quite apt, that. in my case. didn't ever mean much to me, really.i have read, and probably will read, well-written articles (wouldn't stretch that to book-length, tho!) by various worthy people who have interesting - entertaining, meaningful, amusing, sad, shocking - things to say 'bout him, but i've never been tempted to get myself lots of his music (which doesn't mean i haven't heard any, "haha"). and the attempts of some of my best pals to help me "get it" haven't worked either. elvis simply fails to rock my world, period.)
― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Friday, 24 January 2003 00:49 (twenty-one years ago) link
This statement is 100% OTM. He *did* collaborate with some different people on the Memphis sessions; is it any coincidence those sessions are some of his greatest? Even kings need to be challanged once in a while, not continuously coddled.
But everything he did after '56 sounds pretty close to easy listening to these ears.
Listen again. Maybe start with "Memories" (dud title), the soundtrack plus loads more of the famous "68 Comeback Special". Even the most MOR ballad is worth listening to in his hands... but don't worry; there's only a couple of those here! Of course there are many *ballads*... but with a couple exceptions ("Memories" itself being one of them), they're pretty electrifying.
I do agree he's undervalued too. It's strange saying that about one of the biggest stars of all time, but it's true. I guess I mean undervalued *artistically*.
― Sean (Sean), Friday, 24 January 2003 01:12 (twenty-one years ago) link
Second best thing, from Nick Tosches: "I think that Elvis Presley will never be solved."
― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 24 January 2003 05:21 (twenty-one years ago) link
I used to think exactly the way Jim M does, but now I realize it's kinda silly: Elvis's post-Army stuff is frequently just too WEIRD to be "easy listening" - I mean, "Do The Clam"? "Old MacDonald Had A Farm"? "There's No Room To Rhumba In A Sports Car"? You can't make this stuff up. People will never cease to be impressed by The Beatles' interest in everything from random noise to showtunes, but the crackbrained audacity of Elvis's lifelong attempt to sing just about every type of song there was just makes them cringe.
Elvis was always a jumble of contradictions, musically and otherwise, no less pre-Army than after - that's what made him who he was. It's part of what made him so outrageous in the beginning: he was mixing blues with country with r&b and singing them in a way that often meant you couldn't tell where one genre left off and another began. That side of Elvis never really went away entirely, but we shouldn't kid ourselves into thinking it was all there ever was. Just listen to "I Love You Because," recorded at Sun, and just as drecky and dull a song as he ever sang. He doesn't triumph over the dross: he succumbs to it, he likes it. Then listen to "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone," and marvel at how slick and professional he sounds: this guy could easily have made a career for himself as a straight entertainer all the way, without offending a soul. Then listen to "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and wonder, 'Where the hell did this guy come from?' Like Tosches said, no one will ever know.
― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 24 January 2003 05:46 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ken, Friday, 24 January 2003 14:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 24 January 2003 14:45 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 24 January 2003 14:51 (twenty-one years ago) link
― robotman, Friday, 24 January 2003 14:54 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ken, Friday, 24 January 2003 15:05 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 24 January 2003 15:08 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ken, Friday, 24 January 2003 15:23 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 24 January 2003 15:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
this is a bit lame. there are plenty who could cut loads of songs in 30 days but the studio and what 'artists' do has changed. and its quality that counts anyway.
''They run his demise into the ground, search for dirt, print as much inuendo and trash as they can find. They never explore the fact that he had a 3 octave voice, and could virtually sing any style of music.''
could elvis do opera if he wanted to ken?
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 24 January 2003 15:51 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ken, Friday, 24 January 2003 16:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ken, Friday, 24 January 2003 16:13 (twenty-one years ago) link
Mind you, it was his human weaknesses that did him in.
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 24 January 2003 16:16 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 24 January 2003 16:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
Would love to rant on about Elvis for ages but loads of work to do before I leave tonight so I'll just quote Andrew from way up thread:
"above all else he's a great singer, of all different kinds of material - country, r'n'b, rockabilly, gospel, soul, torch songs, etc. Contrary to all that 'creatively dead after leaving Army' bollocks, he made fine records at every point in his career"
― James Ball (James Ball), Friday, 24 January 2003 16:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 24 January 2003 16:34 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ken, Friday, 24 January 2003 18:23 (twenty-one years ago) link
Sadly, Jerry Lee has had very bad management and frequent bad health for the last 15/20 years. His 95 or 96 album Young Blood was decent, but not what it could have been.
Plus, Elvis had many successful imitators, but Jerry Lee has none. Nobody dared. Partly this has to do with the expense and imcompatibility of travel intrinsic in being a piano man. But nobody has used the piano as the primary instrument ni Rock/Roll since JLL and Little Richard.Elton John/Ben Folds/Billy Joel all play pop, not rock/roll.
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 24 January 2003 18:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ken, Friday, 24 January 2003 19:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 24 January 2003 19:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
And as for JLL: Nobody cuts the Killer, baby, NOBODY!
― Jim M (jmcgaw), Friday, 24 January 2003 21:35 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ken, Friday, 24 January 2003 23:13 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ken, Friday, 24 January 2003 23:28 (twenty-one years ago) link
Classic.
Plus now he's droppin' some lite techno! "A Little More Conversation" is what Bob Mould's new shit SHOULD sound like.
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 24 January 2003 23:44 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Saturday, 25 January 2003 00:14 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 15:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 15:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 15:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 15:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
The point about Sam Phillips is probably true, but I see no reason to think your first point is. If it wasn't Elvis it woulda been -- who?? Jerry Lee? He's great but he seriously doesn't have more than a fraction of Elvis' talent, let alone his ability to connect with such a broad swath of the population. That's the thing about Elvis: He really was unique. There's NO ONE else who could have done what he did in the mid-fifties.
― Burr (Burr), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 16:10 (twenty-one years ago) link
― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 16:13 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 16:18 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 16:23 (twenty-one years ago) link
― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 16:24 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 16:26 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 16:30 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 19:58 (twenty-one years ago) link
Wuh-huh I don' know whether tuh thank ya or hate ya Geir!
― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 20:07 (twenty-one years ago) link
I find EP, even at his best, almost always lacking in some kind of telling detail/nuance/aesthetic distance, blah blah, that for me is necessary--his music just seems one-dimensional to me. Occas. it does not, but only seldom. There's something great about him but his "art" seems smug, involuted, airless...his presence is something else entirely, and he did have a good voice...I dunno, it just doesn't move me, I want to get real gone for a change but EP don't do it, not like the greatest man to ever record for Sun, Howlin' Wolf.
― Jess Hill (jesshill), Thursday, 8 May 2003 18:21 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Sean (Sean), Thursday, 8 May 2003 18:47 (twenty-one years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 20:01 (twenty years ago) link
interview snippet ("Rock and roll music, if you like it, if you feel it, you can't help but move to it. That's what happens to me. I can't help it.")That's All RightMystery TrainHeartbreak HotelBlue Suede ShoesBlue MoonI Want You, I Need You, I Love YouHound DogDon't Be CruelLove Me TenderAll Shook UpTeddy BearJailhouse RockLove MeIt's Now Or NeverAre You Lonesome TonightHis Latest FlameCan't Help Falling In LoveReturn To SenderDevil In DisguiseViva Las VegasGuitar ManIn The GhettoSuspicious Mindsinterview snippet (Elvis leaves for Germany "I am going away...")
(this one's only about 60 minutes long so I've got about 20 extra minutes for more stuff. Anybody want to finish it for me? Also, try to place any contributions chronologically)
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 19 November 2003 00:12 (twenty years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 19 November 2003 00:17 (twenty years ago) link
"Help Me Make It Through The Night" - token C&W choice
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 November 2003 00:20 (twenty years ago) link
― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 19 November 2003 00:27 (twenty years ago) link
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 19 November 2003 00:36 (twenty years ago) link
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 19 November 2003 01:27 (twenty years ago) link