Rehearsal Tapes Add Flavor to Presley’s ‘Way’

The fascinating thing about the latest Elvis Presley album isn’t the music, but the concept: rehearsal tapes.

Record companies have long tempted us with live albums, greatest-hits packages and boxed sets littered with alternate versions of an artist’s works.

But it is rare for labels to try to lure us to the cash register with rehearsal tapes.

The irony is that those moments are among the most inviting in the just-released “That’s the Way It Is,” a greatly expanded version of a 1970 album that was released in connection with a movie documentary on the singer.

A new cut of the film, which is said to include additional Presley performance footage, will be shown in selected theaters around the country this fall and will be available on DVD in January. But the special edition of the soundtrack album is already in stores.

** 1/2 Elvis Presley’s “That’s the Way It Is” (RCA). Even though he had to work within the narrow guidelines set by Presley’s strong-willed manager, Col. Tom Parker, director Denis Sanders came up with a terrific concert documentary in “Elvis--That’s the Way It Is.”

The film, built around one of Presley’s 1970 engagements at the Las Vegas Hilton, captured marvelously the raw charisma that Presley showed on stage after spending a decade making movies in Hollywood.

The first of the album package’s three discs consists of the 12 songs from the original album plus seven others from the same period. It’s an uneven affair. You feel the Presley dynamics in places, but several songs are mediocre.

Far more lively is the second disc, which includes Presley’s entire Aug. 12, 1970, midnight show at the Hilton. There have been lots of Presley live albums, so this isn’t essential, but the song selection is appealing and the performances are spirited. The material ranges from the early hits through his treatment of Paul Simon’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

The disc also gives you a sense of Presley’s horseplay on stage. He often makes fun of his old hits and even takes a barb when performing a new one.

The most colorful segment is when he introduces “Twenty Days and Twenty Nights,” a song that appeared on the original “That’s the Way It Is” soundtrack.

“We have a new song that should be coming out soon,” Presley tells the audience. “It’s not very good and I don’t really particularly dig singing it [audience laughter in the background], but it is on the program and they’ve made me agree to do it. I hope you enjoy it.”

When there is a mix-up at the start of the song, Presley stops the band and tells the audience, “Hold it a minute. I’ve got to explain . . . something. We had to learn like 50 songs for this show. . . . At least we were supposed to learn 50 songs. We only learned five. This is one we don’t know.”

The real treat on the album is the rehearsal material on the third disc. In the sequence, you hear Presley, who was, in effect, his own producer in the studio for much of his career, searching for the right feel on a song. On “Yesterday,” for instance, he tries to put his own vocal stamp on the song, not just copy the Beatles’ rendition.

Given RCA’s apparent aim of endless Elvis boxed sets, an overview of rehearsal tapes might be something quite special.

**** Carl Perkins’ “The Complete Sun Singles” (Varese Vintage). Perkins certainly had a colorful career. As part of the Sun Records roster with Presley in the ‘50s, he helped define rockabilly. His lively, good-natured musical style had such an impact on the Beatles that they recorded several of his songs, including “Honey Don’t” and “Matchbox.” Perkins also wrote one of Johnny Cash’s biggest hits, “Daddy Sang Bass.” This disc brings together all of his Sun singles, from the early, country-flavored “Turn Around” to the rockabilly classic “Blue Suede Shoes.” The music still retains its innocence and energy. Perkins, who died in 1998, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

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Robert Hilburn can be reached at robert.hilburn@latimes.com.