Elvis duets (Clive Davis)

[King Of The Whole World]

I saw this on Elvis-express. The part I do not like is "we can change some tracks as we see fit". Elvis is rolling over right now. Those are Elvis' songs, don't mess with it. Lady Gaga doing Viva las Vegas, come on.

CLIVE DAVIS WANTS ELVIS DUETS - At last night’s
Tisch School of the Art's Gala, music mogul and NYU alum
Clive Davis told the NY Times that while he hasn’t had a
chance to see Tupac’s hologram perform at Coachella, he is
"in the midst" of an afterlife-inspired project of his own: an
Elvis Presley duets album. Apparently Priscilla Presley
brought him the idea and it “struck a responsive chord” with
him.

“I immediately thought, My God, to go through his repertoire
and not to be a slave to his tracks but to have some freedom
to perhaps change some tracks as we see [fit]. Could Lady
Gaga do 'Viva Las Vegas' with Elvis?

You know, different ideas. We all have to explore what’s fresh
and new, even if it explores the departed.

”Maybe
"Maybe Gaga could even perform with Elvis' hologram, we suggest. “Elvis would be great,”
Davis agreed. Though, on second thought, perhaps Elvis should perform with Jo Calderone,
and we can see who does Elvis better.

[vivaelvis]

Like the idea or not, a duet of any kind between Elvis and Lady Gaga would be huge publicity. Seeing that Davis is the driver of the project and the one who discovered the late Whitney Houston and was behind her comeback, I wonder if we'll get a collaboration between the 2 non living legends now? Both artist recorded Bridge Over Troubled Water so it's possible.

[Raised on Rock]

Wasn't the Viva Elvis soundtrack fiasco enough of a lesson?

[vivaelvis]

Wasn't the Viva Elvis soundtrack fiasco enough of a lesson?

Clive Davis wasn't the "mastermind" behind VE. Davis gave the world Whitney Houston, Aerosmith and The Boss. I think he knows what he's doing with an Elvis duets project.

[King Of The Whole World]

I guess I'm not into the remixes and messing with Elvis' final product. I never really liked the remix of A Little Less Conversation, even though it became a number 1 for Elvis. I was happy about the number one. At least ALLC was all Elvis singing and not duets.

I don’t like the way Davis makes it sound like, I’m going to redo these songs how I would do them, well Clive Davis your not Elvis, so don’t mess with his songs.

[vivaelvis]

I guess I'm not into the remixes and messing with Elvis' final product. I never really liked the remix of A Little Less Conversation, even though it became a number 1 for Elvis. I was happy about the number one. At least ALLC was all Elvis singing and not duets.

I don’t like the way Davis makes it sound like, I’m going to redo these songs how I would do them, well Clive Davis your not Elvis, so don’t mess with his songs.

What he probably meant was since almost all of Elvis' songs were never meant for duets, he can add new lyrics to a rare unknown song by the public for the new artist to sing along with Elvis to make it sound more believable. Take Relax for example. That song has potential with new lyrics written for a female artist to collaborate with him on. But keep in mind also that while this won't appeal to the 60-70 year old fans, it's for the younger audience in hopes that it hooks new fans which means future dollars for the estate and the record company. And considering that Priscilla pitched the idea, I'm sure EPE is behind it too.

I knew that Sony had something up their sleeve for the 35th. And I was right! Brian mentioned a while back to me that a duets album was being considered but that Sony was skeptical after seeing the disappointing sales of Viva Elvis which fell on their part, not Elvis'.

[KPM]

Davis is a smart man....a duets album has been considered for the last 10 years its not a new idea.
But its a gimmick, Sinatra did it while alive and since then its become a gimmick...Bennett just did it-let me ask you....How many young teens and 20somethings now rush out to buy Sinatra and Bennett albums??? Very few.
The ones who "got it" probably would have discovered their music eventually.
Tom Jones had a comeback album "The Lead and How to Swing it" it sold well he was in vogue for 6-8 months but he did not gain lifelong fans who rushed out to buy his older stock.
The problem with gimmicks is they are not lasting-you might make a few fans in the process but lets not fool ourselves... Elvis sells Elvis to the lifelong fans.
Since Davis is supposed to be working on this we'll have to see what he comes up with, what his approach is, what is the quality of his final product. Ideas are a dime a dozen-its the execution and final product that tells the real story.

[vivaelvis]

Davis is a smart man....a duets album has been considered for the last 10 years its not a new idea.
But its a gimmick, Sinatra did it while alive and since then its become a gimmick...Bennett just did it-let me ask you....How many young teens and 20somethings now rush out to buy Sinatra and Bennett albums??? Very few.
The ones who "got it" probably would have discovered their music eventually.
Tom Jones had a comeback album "The Lead and How to Swing it" it sold well he was in vogue for 6-8 months but he did not gain lifelong fans who rushed out to buy his older stock.
The problem with gimmicks is they are not lasting-you might make a few fans in the process but lets not fool ourselves... Elvis sells Elvis to the lifelong fans.
Since Davis is supposed to be working on this we'll have to see what he comes up with, what his approach is, what is the quality of his final product. Ideas are a dime a dozen-its the execution and final product that tells the real story.

Once again, you fail to see the logistical point. Sinatra was no Elvis nor is he as popular in death. Jones is by far nowhere near Elvis' level. Bennett? Ask 99% of today's youth who he is and they will say they don't know. The point is that those duets didn't feature modern day pop icons like a Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood or anyone like what an Elvis duets album would. So there's no reason to compare past duet albums of once famous artists with an Elvis duets album that could be recreated to begin with to fit a modern sound using 21st century technology at its fullest.

Let me also point out that Elvis never had a mastermind and genius such as a Clive Davis to work with on a project. Davis could do wonders for Elvis.

[King Of The Whole World]

I don't think Elvis needed a so called "genius producer", he did very well own his own and what he felt with a song. He just needed better songs to choose from. I think sometimes there is too much credit given to these producers. It's the artist that has to sell the song. This is why that all of these songs today sound the same as the next song. There is no creative side with the artist creating music anymore. Do you think if Elvis had Sam Phillips and RCA telling him what song to record and how it should sound he would have been as popular and successful?

[vivaelvis]

I don't think Elvis needed a so called "genius producer", he did very well own his own and what he felt with a song. He just needed better songs to choose from. I think sometimes there is too much credit given to these producers. It's the artist that has to sell the song. This is why that all of these songs today sound the same as the next song. There is no creative side with the artist creating music anymore. Do you think if Elvis had Sam Phillips and RCA telling him what song to record and how it should sound he would have been as popular and successful?

Davis did that for Whitney. She didn't hand pick her hits. Davis did. The biggest knock on Elvis throughout the years has been his poor choice of material and song selecting. Sure it was what he liked, sometimes, but mostly what the producers and record company TOLD him to record. Listen to the outtakes in the studio and you will hear Elvis criticize the songwriters and the people picking the songs.

[Raised on Rock]

Sony was skeptical after seeing the disappointing sales of Viva Elvis which fell on their part, not Elvis'.

Viva Elvis proved well that its a falacy to think gimmicks will get you new fans. It was a loser.

Now, because what I do for living , I'm deeply in touch with kids aged 12 to 24, (a big bunch of them all year long) and believe me, not a single one cared about Viva Elvis, in fact it only did helped to reinforce their idea that Elvis is a product, a non real talent, but a creation no different from Britney Spears or Justin Beiber, not more meaningful than mickey mouse or buble gum, so... after Viva Elvis, sure Elvis is cheap mediocre entertainment, as that's what Viva Elvis was. That's my first hand experiencie among teenagers and Viva Elvis, no disrespect if you loved that one or to other fans who liked it.

I´m aware Clive Davis hasn't anything to do with Viva Elvis and his aproach might be different. But how different? Elvis Christmas duets, was way better than Viva Elvis, but still, it was an enjoying novelty for the old fans, and enjoying but forgetable moment for the non fans who in fact already know (who doesn't?) the old Elvis christmas tunes, now teenagers? they cared about it as much as they cared about the family movie after christmas dinner, so again, no new fans came from that, again that's a falacy.

Now Clive Davis and the Santana duets proyect (Supernatural), proved to be Santana biggest selling album to date, the videos and single charted high and all, great isn't it? but it also reinforced the idea among critics that he's over and it was his last stand to milk his former self image so he could get a luxury retirment, it was Santana entering his mainstream all family entertainer period, good thing for and old dude if you like, but he didn't got new teenage fans, it was more that the old fans care about him again and minded to buy the record, plus, with all the huge publicity and the duet then hot names, all the curious people with nothing better to buy and needed something to be played at home got it as it was the current thing, any other record if in the top 10 would have been fine. Teenagers where into something else when father stop playing the old man.

[KPM]

Once again, you fail to see the logistical point. Sinatra was no Elvis nor is he as popular in death. Jones is by far nowhere near Elvis' level. Bennett? Ask 99% of today's youth who he is and they will say they don't know. The point is that those duets didn't feature modern day pop icons like a Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood or anyone like what an Elvis duets album would. So there's no reason to compare past duet albums of once famous artists with an Elvis duets album that could be recreated to begin with to fit a modern sound using 21st century technology at its fullest.

Let me also point out that Elvis never had a mastermind and genius such as a Clive Davis to work with on a project. Davis could do wonders for Elvis.

My goodness-Sinatra was not Elvis-OKAY
NEWS FLASH-there was only one ELVIS!...... but you are the one who misses the logistical point
There was only one Sinatra also. Unique voice, unique vocal phrasing-powerful charismatic entertainer.
His Duets album sold 3 million went to number 2 in the US (above all the the many many young artists who were popular at the time)
His album had duets with BONO, (you know of U2 sure you have heard of them) Aretha Franklin, Luther Vandross, to name a few and it was a good album. Elvis himself would cringe at a slight to the talent and power of Frank Sinatra.
You call Sinatra, Bennett-"once famous" People still know who they are, still buy their records, still use their music in films, tv etc....
You have a strange way of looking at the past....as if there is nothing of value from the past-unless you deem it of value, nothing to learn from the past or from comparisons to today. There is always something to learn, something of value by looking to what has been-even if it has little interest to you.
I can tell you why you and I are so opposite-I do not think everything needs some new "miracle approach" some new "mastermind or genuis" no one needs to repaint Rembrandt, no one needs to alter or abridge Shakespeare to make it "new and current"
You are constantly wanting something to be added, subtracted or changed to make a "NEWER BETTER MODERN ELVIS"
The talent and charisma which made Elvis Presley are unique, you seem to have no confidence in his ability to reach people....and it will come as it always has he grabs people who get it. I have seen it for almost 50 years.
NEWS FLASH-Elvis will never be again the hottest thing in music for young people, GIMMICKS should be used sparringly.......we can not remix every song, we can not produce new music for him, we can not produce new footage of him in performance.....but he can gain lifelong fans by his natural talent and charisma that will never die, never grow old, never be out of style...not in huge promotions but in quiet moments when someone hears his voice and it touches them. I have confidence in that-have seen it time and time again....and a new fan is born.
Dead artists can not compete with live in the flesh, current touring artists......even Elvis is limited by death.....but I am not in mortal fear of his legacy or music dying out-if some new genuis is not involved, if some new museum or complex is not built, if some new hologram is not created to give a "startling recreation of his image"
As long as his music lives he lives and attracts people.
But I have not kidded myself into thinking he can be top of the charts every year, that young people will walk around by the millions with his name on their lips like the "next flavor of the month" .....flavors of the month do not last as he has.
PS-for the record I am not a huge Sinatra fan-but I recognise his huge talent, his huge impact on popular music before Elvis and that he like Crosby, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett etc were charismatic talented people who are not to be brushed off lightly because I do not like their music as much as rock.

[King Of The Whole World]

Davis did that for Whitney. She didn't hand pick her hits. Davis did. The biggest knock on Elvis throughout the years has been his poor choice of material and song selecting. Sure it was what he liked, sometimes, but mostly what the producers and record company TOLD him to record. Listen to the outtakes in the studio and you will hear Elvis criticize the songwriters and the people picking the songs.

The only times I know that Elvis complained about the material was during the movie years. I haven’t heard the songs after the movie years of him complaining. He vowed to himself that he would never record something again that he didn’t believe in. What songs or outtakes are the songs you heard him say that in? Elvis didn’t get to record the songs he wanted to not because of his choosing but the Colonel made it where Elvis wouldn't get good material because of publishing. One song is I will Always Love You, he wanted to record but Dolly wouldn’t give the publishing.

Just because Davis hand picked Whitney's hits doesn’t mean he always makes the right choices. I wonder how many other artist that he has worked with that never had many hits or any hits. My whole point about this is all the songs today are all the same. Guys like Elvis, Beatles, Cash and Rolling Stones they all "created music" not just let someone tell them what to record and how it should sound. I know some of the artists that I mentioned did not record in the computer age but everything today is created with synthesizers. There is no creativity anymore. Another case is American Idol they don’t let the people on there be creative in the music, they have Jimmy what ever his name is tell them how they should sing or arrange the song. What would have happened if someone would have told Elvis or the Beatles how they should record a song?

[KPM]

Davis did that for Whitney. She didn't hand pick her hits. Davis did. The biggest knock on Elvis throughout the years has been his poor choice of material and song selecting. Sure it was what he liked, sometimes, but mostly what the producers and record company TOLD him to record. Listen to the outtakes in the studio and you will hear Elvis criticize the songwriters and the people picking the songs.

Elvis biggest drawback as a producer was not telling Parker in 1964-I need better songs even if I can not get a percentage of the rights.
Elvis in the late 60s began to demand and accept songs which were not approved by Parkers unwritten rule about a percentage of the rights.
Studios and RCA did not tell him what to record, the movies were different because several songs might be written for a certain point in the film-and Elvis would decide which one he wanted to do-but they were not all great songs.
In regular recording sessions, songs came from many places.... Elvis listened to acetates and he decided which ones to record-no one TOLD him.
IE Felton did not force Elvis to record Burning Love-but he kept suggesting it until Elvis gave it a try-huge difference.

Elvis could have used a little more direction in the studio-but while he was alive. No genuis is really needed in 2012 to somehow validate or pushstart Elvis's career.
I agree Davis can smell hits...... but he can not give Elvis new songs, he can not suggest some new approach to recording-Elvis is dead-this is a gimmick.
I am not against a Duets album I have always liked to hear talented people sing together, but Elvis is dead, the material, the approach and the sound will all be limited.

Elvis produced some of the biggest hits the world has seen, the fact that he controlled those sessions says he knew what a hit song should sound like, he knew good songs when he heard them.
The more you try to re-imagine Elvis the more you water down what he was....how is that not gimmicky?
I am not against the occasional gimmick to perk people interest-but it is not essential.

[Raised on Rock]

I do not think everything needs some new "miracle approach" some new "mastermind or genuis" no one needs to repaint Rembrandt, no one needs to alter or abridge Shakespeare to make it "new and current"

Jackpot!!!!

That's what I believe projects like Young Man With The Big Beat or the Legacy reissues are so important. There are teenagers who can value stuff from the past, there are the ones who can't. The ones who can´t might be interested in the remix/duet/solei etc projects as long as those are considered hip by the media, and then a month latter they will go for the next big thing, they didn't care about Elvis beyond the novelty. Those are just consumers in the most frivolous sense.

The ones who can get some value from the past, will eventually bump into Elvis, if what they found is stuff like Young Man With The Big Beat, old great projects like 50's, 60's, 70's masters box sets, or Elvis Platinum or the recent Elvis '75, and reissues of old albums with brains added to it as the recent legacy series (needles to mention the Elvis complete masters set), then there you go, they might or not liked it, but now they go beyond the cliché and the big hits, and even, if its not their stuff, you got respect from new generations and that's cultural longevity, and some times well, you got a new fan. But if instead of that, what they find is a hundred Love and Greatest Hits cheap compilations, the camden albums, and a horrible string of Viva Elvis, Duets, and remixes projects, well as I said in a post before, in their minds, Elvis is just cheap entertainment american idol kind. So many novelty projects, Elvis is a novelty, that's their logic, add clambake to sunday matine on TCM well... no respect from the younger generations that do care about the past and music, the story that rock was born in UK in '65 and Elvis as a gimmik will permate everything, Elvis is dead.

But of course we already talked about these issues before, they don't care about art or culture, they care about making money, so a duets project will be coming out soon for sure. Now how much damage or good can that one made for Elvis artistic side, regardles of how much money the vultures can make, it depends on which artists and in which way would be handeled. That's to say: are Keith Richards and Jack White going to be there as two separate generations paying tribute to Elvis? or are Lady Gag-a and Justin Beiber going to be the likes just to sell a zillion copies and blabla get new fans among the youngsters, or as it happened in last year´s UK tribute concert and with the Christmas duets: a bunch of nobodies are going to be the choosen ones making of it a most forgetable project both for fans and non fans, both for novelty projects lovers or haters.

[vivaelvis]

Jackpot!!!!

That's what I believe projects like Young Man With The Big Beat or the Legacy reissues are so important. There are teenagers who can value stuff from the past, there are the ones who can't. The ones who can´t might be interested in the remix/duet/solei etc projects as long as those are considered hip by the media, and then a month latter they will go for the next big thing, they didn't care about Elvis beyond the novelty. Those are just consumers in the most frivolous sense.

The ones who can get some value from the past, will eventually bump into Elvis, if what they found is stuff like Young Man With The Big Beat, old great projects like 50's, 60's, 70's masters box sets, or Elvis Platinum or the recent Elvis '75, and reissues of old albums with brains added to it as the recent legacy series (needles to mention the Elvis complete masters set), then there you go, they might or not liked it, but now they go beyond the cliché and the big hits, and even, if its not their stuff, you got respect from new generations and that's cultural longevity, and some times well, you got a new fan. But if instead of that, what they find is a hundred Love and Greatest Hits cheap compilations, the camden albums, and a horrible string of Viva Elvis, Duets, and remixes projects, well as I said in a post before, in their minds, Elvis is just cheap entertainment american idol kind. So many novelty projects, Elvis is a novelty, that's their logic, add clambake to sunday matine on TCM well... no respect from the younger generations that do care about the past and music, the story that rock was born in UK in '65 and Elvis as a gimmik will permate everything, Elvis is dead.

But of course we already talked about these issues before, they don't care about art or culture, they care about making money, so a duets project will be coming out soon for sure. Now how much damage or good can that one made for Elvis artistic side, regardles of how much money the vultures can make, it depends on which artists and in which way would be handeled. That's to say: are Keith Richards and Jack White going to be there as two separate generations paying tribute to Elvis? or are Lady Gag-a and Justin Beiber going to be the likes just to sell a zillion copies and blabla get new fans among the youngsters, or as it happened in last year´s UK tribute concert and with the Christmas duets: a bunch of nobodies are going to be the choosen ones making of it a most forgetable project both for fans and non fans, both for novelty projects lovers or haters.

Why don't we just wait and see what Davis comes up with before crucifying the man for trying to keep Elvis relevant.

[Raised on Rock]

Why don't we just wait and see what Davis comes up with before crucifying the man for trying to keep Elvis relevant.

I don't think Elvis need such a dinosaur like Clive Davis with no understanding of what teenagers want to keep Elvis relevant, while Elvis is potentialy relevant to them in his own terms. But sure, as I said, it depends on how he manage the project, and most of all: who are the artists that might duet with Elvis.

[Brian Quinn]

The proposed Elvis 'Duets' album will not be released in 2012 as it takes a long time to organise all the artists contributions etc. However, I am convinced it will be released, more than likely in 2013. I am hoping for more blues oriented duets with such artists as BB King, Joe Bonemassa and ZZ Top etc. Sony have stated that only established artists will be used and none from such programmes as American Idol etc.

Brian

[KPM]

The proposed Elvis 'Duets' album will not be released in 2012 as it takes a long time to organise all the artists contributions etc. However, I am convinced it will be released, more than likely in 2013. I am hoping for more blues oriented duets with such artists as BB King, Joe Bonemassa and ZZ Top etc. Sony have stated that only established artists will be used and none from such programmes as American Idol etc.

Brian

Now that sounds interesting!

[vivaelvis]

The proposed Elvis 'Duets' album will not be released in 2012 as it takes a long time to organise all the artists contributions etc. However, I am convinced it will be released, more than likely in 2013. I am hoping for more blues oriented duets with such artists as BB King, Joe Bonemassa and ZZ Top etc. Sony have stated that only established artists will be used and none from such programmes as American Idol etc.

Brian

They might want to rethink that strategy. Carrie Underwood is among the true established superstars out there. American idol may be producing the next great things in pop music very soon with this year's AMAZING collection of talent. Jessica Sanchez and Joshua Ledet are about to become super, superstars. They're vocals are on an Elvis level and the judges have been raving at both as being among the best ever in music to date. Ledet is a throwback to James Brown. Ottis Redding and Al Green while Sanchez rivals Beyonce, Whitney and Aretha and is only 16 years old!! Her voice and maturity is far ahead of her peers.

I am not at all confident in anything Sony does anymore concerning Elvis. They have really disappointed me. I thought when they took over for BMG that they would appreciate and respect him and repackage the catalog in a definitive manner but so far they haven't. It's all the same crap we saw from BMG in the 80's and 90's, minus the new creative albums such as Tomorrow Is A Long Time and An Afternoon In The Garden.