Elvis Presley?

Elvis is kind of a mixed affair for me. I love some of his stuff but absolutely despise some of it too. I recently bought a compilation called Viva Las Vegas, and it had 5 awesome songs (Viva Las Vegas, See See Rider, Polk Salad Annie, Walk a mile in my shoes, Patch it up) a lot of okay songs (Release me, for example) and a few pieces of crap (Never been to Spain-WTF?)

Anyway, I'm not really sure if I like Elvis or not. I need some outside opinions.

He's awesome. That's all you're getting from me.

Never really got into his music. There's still time, though.

From Elvis In Memphis (1969) is a classic record, my fave out of all his records including the seminal 50's records.

'In The Ghetto' is probably one of the best songs i've ever heard.....Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds cover of 'In The Ghetto' is as good if not better than the original imo!

Well one thing i can tell you is I grew up with Elvis. I used to play guitar for him in a tribute band hahaha. Dead serious my best friend at the time was the drummer in the band as well. We played gigs at bars and all kinds of places.

Funny thing is i was the only one plugged in. The other members faked everything, it was all for show and to get a smile from people. I was up there jamming to Elvis with a Jackson RR Edition guitar what a site.. Here my version of The Wonder of You below..

http://profile.ultimate-guitar.com/DeadIdentity81/music/all/play431478

I am huge Elvis Presley fan, the Sun Sessions that he recorded at 19 years old, you can hear the birth pains of rock n roll in the grooves. When Elvis was on and he was good no one could touch him. Combined country, blues, and gospel music to create his own unique musical legacy.

Rattpoison named one of Elvis's greatest albums 'From Elvis in Memphis" where he touches base with the music that inspired him in his youth, excellent.

Ignore the Vegas years where you can see the decline and ignore the b movie musicals, there is a reason that he was referred to as The King.

As Spec stated, he was awesome. Nuff said.

Im not much of an Elvis fan though I do like his version of Hounddog and a few other classics also like the original version of Hounddog too

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I am huge Elvis Presley fan, the Sun Sessions that he recorded at 19 years old, you can hear the birth pains of rock n roll in the grooves. When Elvis was on and he was good no one could touch him. Combined country, blues, and gospel music to create his own unique musical legacy.

I second that. The Sun Sessions stuff was the best. Real & raw. In fact, most of those Sun Sessions recordings are awesome. Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, etc. Truely the birth of Rock n Roll. Everything we discuss here , metal or otherwise, owes a tremendous debt to these early recordings.

Imagine if that Million Dollar Quartet made a proper album back then. It would have been awesome, methinks. Yet another golden opportunity that Sam Phillips didn't capitalize on.

spectrefate wrote:

Imagine if that Million Dollar Quartet made a proper album back then. It would have been awesome, methinks. Yet another golden opportunity that Sam Phillips didn't capitalize on.

I used to have that Million Dollar Quartet photo hanging up in my apartment, back in my single days. Along with the pic of Johnny Cash flipping the bird. I should dig them out and hang 'em up behind my bar with my other b/w photos.

My Dad was a huge Elvis fan, so I too grew up listening to his stuff... he was the first "rock star" that I knew anything about. I was 7 years old when he died and I still remember that day. My family was on vacation in the Adirondacks, staying in a cabin without a TV, so we found out when my Dad went down the road to the store and bought the day's newspaper. When we went home a day or two later, he listened to nothing but Elvis stuff for a week or so afterwards.

Anyone here like any of his old movies?? Most of them are pretty terrible but if I happen to land on one while channel surfing, I can't help but stop and watch for a while.

I don't care for his movies but if I am channel surfing I do tend to watch it if I happen to see one is on, as horrible as some of those movies are you can't help but to watch them.

My grandmother is one of Elvis' biggest fans, so I heard it a lot growing up as well.

I myself always enjoyed his and I whip out my Elvis live cd from time to time.

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Anyone here like any of his old movies?? Most of them are pretty terrible but if I happen to land on one while channel surfing, I can't help but stop and watch for a while.

I forget which one it is, but I like the movie he's in with Ann Margaret. She was SMOKING HOT!

EDIT: The movie is Viva Las Vegas

Elvis wasn't a bad actor, but the movies themselves were. I have seen a few of his feature pictures and was pretty underwhelmed.

I really like the documentary of the backstage stuff when he was in Vegas for the first time. The name of that movie escapes me.

OK, checked Netflix. It's called "The Way It Is". Really cool stuff.

manny wrote:

I don't care for his movies but if I am channel surfing I do tend to watch it if I happen to see one is on, as horrible as some of those movies are you can't help but to watch them.

Most of the songs he sings in those movies are absolutely painful!! (The worst is probably "Clambake" -- "Claaaaaam-bake, gonna have a clambake!" Hahahaha!) My wife and I always love how every time Elvis starts to sing in a movie, a band will magically materialize out of nowhere to back him up, no matter where he is at the time.

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Elvis wasn't a bad actor, but the movies themselves were. I have seen a few of his feature pictures and was pretty underwhelmed.

From what I've read, Elvis HATED doing most of those movies too -- but he was trapped in an iron clad contract with that Colonel Tom guy so he had to do what he was told. Supposedly he was offered roles in much better films (I believe I read somewhere that he was offered the part in "Rebel Without A Cause" that eventually went to James Dean) but Colonel Tom kept him stuck in those light, fluffy musical comedies.

The name of it slips my mind but there was one non-musical film Elvis did that was one of my Dad's favorites... it was his lone "dramatic" role apparently. I believe it was a Western of some kind.

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I forget which one it is, but I like the movie he's in with Ann Margaret. She was SMOKING HOT!

Yea, I think I've seen that one... and she was pretty hot. Didn't she play a girl that was studying to be a nun or something? I believe the name of the movie was "Change of Habit" or something along those lines. It's been years since I've seen any of these flicks.

There was another documentary that was interesting was called "This is Elvis" , released a year or two after his death. It would have been excellent but they hired some actor to do a voice over as if it was Elvis speaking, and it was done with Coloniel Tom Parker as a consultant. Of course with Colonial Parker involved I am not surprised there was an element of cheese assciated with the film.

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From what I've read, Elvis HATED doing most of those movies too -- but he was trapped in an iron clad contract with that Colonel Tom guy so he had to do what he was told. Supposedly he was offered roles in much better films (I believe I read somewhere that he was offered the part in "Rebel Without A Cause" that eventually went to James Dean) but Colonel Tom kept him stuck in those light, fluffy musical comedies.

The name of it slips my mind but there was one non-musical film Elvis did that was one of my Dad's favorites... it was his lone "dramatic" role apparently. I believe it was a Western of some kind.

I've heard that too. His 1st movie, Love Me Tender, was named something else and was already written without Elvis in mind. Once they put him in it, the title was changed and they sorta shoe-horned that song into the story. But by most accounts, Elvis was a decent actor and the movie was good too. He wanted to follow in that James Dean-type of roles, but Col. Tom thought otherwise.

My mistake -- I just checked IMDB and the Elvis/Ann-Margret movie was "Viva Las Vegas," not "Change of Habit." The Nun-in-training in "Change of Habit" was played by a young Mary Tyler Moore (who was also pretty hot in them days).

He did a movie with Walter Mathau ( I think that is how it is spelled) that was very good, it is dated but Elvis could have easily have been another James Dean if he had been allowed to continue in those type of roles.

Fat Freddy wrote:

My mistake -- I just checked IMDB and the Elvis/Ann-Margret movie was "Viva Las Vegas," not "Change of Habit." The Nun-in-training in "Change of Habit" was played by a young Mary Tyler Moore (who was also pretty hot in them days).

Ann Margret was smoking hot back in the day also.

It is funny, but I feel the same way about Elvis. Some of his stuff is great, and some is just really lousy. It is hard to deny his place in history, that is for sure thought.

spectrefate wrote:

He's awesome. That's all you're getting from me.

this

I like him, great stuff

I like him.