Amazing Vocal Power & Range of ELVIS

[Erhan]

Amazing Vocal Power & Range of ELVIS
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJHuvokwvO4"]YouTube - Amazing Vocal Power & Range of ELVIS[/ame]

"Elvis Presley has been described variously as a baritone and a tenor. An extraordinary compass- the so-called register-, and a very wide range of vocal color have something to do with this divergence of opinion. The voice covers two octaves and a third, from the baritone low-G to the tenor high B, with an upward extension in falsetto to at least a D flat. Presley's best octave is in the middle, D-flat to D-flat, granting an extra full step up or down. Call him a high baritone. In "It's'now or never", (1960), he ends it in a full voice cadence (A, G, F), that has nothing to do with the vocal devices of R&B and Country. That A-note is hit right on the nose, and it is rendered less astonishing only by the number of tracks where he lands easy and accurate B-flats. Moreover, he has not been confined to one type of vocal production. In ballads and country songs he belts out full-voiced high G's and A's that an opera baritone might envy. He is a naturally assimilative stylist with a multiplicity of voices - in fact, Elvis' is an extraordinary voice, or many voices"

* Henry Pleasants, in his book "The Great American Popular Singers" (1974)
"Elvis Presley has been described variously as a baritone and a tenor. An extraordinary compass- the so-called register-, and a very wide range of vocal color have something to do with this divergence of opinion. The voice covers two octaves and a third, from the baritone low-G to the tenor high B, with an upward extension in falsetto to at least a D flat. Presley's best octave is in the middle, D-flat to D-flat, granting an extra full step up or down. Call him a high baritone. In "It's'now or never", (1960), he ends it in a full voice cadence (A, G, F), that has nothing to do with the vocal devices of R&B and Country. That A-note is hit right on the nose, and it is rendered less astonishing only by the number of tracks where he lands easy and accurate B-flats. Moreover, he has not been confined to one type of vocal production. In ballads and country songs he belts out full-voiced high G's and A's that an opera baritone might envy. He is a naturally assimilative stylist with a multiplicity of voices - in fact, Elvis' is an extraordinary voice, or many voices"

* Henry Pleasants, in his book "The Great American Popular Singers" (1974)
"Elvis Presley has been described variously as a baritone and a tenor. An extraordinary compass- the so-called register-, and a very wide range of vocal color have something to do with this divergence of opinion. The voice covers two octaves and a third, from the baritone low-G to the tenor high B, with an upward extension in falsetto to at least a D flat. Presley's best octave is in the middle, D-flat to D-flat, granting an extra full step up or down. Call him a high baritone. In "It's'now or never", (1960), he ends it in a full voice cadence (A, G, F), that has nothing to do with the vocal devices of R&B and Country. That A-note is hit right on the nose, and it is rendered less astonishing only by the number of tracks where he lands easy and accurate B-flats. Moreover, he has not been confined to one type of vocal production. In ballads and country songs he belts out full-voiced high G's and A's that an opera baritone might envy. He is a naturally assimilative stylist with a multiplicity of voices - in fact, Elvis' is an extraordinary voice, or many voices"

* Henry Pleasants, in his book "The Great American Popular Singers" (1974)
* "I suppose you'd had to call him a lyric baritone, although with exceptional high notes and unexpectedly rich low ones. But what is more important about Elvis Presley is not his vocal range, nor how high or low it extends, but where its center of gravity is. By that measure, Elvis was all at once a tenor, a baritone and a bass, the most unusual voice I've ever heard"
o Gregory Sandows, Music Professor at Columbia University, published in "The Village Voice".


* "I am reminded of a comment made shortly after the death of Elvis Presley by a musician he had worked with. He pointed out that despite an impressive vocal range of two and a half octaves and something approaching perfect pitch, Elvis was perfectly willing to sing off-key when he thought the song required it. Those off-key notes were art."
o Patrick H. Adkins, The Dream Vaults of Opar


"On his live versions of songs like "How Great Thou Art" (1975), "Unchained Melody" (1976) and "Hurt" (1977), you will be able to hear how high he can go; but, it is essentially on "What Now My Love" (sang live at his "Aloha from Hawaii" global telecast, which reached 1 billion viewers when first aired in 1973), where he goes up three octaves at the end of the song, that you can really hear his true vocal power"

* Cory Cooper, vocal connaisseur, on Presley's vocal range, as published in ALLEXPERTS.com, on 4 February 2005.
* "Elvis' initial hopes for a music career involved singing in a gospel male quartet. His favourite part was bass baritone, and he himself had an almost 3-octave vocal range... Yet to posterity's surprise, such a superlative and magnetic natural talent always remained humble --perhaps too humble to keep performing forever."
o IMDb's review of his appearance in Frank Sinatra's 1960's "Welcome Home Party for Elvis Presley" TV special.


* "Along with the rest of "Deep Purple", I once had the chance to meet Elvis. For a young singer like me, he was an absolute inspiration. I soaked up what he did like blotting paper. It's the same as being in school — you learn by copying the maestro. His personality was also extremely endearing, his interviews were very self-effacing (and), he came over as gentle and was generous in his praise of others. He had a natural, technical ability, but there was something in the humanity of his voice, and his delivery. Those early records at the Sun Records label are still incredible and the reason is simple: he was the greatest singer that ever lived."
o Ian Gillan, lead singer and frontman of the UK hard rock band "Deep Purple", interviewed by Classic Rock magazine, explaining why Presley belongs in the list of rock icons ( as published in blabbermouth.net, on 3rd January, 2007)


* " Perhaps the only other voice to touch me ( Luciano Pavarotti's voice being the first), was the voice of Elvis Presley; to watch him perform as I did along with Carl (Palmer), and Keith (Emerson), both in 1971 and again later in 1976 was an absolutely awesome and breathtaking experience; like Pavarotti, Presley had the power to reduce most people to tears very quickly and indeed to move them to think very carefully about their inner spiritual beliefs; as far as singing is concerned, the human voice is a matter of the expression of passion in the understanding of the human condition and, upon seeing both of them perform, I very quickly came to realise that they were each capable of expressing more feeling, with their voices, than I had ever thought possible".
o Greg Lake, lead singer and bass player for the UK progressive rock super-group "Emerson, Lake and Palmer", as published on www.greglake.com, on September 7, 2007.


* "In Elvis, you had the whole lot; it's all there in that elastic voice and body. As he changed shape, so did the world. His last performances showcase a voice even bigger than his gut, where you cry real tears as the music messiah sings his tired heart out, turning casino into temple. I think the Vegas period is underrated. I find it the most emotional. By that point Elvis was clearly not in control of his own life, and there is this incredible pathos. The big opera voice of the later years -- that's the one that really hurts me."
o Bono, lead singer of U2, for Rollingstone Magazine, as published in their April 15, 2004 edition.
* "In any case, there's something beautifully uncomfortable at the root of the vocal style that defines the pop era, the simplest example coming at the moment of the style's inception, i.e. Elvis Presley: at first, listeners thought that the white guy was a black guy and it's not too much of an exaggeration to say that when Ed Sullivan's television show tossed this disjunction into everyone's living rooms, American culture was thrilled by it, but also a little deranged, in ways that we haven't gotten over yet; ultimately, the nature of the vocals in post-Elvis popular music is the same as the role of the instrumental soloist in jazz; that's to say, if it isn't pushing against the boundaries of its form, at least slightly, it isn't doing anything at all; so, we judge popular vocals since 1956 by what the singer unearths that the song itself could never quite, and (this) explains why Elvis is always rock, even when singing "Blue Moon."
o Excerpted from the lead article by Jonathan Lethem, as published on RollingStone's magazine's December 2008 issue, honoring the 100 greatest singers in the Rock era, in an article entitled "What Makes a Great Singer"


* "Elvis was my first musical influence; his was a-once-in-a-lifetime voice which, if one were to classify it in pitch, was that of a lyrical baritone; the F-4 in the classic opening to "Hurt" (1976), with its B-4 ending on various live versions of the song (1976-77), the G-4's in "It´s now or never" (1960), "Unchained melody" (1977), and "Rags to riches" (1971), the latter with its B-4 ending, when sang live in 1977, the A-4's at the end of "Surrender" (1961), "How great thou art" (1975), and "American trilogy" the latter with its G-4 landing at various times from 1973 onwards, and, finally, the sustained C-5's on "America the Beautiful" (1976), and on the live version of "Big Boss Man" , his highest note ever, in 1975, are very powerful, fantastic examples of Elvis as his best, at the higher registers"
o Tobias Sammet, lead singer, vocal virtuoso, and primary songwriter of the German Power Metal band "Edguy", as well as the creator of the metal opera "Avantasia", as published on March 29, 2008
"Elvis Presley`s talent as a musical artist was double barrelled and more; his voice, on the one hand, was extraordinary for its quality, range and power, as well as being a unique stage performer with instinctive natural abilities in both areas; he was the master of a wide and diverse range of vocal stylings and ventriloquist effects, from the clear tenor of his C&W heroes, to the vibrato of the Gospel singers he loved, his voice invariably possessing an aching sincerity and an indefinable quality of yearning virtually impossible to pigeonhole".

* From the U.S Department of the Interior`s paper on criteria for greatness as a vocalist, which, together with all aspects of his life and legacy, led to the inclusion of his home, Graceland, in the National Register of Historic Places, in 2006.
* "He was the most commercially successful singer of rock and roll, but he also had success with ballads, country, gospel, blues, pop, folk and even semi-operatic and jazz standards. His voice, which developed into many voices as his career progressed, had always a unique tonality and an extraordinarily unusual center of gravity, leading to his ability to tackle a range of songs and melodies which would be nearly impossible for most other popular singers to achieve"
o The Wikipedia`s all-too-brief, yet concise reference on Presley`s voice, and musical background

Source:http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley

[Merry]

Thanks Erhan

[beckelvis]

[debtdbruno]

That's why he's the Greatest.......................

[Erhan]

if you are lazy to read you just watch the video you can understand.)

Amazing Vocal Power & Range of ELVIS
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJHuvokwvO4"]YouTube - Amazing Vocal Power & Range of ELVIS[/ame]

[Pacerstar]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting.

[SleepyJack]

An interesting read and a powerful video.Thanks Erhan.

[mrsphilly]

thank you for posting this clip.

[Tommy]

He always had an awesome voice, as demonstrated in this clip. He brought tears to womens eyes.

Thank you.

[Merry]

Wonderful!

Thanks Erhan.

[LISY]

A Voice from God!! Thanks for posting these, I enjoyed them..

[EnigmaticSun]

He brought tears to womens eyes.

So true..

[kathy parkinson]

if you are lazy to read you just watch the video you can understand.)

Amazing Vocal Power & Range of ELVIS
YouTube - Amazing Vocal Power & Range of ELVIS

Erhan, i'm lazy, i understand, and i heard perfection, thank you.

[GIORGIA]

What Can I say?
I Love You Elvis!
And Always Be!

[Erhan]

Some songs performed much better in Aloha Rehearsal show than main show IMHO.
For example Steamroller Blues, Fever, What Now My Love, I'm so lonesome what do you think about it?

if you have to make one concert DVD with Rehearsal and Main Event which versions you choose for that Best of Bests Aloha?

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - Rehearsal Show (New)I hope You like it
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7iasdKi5-8"]YouTube - ELVIS I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Best Picture & Sound Quality)[/ame]

What Now My Love - Rehearsal Show (Better Performance)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJHuvokwvO4"]YouTube - Amazing Vocal Power & Range of ELVIS[/ame]

What Now My Love - Main Concert (Better Footage)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG6WQwdobLk"]YouTube - ELVIS What Now My Love (Best Picture & Sound Quality)[/ame]

Fever - Rehearsal Show
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmyhIwZG_-M"]YouTube - ELVIS Fever (Best Picture & Sound Quality)[/ame]

Steamroller Blues - Rehearsal Show
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VXr6U-BwMs"]YouTube - ELVIS Steamroller Blues (Best Picture & Sound Quality)[/ame]

[memphis69]

The version of "what now my love" from the rehearsal show is amazing. I always turn it up really loud when i play it. Elvis shows his amazing vocal power. I have heard other singers perform this song but nobody can put so much emotion into it like Elvis. I also really like his version of "American Trilogy" from the rehearsal show.

[Diane]

So true..

Seriously, I don't think the world will ever seen another like Elvis. We were all fortunate to be living at a time when we could hear and see him either years ago on stage or on these wonderful uTube videos.

Diane

[Elisabeth]

Wonderful clip, Thanks Erhan for sharing

[EnigmaticSun]

Seriously, I don't think the world will ever seen another like Elvis.

Wait a second.. I'm very close to breaking the genetic code taken from sweat samples on scarves - once that is achieved, I'll be able to make my own perfect mini-Elvis!

That's when I envy you, because you've had the chance.. Well I guess women like me tend to get jealous easily!

Many thanks for posting the clips - some of which I hadn't heard before!