Michael Jackson 2nd after the Beatles; Elvis Presley 3rd that’s reality

The great Ludwig Van Beethoven used an Irish tune in his Magnificent 7th Symphony Nobody owns song or music!
Opera singer Maria Callas did not write a song but her contribution through the use of her beautiful voice to world culture is recognised internationally. The same applies to Elvis Presley.
It is a futile exercise attempting to belittle the finest and most versatile vocalist in popular music history.

We all know why songwriter John Lennon admired Elvis so much. Well those of us steeped in classical and popular music do. Yes a great many Black songwriters do too. James Brown was a good friend of Elvis.

Finest and most versatile vocalist in popular music history?

You are joking, right?

Like to hear Elvis hit one of Michael Jackson’s falsettos.

Am I joking? Live and learn young man.

“Elvis Presley has been described variously as a baritone and a tenor. An extraordinary compass, and a very wide range of vocal color have something to do with this divergence of opinion. The voice covers two octaves and a third, from the baritone low-G to the tenor high B, with an upward extension in falsetto to at least a D flat. Presley’s best octave is in the middle, D-flat to D-flat. Call him a high baritone. In “It’s now or never”, he ends it in a full voice cadence (A, G, F), that has nothing to do with the vocal devices of Rhythm and Blues and Country. That A-note is hit right on the nose, and it is rendered less astonishing only by the number of tracks where he lands easy and accurate B-flats. Moreover, he has not been confined to one type of vocal production. In ballads and country songs he belts out full-voiced high G’s and A’s that an opera baritone might envy. Elvis’ voice is, in a word, an extraordinary voice, or many voices”. - Henry Pleasants, in his book “The Great American singers”.

“I suppose you’d had to call him a lyric baritone, although with exceptional high notes and unexpectedly rich low ones. But what is more important about Elvis Presley is not his vocal range, nor how high, or low it extends, but where its center of gravity is. By that measure, Elvis was all at once a tenor, a baritone and a bass, the most unusual voice I’ve ever heard”.- Gregory Sandows, Music Professor at Columbia University, published in The Village Voice.

” ….(in his voice), Elvis Presley possessed the most beautiful musical instrument, and the genius to play that instrument perfectly. (He) could jump from octave to countless other octaves with such agility without voice crack, simultaneously sing a duet with his own overtones, rein in an always-lurking atomic explosion to so effortlessly fondle, and release, the most delicate chimes of pathos. Yet, those who haven’t been open to explore some of Presley’s most brilliant work - the almost esoteric ballads and semi-classical recordings -, have cheated themselves out of one of the most beautiful gifts to fall out of the sky in a lifetime”.- Mike Handley, narrator and TV/radio spokesman.

“I am reminded of a comment made shortly after the death of Elvis Presley by a musician he had worked with. He pointed out that despite an impressive vocal range of two and a half octaves - something approaching perfect pitch-, Elvis was willing to sing off-key when he thought the song required it. Those off-key notes were art”.- Patrick H. Adkins, “The Dream vaults of Opar”

“Elvis’ initial hopes for a music career involved singing in a gospel male quartet. His favourite part was bass baritone, and he himself had an almost 3-octave vocal range… Yet to posterity’s surprise, such a superlative and magnetic natural talent always remained humble –perhaps too humble to keep performing forever”. IMDb’s review of his appearance in Frank Sinatra’s 1960’s “Welcome Home Party for Elvis Presley” TV special.-

“With the way he was marketed, he didn’t even need to be able to sing the way he could. But Elvis had talent, plain and simple. The guy had a variety in his vocal styles and approach, he could make more vocal tones, with just his voice, than a guitar player with 50 pedals and gadgets. If you never even saw the guy, you could plain feel, not just hear, the emotion and passion in his voice, and you are immediately taken in, one hundred percent. On the merit of vocals alone, he had more talent in the barbecue stuck in his teeth than the singers who sell millions of records do today”.- Country singer Roger Wallace, in “Soapbox”.-

“We can even hazard a little analysis as to what made his voice so appealing. “That curious baritone,” one critic called it. Actually, that is inexact. The voice had mixed propensities, hovering between tenor and bass and everything in between. Even a convincing falsetto lay within his range. One thing he was not, ever, was Steve-’n-Edie, the polished, professionally accomplished Vegas artistes who once pronounced on an afternoon interview show (Mr. Lawrence enunciating the sentiment for himself and his partner/wife, Ms. Gorme), “We don’t really think of Elvis as a singer. But he was a star.” It is only when, years later, one gets past the indignation of hearing such apparent ignorance, that the sense of the observation becomes clear. A singer is someone like Steve Lawrence rolling effortlessly (and meaninglessly) through a shlock-standard like “What Now, My Love?”. More or less like doing the scales. A star is the persona in whom one invests one’s vicarious longings, a being who is constantly hazarding — and intermittently succeeding at — the impossible stretches that every soul wishes to attempt but lacks the means or the will to. It’s not a matter of virtuosity.- Jackson Baker, in Memphis Magazine’s July 2002 issue.-

“People will often say that opera singers sound too stiff and operatic when singing contemporary music. This is because the vowels in an operatic style tend to be more open, whereas in a rock style singers tend to thin out the vowel. There is nothing wrong, and everything right, in opening the vowel in the higher register so that the higher notes can be sustained. Elvis Presley was very open in his singing style even though he was “the” rock and roller .- Brain Gilbertson, world-famous voice teacher.

“He rarely over-sang when recording, delivering a vocal to suit the song. So, he can rasp and rage for “Jailhouse Rock”, loudly accuse in “Hound Dog”, bare his soul and beg on “Any Day Now” and sound quietly, sadly, worldly-wise on “Funny How Time Slips Away”. This gift may explain why his music endures so powerfully and why his performances remain so easy to hear”.- Paul Simpson, in “The rough guide to Elvis”.

“Elvis was a (Gospel) singer par excellence. On “Milky White Way”, he’ got the strength of a bassman and the sweetness of a tenor. The heritage we have in Elvis’ gospel music is a gift to the world”.- Paul Poulton, Cross Rhythms Magazine If I Can Dream

” …the accompaniment is ornamented with bells, horns, and female choir, but it is Elvis’ voice upon which the words depend for their dramatic effect. In a departure quite uncharacteristic of country music, there is a fierce, almost shocked indignation and passionate intensity in his voice, transforming a fairly ordinary song into a vehicle for savage social protest”. - Rolling Stone”’s review of ¨Long Black Limousine”, found in the 1969 “From Elvis in Memphis” album.

” Elvis’ ¨Love me tender¨ is a timeless classic that his fans return to, time and again, when choosing their favourite love song, but why is this early recording such a favourite? 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

” (in Rockabilly), the vocal is another important aspect. It should be rough cut and edgy, but also sweet enough to milk the honey from a honey comb at times. Elvis could span several octaves with his voice, thus leaving almost no desires left towards the key of the song”. - The High Noon.-

“Then, in mid 1968 he taped a television special in a black leather suit, in front of a select live audience, opening with “Guitar Man” and closing with a mild social-conscience song, “If I Can Dream,”. But it wasn’t until Greil Marcus brought out the recording of that performance for me, almost three years later, that I realized how significant it had been. Marcus has spent as much time listening as anyone who is liable to be objective, and he believes Elvis may have made the best music of his life that crucial comeback night. It’s so easy to forget that Elvis was, or is, a great singer. Any account of his impact that omits that fundamental fact amounts to a dismissal”.- Robert Christgau, Dean of American Rock critics, in his 1973 book “Any old way you choose”.-

“I remember Elvis as a young man hanging around the Sun studios. Even then, I knew this kid had a tremendous talent. He was a dynamic young boy. His phraseology, his way of looking at a song, was as unique as Sinatra’s. I was a tremendous fan, and had Elvis lived, there would have been no end to his inventiveness”.- B.B. King

” 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.

The average joe public would probably be able to name you dozens of Elvis’s hits, the titles are part of our culture. Newspaper editors are very fond of all the generic titles…….how often are they All Shook Up!
Ask anyone to name three Michael Jackson hits and they would be at a loss. That’s how Thrilling he was/is?

Maurice: here’s more about Presley’s impact, and about his voice. Maybe they’ll learn, from those who REALLY know:

“He got even more maturity in his voice as he got older; I was often amazed at his range, just as one singer listening to another. He could sing anything. I’ve never seen such a versality, and in fact I don’t see it today. Usually a voice can sing one way, but he had that ability about him, and he helped me to learn the importance of communication with an audience. He had such great soul. He had the ability to make everyone in the audience think that he was singing directly to them. He just had a way with communication that was totally unique”

We are startled, on the amazing “Blue Moon,” by his trick of shifting, in a heartbeat, from saloon baritone to pants-too-tight wailing and by his near Hawaiian avoiding of consonants (”Ya-hoo A-know Ah can be fou’/ Sittin’ home all alo’”), from “Don’t Be Cruel”, a song that comes close to redefining the art of the pop vocal; So, what’s left? A terrific crooner who was closer, in intonation, vocal virtuosity and care for a song’s mood, to Bing Crosby, than to any top singer of the rock era. Toward the end, he still had it as a Gospel ballader, the choir-soloist power of the hymn “He Touched Me” — his voice breaking poignantly at the end of the hymn, as if he had just seen Jesus — still thrills and haunts. So does his desire to please an audience of kids and grandmas, instead of comfortably occupying a niche, as almost every pop star has done since”
Richard Corliss, TIME magazine`s Music Editor, reviewing the “Platinum”, box-set, as published in the magazine`s January 8, 2003 edition.

“During the early going at the Charlotte Coliseum, there were scattered notes here and there that made you wonder if finally he was gonna do it but, always, he would pull up short, rely on the grins, the charisma and the legend, until finally a little before 10:45, he came to the gospel classic, “How Great Thou Art”-. And that was it. As he came to the part where he belts out the title, he sounded like Mario Lanza with soul, cutting loose a series of high notes that would tingle the spine of even the diehard skeptic; but crecendo came on a song called “Hurt”; it’s an old song that Elvis didn’t record until a couple of years ago, and the key ingredient is its range, an awesome collection of notes that could leave a normal set of vocal chords in shreds; he finished in what seemed his most potent style, but wasn’t satisfied, and mumbled to the band, “Let’s do that last part again.”; he did, and if there was anyone among the packed-house crowd who had thought Elvis was a fluke, they no doubt came away converted.
Frye Gaillard, reviewing his February 20, 1977 show at the Coliseum, for the “The Charlotte Observer”

“Arguably the finest recording found in all the Sun sessions, “Trying To Get To You” is a song that Presley made his own due to his hugely committed vocal, and the simple carefree abandon with which he performs it; at first, it feels like a classic country song with simple, elegant lyrics; but it is at the bridge - where Elvis really lets fly -, that the song is transformed from a lovely country lament, into deep blues; although the 1955 version is magnificent, Elvis manages to better it on his “1968 Comeback Special”, in which he sings the song with so much intensity, it prompted critic Greil Marcus to exclaim “this is probably the finest rock and roll ever recorded”.
Thomas Ward’s review, for AllMusicGuide.com, of “Trying To Get To You”, whose original 1955-released version has now been confirmed, by BMG/RCA (which owns all the Presley Sun catalogue), as having been sang and recorded by Elvis while simultaneously playing the piano, with Sun Records’ Sam Philips immediately arranging the mix so that his rather loud (and then still amateurish) piano playing could not be heard in the final master take.

” He had an incredible, attractive instrument that worked in many registers; he could falsetto like Little Richard, his equipment was outstanding, his ear uncanny, and his sense of timing second to none; (in short) he could sing…”
Jerry Leiber, who with Mike Stoller, co-wrote some of the greatest R&R and Pop hits of the 50’s, and early 60’s.

” Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman’s “Viva Las Vegas” was custom-written as the title song for Elvis Presley’s 14th film, a rollicking tribute to the city of gambling given a spirited performance by Presley and his session musicians; strangely, it remained an underrated Presley song for a long time, finally beginning to gain some recognition from an unexpected quarter when the “Dead Kennedys” recorded it in 1980, their radical recontextualization of it helping the song to an independent life beyond its origins; on its own, it can now be appreciated as a tribute to Las Vegas that probably deserves to be the city’s official anthem.
William Ruhlmann, reviewing “Viva Las Vegas” for AllMusicGuide.com, before the Office of the Mayor of Las Vegas requested Elvis Presley Enterprises to allow it to become the city’s official song; the price demanded by EPE was too high, so Las Vegas remains, to this date, without an official song.

“Even in his laziest moments, Presley was a master of intonation and phrasing, delivering his rich baritone with a disarming naturalness. And when he caught a spark from his great T.C.B. Band, Presley could still out-sing anyone in American pop. You can hear it here on inspired versions of Muddy Waters’ “Got My Mojo Working”, Wayne Carson’s “Always on My Mind”, Chuck Berry’s “Promised Land”, McCartney’s “Lady Madonna”, Percy Mayfield’s “Stranger in My Own Hometown”, Dennis Linde’s “Burning Love” and Joe South’s “Walk a Mile in My Shoes”…..
Geoffrey Himes, reviewing the “Essential 70’s masters” box-set, for amazon.com

“Riding a streamlined rock-and-roll beat, the singer’s vocal swoops, slurs, hiccups, moans and growls added up to a new pop singing vocabulary that was instantly memorized by scores of imitators. The antithesis of a relaxed conversational crooning, Presley’s style was fraught with tension and animated by an attitude of self-conscious melodrama, woving the whole unwieldy spectrum of pop singing - country-blues, Italianate crooning, Gospel, soul shouting, and honky-tonk yodeling - into an integral personal style. His crowning touch was to accentuate the spontaneously exuberant humor that had always been an ingredient of country, and the blues, but singing it in a way that seemed to poke fun at his own accomplishment.”
Stephen Holding, in the article “A Hillbilly who wove a rock and roll spell”, published by the New York Times on Sunday, July 19, 1987.

“Even as a young man, that’s what Presley sounded, like a man. I wasn’t of a culture nor a region that found Presley appealing, and I’ve never seen a Presley movie through but, a few years ago when in a tribute to him various modern singers covered some of his originals, followed, or enclosed by, his versions of the same songs, I was struck by how much fuller, deeper, and richer his were.”
Al Spike, explaining to North Africans why Presley’s manly baritone rang true, in the web`s “Chicago Boyz”.

“This is the best way to hear Elvis the Superstar, with “Hound Dog,”,”All Shook Up,”, “Are You Lonesome Tonight”, and the ever zany “Suspicious Minds” still sounding fresh and immediate —impressive given how many times most the world has heard them —, and showing off the diversity of Elvis’ singing, from the purity of his gospel falsetto to his rock and roll purr.”
Josh Tyrangiel, reviewing “Elvis 30 Number One hits”, for TIME magazine`s “The All Time best 100 albums”, as published in its November 13, 2006 edition.

“Take a track like “One Sided Love Affair” and really examine every nuance of his voice, every caress, every tease and every growl that he lets loose for the song’s duration, and you`ll you come to understand that the reason Presley’s voice has been so often imitated is because it was unique and, furthermore, damm great; no phony piano intro, not even a puerile lyric could have ever stopped him from turning this song into a real classic; imagine, then, how great it is when Elvis gets to sing material that is up to his standards — like on the Sun Records label song “Tryin’ To Get You” - , probably the bluesiest song on this record, where Presley shows a sense of determination, not just a combination of nobleness and sex, but an expression of guts as well; quite simply, this is a guy who knows what he wants, and knows he’s gonna get it, and his confidence - never arrogance -, is so contagious that by the end of the song, you believe it too”
Daniel Reifferscheid, reviewing Elvis’ first album, for Toxic Universe

“But the last side, recorded during rehearsals for his 1968 television special, is another treat, as fine and tough and overflowing with heart and soul as any of his 50’s recordings. Playing an electric guitar, rather than his customary acoustic model, he traded fluid rhythm and lead parts with Scotty Moore, their interplay almost telepathic. And with his original drummer, D. J. Fontana, stoking the fires, this music moved, from the ferocious version of Rufus Thomas’s Sun Records label blues “Tiger Man” to Jimmy Reed blues shuffles, to smoldering New Orleans triplet-style blues-ballads like “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” and “One Night”. This is rock and roll as good as it gets.”
Robert Palmer, reviewing Elvis’ boxed set, ¨A Golden Celebration¨ , for the New York Times on Nov. 18, 1984.

“During his rendition of “Hurt”, (1976), he was in even better voice, singing in a register that gave more impact to his phrasing, and even hitting notes that could cause a mild hernia. And, after they drew a good crowd reaction, he offered them in a reprise that was tantamount to masochism.”
Mike Kalina, reviewing Elvis’ 1976 New Year’s concert for the “Pittsburgh Post Gazette”, January 1, 1977.

“A double voice that alternates between a high quaver, reminiscent of Johnnie Ray at his fiercest, and a rich basso that might be smooth if it were not for its spasmodic delivery. ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, yelps the high voice, is where he’s going to get away from it all. Answers the basso: ‘he’ll be sorry’”
TIME magazine’s review, of the then recently-issed single, “Heartbreak Hotel”, (1956), as published in its April 02, 1956 issue.

“Listening to these songs today, their most remarkable feature is Presley’s voice itself. He takes the Platters’ Tony Williams’s techniques, and any other predecessor’s, to new, uncharted pinnacles. For a singer who was only just encountering widespread popularity, his singing resonates with amazing fortitude and confidence, especially on “Heartbreak Hotel,” where Presley alternately shouts words with full lungs, then gulps the following back, as if under water but without missing a beat. In “Loving you”, Presley’s baritone on this, the ultimate slow dance number, is almost too powerful, virtually rumbling the floor…”
David N. Townsend, in his essay “Changing the World: Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Culture and Ideology”.

“While he sings in a lower voice than ever -and what I liked about the early records was that beautifully vulnerable high voice-, he opened his Boston concert (1971) with “That’s Alright Mama” (1954), singing it with enough verve to scare the unsuspecting. It was his very first record, and although it doesn’t sound quite the same as when he did it 17 years ago at the Sun studios in Memphis, I was moved by the fact that he was doing it at all. It was a tour de force of theatrics, professionalism, and, happily, music. (In fact), he sings so well, the audience hesitates to press him for more, his purpose being to please himself by pleasing them, never to please them by pleasing himself.”
Jon Landau, for “RollingStone” magazine, reviewing his November 10, 1971, concert at the Boston Garden.

“I don’t really think Elvis’ voice was significantly lower than those of any other baritones. The colour of the voice and the sense of warmth and richness of tone gave the sense that the voice was much deeper. Elvis, in fact, did not force his lower register, comfortable as he was with it, which in turn gave the impression that it was lower than those of other baritones.”
Brian Gilbertson, world famous voice teacher, explaining the deepness of Elvis’ lower registry.

“(In Rockabilly), the vocal is another important aspect. It should be rough cut and edgy, but also sweet enough to milk the honey from a honey comb at times. Elvis could span several octaves with his voice, thus leaving almost no desires left towards the key of the song.”
“The High Noon”

“In “T.R.O.U.B.L.E”, (1975), his baritone was still as solid as ever, with its humorously cavernous bottom and its nasal vibrato on top. When he is putting out, reaching for the top notes and shaping phrases with the same easy inviduality that has always marked his best work, he is still the King.”
John Rockwell, reviewing one of his two 1975 concerts at the Nassau Coliseum for the “New York Times”.

“Elvis’ “Love me tender” (1956), is a timeless classic that his fans return to, time and again, when choosing their favourite love song, but why is this early recording such a favourite? 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 the song being voted Presley’s favourite song, by a poll of more than 5,000 of his fans.

“Elvis’ songs can be heard everywhere worldwide, which is perhaps why everyone is familiar with his voice. When you hear a deep tuneful voice with a Southern drawl in a rock ‘n’ roll song, it can’t be anyone but Elvis (in spite of that voice actually being that of someone else “succesfully” mimicking him).
Matthew Simpson, in his article “The Top 10 distinct voices in music”, for ask.men (2007)

“In “Hawaiian Wedding song”, (1960), Elvis takes particular advantage of his voice’s strong lower middle and higher note registers, made particularly difficult because of the need to sing in cascading notes. Elvis meets the challenge on every occasion, his performance being absolutely meticulous, with not a hint of vocal strain.”
BMG’s’review of his album “Blue Hawaii”

“The accompaniment is ornamented with bells, horns, and female choir, but it is Elvis’ voice upon which the words depend for their dramatic effect. In a departure quite uncharacteristic of country music, there is a fierce, almost shocked indignation and passionate intensity in his voice, transforming a fairly ordinary song into a vehicle for savage social protest.”
RollingStone magazine’s review of “Long Black Limousine”, found on the CD From Elvis in Memphis(1969).

“But the core of the album, and perhaps the core of Elvis’ music itself, are the soulful gospel-flavored ballads. Well, it’s often seemed as if Elvis bore more than a passing resemblance to soul singer Salomon Burke. The way in which he uses his voice, his dramatic exploitation of vocal contrast, the alternate intensity and effortless nonchalance of his approach, all put one in mind of a singer who passed this way before, only going the other way. And here he uses these qualities to create a music which, while undeniable country, puts him in touch more directly with the soul singer than with traditional country music. It was his dramatic extravagance, in fact, which set him apart from the beginning, and it is to this perhaps, as much as anything else — to the very theatrics which Elvis brought to hillbilly music –, that we can trace the emergence of rock & roll.”
Author Peter Guralnick, who, inter-alia, wrote major biographies on Robert Johnson, Sam Cooke and Elvis Presley, reviewing the album Elvis Country, for Rolling Stone Magazine in 1971.
Gospel tenor Shawn Nielsen, who backed Presley`s recordings both with the “Imperials” and with the group “Voice”, at the studio and in concert, from the late sixties until Presley’s death

“Presley brought an excitement to singing, in part because rock and roll was greeted as his invention, but for other reasons not so widely reflected on: Elvis Presley had the most beautiful singing voice of any human being on earth. Presley, for some fans, was primarily a balladeer. “Don’t Leave Me Now” is a love song given distinctiveness by Presley’s twangy enunciations, and sustained by the guitar and rhythm sections designed perfectly to complement the balladeer, filled out towards the song’s end - as with so much of Presley- , with what one conveniently calls the heavenly choir, which wafts him home but never overwhelms the country lilt Presley gives his music.”
William F. Buckley, Jr., in his article “The Crooner, R.I.P.: Perry Como and the casual mode,” published by the National Review on June 11, 2001.

“He would probably be considered a baritone, but he could reach notes that most baritone singers could not. Much of his abilities emanated from a very intense desire to execute a song as he wanted to do it, which meant that he really sang higher than he would normally be able to. When the adrenalin is going, and the song is really pumping, you can get into that mode where you can actually do things, vocally, that you couldn’t normally do. So he had a tremendous range because of his desire to excel and be better, and that’s why he could do a lot of things that most people couldn’t.”
Terry Blackwood, lead singer of the Gospel group, the “Imperials”

“Along with the rest of “Deep Purple”, I once had the chance to meet Elvis. For a young singer like me, he was an absolute inspiration. I soaked up what he did like blotting paper. It’s the same as being in school — you learn by copying the maestro. His personality was also extremely endearing, his interviews were very self-effacing (and), he came over as gentle and was generous in his praise of others. He had a natural, technical ability, but there was something in the humanity of his voice, and his delivery. Those early records at the Sun Records label are still incredible and the reason is simple: he was the greatest singer that ever lived.”
Ian Gillan, lead singer and frintman of Deep Purple, interviewed by Classic Rock magazine, explaining why Presley belongs in the list of rock icons ( as published in blabbermouth.net, on 3rd January, 2007)

“In Elvis, you had the whole lot; it’s all there in that elastic voice and body. As he changed shape, so did the world. His last performances showcase a voice even bigger than his gut, where you cry real tears as the music messiah sings his tired heart out, turning casino into temple. I think the Vegas period is underrated. I find it the most emotional. By that point Elvis was clearly not in control of his own life, and there is this incredible pathos. The big opera voice of the later years — that’s the one that really hurts me.”
Bono, lead singer of U2, for Rollingstone Magazine, as published in their April 15, 2004 edition.

“The young Elvis Presley, without any doubt.”
Top New Zealand opera star and soprano Kiri Te Kanawa’s answer to UK show-host Michael Parkinson ( who probably expected her to name Luciano Pavarotti, or Maria Callas), when asked whose was the greatest voice she had ever heard (as published in Blabbermouth.net, 3 January 2007)

“I grew up playing sports and listening to Elvis Presley, whose music I favored, along with that of Pat Boone; in fact, when an opera singer came on the “Ed Sullivan Show”, I’d think ‘Turn this off,’”
Samuel Ramey, the world’s top bass baritone, as told to “Opera News”, and published in ENotes.Com

“Presley was very classically orientated with his voice, and diction, and very sincere and wanting to get everything perfect”
Welsh world renowned bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, citing one of the reasons why Elvis is the only soloist whose music he listens in his iPod, as told to NYT’s Classical Music critic Vivien Schweitzer, and published on that paper on November 10, 2007

“People will often say that opera singers sound too stiff and operatic when singing contemporary music. This is because the vowels in an operatic style tend to be more open, whereas in a rock style singers tend to thin out the vowel. There is nothing wrong, and everything right, in opening the vowel in the higher register so that the higher notes can be sustained. Elvis Presley was very open in his singing style even though he was ‘the’ rock and roller.”
Brain Gilbertson, world-famous voice teacher.

“The voice is so melodious, and - of course, by accident, this glorious voice and musical sensibility was combined with this beautiful, sexual man and this very unconscious - or unselfconscious stage movements. Presley’s registration, the breadth of his tone, listening to some of his records, you’d think you were listening to an opera singer. But…it’s an opera singer with a deep connection to the blues.”
Jerry Wexler, co-founder of Atlantic Records.

“I taught him some lyrics in Spanish and he learned them. I wrote it for him the way it was sung (phonetically). He was very talented. It was very difficult Mexican music.”
Manny Lopez, RCA vibraphone recording artist known as the “King of the Cha Cha”, explaining how, under his tutelage, Elvis sang the Mexican standard, “Guadalajara”, (1963) in Spanish, like an authentic Mariachi, as published in Las Vegas’ “The Desert Sun”, on March 16, 2007

“He was the most commercially successful singer of rock and roll, but he also had success with ballads, country, gospel, blues, pop, folk and even semi-operatic and jazz standards. His voice, which developed into many voices as his career progressed, had always a unique tonality and an extraordinarily unusual center of gravity, leading to his ability to tackle a range of songs and melodies which would be nearly impossible for most other popular singers to achieve”
The Wikipedia`s all-too-brief, yet concise reference on Presley`s voice, and musical background

“Elvis Presley`s talent as a musical artist was double barrelled and more; his voice, on the one hand, was extraordinary for its quality, range and power, as well as being a unique stage performer with instinctive natural abilities in both areas; he was the master of a wide and diverse range of vocal stylings and ventriloquist effects, from the clear tenor of his C&W heroes, to the vibrato of the Gospel singers he loved, his voice invariably possessing an aching sincerity and an indefinable quality of yearning virtually impossible to pigeonhole”.
From the U.S Department of the Interior`s paper on criteria for greatness as a vocalist, which, together with all aspects of his life and legacy, led to the inclusion of his home, Graceland, in the National Register of Historic Places, in 2006.

“I am indebted to Scott W. Johnson, my fellow at the Claremont Institute, for many things over the years, but not many rate higher than his “introducing” me to Elvis Presley. I came of age (i.e., reached the 9th grade), just in time for the “British Invasion” and, despite my childhood memories, soon came to think of him as the ultimate in passe; so, I was astonished when Scott told me, a year or two ago, that in his opinion Elvis Presley was the greatest male vocalist of the 20th Century; I had never thought of him in that light, to put it mildly, but that conversation caused me to realize that I had never actually ‘listened’; starting then, I did - with the aid of Scott’s encyclopedic music collection -, so if you have never gotten past a cartoon image of Elvis, do yourself a favor and ‘listen’”.
John H. Hinderaker, of the Claremont Institute, a Harvard Law School Graduate and expert on public policy issues, including income and race, as published in Power.Line, on January 09, 2007

“When healthy and serious, he was flat-out the world’s greatest singer. In his voice, he possessed the most beautiful musical instrument, and the genius to play that instrument perfectly; he could jump from octave to countless other octaves with such agility without voice crack, simultaneously sing a duet with his own overtones, rein in an always-lurking atomic explosion to so effortlessly fondle, and release, the most delicate chimes of pathos. Yet, those who haven’t been open (or had the chance) to explore some of Presley’s most brilliant work - the almost esoteric ballads and semi-classical recordings -, have cheated themselves out of one of the most beautiful gifts to fall out of the sky in a lifetime. Fortunately, this magnificent musical instrument reached its perfection around 1960, the same time the recording industry finally achieved sound reproduction rivaling that of today. So, it’s never too late to explore and cherish a well-preserved miracle, as a simple trip to the record store will truly produce unparalleled chills and thrills, for the rest of your life; and then you’ll finally understand the best reason this guy never goes away”.

The greatest voice of all time”.
“Q” Magazine Judging panel´s laud of Elvis Presley, from a poll published on their March 4, 2007 issue.

“Q Magazine bravely attempted to name the best and worst singers ever. They did a good job, wisely going big with Elvis as the top choice”
Rollingstone Magazine’s online edition, published on 5 March, 2007.

“He had a musically textured rhythmic voice that had emotional intelligence; concentrate on his voice: sweet, remorseful, defiant, suggestive”
Eileen Battersby, literary correspondant, citing the reasons for her being hooked on Elvis after “discovering” him inadvertently as she changed the dial looking for her favourite classical music radio station, as published in the “Irish Times” in August of 2002.

“A singer, at work, is usually thinking only about making it through the song without flubbing it. Look what’s involved:breathing plausibly, remembering the lyrics, nailing the high notes, staying with your band or chorus, maintaining a soulful facial expression and looking good. You might also be whacking a guitar. And — because Presley did — you also have to move, oscillate, arm-wrestle with the microphone, throttle it, skid across the stage on your knees, fling your head back and spread your arms. And then you want to salt it with you possess of art. . . he flings his voice up beyond the grip of gravity, and then surrenders, like a skater in a leap.”
Catherine Rankovic, poet, essayist, instructor, as well as manuscript editor and music and writing coach, as excerpted from her review of Presley`s live performance of “I want you, I need you, I love you” , in the “Steve Allen Show”, (1956), and as published in “The Missouri Review”, Volume XXIV, Number 2, 2001

“That the prime exponent of this new style of music should be a singer who possessed no prior professional experience was an anomaly; (in fact), not only were most of the mannerisms that would define his vocal style present at the creation — from the sudden swoops in register to the habit, derived from gospel singing, of starting his lines with a throat-clearing “well” that gave whatever followed the feeling of a retort, but what was even more impressive was the extent to which his first professional recording was marked by the trait that has characterized every great popular singer: the absolute assertion of his personality over the song; from this, it might be concluded that Presley was simply a “natural.”, but the truth, as ever, was more complex than that”
Jonathan Gould, on his Beatles-inspired book, “Can’t buy me love”. referring to Presley’s early SUN Records label recordings and their influence on the Liverpool rock and roll scene” (2007)

“Presley’s voice was remarkable in the sense that, through it, he touched people in a way only great artists can do. (In fact), the people he touched are as diverse as humanity itself and, because of that his popularity has transcended race, class, national boundaries, and culture. There is no simple answer about why that is so, all I can say is he had that magic. When Elvis Presley was first popular, many people said that he did not have a good voice. Almost everyone, today, knows that he did, but more people today should see him not simply as a performer, but as an artist with a great soul.
John Bakke, professor emeritus of the University of Memphis, in an interview with the US State Department, transcripted by UNUSINFO on July 18, 2006 on the legacy of Elvis Presley

“I believe he was already assured of his ability as a performer since he had been perfecting his style on the road for more than a year. If you look at that first appearance on Stage Show, you’ll witness a young confident singer with his own unique style. He would enhance his popularity with five more appearances on Stage Show (February 4, 11, 18; March 17, 24) and would become a superstar by the end of that year. On that historic television debut of January 28, 1956, the spotlight was first shown on the two people who had made it happen - the promoter and the performer - disc jockey Bill Randle and the new singing sensation, Electric Elvis.”
Roger Hall, music preservationist and songrwiter, in his essay “Shake, Rattle and Roll: Bill Randle and Electric Elvis”, Elvis Symposium (2003)

“Each singer (of the so-called folk variety), is recognized as much from its characteristic sound, as from what they actually sing or play, and they manipulate tone colour with a virtuousity that owes nothing to either the classical, or the Tin Pan Alley tradition; one thinks, for example, of the voice of Elvis Presley, an expressive vehicle, shifting from high to low tones, groaning, sluring, and producing breathless changes of rhythm; to many listeners, the voice may have seemed crude, but its folk inmediately resided in its crudeness”.
Christopher Small, in his book “Music, Society, and Education”, published in 1996

“There comes a point when the voice starts to wash over you. You get inside of it, start to really hear what he’s doing, and you realise his singing has this extraordinary, effortless quality to it. Sometimes it’s like listening to a stream of honey. It’s a very smooth ride, the voice of Elvis Presley. I don’t think you focus on the words when he’s singing. I think he’s doing what bel canto singers do - you don’t listen to the words, “just” to the beauty of his voice-. When I say “just”, that makes it sound as if he’s denying you something else but, actually, that’s quite enough”.
Barb Jungr, reviewing the album “Love”, for “The Scotsman”, as published in its 25 June, 2005 edition

“As sound leaves the body, it needs to resonate against something specific. There are options – you can direct that flow of sound to the nose, the throat, the jaw or to the sinus cavities in the face-, but I think what Elvis did – as evidenced by his lip curl – was to aim the vibration stream right at his teeth.”
Renee Grant-Williams, voice coach, and author of “Voice Power: Using Your Voice to Captivate, Persuade, and Command Attention”, explaining where some of the power to please the ear, in Elvis’ voice, may have come from, as published in Newsreleasewire.com, on December 12, 2006

“Elvis’ range was about two and a quarter octaves, as measured by musical notation, but his voice had an emotional range from tender whispers to sighs down to shouts, grunts, grumbles and sheer gruffness that could move the listener from calmness and surrender, to fear. His voice can not be measured in octaves, but in decibels; even that misses the problem of how to measure delicate whispers that are hardly audible at all.”
Lindsay Waters, Executive Editor for the Humanities at Harvard University Press, in his essay “Come softly, darling, hear what I say”.

“In 1956, even the youngest of his fans knew that the 21-year-old Elvis Presley was unquestionably the whole package; and, obviously, his great three octave tenor voice, with a lower register close to bass, seemed to vibrate on the inner scale of every teenager in America; they loved the high tenor, but when he “got down” with that lower register, fans exploded; Elvis translated this into his moves on stage, so it was a 10.0 assault on the senses”
Sugarpi Productions´’ essay on Elvis Presley, as published in Clay´s.Daily.Double.com

“It has something for everyone, except perhaps Irving Berlin, who attempted to get Elvis’s recording of “White Christmas” banned from radio play, deeming it “vulgar and disrespectful”. And it was, which is part of the reason why the drastically rearranged tune is so memorable, as the then-young singer masticated the contemporary classic, adding his idiosyncratic dynamics and trills ( the so-called educated yodls of one’s vocal chords); equally irreverent and just as riveting is the King’s gritty take on Leiber and Stoller’s “Santa Claus Is Back in Town”, one of the most sexually suggestive holiday tunes ever, and his rollicking “Here Comes Santa Claus”. And who can forget the song that changed the hue of Yuletide, “Blue Christmas”, or his wistful, definitive version of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”, which cemented his reputation as pop’s top dreamboat. Along with Phil Spector’s “Christmas Gift for You”, this is arguably the finest Rock & Roll Christmas album of all-time, a seasonal yet essential recording belonging under any Christmas tree”
Jaan Uhelszki and Bill Holdship, reviewing “Elvis Christmas Album (1957 version), for AMAZON.COM

“The headline news of “Platinum”, which can be appreciated by fans, scholars, critics and religious fanatics alike, is the inclusion of a newly discovered 1954 demo of the unsigned Elvis singing a lilting wisp of a pop song called “I’ll Never Stand in Your Way”. His unsophisticated performance is mesmerizing; clearly indebted to the style of the “Ink Spots”, Elvis’ airy tenor floats delicately above his own guitar accompaniment, aching and somewhat pinched in its feeling; you sense the singer itching to cut loose, to really swing the lyric, open it up; it is in those moments, when the pentimento of the blues vocalist reveals itself, that the melding of styles that soon would change the course of popular music is on fleeting display; it’s rare when a single song can be said to make a pricey box-set worthwhile, but this particular “Rosetta stone” of a rare cut, does precisely that. Big time.
David McGee, reviewing the Platinum box-set for RollingStone Magazine

“Heartbreak, jealousy, loneliness-, Elvis Presley gave luxuriant voice to these less than cheerful emotions, but did you ever think of him as a balladeer of the unbearable bleakness of being, of the horror of existing without purpose in a godless universe? In the improbably vivacious London-born production of “Woyzeck”, vintage Elvis recordings provide much of the background music for Daniel Kramer’s adaptation of Georg Büchner’s great, prophetic drama of existential emptiness from the 1830’s. Dolly Parton and, more predictably, Beethoven, make aural guest appearances but it’s the voice of the Pelvis that sets the rhythm of life. And if the “wedding” of Presley and Büchner is more shotgun marriage than natural love match, at least you leave the theater feeling less suicidal than you normally do, after two hours with one of the grimmest heroes in Western literature.
Ben Brantley, Chief Theater critic for The New York Times, in his article “Where Existential Despair Meets Elvis”, published on November 18, 2006

“It is when Guralnick shows how young Elvis made his way through this cultural briar patch, that we get what we need. He got voluptuous phrasing and ecstatic self-confidence from gospel, wit and menace from the blues, homespun sincerity from country and, from what we can now call gay theatrics, he got glamour and self-parody. He played the outlaw and the good son. How he flirts with his audiences, first being casual, fervent, sneering, then inviting us to laugh at, or with him. ¨As you desire me¨, he is saying, ¨so shall I be¨. Was he a great performer? Yes and yes again. He galvanized rock-and-roll and made you feel the fun and the risk and all the contradictions. That’s self-invention, and that’s entertainment.”
Margo Jefferson, reviewing Peter Guralnick’s biography of Elvis Last Train to Memphis, The Rise of Elvis Presley for The New York Times (26 October, 1996)

“Sam Phillips used what we call ’slapback’ or ‘tape delay’, which lent an otherworldly patina to Presley’s voice. And I don’t know if Sam was really conscious of it at the time, but if you listen to old pop and country records back then, the voice was always so much farther out from the music; Sam kept Elvis’ voice close to the music, so, in essence, Elvis’ voice became another instrument”
Scotty Moore, Elvis Presley’s lead guitarrist from 1954 until 1968, as published in The “Virginia Pilot”, in an article entitled “The rising of Sun Records cast music in new light”, as written by Sue Smallwood, and published on December

“I remember Elvis as a young man hanging around the Sun studios. Even then, I knew this kid had a tremendous talent. He was a dynamic young boy. His phraseology, his way of looking at a song, was as unique as Sinatra’s. I was a tremendous fan, and had Elvis lived, there would have been no end to his inventiveness.”
B.B. King, King of the Blues.

” That night at the “Eagle’s Nest”, I remember, he was playing a D-18 Martin acoustic guitar and he was dressed in the latest teen fashion, but the thing I really noticed though, was his guitar playing. Elvis was a fabulous rhythm player. He’d start into “That’s All Right” , with his own guitar, alone, and you didn’t want to hear anything else”
Johnny Cash, in “Cash, the autobiography”, recalling the first time he saw Presley perform, at the “Eagles Nest”, in Memphis (1954)

“Elvis’ early vocals, was a witches’ brew of gospel swoops, falsetto shrieks, growls, howls, and scat…an anthem to human cockiness, to the healing, transcendent powers of the life-force…”
Edwin Howard, of the “Memphis Press Scimitar”, on Elvis’ first recordings at the Sun Records label, as published in “Q” magazine
He never understood the artistic claims that were made for him, probably thought very little of the nature of his appeal, or his music; yet, as author Greil Marcus points out in “Mystery Train”, it is possible to see (all that) as a positive factor; Presley viewed “rock and roll” as for the body, not the mind, so he recorded and performed accordingly; and, if much of his rock music sounds superficial, it was thanks to his undoubted vocal talent and extraordinary charisma that, at least, it was all gloriously superficial and celebratory; he knew better than to take it seriously and, in doing so, he become the consumate rock fugure, one that defined its spirit by delighting in its very limitations”
Stephen Barnard, in his book “Popular Music, Volume I: Folk or Popular?

“The voice of Elvis Presley is perhaps the most contested acoustical phenomenon in modern culture. I can understand why some listeners may prefer the original versions (of R&B artists) to Presley’s covers, but it is more difficult to claim that these were immoral or unethical. In terms of vocal style and instrumental arrangement, Presley actually borrows relatively little, his appropriations (being) more straightforward, taking from the materials already protected by copyright: lyrics and melody. So, unless he can be criticized for not imitating an original R&B artist’s rendition, we have to reevaluate Elvis’ transgressions”
Joanna Demers, in her book “Musical appreciation, musical meaning and the Law”, published in 2007.

“There was no model for Elvis Presley’s success; what Sun Records head Sam Phillips sensed was something in the wind, an inevitable outgrowth of all the country and blues he was recording at his Union Avenue studio; enter Presley in 1954, bringing with him a musical vocabulary rich in country, country blues, gospel, inspirational music, bluegrass, traditional country, and popular music — as well as a host of emotional needs that found their most eloquent expression in song; his timing was impeccable, not only as a vocalist, but with regard to the cultural zeitgeist: emerging in the first blush of America’s postwar ebullience, Presley captured the spirit of a country flexing its industrial muscle, of a generation unburdened by the concerns of war, younger, more mobile, more affluent, and better educated than any that had come before; (as such), the Sun recordings were the first salvos in an undeclared war on segregated radio stations nationwide.
Rollingstone Magazine, focussing on the importance of Elvis’ Sun Records label recordings

“Elvis Presley’s incendiary vocal performance of “Baby, let’s play house” (1955), hails from rockabilly’s formative era, when the rules hadn’t yet been cast in stone, and Elvis was still experimenting in overdrive, searching for the compelling sound that would catapult him to icon status in little over a year. Presley’s slapback, echo laden hiccuping - briefly rendered “a cappella” before the snarling low end guitar of Scotty Moore enters -, segues into an irresistibly lascivious declaration of lust, and a not-so-subtle hint of violence. Both of Scotty Moore’s immaculately conceived, and executed solos were monstrously influential to the rockabilly idiom, copied by countless Southern axe-wielding teens. And Bill Black slaps his thundering upright bass so percussively, that no drummer was necessary”
Bill Dahl, reviewing Elvis’ fourth release at the Sun Records label, for AllMusicGuide.com

“Take “My baby left me” (1956) by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, the black Mississippi sharecropper whose “That’s All Right” had literally been Elvis’ first recording, in 1954. Crudup kept his blues in a bucket; Elvis put the lid on, and cooked; bar by bar, the song comes together; first comes D.J. Fontana’s rapped-out drum riff, then a top-to-bottom run from Bill Black’s stand-up bass, then the controlled gallop of Scotty Moore’s lead guitar; then, last of all, Elvis singing in that imperious velvet growl of his, “Yes, my baby left me! Never said a word”; it is the most underestimated song in the canon; there is lightning in that bucket, and it could drive a train, any train. It literally took us into a new age. Endow a university! Elvis was a university. Whoever those mystics are who teach that the universe began with sound could use him as their full curriculum”
Jackson Baker, as published in “The Memphis Flyer”, August 8-14, 1996 edition

“Blues, country, pop, rock and roll, gospel, and beyond, this man could sing anything. From the rockabilly of the Sun Sessions, to the MOR of “Wooden Heart”, to the later day “Burnin’ Love”, Elvis proved that he had the skills as a vocalist that few have, or will ever have”
Rob Jones, Canadian musicologist, writing in “Helium: Where knowledge rules”.

“You have no idea how great he is, really you don’t. You have no comprehension — it’s absolutely impossible. I can’t tell you why he’s so great, but he is”.
Phil Spector, record producer, the originator of the “Wall od Sound” technique

“From the first quavering notes of the song, it was obvious that there was something different about him — you could detect his influences, but he didn’t sound like anyone else. There is a quality of unutterable plaintiveness as Elvis, in 1953, sings “My Happiness”, a pop hit,in 1948, for Jon and Sandra Steele, and a sentimental ballad that couldn’t have been further from anyone’s imaginings of rock-and-roll. It is just a pure, yearning, almost desperately pleading solo voice reaching for effect. The guitar, Elvis said, “sounded like somebody beating on a bucket lid,” with an added factor of nervousness that Elvis must surely have felt. But even that is not particularly detectable — there is a strange sense of calm, an almost unsettling stillness in the midst of great drama. When he finished, the boy looked up expectantly at the man in the control booth. Mr. Phillips nodded and said politely that he was an “interesting” singer. “We might give you a call sometime.”
Description of the-then 18-year-old Elvis paying $4 to make a personal record at Sam Phillips’s Memphis Recording Service in 1953, as published by the New York Times on October 9, 1994, in an article entitled “The stirrings of a King”

“What he actually did was take ‘black’ and ‘white’ music and transform them into this third thing; (in the final analysis), no one sang so many different kinds of music - rock, gospel, country, standards -, as well as Presley sang them, at such a high level, and for such a long time”
Greg Drew, world famous voice coach whose clients include Lenny Kravits, Avril Lavigne, and Corey Glover, as quoted in Mike Brewster`s “The Great Innovators: Birth of a Rock star”, published by Business Week in its September 24, 2004 issue.

“When at last I made my journey to the land of the blues, I never dreamt for one minute that I’d actually become friends with the guys who were my mentors, heroes and my cultural icons. (Witherspoon’s) voice held a great mysticism for me, like when I first heard the voice of Elvis Presley—you knew it was coming from the source”
Eric Burdon, lead singer of “The Animals”, commenting on his meeting bluesman Jimmy Witherspoon, as published in Gadfly’s March 1998 edition.

“The point of Elvis Presley was that, after a dismal eight years on the screen, he returned to the stage where he always belonged and to the grinding treadmill of being on the road, which has killed so many of America’s artists; he may not have pushed the boundaries of music farther but when he opened his mouth to release that baritone - the only white voice that could ever match the blues-, all you could feel was his longing. and your own stirrings”
Adrian Hamilton, writing for “The Independent”, on August 14, 2002

“Elvis was one of the prime architects of rock and roll music. As such, he influenced several generations both musically and socially. The urgency in Presley’s voice is just one part of the equation, and the ease with which he swings tells the rest of the story. Equal parts balladeer and rockabilly king, Elvis played both sides of the fence. He was both tender-love-man and hard-hitting rebel. As this collection proves, his genius was in the way he made it work”
UK Channel 4´s review of “Elvis Golden Record, Volume II”

“He treats the song as a private meditation, full of pain and the yearning to believe. Though the lyrics speak of hope, Elvis turns them into a cry, as if reaching for one last sliver of light in engulfing darkness. ‘I am alone’, he seems to be saying. But maybe, just maybe, we can find someone or something to cling to. In his case, it’s God. But each of us, hearing him, reaches for our own salvation; if great art needs nakedness (then), those few minutes of Elvis alone at the piano amount to the most naked performance I’ve ever witnessed.”
Nick Cohn, commenting on Elvis Presley’s rendition, totally alone at the piano, of “You’ll never walk alone”, as witnessed by a full house of 17,500 gathering at the second of his two shows at the Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY, on 19 July, 1975, as published on the Guardian’s Sunday edition, on January 21, 2007, in an article entitled “The 25 best gigs of all time”.

“Lesson #1 is that rock music is in the fighting spirit, not in the amperage of the guitars; indeed, some of the toughest rocking has come from all, or mostly acoustic bands; Elvis presented a primer lesson from the famous Sun sessions, with a simple blues song through the most famous faux false start in rock history; he and the boys start out all slow and bluesy, before stopping the band cold and calling it out like the hippest beat poet: ‘Hold it fellas. That don’t… move me. Let’s get real, real gone for a change’. Then they did, let it loose, turned every bit of intensity in their beings into a jumping arrangement, much faster and more rhythmically nuanced a performance than the opening. Much of the intensity is in the fast and furious, but precisely laid out detail work; there is a strong sense of spontaneity and discovery, but what ultimately makes this a hall-of-fame performance is the vocal performance; Elvis doing tricks, making sudden octave wide jumps. “If you see my milkcow…” There is a charismatic determination of spirit that Nietzche would no doubt have recognized as the will to power; when the King got through with it, it was no longer anything to do with a high calcium drink, but about the singer’s assertion of his place in the universe”
Review of “Milkcow Blues” (1954), Elvis third single for the Sun Records Label, by MoreThings.com

” In “Mystery Train”, he rocks out with an astounding depth, Elvis’ voice never sounding so rich, nor so pleading; best of all is his final spontaneous laugh & whoop of excitement, worth its weight in gold”
Review of the CD “Elvis at SUN”, by Piers Beagley, as published in EIN, on 30th June, 2004

“Without preamble, the three-piece band cuts loose. In the spotlight, the lanky singer flails furious rhythms on his guitar, every now and then breaking a string; in a pivoting stance, his hips swing sensuously from side to side and his entire body takes on a frantic quiver, as if he had swallowed a jackhammer; his loud baritone goes raw and whining in the high notes, but down low it is rich and round. As he throws himself into one of his specialties— “Blue Suede Shoes” or “Long Tall Sally”, his throat seems full of desperate aspirates or hiccuping glottis strokes, but his movements suggest, in a word, sex”.
TIME Magazine’s review of an early 1956 concert and entitled “Teeners’ hero”, as published on its May 14,1956 issue.

“Had Presley never sung a note he might have still caused a stir, but sing he did. Watershed hits such as “All Shook Up” (1957) or, for instance, “Are You Lonesome Tonight”, (1960), 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, in his book “The 25 Most Influential Americans of the 20th Century”, published in 1996.

“In the collective memory of his fans, he reigns as the sleek musical genius who soaked up the multiple influences of America’s vernacular music -gospel, country swing, rhythm ‘n’ blues—, and made them his own; Bob Dylan, one of pop’s favorite poets, put it best: Elvis, he said, was “the incendiary atomic musical firebrand loner who conquered the western world.”
Gwen Gibson, in his article “The Top 10 Pop Stars, Ever”, published in the AARP’s May 2003 edition

“Elvis Presley did more to change the course of popular music and youth culture than any other entertainer in the twentieth century, beginning with his meeting Sam Phillips in 1954, at the Sun Records label, in Memphis. In 1956, for Presley’s first single at RCA, producer Steve Sholes was adamant that Phillips’ sonic treatments be adhered to, as closely as possible. So, in attempting to recreate the Sun echo sound, Sholes relied on the ambience of RCA’s then-cavernous recording studio in Nashville, rather than the tape-delay method; the major problem facing Sholes was Presley’s tendency to get carried away with the music and wander away from the microphone; so, rather than spoil the singer’s fun, Sholes decided to position three microphones around Presley to capture his quivering voice, no matter where he strayed; the results were breathtaking”
Columbia University’s “History of Record Production” (Part II of syllabus)

” Steve Sholes, who produced the session, said, “Roll the tape.” And I said, “But I haven’t heard the song yet!” And he said, “Roll the tape, Bill!” and I look and the studio is totally black out there. I can’t see a thing. I said, “You’re kidding!” He said, “No, roll the tape!”. So, I roll the tape and I don’t know what’s going to happen. And a guitar starts off, and then a bass comes in, and Elvis starts singing. And I still can’t see a thing in the studio. And I’m afraid to turn any mikes off because somebody may come in and start playing. All of a sudden, Elvis stops singing and just starts talking. And I say to myself, “This is awful!” because you don’t normally put a lot of echo on dialogue. And I thought, next take I’ll just turn it down, so we just did the take all the way through. If you listen to the dialogue, the echo matches the effect, because he says, “And the stage is bare, and I’m standing there…”. Later, I said, “How about that echo?”. Sholes said, “Screw the echo, that’s a hit!”. And it was done in one take…”
Bill Porter, RCA`s foremost recording engineer and one of the creators of “The Nashville Sound”, explaining to Michael Fermer how “Are you lonesome tonight” (1960) came into being, with the lights totally turned off, at Elvis´ insistance so as to create the best atmosphere possible, but without Porter knowing about it. (Published in MusicAngle.com)

“But it is Presley’s singing, halfway between a western and a rock ‘n’ roll style, that has sent teen-agers into a trance; they like his wailing in a popular song like “Blue Moon” or such western tunes as “I’ll Never Let You Go”, but they go crazy over the earthy, lusty mood of such rock ‘n’ roll numbers as “Money Honey”; and the reason is simple enough: Presley sings with a beat; and you can be certain that there’ll always be music with a beat and that, whether you like it or not, there will always be an Elvis Presley”
Helen McNamara, Canadian Music writer and book author, writing on Presley’s future impact, as published on the June 9, 1956 issue of “Saturday Night Magazine

“We are startled, on the amazing “Blue Moon,” by his trick of shifting, in a heartbeat, from saloon baritone to pants-too-tight wailing and by his near Hawaiian avoiding of consonants (”Ya-hoo A-know Ah can be fou’/ Sittin’ home all alo’”), from “Don’t Be Cruel”, a song that comes close to redefining the art of the pop vocal; So, what’s left? A terrific crooner who was closer, in intonation, vocal virtuosity and care for a song’s mood, to Bing Crosby, than to any top singer of the rock era. Toward the end, he still had it as a Gospel ballader, the choir-soloist power of the hymn “He Touched Me” — his voice breaking poignantly at the end of the hymn, as if he had just seen Jesus — still thrills and haunts. So does his desire to please an audience of kids and grandmas, instead of comfortably occupying a niche, as almost every pop star has done since”
Richard Corliss, TIME magazine`s Music Editor, reviewing the “Platinum”, box-set, as published in the magazine`s January 8, 2003 edition.

“During the early going at the Charlotte Coliseum, there were scattered notes here and there that made you wonder if finally he was gonna do it but, always, he would pull up short, rely on the grins, the charisma and the legend, until finally a little before 10:45, he came to the gospel classic, “How Great Thou Art”-. And that was it. As he came to the part where he belts out the title, he sounded like Mario Lanza with soul, cutting loose a series of high notes that would tingle the spine of even the diehard skeptic; but crecendo came on a song called “Hurt”; it’s an old song that Elvis didn’t record until a couple of years ago, and the key ingredient is its range, an awesome collection of notes that could leave a normal set of vocal chords in shreds; he finished in what seemed his most potent style, but wasn’t satisfied, and mumbled to the band, “Let’s do that last part again.”; he did, and if there was anyone among the packed-house crowd who had thought Elvis was a fluke, they no doubt came away converted.
Frye Gaillard, reviewing his February 20, 1977 show at the Coliseum, for the “The Charlotte Observer”

“Arguably the finest recording found in all the Sun sessions, “Trying To Get To You” is a song that Presley made his own due to his hugely committed vocal, and the simple carefree abandon with which he performs it; at first, it feels like a classic country song with simple, elegant lyrics; but it is at the bridge - where Elvis really lets fly -, that the song is transformed from a lovely country lament, into deep blues; although the 1955 version is magnificent, Elvis manages to better it on his “1968 Comeback Special”, in which he sings the song with so much intensity, it prompted critic Greil Marcus to exclaim “this is probably the finest rock and roll ever recorded”.
Thomas Ward’s review, for AllMusicGuide.com, of “Trying To Get To You”, whose original 1955-released version has now been confirmed, by BMG/RCA (which owns all the Presley Sun catalogue), as having been sang and recorded by Elvis while simultaneously playing the piano, with Sun Records’ Sam Philips immediately arranging the mix so that his rather loud (and then still amateurish) piano playing could not be heard in the final master take.

” He had an incredible, attractive instrument that worked in many registers; he could falsetto like Little Richard, his equipment was outstanding, his ear uncanny, and his sense of timing second to none; (in short) he could sing…”
Jerry Leiber, who with Mike Stoller, co-wrote some of the greatest R&R and Pop hits of the 50’s, and early 60’s.

” Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman’s “Viva Las Vegas” was custom-written as the title song for Elvis Presley’s 14th film, a rollicking tribute to the city of gambling given a spirited performance by Presley and his session musicians; strangely, it remained an underrated Presley song for a long time, finally beginning to gain some recognition from an unexpected quarter when the “Dead Kennedys” recorded it in 1980, their radical recontextualization of it helping the song to an independent life beyond its origins; on its own, it can now be appreciated as a tribute to Las Vegas that probably deserves to be the city’s official anthem.
William Ruhlmann, reviewing “Viva Las Vegas” for AllMusicGuide.com, before the Office of the Mayor of Las Vegas requested Elvis Presley Enterprises to allow it to become the city’s official song; the price demanded by EPE was too high, so Las Vegas remains, to this date, without an official song.

“Even in his laziest moments, Presley was a master of intonation and phrasing, delivering his rich baritone with a disarming naturalness. And when he caught a spark from his great T.C.B. Band, Presley could still out-sing anyone in American pop. You can hear it here on inspired versions of Muddy Waters’ “Got My Mojo Working”, Wayne Carson’s “Always on My Mind”, Chuck Berry’s “Promised Land”, McCartney’s “Lady Madonna”, Percy Mayfield’s “Stranger in My Own Hometown”, Dennis Linde’s “Burning Love” and Joe South’s “Walk a Mile in My Shoes”…..
Geoffrey Himes, reviewing the “Essential 70’s masters” box-set, for amazon.com

“Riding a streamlined rock-and-roll beat, the singer’s vocal swoops, slurs, hiccups, moans and growls added up to a new pop singing vocabulary that was instantly memorized by scores of imitators. The antithesis of a relaxed conversational crooning, Presley’s style was fraught with tension and animated by an attitude of self-conscious melodrama, woving the whole unwieldy spectrum of pop singing - country-blues, Italianate crooning, Gospel, soul shouting, and honky-tonk yodeling - into an integral personal style. His crowning touch was to accentuate the spontaneously exuberant humor that had always been an ingredient of country, and the blues, but singing it in a way that seemed to poke fun at his own accomplishment.”
Stephen Holding, in the article “A Hillbilly who wove a rock and roll spell”, published by the New York Times on Sunday, July 19, 1987.

“Even as a young man, that’s what Presley sounded, like a man. I wasn’t of a culture nor a region that found Presley appealing, and I’ve never seen a Presley movie through but, a few years ago when in a tribute to him various modern singers covered some of his originals, followed, or enclosed by, his versions of the same songs, I was struck by how much fuller, deeper, and richer his were.”
Al Spike, explaining to North Africans why Presley’s manly baritone rang true, in the web`s “Chicago Boyz”.

“This is the best way to hear Elvis the Superstar, with “Hound Dog,”,”All Shook Up,”, “Are You Lonesome Tonight”, and the ever zany “Suspicious Minds” still sounding fresh and immediate —impressive given how many times most the world has heard them —, and showing off the diversity of Elvis’ singing, from the purity of his gospel falsetto to his rock and roll purr.”
Josh Tyrangiel, reviewing “Elvis 30 Number One hits”, for TIME magazine`s “The All Time best 100 albums”, as published in its November 13, 2006 edition.

“Take a track like “One Sided Love Affair” and really examine every nuance of his voice, every caress, every tease and every growl that he lets loose for the song’s duration, and you`ll you come to understand that the reason Presley’s voice has been so often imitated is because it was unique and, furthermore, damm great; no phony piano intro, not even a puerile lyric could have ever stopped him from turning this song into a real classic; imagine, then, how great it is when Elvis gets to sing material that is up to his standards — like on the Sun Records label song “Tryin’ To Get You” - , probably the bluesiest song on this record, where Presley shows a sense of determination, not just a combination of nobleness and sex, but an expression of guts as well; quite simply, this is a guy who knows what he wants, and knows he’s gonna get it, and his confidence - never arrogance -, is so contagious that by the end of the song, you believe it too”
Daniel Reifferscheid, reviewing Elvis’ first album, for Toxic Universe

“But the last side, recorded during rehearsals for his 1968 television special, is another treat, as fine and tough and overflowing with heart and soul as any of his 50’s recordings. Playing an electric guitar, rather than his customary acoustic model, he traded fluid rhythm and lead parts with Scotty Moore, their interplay almost telepathic. And with his original drummer, D. J. Fontana, stoking the fires, this music moved, from the ferocious version of Rufus Thomas’s Sun Records label blues “Tiger Man” to Jimmy Reed blues shuffles, to smoldering New Orleans triplet-style blues-ballads like “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” and “One Night”. This is rock and roll as good as it gets.”
Robert Palmer, reviewing Elvis’ boxed set, ¨A Golden Celebration¨ , for the New York Times on Nov. 18, 1984.

“During his rendition of “Hurt”, (1976), he was in even better voice, singing in a register that gave more impact to his phrasing, and even hitting notes that could cause a mild hernia. And, after they drew a good crowd reaction, he offered them in a reprise that was tantamount to masochism.”
Mike Kalina, reviewing Elvis’ 1976 New Year’s concert for the “Pittsburgh Post Gazette”, January 1, 1977.

“A double voice that alternates between a high quaver, reminiscent of Johnnie Ray at his fiercest, and a rich basso that might be smooth if it were not for its spasmodic delivery. ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, yelps the high voice, is where he’s going to get away from it all. Answers the basso: ‘he’ll be sorry’”
TIME magazine’s review, of the then recently-issed single, “Heartbreak Hotel”, (1956), as published in its April 02, 1956 issue.

“Listening to these songs today, their most remarkable feature is Presley’s voice itself. He takes the Platters’ Tony Williams’s techniques, and any other predecessor’s, to new, uncharted pinnacles. For a singer who was only just encountering widespread popularity, his singing resonates with amazing fortitude and confidence, especially on “Heartbreak Hotel,” where Presley alternately shouts words with full lungs, then gulps the following back, as if under water but without missing a beat. In “Loving you”, Presley’s baritone on this, the ultimate slow dance number, is almost too powerful, virtually rumbling the floor…”
David N. Townsend, in his essay “Changing the World: Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Culture and Ideology”.

“While he sings in a lower voice than ever -and what I liked about the early records was that beautifully vulnerable high voice-, he opened his Boston concert (1971) with “That’s Alright Mama” (1954), singing it with enough verve to scare the unsuspecting. It was his very first record, and although it doesn’t sound quite the same as when he did it 17 years ago at the Sun studios in Memphis, I was moved by the fact that he was doing it at all. It was a tour de force of theatrics, pr

“The average joe public would probably be able to name you dozens of Elvis’s hits, the titles are part of our culture. Newspaper editors are very fond of all the generic titles…….how often are they All Shook Up!
Ask anyone to name three Michael Jackson hits and they would be at a loss. That’s how Thrilling he was/is? ” ..lol!! u seem 2 b very funny, maurice! 4 at least a couple of seconds I really thought ur post was ment serious! lol…