Elvis Presley: Classic Or Dud?

No wait, that was William Lyon Mackenzie King!

Dennis Lee to thread!

I don't understand how anyone can say he's a "watered-down Little Richard" since (a) they sound nothing at all alike, even when Elvis covered Little Richard songs, and (b) Elvis started making records before Little Richard cut "Tutti Frutti," the first record he made in the style he's famous for.

Though he IS undeniably a great singer, with really terrible management, though try telling that to the billion dollar EP Estate.
Like Ali, his talent was squandered, though there are many moments of transcendence throughout his career.

Also, in Linda Gail Lewis's autobio, she claims that the time Jerry Lee stormed the gates at Graceland, it was because a doped up EP had called him to come rescue him, a claim not as preposterous as it seems.
Elvis might have been King, but Colonol Parker ruled.

Here's a question to ponder: What would Elvis's legacy be had he not been so incredible looking?

One of whom I phoned just to hear her voice after her repeating "Listen, we will invite some guys over, listen to Elvis and play some yahtzee".

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.)

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*.

Second best thing, from Nick Tosches: "I think that Elvis Presley will never be solved."

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.

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?

Mind you, it was his human weaknesses that did him in.

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"

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.

And as for JLL: Nobody cuts the Killer, baby, NOBODY!

Classic.

Plus now he's droppin' some lite techno! "A Little More Conversation" is what Bob Mould's new shit SHOULD sound like.

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.

If I had to guess I’d go with “Marie’s the Name”

yeah mine too, i love it
and of course, famously written by Eddie Rabbitt <3

xpost

Amazing (incl. seemingly shrewd, aptly detailed & empathetic) Chris Willman review of the Lisa Marie-Riley autobio (just keep scrolling):

https://variety.com/2024/music/reviews/lisa-marie-presley-riley-keough-book-from-here-great-unknown-engrossing-review-1236173374/

Interesting, thanks

Not sure I want to read that book, but I'm glad it exists.

it's slightly (sleightly) snowing in the Netherlands, so spinnin' my favourite Elvis track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcdUsRwUtMI

New Guralnick:

https://www.shopelvis.com/product/EPAM4778/the-colonel-and-the-king-by-peter-guralnick-hardcover-book

"The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership that Rocked the World, will be released August 5, 2025.

From the award-winning biographer of Elvis Presley, The Colonel and the King is a groundbreaking dual portrait of the relationship between the iconic artist and legendary manager, Colonel Tom Parker, drawing on a wealth of Parkers never-before-seen correspondence to reveal that this reviled figure was in fact a confidant, friend, and architect of his clients success.

In early 1955, Tom Parker the manager of the number-one country musician of the dayheard that an unknown teenager from Memphis had just drawn a crowd of more than 800 people to a Texas schoolhouse, and headed south to investigate. Within days, Parker was sending out telegrams and letters to promoters and booking agents: We have a new boy that is absolutely going to be one of the biggest things in the business in a very short time. His name is ELVIS PRESLEY. Later that year, after signing with RCA, the young man sent a telegram of his own: Dear Colonel, Words can never tell you how my folks and I appreciate what you did for me. I love you like a father.

The close personal bond between Elvis and the Colonel proved impossible for outside observers to understandnot during their lifetimes, and not in the decades since. It was a long-standing, deeply committed relationship, founded on mutual admiration and support.

Featuring troves of never-before-seen correspondence from the Colonels own archives, revelatory both for their insights andparticularly with respect to Elvistheir emotional depth, The Colonel and the King provides a unique perspective on not one but two American originals. A tale of the birth of the modern-day superstar by the most acclaimed music writer of his generation, it presents these two misunderstood icons as theyve never been seen before: with all of their brilliance, humor, and flaws on full display."

That sounds really interesting.

oooh will read
love Guralnick’s Elvis books

On board

enjoyed and learned from several of his non-Elvis books (Owe him so much for revelatory presentation of Charlie Rich), but the Elvis sequence seemed kinda redundant, like I'd already read waaay too much Elvis (still need to check Elvis and Gladys). Prob unfair, would have learned something if I'd finished PG's EP chronicles. But with this revisionist news, I have to wonder if he dealt with, say, the Col. trying to get Elvis to stick to songs published by Parker's co.---also Lieber-Stoller's *joint* autobio sez that the Col. greatly begrudged their providing material for Elvis, who insisted on it, and even after their songs incl. "Hound Dog" and other hits Also, did the Col. prevent Elvis from performing in other countries because he, Parker, would have felt it necessary to stay behind, lest he be extradited to the Netherlands because wanted for murder? This has been said, hope G. deals with the Col.'s allegedly shady past, and his pre-Elvist American gigs in carnivals etc., as I believe he himself told tales about. Somebody who should have his own full-length bio, one at the very least.

Classic. Better than The Beatles in my book.

Two different approaches.