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shadowkatAfter I saw Bohemian Rhapsody, Walk the Line, Ray, etc - I would download all the music from that artist and listen to it for an entire day, or weeks on end - to see what worked and what didn't. Almost obsessively. To figure out if I liked the artist.
Did that today with Elvis...and something odd happened, which hasn't happened before...I'd have to check my phone to see who it was, was that really Elvis? It sounded different. His voice actually changed. The cadences, the tone, the phrasing.
I'm watching this documentary on HBO Max entitled "Elvis : The Searcher" and it's quite well done. It goes into detail on how he created his brand of music, his influences, and the hard work and drive involved.
He pulled his style from various influences, and was extremely eclectic.
He sang Country Music, Gospel, Pop, Soul, Blues, Rhythm and Blues, Blue Grass, and he changed it, transformed it into what would become Rock and Roll. He crossed racial lines, he ignored the segregated lines - and he did it in the 1950s. He pulled the Country sound from it into a Bluesy, deeper, throatier sound. He basically blurred the lines between Country Music and Blues - and threatened the Grand Ole Opry - and he got on it, at the age of 20, you didn't just do that.
The difficulty with Elvis - is most people, under the age of 70, think of him in his later years. My mother said she wasn't into him at the time (she was kind of square - and into Pat Boone as a teen, it wasn't until she was in her adult years that she got into music like Prince, etc). Elvis was the same age as my Dad, born in 1935, and like my Dad came from poverty, although he was even poorer than my Dad was. Elvis' father got thrown in jail for forging a check to feed his family.
But, if you look at the music he created prior to the late 1970s, before the glitz and glamour and the showy Vegas acts, you see an amazing amount of work - work that paved the way for artists ranging from Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, The Beatles, Queen, Prince, and others. Prior to Elvis - the major labels passed on "Rock and Roll" - didn't see it as viable.
So Sam Phillips produced records via Sun Records that were outside of what the major labels would do. He was an independent record producer - and he was where Elvis got his start, and he worked with Elvis to get this specific sound. Elvis was 19 years of age when he was doing it. He was driven at the age of 19 - and worked hard with his band and Sam Phillips.
Early Rock n Roll came from bass guitar, the voice, and that was it - you didn't really have the drums back then.
To give you an idea of what he was doing back then?
But what they also point out that with Elvis' voice they could do anything with it. His voice had plenty of space, and he could hit five-six octaves, with a voice that changed from a tenor to a baritone. It went high and very low. And when he was younger - and less self-conscious, it's almost pure sound.
Here's Blue Moon by way of contrast.
And...
Hound Dog. This is amazing, he sings it fast, and then without warning slows it way down, and the band is forced to just follow his lead.
And...to show how versatile he is...
Also...
And finally...
I Can Dream
***
He was controversial - because back then, you didn't blur the lines between the styles. You didn't blend Country and Blues. You didn't cross those segregated lines, and he did it without thinking about it. Also he was so sexual in his movements. He was so unconfined in his movements - and it was in the 1950s. His television appearances were earth-shattering, that bridged black and white music of Southern Worlds that hadn't happened before. They were terrified.
Also Elvis was the first artist to produce himself, he remastered songs, he re-interpreted the music. He was organic part of the music, never stood still, kept moving with it - it vibrated through him. If it wasn't working right - he could figure it out immediately and fix it. If the song required him to be off-pitch - he'd be deliberately off-pitch. He knew how to intuitively work a song. And he knew how to blend the genres.
Most of his early recordings were "covers" of black singers - Lloyd Price, Ike Turner, Little Richard - Elvis felt that you needed to bring it all together. And he learned how to sing it from the source - he actually watched them sing it and played it.
Elvis was an incredible performer - because his body picks up all the vibrations and intricacies of the music. Springsteen and other musicians comment in the documentary - how mystical it must have been to seen what he was doing, with no warning. Those who worked with him, stated how organic a part of the music he was - the music was part of him - the guys who played with him, looked to him for their cues, no one made suggestions to him.
We saw somebody who could sing better than anyone, who could move better than anyone, who could feel the music better than anyone...and that broke glass.
***
The documentary, much like the film Elvis, delves into how the "music business" - RCA (the major record lables) and the Colonel - manipulate the artist, because they do not care about the music, they cared about the merchandise. The problem with his movies - was he's watered down into a kind of Bobby Darin or Dean Martin or Frankie Avalon. But if you go outside of them, away from that manipulation by the music establishment - what you see is just brilliant.
**
When I mentioned the "Elvis" film to co-workers and Wales, they all brought up Rami Malek who played Freddi Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.
I looked up Freddie Mercury - comparing Elvis to Mercury is comparing an orange to an apple. Elvis is a tenor to baritone, Mercury was a tenor to high alto. They couldn't sing each other's music, although Elvis could sing more of Mercury's. Mercury loved Elvis - who died before Queen really took off. He wrote a song as a homage to Elvis. He never compared himself, nor did he think he could, to Elvis.
***
Mother interrupted the documentary to tell me about all the family members coming to my father's funeral. Even several cousins are coming. So we have about thirty family members give or take.
I told her that part of the reason I'm watching this is - Elvis was my father's age. He was born the same year my father was born, from poverty. And he was driven like my Dad. Someone who became polished, and fought against the class system. Also, nostalgia. At any rate - I'm finding it comforting right now - it seems to be an odd balm to my grief, however temporary. I don't expect it to make sense. Although it weirdly did for mother.
Did that today with Elvis...and something odd happened, which hasn't happened before...I'd have to check my phone to see who it was, was that really Elvis? It sounded different. His voice actually changed. The cadences, the tone, the phrasing.
I'm watching this documentary on HBO Max entitled "Elvis : The Searcher" and it's quite well done. It goes into detail on how he created his brand of music, his influences, and the hard work and drive involved.
He pulled his style from various influences, and was extremely eclectic.
He sang Country Music, Gospel, Pop, Soul, Blues, Rhythm and Blues, Blue Grass, and he changed it, transformed it into what would become Rock and Roll. He crossed racial lines, he ignored the segregated lines - and he did it in the 1950s. He pulled the Country sound from it into a Bluesy, deeper, throatier sound. He basically blurred the lines between Country Music and Blues - and threatened the Grand Ole Opry - and he got on it, at the age of 20, you didn't just do that.
The difficulty with Elvis - is most people, under the age of 70, think of him in his later years. My mother said she wasn't into him at the time (she was kind of square - and into Pat Boone as a teen, it wasn't until she was in her adult years that she got into music like Prince, etc). Elvis was the same age as my Dad, born in 1935, and like my Dad came from poverty, although he was even poorer than my Dad was. Elvis' father got thrown in jail for forging a check to feed his family.
But, if you look at the music he created prior to the late 1970s, before the glitz and glamour and the showy Vegas acts, you see an amazing amount of work - work that paved the way for artists ranging from Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, The Beatles, Queen, Prince, and others. Prior to Elvis - the major labels passed on "Rock and Roll" - didn't see it as viable.
So Sam Phillips produced records via Sun Records that were outside of what the major labels would do. He was an independent record producer - and he was where Elvis got his start, and he worked with Elvis to get this specific sound. Elvis was 19 years of age when he was doing it. He was driven at the age of 19 - and worked hard with his band and Sam Phillips.
Early Rock n Roll came from bass guitar, the voice, and that was it - you didn't really have the drums back then.
To give you an idea of what he was doing back then?
But what they also point out that with Elvis' voice they could do anything with it. His voice had plenty of space, and he could hit five-six octaves, with a voice that changed from a tenor to a baritone. It went high and very low. And when he was younger - and less self-conscious, it's almost pure sound.
Here's Blue Moon by way of contrast.
And...
Hound Dog. This is amazing, he sings it fast, and then without warning slows it way down, and the band is forced to just follow his lead.
And...to show how versatile he is...
Also...
And finally...
I Can Dream
***
He was controversial - because back then, you didn't blur the lines between the styles. You didn't blend Country and Blues. You didn't cross those segregated lines, and he did it without thinking about it. Also he was so sexual in his movements. He was so unconfined in his movements - and it was in the 1950s. His television appearances were earth-shattering, that bridged black and white music of Southern Worlds that hadn't happened before. They were terrified.
Also Elvis was the first artist to produce himself, he remastered songs, he re-interpreted the music. He was organic part of the music, never stood still, kept moving with it - it vibrated through him. If it wasn't working right - he could figure it out immediately and fix it. If the song required him to be off-pitch - he'd be deliberately off-pitch. He knew how to intuitively work a song. And he knew how to blend the genres.
Most of his early recordings were "covers" of black singers - Lloyd Price, Ike Turner, Little Richard - Elvis felt that you needed to bring it all together. And he learned how to sing it from the source - he actually watched them sing it and played it.
Elvis was an incredible performer - because his body picks up all the vibrations and intricacies of the music. Springsteen and other musicians comment in the documentary - how mystical it must have been to seen what he was doing, with no warning. Those who worked with him, stated how organic a part of the music he was - the music was part of him - the guys who played with him, looked to him for their cues, no one made suggestions to him.
We saw somebody who could sing better than anyone, who could move better than anyone, who could feel the music better than anyone...and that broke glass.
***
The documentary, much like the film Elvis, delves into how the "music business" - RCA (the major record lables) and the Colonel - manipulate the artist, because they do not care about the music, they cared about the merchandise. The problem with his movies - was he's watered down into a kind of Bobby Darin or Dean Martin or Frankie Avalon. But if you go outside of them, away from that manipulation by the music establishment - what you see is just brilliant.
**
When I mentioned the "Elvis" film to co-workers and Wales, they all brought up Rami Malek who played Freddi Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.
I looked up Freddie Mercury - comparing Elvis to Mercury is comparing an orange to an apple. Elvis is a tenor to baritone, Mercury was a tenor to high alto. They couldn't sing each other's music, although Elvis could sing more of Mercury's. Mercury loved Elvis - who died before Queen really took off. He wrote a song as a homage to Elvis. He never compared himself, nor did he think he could, to Elvis.
***
Mother interrupted the documentary to tell me about all the family members coming to my father's funeral. Even several cousins are coming. So we have about thirty family members give or take.
I told her that part of the reason I'm watching this is - Elvis was my father's age. He was born the same year my father was born, from poverty. And he was driven like my Dad. Someone who became polished, and fought against the class system. Also, nostalgia. At any rate - I'm finding it comforting right now - it seems to be an odd balm to my grief, however temporary. I don't expect it to make sense. Although it weirdly did for mother.