Word: elvises
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Brando had it easier than Presley; for in pop, more than in acting, it's tough to remain in the vanguard. Consider the four overlapping phases of Elvis' music. Phase 1: At Sun Records, he borrowed blues from blacks and country songs from rednecks, passing them along to the huge...
Sadly, the pulverizing novelty of sexual danger was quickly domesticated, as Elvis jumped into mainstream show business. Like Brando, Elvis helped America realize it was dying to be hip. But having educated his audience to get hipper, he seemed to get squarer simply by standing still. He had segued from...
So what's left? A terrific crooner who was closer, in intonation, vocal virtuosity and care for a song's mood, to Bing Crosby than to any top singer of the rock era. We have to entertain the possibility that Elvis was exactly the anachronism he wanted to be. In...
Eventually, he did change. He did what Crosby, Como, Sinatra and Fisher had done before him: sing strong, sing pretty. Toward the end, he couldn't hack the rock material (his vocals on "Burning Love" and "Way Down" are thin, ragged, spindly), but he still had it as a balladeer...
At the end of the "Platinum" CD is a speech Elvis made in 1971. Quoting Vincent Youmans' 1929 "Without a Song," he says, "So I keep singin' the song." The impulse to sing raunchy, corny, beautiful songs trapped Elvis; and in that trap, he sometimes found triumph.