Hey WF, sorry about not responding to your post on the Manic Street Preachers
I did manage to listen to and enjoy those clips. Well, seems it's just you and I now in this thread...
...anyway, Elvis, what can I say
I've never been a REAL Elvis fan as such which has nothing to do with the man but the type of music in general. I should really be saying that I've never been an Elvis-music type of fan but of the man himself, I've always respected him in every way.
He was a real talent all right, he could sing and entertain and he had feeling. He was well-mannered, shy and respectful and despite having grown up in the South he never showed any disrespect toward the 'Negroes'. During the Vietnam war Elvis and Bob Dylan were about the only two 'white' cats respected by Black Americans.
I sometimes listen to a radio station where they play unpublished takes of recordings which must sound very boring to folks who don't play music or have no deeper interest... anyway, occasionally they play old Elvis takes. Now this really shows off his talent. I'm talking about the pre-Vegas days when he was backed up by a barber shop quartet and some musicians in the band who played well but needed some direction.
Those sessions are a treasure. Elvis is like a conductor. Someone else has written the song they're about to record and Elvis just shapes it in his mind and knows exactly what he wants. He is the one who asks for yet another take and tells the musicians what was wrong in the previous one yet, due to his enthusiasm and amiability the band never seem to get tired and are actually inspired by his fervour and drive.
I always thought that he loved what he was doing and sadly that lead to his demise. He was exploited and as a consequence burnt out similar even to some classical composers.
Despite me saying that his kind of music was never really my most favourite, I mustn't neglect my understanding of the degree in which he influenced the music scene. His 'rock'n'roll' thing which outraged so many fathers across the U.S. (really don't know about the mothers
) was IMO influenced by Chuck Berry. Back in those days and long before you had the barber shop quartets which I personally think were a great contribution to American music, influencing many bands which based their styles purely on vocal harmonies, all the way down to the Beach Boys. Just listen to "Surfin' U.S.A." and some other Beach Boys oldies, you'll have the classic Chuck Berry Rock guitar licks and progressions PLUS the barber shop quartet vocal harmonies.
Now let's hop across the pond... no not to Tom Jones but to the Beatles, Hollies et al, including basically all of the 'Mersey Sound' bands. All of those British bands had strong vocal harmony sections... there were seeds of 'Rock' already which intensified as time went by.
Ironically across the pond in the U.S. there were no successful bands who managed to combine the American R&B and barber shop quartet harmonies. Though strictly speaking not a quartet vocally where the Beatles are concerned, they managed to combine the two ingredients to perfection and thus became the originators of "The British Invasion".
The Beatles IMHO are still the band which influenced the rest down to the present. Having said that, there is no doubt in my mind that the Beatles as a band in their music-making were strongly influenced by the early Elvis when he was backed up by the barber shop quartet.
Ergo: Elvis born and raised in the South knew about the Blues, R&B and yes, Hillbilly which, let's face it, uses vocal harmonies. While most American musicians disappeared or became famous within their own musical genre, Elvis was a pioneer because he combined R&B and vocal harmonies.... and of course there was his unsurpassed charisma and humbleness.
Thanks for the YouTube link Welshflyer, certainly a twelve dozen watch category
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