-winning recording engineer Matt Ross-Spang. The set includes the original concert, rehearsal show and unique after-show recordings and rehearsals including “Blue Hawaii,” “Hawaiian Wedding Song,” “No More” and “Early Morning Rain.” The deluxe set includes a 28-page booklet featuring in-depth liner notes penned by lifelong Elvis fan/music critic Randy Lewis, rare photos and memorabilia from the event, and the first-ever visual release of Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite on Blu-ray.

The event was the apogee of an astounding career trajectory that began with Elvis’ return to live performance in 1968 with an electrifying “comeback” television special that restored him to pop dominance after a seven year hiatus from the concert stage. By 1973, Elvis was a living legend whose status as a singer in the 1950s had evolved into movie stardom before his return to live performance generated a new iconography. His watershed global telecast was the first full-length concert by any musician to be beamed around the world over communications satellites newly orbiting the earth in ever increasing numbers. A half century later, the live album and concert film from that performance are perhaps the most revelatory documents of the live shows that Elvis poured so much of his heart and soul into during the 1970s.

The 50th anniversary edition of Elvis Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite presents, for the first time in one authorized package, the entirety of the original January 14, 1973 performance, the previous night’s dress rehearsal with a live audience (recorded in case of technical mishaps during the satellite transmission), several bonus tracks inserted into the U.S. broadcast of the event and a Blu-ray transfer of the concert film.

Archival producer Jørgensen and Memphis-based engineer Ross-Spang have fully remixed the album from the original 16-track live recordings—first captured on tape by esteemed mobile engineer Wally Heider and newly digitized for this release with audiophile 24-bit, 192 KHz transfers–to bring fans a fresh listen to what, for many, is the most treasured performance of Elvis’ latter-day years on the road. “To me,” Jørgensen said, “that is the biggest thing: [this album] never sounded this good and Elvis never sounded this good.”

In the four and a half years between the ’68 special and Aloha from Hawaii, Elvis woodshedded his act with a rigorous series of live performances—over 500—in which he re-asserted the role he’d established in the ’50s as one of the most electrifying performers of his generation.

Both in Las Vegas and on tour to various parts of the United States, Presley refined and expanded his mastery of musical interpretation of songs long associated with him, while also putting his distinctive stamp on classic and more recent material first popularized by artists as beloved as The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Hank Williams, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, Jim Reeves and Hawaii’s own Kuiokalani “Kui” Lee. Tracks include his covers of “Fever,” “Johnny B. Goode,” and “Something.”

The Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite program was produced and directed by television veteran Marty Pasetta, who’d done specials for Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Glen Campbell and had experience in Hawaii with Don Ho. Pasetta employed split screen techniques and quick cuts to mirror the energy Elvis & Co. put out on stage. The telecast also regularly offered extreme close-ups bringing viewers into contact with Elvis with an intimacy that even those in the audience didn’t have.

Elvis Presley’s Graceland in Memphis will present “Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii 50th Anniversary Concert” on August 16 as part of Elvis Week 2023. In addition, earlier that day, Sony will present a free Aloha from Hawaii Q&A and Listening Event at the Guest House Theater at 1:00 pm. Tickets for the concert and free listening event are available at ElvisWeek.com.

The complete tracklisting for the 3-CD/Blu-ray deluxe edition appears below the Amazon links. Best Classic Bands is an authorized Amazon affiliate. We’re grateful for purchases made by our readers.

Elvis Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite – 50th Anniversary Edition (3 discs + Blu-ray) Track Listing

Disc 1: Recorded live at the Honolulu International Center Arena January 14, 1973, 12:30 AM
1. Introduction: Also Sprach Zarathustra (Theme From 2001: A Space Odyssey)
2. See See Rider
3. Burning Love
4. Something
5. You Gave Me A Mountain
6. Steamroller Blues
7. My Way
8. Love Me
9. Johnny B. Goode
10. It’s Over
11. Blue Suede Shoes
12. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
13. I Can’t Stop Loving You
14. Hound Dog
15. What Now My Love
16. Fever
17. Welcome To My World
18. Suspicious Minds
19. Introductions by Elvis
20. I’ll Remember You
21. Medley: Long Tall Sally / Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On
22. An American Trilogy
23. A Big Hunk O’ Love
24. Can’t Help Falling In Love
25. Closing Vamp

Disc 2: Recorded live at the Honolulu International Center Arena, January 12, 1973, 9:00 PM
1. Introduction: Also Sprach Zarathustra (Theme From 2001: A Space Odyssey)
2. See See Rider
3. Burning Love
4. Something
5. You Gave Me A Mountain
6. Steamroller Blues
7. My Way
8. Love Me
9. It’s Over
10. Blue Suede Shoes
11. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
12. Hound Dog
13. What Now My Love
14. Fever
15. Welcome To My World
16. Suspicious Minds
17. Introductions by Elvis
18. I’ll Remember You
19. An American Trilogy
20. A Big Hunk O’ Love
21. Can’t Help Falling In Love
22. Closing Vamp

Disc 3: Recorded without an audience at the Honolulu International Center Arena, January 14, 1973, 3:00 AM, as special bonus songs for the U.S. version of Aloha From Hawaii
1. Blue Hawaii -rehearsal, takes 1-2
2. Ku-U-I-Po – rehearsal
3. Ku-U-I-Po – take 1
4. Ku-U-I-Po – take 2 (incomplete)
5. Ku-U-I-Po – take 3 (incomplete)
6. Ku-U-I-Po – take 4
7. No More – take 1
8. No More – take 2
9. No More – take 3
10. No More – take 4
11. Hawaiian Wedding Song – take 1
12. Hawaiian Wedding Song – rehearsal
13. Hawaiian Wedding Song – take 2
14. Hawaiian Wedding Song – take 3
15. Early Morning Rain – take 1
16. Early Morning Rain – take 2

MUSICIANS:
Guitar: James Burton
Guitar: John Wilkinson
Guitar & Vocals: Charlie Hodge
Bass: Jerry Scheff
Drums: Ronnie Tutt
Piano: Glen D. Hardin
Vocals: J.D. Sumner & The Stamps
Vocals: The Sweet Inspirations
Vocals: Kathy Westmoreland
The Joe Guercio Orchestra