Reply With QuoteI voted for the sixties but to me EP's voice was unbelieavable in every decade. Having listened to the brilliance of Surrender the other day it was at this point of his career he could sing anything he wanted and great.
This is a question that's been asked many times before and will continue to be asked for a long time, I am sure. I'm gonna ask it again anyway.
Patrick's posting of his enhanced version of It's Diff'rent Now made the question pop into my mind once again. Well, it's not a question in my mind, but more a matter of wondering where everyone else stands on the subject.
I suppose we could break up the eras into smaller groups of years, like '53-'55, '56-'58, etc., but just to keep it simple, please vote for your favorite decade for Elvis's voice. Feel free to break it down further if you want to be really specific.
Many of you would probably guess, if you don't know, that I pick the 70s. To me, his voice never sounded better. You can tell me that the 50s voice is the one that shook up the world; that the early 60s voice was never bettered in terms of technical perfection; that the late 60s voice showed a newfound maturity and soulfulness, with just enough raw edge to maintain a rock 'n roll sensibility; or whatever. But I just find the Elvis 1970s voice to be the one most pleasing to my ears. It has such an intangible quality in addition to its more apparent attributes...I can't begin to do it justice. I just think it is the ideal male singing voice. And it strikes a chord within. More so than with the 50s and 60s voices, when I hear the 70s voice, I feel like I know the man. Go figure.
Think of the question in these terms. Ladies, which Elvis voice would you most like to hear singing to you first thing in the mornin', last thing at night? And guys, which voice would you prefer to hear if you were one of Elvis's friends and often got to be around him just relaxing at the piano and join him in song, or if you were in the band or just got to tour with him? Forget all the other outside factors which might make you choose one decade over the other--it's all about THE VOICE.
...you won't forget me when I go.
I voted for the sixties but to me EP's voice was unbelieavable in every decade. Having listened to the brilliance of Surrender the other day it was at this point of his career he could sing anything he wanted and great.
Except for the early rawness on the SUN tracks the 60's voice pretty much covered the whole range styles and Genres.
jb
Absolutely the sixties, hands down!
:worthy: :worthy: :worthy:
I voted for the 70's, I love some of the stuff Elvis did in TTWII, "Mary In The Morning", "Patch It Up" & "Mystery Train/Tigerman" Have a great feeling to them, "Proud Mary", American Trilogy" the list is Endless
But I also like the 60's "Anyday Now" is supurb, "If I Can Dream" Powerful, "Suspicious Minds", "In The Ghetto"
Oh Hell, Every decade is great
P.S. I was reading about the Jungle Room Sessions in another forum and the comments were that Elvis was over produced by Felton Jarvis and that Elvis' voice was much better without. I think this also applys to "Suspicious Minds" the first time I heard this without the overdubs was a real revealation to me, It sounded sooooo much better and you could hear Elvis much more clearly :worthy: sometimes the voice can be obscurred with to much over production.
I kinda missed the fourth option: "all of those periods".
I voted for the seventies.
Sixties come as a close second, and fifties as a close third.
Sonny
For me it is the 70's with the early 60's, listen to the album Elvis is back and Elvis TTWII ...need i say more? there you have a singer who can sing every style out there, that's one of the reasons why i became a fan, the man can really sing everything, from rock and roll to gospel and from ballads to rock, he was/is the greatest singer/entertainer in world!
I also have weak spot for 1977, like he did hurt, unchained melody ect.
I don't like his singin' in 1968 when he did the comeback special, he recorded some of his finest work in 68 and 69 but there is something in his voice that i don't like, i think it's to raw specially in the comeback special it seems that can't hold the end notes to long..but than again for the songs he sang in that special, mostly the old rock and roll songs, it wasn't that important. You don't have to sing in perfection for those rock and roll songs, right?
I know what you mean, Patrick. He could sing all kinds of music, but at different stages of his career he was probably better equipped to handle certain kinds of songs than he was at other times. I love the '68 special, but to me songs like Love Me Tender and Can't Help Falling In Love didn't sound as good as they had earlier and would again later. But I think it would not have been as big a comeback for him, reclaiming his crown as the king of rock and roll, if he hadn't attacked the songs as aggressively as he did. And because of all that hard singing, the ballads--which were thankfully not the focus of that special (not that I don't love ballads)--came across a little rougher than he would have liked, I assume. But I have heard some people call those versions of the two songs I named as being the definitive ones. Well, to each his own.
In other words, I agree with you.
Interesting to read where each of you stands, by the way. Thanks for playing.
...you won't forget me when I go.
70s, 50s and then 60s...
70s big voice ballads, 50s rca ballads, early 60s ballads/late 60s...
really id split it up like this:
1953-1955 (5)
1956-1958 (3)
1960-1962 (4)
1963-1967 (7)
1968 (6)
1969-1973 (1)
1974-1977 (2)
Last edited by Elvis' Babe; 08-25-2004 at 07:02 PM.
"Elvis, we're talking about shooting from the waist down, and not being able to touch hands with body, or body with hands, excuse me. I just got this show off the air boy"
Yeah I agree Patrick, In 68 there was a hashness about his singing, I think this was because Elvis was trying to recapture the early days when his voice was more raw, his voice was being pushed to recreate that kind of feel, there are many records from the movies that prove that Elvis' voice wasn't that harsh around this time so perhaps it was just due to the fact Elvis wanted it to sound edgy, in 69 he sang better songs more suited to his more mature sounding range e.g. "Suspicious Minds", "In The Ghetto" etc.
As Elvis hit the 70's the voice was much thicker and honed. He concentrated on the power ballads as opposed to purely Rock 'n' Roll and didn't have to prove himself in the same way as in 68, he was moving his career forward, he'd proved himself and reclaimed his crown after being in the movie wilderness for a decade.
i like his voice better in 1969 - 1977 , its just sexier (h)
Hey, that's cheating!
...you won't forget me when I go.
Having "discovered" Elvis in 1969, (Suspicious Minds) but knowing and hearing him before that The 70's are it for me! What a great voice and seeing him live was even better than on record. I do like it all though and I even like many of the movie soundtracks, some very cool songs on them.
Hello. I loved Elvis' voice, I would have to give my vote to the early and mid-sixties. I love songs like "I Met Her Today", "Never Ending", all that stuff. What I thought was amazing was that he was doing 3 movies a year but if you dug around you could find some gems. Of course, I loved just about everthing he did. BTW, this is my first post, how did I do?
If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have thought you were a TCB-World veteran.
Welcome aboard, quinn. Hope you post often.
...you won't forget me when I go.
Yeah welcome aboard quinn, hope you enjoy it on this messageboard, there are lots of posts and goodies here see you aroundOriginally Posted by quinn53
Hello. I loved Elvis' voice, I would have to give my vote to the early and mid-sixties. I love songs like "I Met Her Today", "Never Ending", all that stuff. What I thought was amazing was that he was doing 3 movies a year but if you dug around you could find some gems. Of course, I loved just about everthing he did. BTW, this is my first post, how did I do?
I love Elvis music from the 1960's, he could sing those high noted back then.
but i love it all...50's 60's 70's.
and what ever the mood that i might be in.
Curtis Simpkins
Long Live Vinyl.
1968-77!!
I think Elvis' singing in the 68 special was awesome, it was as if he was exorcising all those cr@ppy movie songs and cleansing his soul!!! he sings terrifically, right from his toenails all the way up to the top of his head!! technically, the voice may not have sounded has good as the following year but he was singing from the heart and soul, and to me it was just terrific, and he was enjoying his singing once more!!!!
"When You Let Your Head get Too Big, It'll Break your Neck" Elvis Presley.
Ok having this in mind Bobby,Think of the question in these terms. Ladies, which Elvis voice would you most like to hear singing to you first thing in the mornin', last thing at nightit is for me definetly the 60's, so sexy, his voice was maturing but still has that boyish charm
without a song, a man ain't got a friend,
without a song, the road would never bend,
without a song, so I'll keep singing the song.
http://www.elvisfun.com/fun/htm/avat...s/64/10_64.gifhttp://www.elvisfun.com/fun/htm/avat...s/64/12_64.gifhttp://www.elvisfun.com/fun/htm/avat...s/64/30_64.gifhttp://www.elvisfun.com/fun/htm/avat...s/64/98_64.gif
A hard decision there....but had to go for the 70's.
I really love elvis' voice from 67-70. That has to be close on being my favourite of all...
In order ( even though i love it all
TCB Chris.
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