Elvis Presley - what's your leftfield choice for The King's greatest vocal performance?

Baby let's play house

 

Fair enough. In no way am I rendering any wider critique of Elvis' music than my own reaction.

As it happens I have a hard time thinking of any other genre of music that I actually don't like except The Blues - e.g. of the type Elvis was singing, or Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy etc.
I certainly love tons of blues-derived music, all sorts of early R&B, Funk, dance music etc. But something about The Blues in it's most traditional form - the combination of limited, boringly repetitious blues licks played at a dirge pace with overwrought emotion, is my version of music hell.

Some of the stuff I like would be torment for other people. Just ask my wife.

 

If I Get Home on Christmas Day" from 1971....simply sublime

 

Blue Moon. It’s ultra cool and kind of creepy.

 

To my mind, Elvis doesn't even have one genre

He played and sang well in at least

Rock n' roll
Pop (standards and modern) -- you may be thinking of these -- to me it sounds like people like Pomus and Shuman trying to write like Rodgers and Hammerstein and not being able to, frankly, altho the results certainly aren't bad, to my ears, just different, which may explain the 'between-the-cracks' effect you feel
Gospel
Blues/R&B
Broadway/soundtrack music (somewhat similar to traditional pop)
Country

But as @danasgoodstuff said, I think music resists being put into boxes, too...

However, if you don't get Elvis, is that a huge problem? Maybe you could explore more of what you *do* like; I think we're all here because we love music and good sound, after all.

 

Makes sense, and is a salient critique.

Do you like Sinatra? -- I feel like he similarly resists genre

 

Is his performance of "An American Trilogy" from the Aloha from Hawaii concert left-field enough? It's pretty searing and I don't think that version was ever a hit.

 

"Fame and Fortune" (1960). Not my #1 all-time Elvis vocal, but one that doesn't get mentioned much. Another excellent vocal ballad from that same year: "Pocketful of Rainbows".

 

So very much agree...especially along with Ray Walker's BEAUTIFUL bass harmony...

 

I do like some Sinatra, yes. Some is maudlin and unappealing, but I do love big band music and his craft is hard to miss.

One thing I admire about Sinatra is the absolute balance he achieves between storytelling and singing skill, the way his singing skill serves the music and lyrics. He's subtle when he needs to be, and when he breaks out it seems to be just right for the lyric.

Other singers get too in love with their own voice.

I'm sure some will disagree with me, but for all his skill Kurt Elling is one of those I'd fit in to the latter category. Just rubs me the wrong way. He seems to approach songs/lyrics as a vehicle for his singing, not the other way around. Drawing out words not so much for lyrical effect as to simply relish in whatever tone he's creating. When I listen to him I feel constantly aware of hearing someone in love with his own voice. And "don't you just LOVE my voice too? Just listen!"

I can see that some people can think that's great, why not? But it's a sort of stumbling block for how much I can enjoy Elling's performances.

 

Trouble

 

He's my favorite vocalist ever for pretty much those reasons, actually...just the mix of technical craft, raw emotion, vocal control, and acting/living inside the song and its story/feeling.

Never heard of Elling...could you post an example, as much as it might pain you, haha?

 

He's been voted the, or among the top jazz vocalists for many years.

Pretty much any one will do. First one that appeared on google:



There's just so much "Aren't I great? Don't you just love what I'm doing with my voice?" in the performance for me to handle.

 

never ranks above the top 20 in polls i've seen...

for most anyone else that's really left field...

 

Kurt Elling - Wikipedia


Elling has won the Down Beat Critics Poll thirteen times, from 2000–2012, and the Down Beat Readers Poll seven times and the JazzTimes Readers' Poll eight times, all in the Male Vocalist of the Year category. He has also received the Jazz Journalists Association Male Singer of the Year award eight times. In 2010 he was awarded the Edison/Jazz World award for The Gate. The Edison is the Dutch equivalent of a Grammy. In 2012 he was honored as the first Jazz Ambassador at the Silesian Jazz Festival in Poland, and he also won the German Echo Jazz award and the Scottish Jazz Award – International category. In 2013 he was named International Jazz Artist of the Year in the Jazz FM Awards (UK).[21]

 

I can hear why you don't like him...from a sample size of a Sam Cooke song only - I don't either! My favorite modern guy singing standards is Steve Tyrell.

 

i meant the Elvis song, not Kurt Elling, whom I have never heard of until somehow included in a rebuttal on him...

 

Bonus: just discovered he has a new album! Of Ray Charles songs! Awesome!

 

Not to WILDLY derail the thread lol

I'd say this isn't left field, but unknown by casual fans:

 

Oh wow. I love Steve Tyrell. His Bacharach album is an all time favorite.


Regarding the topic, Elvis' "If I Can Dream" is an awesome vocal.

 

It wasn't from the film. It was a bonus song added to the soundtrack because there wasn't enough songs from the film to make a full album.

Power of my Love has to be up there from the American Sound sessions.

 

I always describe it at 'haunting'. I was going to suggest it too.

 

That one can only be described as "delicious": the song was written by Doc Pomus, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller (the creme of the creme), you get the Jordanaires' catchiest doo-wops ever plus Elvis' vocals are pure perfection. I can't think of a better vocalist during those early 60s.

"I've been listening to loads of songs. I sob my heart out to Elvis' SHE'S NOT YOU. I've got a song for every occasion."
(Amy Winehouse)

 

This is among my favorites as well, mostly for the way he communicates how much he loves the groove and wants to keep going all night long. Here's an NSFW blues version:

https://youtu.be/d9f427lGdhU

 

I've always loved Tomorrow Night. I'll throw in Trying to Get to You, for good measure: