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

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Aar Gal, Sep 9, 2021.

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  1. Ken E.

    Ken E. Senior Member

    Blue Christmas and Mystery Train for me.
     
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  2. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    The first time I heard that fantastic blues version of Stranger In My Own Hometown, somewhat edited on the great Walk A Mile In My Shoes 70's box set, I just laughed until I about fell off my chair. The unedited version is even better. The part that makes it great though is the fact that Elvis is really feeling the lyrics of the song, perhaps recalling back to when he got home from his stint in the Army in the late 1950's.

    I also really dig your avatar picture. Charlie Rich was my first musical love and actually led me to my love of Elvis Presley. I know its usually the other way around, Lol. I am still a huge Charlie Rich fan.
     
  3. batdude98

    batdude98 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dunstable, MA
    PS:

    I LOVE Jaws

    [​IMG]
     
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  4. My choice as well!
     
  5. Cool hand luke

    Cool hand luke There you go man, keep as cool as you can

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Just Pretend, live 1970.

     
  6. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    So many great picks outside the usual suspects, like the one posted above by @Cool hand luke. Here is one of my other left-field choices and this alternate version of the old Irish standard Danny Boy is one that Elvis recorded about a year and a half before his untimely death in 1977. This is just Elvis and one of his very favorite piano players, Muscle Shoals alumni David Briggs, along with some soft background voices to fill out the sparse production. Notice the power, range and passion that Elvis could display even in the last couple years of his life. Also check out his great falsetto notes near the very end of the song.

     
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  7. 7solqs4iago

    7solqs4iago Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto


    She's Not You is a masterpiece of macho and sexual insecurity,

    Elvis was great at entering multiple personalities and shifting his range and tone to meet them

    close listens pay off very well, the 50s and early 60s had tons of nuance in subject matter, i prefer it to the blatant expression after his peak (usually)
     
  8. WolfSpear

    WolfSpear Music Enthusiast

    Location:
    Florida
    Probably mentioned but this one has always stood out:

    “Love Me” by Elvis Presley
     
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  9. 7solqs4iago

    7solqs4iago Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto

    an Elvis-fan actor singing it in a movie was a boss move :D
     
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  10. PepiJean

    PepiJean Forum Resident

    Mr. Cage?
     
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  11. 7solqs4iago

    7solqs4iago Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    i burst out laughing, in admiration, in the theatre, a few joined me
     
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  12. zbarbera

    zbarbera A stereo's a stereo. Art is forever!

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Really anything from the American recordings that is not one of the better known songs would qualify here. With Moman pushing him, he became so engaged and it shows throughout the album.
     
  13. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I agree with your greater point here entirely, but the interesting thing about I'll Hold You In My Heart is that Elvis was really following his own instincts in this particular song and actually sat down at the piano and played it himself with very little guidance from Chips, IIRC.
     
  14. Yeah I picture this performance similar to what Elvis might have done in his late night piano playing at Graceland.
     
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  15. PepiJean

    PepiJean Forum Resident

    True. It's just Elvis enjoying themoment with the musicians around: one of those spurs of the moment so complicated to replicate. Chips had little to do.
    Plus it's always fascinating to hear our man treating a Country classic like a Blues performance. Awesome track.
     
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  16. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Oh yeah those might be my favorite cuts Elvis ever made, when he took a country song and added some blues to it, much like his great remake of Eddy Arnold's I Really Don't Want To Know.

     
  17. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    Great pick
     
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  18. This one was on my short list for this thread too.
     
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  19. PepiJean

    PepiJean Forum Resident

    Excellent example of a Soulful rendition of a C&W standard.
    Elvis' greatest music would often come by mixing genres, just like during those magic Sun years.
     
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  20. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    Hope that "Always On My Mind" isn't too obvious a choice. Love it!

     
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  21. PepiJean

    PepiJean Forum Resident

    My go-to version of ALWAYS ON MY MIND by Elvis would be this one:

     
  22. r&b

    r&b Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I agree
     
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  23. Captain Groovy

    Captain Groovy Senior Member

    Location:
    Freedonia, USA
    This was the song that popped in my mind immediately. The rising highs to the baritone lows rap-talk singing, from throat to belly, then soaring highs again. Song feels like it caught most elements of Elvis from "Love Me Tender" to "Moody Blue".

    "Hurt" may not be my favorite Elvis song, but that vocal..

    Anybody who thinks Elvis didn't "have it" towards the end.. the Jungle Room sessions really should put that notion to bed.
     
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  24. Bucks

    Bucks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norway
    Impossible to choose one, but I want to give a nod to Mansion Over the Hilltop.
     
  25. Scott6

    Scott6 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Song of The Shrimp.
     
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