About Elvis

" Had Presley never sung a note he might have still caused a stir, but sing he did. Watershed hits such as "Heartbreak Hotel", "All Shook Up", "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock", and "Are You Lonesome Tonight", were eminately Presley's from the moment he put his stamp on them. His jagged, bubbly highs, and Southern baritone jump from those recordings like spirits from a cauldren. Elvis crooned romantically, then screeched relentlessly, always pouring his heart into the lyric and melody. After Elvis, the male vocalist could no longer just sing a song, especially in the new world of rock-n-roll. The "feel" of a performance far out-weighed the perfection of the take".-

 

 James Campion, "The 25 Most Influential Americans of the 20th Century: #5", published in 1996.

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" Elvis' ¨Love Me Tender¨ is a timeless classic that his fans return to, time and again, when choosing their favorite love song, but why is this early recording such a favorite? It could be the simplicity of the lyric, that wonderful vocal which quivers with an understated power and beauty, or the honest, pure sentiment of a song that has touched millions. Two minutes and 40 seconds have never been used more beautifully..-

 

An RCA/BMG spokesman commenting on "Love me Tender" being voted Presley's favourite song, by a poll of more than 5,000 of fans

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"This boy had everything. He had the looks, the moves, the manager, and the talent. And he didn't look like Mr. Ed like a lot of the rest of us did. In the way he looked, way he talked, way he acted - he really was different."

 

 Carl Perkins

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"It's rare when an artist's talent can touch an entire generation of people. It's even rarer when that same influence affects several generations. Elvis made an imprint on the world of pop music unequaled by any other single performer."

 

Dick Clark

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“ We loved you. You were our Youthful God, and when we believed in you, you made us believe we too were Gods. And then you went and did it, man.  you left us all alone.

 Yet, like our hometowns, like our parents who we once rejected—like our own pasts—finally we are powerless to reject Elvis without severing the vital connections that keep us alive. His life was a triumph over low birth, lack of education and a deadening conformist era which broke many a more advantaged man’s heart. He taught us how to begin to feel, what it meant to turn yourself loose. He seized his time, and he gave it back to us—recharged, renewed, filled with all the courage, tension and sweetness which made up his own complex and lonely heart. In short, he was simply one of us—and for a very long time, one of the best. ”

From the November 1977 issue of Crawdaddy magazine.  Robert Ward, an up-and-coming novelist, whose work had already appeared in Esquire, New Times, Penthouse, and Sport magazines. In later years, adding to his nine published novels, Ward became a screenwriter, with nine episodes of Hill Street Blues and eight episodes of Miami Vice among his many TV credits

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"So what it boils down to was Elvis produced his own records. He came to the session, picked the songs, and if something in the arrangement was changed, he was the one to change it. Everything was worked out spontaneously. Nothing was really rehearsed. Many of the important decisions normally made previous to a recording session were made during the session. What it was was a look to the future. Today everybody makes records this way. Back then Elvis was the only one. He was the forerunner of everything that's record production these days. Consciously or unconsciously, everyone imitated him. People started doing what Elvis did."

 

Bones Howe Recording Engineer As quoted in Jerry Hopkins' 1971 book, Elvis, A Biography.

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--- " A lot has been written and said about why he was so great, but I think the best way to appreciate his greatness is just to go back and play some of the old records... Time has a way of being very unkind to old records, but Elvis' keep getting better and better. "

 

Huey Lewis--------

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" That Elvis, man, he is all there is. There ain't no more. Everything starts and ends with him. He wrote the book. There have been a lotta tough guys. There have been pretenders. And there have been contenders. But there is only one king. It was like he came along and whispered some dream in everybody's ear, and somehow we all dreamed it. "

 

Bruce Springsteen