Is Elvis your #1?
Is Elvis your #1?
It's always interesting to see who on the forum considers Elvis their absolute favourite and who doesn't... so I was interested in the statistics.
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Re: Is Elvis your #1?
Couldn't vote one way or another....He's one of my favorites, but there's no way I could assign numbers to any of them......EC's up there with Talking Heads/Byrne, Beatles, perhaps Laurie Anderson, etc....depends on my mood and the day...BlueChair wrote:It's always interesting to see who on the forum considers Elvis their absolute favourite and who doesn't... so I was interested in the statistics.
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Since I doubt I'll be able to explain in a way that would satisfy you, I won't bother. It is what it is, and that's just part of what makes this board such a fine tapestry of opinions.whar wrote:As people who have heard basically every album- I don't see how he wouldnt be your #1- even against Dylan.
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Still number one. No musician has come close to havign such an impact on my life (esp in the first 25 years of my life).
If I'm honest though, he's become less and less significant to me since ATUB and the pack is closing.
I like all the stuff he's done since then, but I only 'love' North.
If I'm honest though, he's become less and less significant to me since ATUB and the pack is closing.
I like all the stuff he's done since then, but I only 'love' North.
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Elvis has been number one for me since I was a mere lad of 18 back in 1977! Not because he may or may not be the finest songwriter of his generation or because he may or may not be technically better than any other musician, but rather because we seem to share similar emotional dynamics and I can consistantly connect with something in most of his songs.
Holding EC up to the Dylan yardstick for me just doesn't work. It's like trying to measure Dylan with a Gershwin yardstick or a Dan Penn yardstick. . .or something. For me, the two great writers (EC and Dylan) are both diminished when placed side by side since their lyrical strengths are so dissimilar.
Holding EC up to the Dylan yardstick for me just doesn't work. It's like trying to measure Dylan with a Gershwin yardstick or a Dan Penn yardstick. . .or something. For me, the two great writers (EC and Dylan) are both diminished when placed side by side since their lyrical strengths are so dissimilar.
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Coltrane, Gillespie, Miles, and Monk are all in front of anyone else for me.
In pop music, I'd put the Beatles and Johnny Cash above Elvis. I think Dylan is a better writer, but Elvis is a better performer. Some days, I'd put Bowie and Brian Wilson up there, too.
In pop music, I'd put the Beatles and Johnny Cash above Elvis. I think Dylan is a better writer, but Elvis is a better performer. Some days, I'd put Bowie and Brian Wilson up there, too.
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--William Shakespeare
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You kinda like different things in different performers. I would put Richard Thompson on top, I think, because despite his obvious individual strengths - incredible songwriting skills and guitar techniques (acoustic and electric of course, as well as mandolin, hammered dulcimer, etc.) spanning many genres but always sounding original, much thanks to his personal and very expressive voice etc. - the sum is so much bigger than its parts. And, as Greil Marcus wrote in the sleeve notes for Watching the Dark, his is such a consistent body of work, thematically as well as in quality.
Of course, most of the above would go for Elvis as well, and he's in the Top 5 for sure, but he wouldn't be famous for his instrumental prowess alone, and sometimes his voice can be quite irritating, even ruining some otherwise great songs for me.
Lou, Van, Bob and Loudon are probably the other contenders for me in the long run. Then there's John, Tom, Randy, Nick, Nina, Mose, Johnny, Hank, Frank Black...We'll see in twenty years time if Martha, Ron, Gillian, Eels, the Weakerthans or someone else has that kind of staying power.
PS. Elvis admiration of Richard isn't unrequited:
"I was asked to play on Goodbye Cruel World and I would have liked to have done it, but i think i was just in the wrong country. But in the end he struggled through, he managed to play everything - he's a good guitar player - a self-effacing sort of chap. What he played was really good, I don't know that I could have done any better. I do admire him, I think you have to say he's the most intereting songwriter generally in the pop world. As a pop writer he's the most interesting and the most hard to keep up with because he writes so much stuff. I actually struggle to hear everything, but i do hear everything. (...) I used to do a solo version of Pump It Up, which was quite fun - just to strip it down and take it somewhere else. I like a lot of his songs, yeah. I can think of about a dozen that would be quite fun to tackle."
Let's hope for a change in the setlist for the 1000 Years of Popular Music shows of 2006! I know Richard knows and likes Shipbuilding, and I think he would come up with a sublime solo acoustic arrangement.
Of course, most of the above would go for Elvis as well, and he's in the Top 5 for sure, but he wouldn't be famous for his instrumental prowess alone, and sometimes his voice can be quite irritating, even ruining some otherwise great songs for me.
Lou, Van, Bob and Loudon are probably the other contenders for me in the long run. Then there's John, Tom, Randy, Nick, Nina, Mose, Johnny, Hank, Frank Black...We'll see in twenty years time if Martha, Ron, Gillian, Eels, the Weakerthans or someone else has that kind of staying power.
PS. Elvis admiration of Richard isn't unrequited:
"I was asked to play on Goodbye Cruel World and I would have liked to have done it, but i think i was just in the wrong country. But in the end he struggled through, he managed to play everything - he's a good guitar player - a self-effacing sort of chap. What he played was really good, I don't know that I could have done any better. I do admire him, I think you have to say he's the most intereting songwriter generally in the pop world. As a pop writer he's the most interesting and the most hard to keep up with because he writes so much stuff. I actually struggle to hear everything, but i do hear everything. (...) I used to do a solo version of Pump It Up, which was quite fun - just to strip it down and take it somewhere else. I like a lot of his songs, yeah. I can think of about a dozen that would be quite fun to tackle."
Let's hope for a change in the setlist for the 1000 Years of Popular Music shows of 2006! I know Richard knows and likes Shipbuilding, and I think he would come up with a sublime solo acoustic arrangement.
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Blue, if by "absolute favorite" you mean the musician that I have seen the most times live, or the one musician whose every record (except WIWC) I own, and certainly the one (and only) whose Fan Forum I frequent, the answer is clearly EC. If by favorite, you mean the musician whose music I enjoy the most, the one whose records bring me more musical pleasure than any others, I would have to say that long ago the Beatles bested him, as did Marvin Gaye, Juan Luis Guerra, Dylan, Van, Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins and others I can't recollect right now.
The weird thing, for me, is that what attracted me to EC from TYM through IB was a connection to his music, to what I perceived he was trying to do (literate songwriting with an edge and a beat) that connected in a way with my life at the time that none of the others I've mentioned ever did. I was passionately literate (pretentiously so, I fear) but wanted that beat, and I felt that he was the one to provide the combination ( unpretentiously). The connection that was formed in those years was strong enough to survive some shaky decades since, and things like BY, ATUB, PFM and North shore it up when it weakens.
I certainly think that when all is said and done his work, good as it is, does not stack up against the best of Van or Dylan or the Beatle boys, or even my favorite Spaniard, Serrat, and when I compare his best records to their best I find him lacking (by comparison), but for whatever reason they are not my favorite musicians, he is.
By the way, a question to those posters who list other musicians as their favorites. If that is the case, do you guys spend as much time on the Net obsessing and analysing about them and their work as you do over EC here? Where do you find the time?
The weird thing, for me, is that what attracted me to EC from TYM through IB was a connection to his music, to what I perceived he was trying to do (literate songwriting with an edge and a beat) that connected in a way with my life at the time that none of the others I've mentioned ever did. I was passionately literate (pretentiously so, I fear) but wanted that beat, and I felt that he was the one to provide the combination ( unpretentiously). The connection that was formed in those years was strong enough to survive some shaky decades since, and things like BY, ATUB, PFM and North shore it up when it weakens.
I certainly think that when all is said and done his work, good as it is, does not stack up against the best of Van or Dylan or the Beatle boys, or even my favorite Spaniard, Serrat, and when I compare his best records to their best I find him lacking (by comparison), but for whatever reason they are not my favorite musicians, he is.
By the way, a question to those posters who list other musicians as their favorites. If that is the case, do you guys spend as much time on the Net obsessing and analysing about them and their work as you do over EC here? Where do you find the time?
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This is the only board I tread with any frequency, because I like the company here.
I've spent a little time on Ron Sexsmith's, which is cool mostly because he answers your questions and plays your requests live, sometimes even if it's a cover he hasn't done before. But that crowd is a lot like his records, in that it's warm and welcoming and almost totally tension free. However, it's not terribly wellwritten, humorous or thoughtprovoking.
Ron's site is also a good contrasting example, because when Elvis releases something new there's generally a lot to think about and discuss, new musical directions and collaborations, intriguing lyrics, and of course ever changing setlists, etc.
And when he's keeping to himself there's always the annex, which is often educational as well as entertaing, something I haven't found on other boards.
If I had the time, I'd probably check out some of my other musical heroes' webbed followers, though.
I've spent a little time on Ron Sexsmith's, which is cool mostly because he answers your questions and plays your requests live, sometimes even if it's a cover he hasn't done before. But that crowd is a lot like his records, in that it's warm and welcoming and almost totally tension free. However, it's not terribly wellwritten, humorous or thoughtprovoking.
Ron's site is also a good contrasting example, because when Elvis releases something new there's generally a lot to think about and discuss, new musical directions and collaborations, intriguing lyrics, and of course ever changing setlists, etc.
And when he's keeping to himself there's always the annex, which is often educational as well as entertaing, something I haven't found on other boards.
If I had the time, I'd probably check out some of my other musical heroes' webbed followers, though.
What this world needs is more silly men.