MauriceColgan
12-10-2006, 04:58 AM
Be a little patient this IS about Elvis Presley.
Throughout out my life I have been listening to recordings of the great voices in music, from Caruso to present day vocalists.
Recently I bought a John McCormack box set. I listened with amusement to a music snob on the DVD who was criticising the great Irish Tenor for including in his repertoire some sentimental ballads.
Like Elvis, John McCormack came from a very poor family but because of his amazing voice became one of the most famous singers in the world and in the process made a huge amount of money.
He sang in many Operatic and Popular music Concerts in Ireland, Italy, England, Australia and the USA.
Realising his career would be best served by touring America he became an American citizen.
Wherever he sang the Concerts were booked out. His rendition of ?The Battle Hymn of the Republic? foreshadowed Elvis? ?American Trilogy?. He even made movies and starred alongside Henry Fonda!
He really had an amazing career. He sang in front of an estimated one million people in the Phoenix Park in Dublin, and was made a Count by the Pope!
Now we get back to the arbiters of taste how often do we read sneering reviews by music snobs in magazines and newspapers, how often do we listen to the music critics on TV and radio attempt to dismiss Elvis?
Many a time I could have shot a TV or radio! If only I had a gun
Yes these music critics with their condescending attitude often attempt to undermine Elvis?s achievements by pointing to his less committed recordings as if they were representative of his career as a whole.
These same critics remember, are writing in mere newspapers and magazines, and talking on TV and Radio shows often without an Elvis fan in site to correct them.
Has just one of these critics, usually masters of the English language ever produced a work of art, a ?War and Peace?, a ?Crime and Punishment? or even a ?Grapes of Wrath?? Have they written even one immortal article? Yet they strangely try and compare a poor boy from Tupelo Mississippi, with an untrained voice to the mighty singers of Grand Opera
These days Operatic Tenors can sing ballads on TV and sing along with popular artists on stage. Yet still we have the snobbery. Rock magazines are almost as bad as
Classic FM magazine, in which you would be lucky to find the name Elvis Presley!
Art books are so inclusive in comparison Rembrandt alongside Renoir, Van Gogh alongside Van Dyke. But times they are a changing. The PC works for Elvis!
It's great to see how Elvis against all the odds became the most loved singer that ever lived. What a voice! No wonder his music is back on the Billboard charts with a vengeance!
http://irelandtoo.blogspot.com
Throughout out my life I have been listening to recordings of the great voices in music, from Caruso to present day vocalists.
Recently I bought a John McCormack box set. I listened with amusement to a music snob on the DVD who was criticising the great Irish Tenor for including in his repertoire some sentimental ballads.
Like Elvis, John McCormack came from a very poor family but because of his amazing voice became one of the most famous singers in the world and in the process made a huge amount of money.
He sang in many Operatic and Popular music Concerts in Ireland, Italy, England, Australia and the USA.
Realising his career would be best served by touring America he became an American citizen.
Wherever he sang the Concerts were booked out. His rendition of ?The Battle Hymn of the Republic? foreshadowed Elvis? ?American Trilogy?. He even made movies and starred alongside Henry Fonda!
He really had an amazing career. He sang in front of an estimated one million people in the Phoenix Park in Dublin, and was made a Count by the Pope!
Now we get back to the arbiters of taste how often do we read sneering reviews by music snobs in magazines and newspapers, how often do we listen to the music critics on TV and radio attempt to dismiss Elvis?
Many a time I could have shot a TV or radio! If only I had a gun
Yes these music critics with their condescending attitude often attempt to undermine Elvis?s achievements by pointing to his less committed recordings as if they were representative of his career as a whole.
These same critics remember, are writing in mere newspapers and magazines, and talking on TV and Radio shows often without an Elvis fan in site to correct them.
Has just one of these critics, usually masters of the English language ever produced a work of art, a ?War and Peace?, a ?Crime and Punishment? or even a ?Grapes of Wrath?? Have they written even one immortal article? Yet they strangely try and compare a poor boy from Tupelo Mississippi, with an untrained voice to the mighty singers of Grand Opera
These days Operatic Tenors can sing ballads on TV and sing along with popular artists on stage. Yet still we have the snobbery. Rock magazines are almost as bad as
Classic FM magazine, in which you would be lucky to find the name Elvis Presley!
Art books are so inclusive in comparison Rembrandt alongside Renoir, Van Gogh alongside Van Dyke. But times they are a changing. The PC works for Elvis!
It's great to see how Elvis against all the odds became the most loved singer that ever lived. What a voice! No wonder his music is back on the Billboard charts with a vengeance!
http://irelandtoo.blogspot.com