Elvis The King!?! Lies I tell you!!!

I am sick and tired of people hailing Elvis as some kind of God. Sure he had a good voice and a pretty face, but it starts and ends there. A man who did not write his own songs does not deserve to be called the greatest. They could have got any guy with a good voice to sing his songs and it would still have the same effect. He was not an artist, he was just a businessman. The guys who wrote the songs are really the ones who should be noticed, it's their songs. He may have made rock n' roll popular, but any good-looking white guy with good dance moves could have done that. Kings who have others decide what to do for them aren't good kings, so why should Elvis be called The King of rock n' roll when he had others write his songs for him?

It wasnt just the songs it was the whole package

what do you call more than one Elvis in the room?











ELVI

Coming from a prog viewpoint, Elvis stood for everything that Prog stands against; Commercialism, lack of substance, idol worship, fashion over sound, flash for flashes sake, posing etc...I don't minimize his importance to those aspects of Rock. But to the other aspects (sound, technique, virtuosity, arrangements, compositions etc, he contributed very little.

grandoleopry wrote: flash for flashes sake

your kidding right? if theres one thing prog has too much of its that! Yes, ELP, Dream Theater are all popular examples of that!

I'm actually a huge Elvis fan- so much so that a few years back, I even sat through almost all of those mostly crap films he did. However, as a singer, I think he goes unparalleled- it matters little to me that he rarely if ever wrote a song; whatever he sang became his in the end- just check out his sublime versions of 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin', 'Promised Land', 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On', 'An American Trilogy', 'Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues', 'My Boy', 'Unchained Melody'- nobody EVER did better versions of these songs, in my opinion. I feel my opinion is valid here as I've actually heard pretty much every recording Elvis ever did-  yes, I actually listened to dross like 'Petunia The Gardener's Daughter', 'Do The Clam', 'Yoga Is As Yoga Does' and 'A Dog's Life'....yet for every poorly conceived effort like those, he made so many sublime recordings that all of that rubbish matters little.

Hangedman wrote: grandoleopry wrote: flash for flashes sake your kidding right? if theres one thing prog has too much of its that! Yes, ELP, Dream Theater are all popular examples of that!

Good point!

I dont like him very much, most of the songs is not very good i think, some are great but the most ones i have heard dont do it for me... so im not hes biges fan.

Yes, I think Bluetailfly hit the nail on the head there- it's hard for me to be unbiased as I am a big fan of Elvis throughout his career, but his manager certainly exorcised more control than was healthy for an artist- Colonel Tom Parker did a superb job in the 1950s, escalating a small star in Memphis to the biggest star in the world, yet in the 1960s his grasp became ever tighter yet more uncertain, throwing Elvis into the 'light entertainment' category.

For at least 2 years, this change seemed to work, in fact too well- as Elvis' creative ambitions were being stifled by movies and their soundtracks, which got worse as time progressed. Elvis went from entertaining and fun diversions like 'Blue Hawaii', which really started and should have ended this light comedy approach, as at least the songs were still fairly good, to awful abominations like 'Stay Away Joe' and 'Kissin' Cousins' which were done on the cheap and had many continuity problems and terrible soundtracks. It culminated in films like 'Double Trouble', where Elvis had gained weight and was forced to sing 'Old McDonald' to animals on a truck (!) and apparently have an adventure in England and Belgium- via a Hollywood backlot, that is...

However, Elvis' comeback with the '68 Comeback Special', showed him to be totally untouchable as the 'King Of Rock' in my eyes, and the resulting albums, 'From Elvis In Memphis', 'That's The Way It Is' and 'Elvis Country', are arguably his greatest achievements.

Yet, it soon became evident that he'd swapped one rut in Hollywood for another in Las Vegas- compare Elvis in 1970's 'That's The Way It Is' where he is full of energy and humour, to the 'Elvis On Tour' footage, where he's obviously going through the motions and sometimes lost. Even then, he delivered what is possibly his greatest gift to music and celluloid, an incredible version of one of his very best songs, 'An American Trilogy', plus anyone who doubts Elvis' integrity and spirit need only watch 'Elvis On Tour', especially the scene where his gospel singers do a lovely version of 'Sweet Sweet Spirit', and Elvis, seems hopelessly in love with the music. Despite occasional inadequacies, I would actually argue that for being a portrait of an artist, 'Elvis On Tour' is probably the best documentary ever made.

Don't let anyone ever tell you that he lost the plot in the 1970s- he cut some truly incredible stuff at Stax, creating a duff album in 'Raised On Rock', but two in 'Good Times' and 'Promised Land' that are easily two of his greatest achievements, and he'd probably reached his peak as a singer by that point. The only problem was, no fans, nor Colonel Parker, wanted to mature with Elvis- they wanted him to turn into a parody of himself like every other 50s rock star was by then; audiences demanded him to swivel his hips and deliver another version of 'Hound Dog'. Slyly, he dusted these 50s hits off in about 5 minutes, though.

In the end, Elvis, as Jerry Schilling (one of his friends) perfectly put it, lost out to 'creative disappontment'. He continued to progress, with songs like 'It's Easy For You', 'Danny Boy' and 'For The Heart' show, yet his sales were now rock bottom. Elvis was by now a physical wreck, being grotesquely overweight, but alarmingly, delivered the greatest vocal performances of his entire life on 'Hurt' (available on 'Elvis In Concert'), which has an astonishing vocal bellow, with immense power.

There is a piece of footage around where the singer, clearly near death, finishes a concert in 1977, by sitting at a piano. Few who have seen this film haven't been moved by it; he starts to perform 'Unchained Melody', with sweat running down his face, and lots of heavy breathing. However, he does an astonishing job of it, delivering a powerful vocal, with great power and pathos. It's the end of this film that moves me even as I write. He fights hard to hit a high note at the end, and manages it- finishing the song. Elvis lets out a yelp of delight- and grins at his friends and band, an image I'll never forget. The crowd's applause is huge and raptuorous, as he leaves the stage. This film shows how dedicated he was to music, as even when he was facing death, he would perform incredibly. At the time, this footage was suppressed  for being too raw, but anyone who sees it will never doubt Elvis as an artist.

Right- there's my two (hundred) cents!