Elvis is Rubbish

Clare Newsome:

JoelSim:

Paul McCartney. There's another one who's seriously overrated (lucky). Lennon was the talent.

Macca has been responsible for some classics like the frog chorus.

I do like Sgt Pepper though, and Revolver, White Album etc

Lucky? LUCKY? Suppose it was just chance him dashing off Yesterday, Hey Jude, Get Back, The Long and Winding Road, Let it Be and many, many, many more songs that'll be played long after you and I are in the ground.

I'Il admit his post-Beatles output has been patchy (but then again, there's been some class stuff that many other songwriters would be proud of - one of the best Bond themes among them), but then Lennon was hardly consistent either. Double Fantasy, anyone?
 

While sitting on the riverbank
my hands were all aquiver
I undid her suspender belt
and her leg fell in the river

By Paul McCartney


That's my favourite

Drummerdave:

the record spot:

Drummerdave - but Motorhead's often just fast Elvis!! I defy anyone to say Elvis couldn't have done a version of "Going To Brazil"....!

Well - yes, modern rock music all stemmed from rhythm & blues / rock n roll, but Elvis wan't the first to do it

Agreed, but he was the first to merge different styles to come up with something that a whole pile of acts immediately started to follow.

PJPro:

The most overrated artist ever (in my opinion).

Why PJ? Just out of curiosity...

JoelSim:

I have a musical taste totally at odds with rock n roll. I can't abide any of it. Eddie Cochrane or whoever, it's just not funky, interesting, musical, involving or in fact anything. It's just noise

Accepting that you can trace all of our current music back to rock and roll and way before, I think there's a fair degree of truth that rock and roll provided a BIG convergence point where many styles which had come before "met" and likewise as many took off from there.

Joel, must admit having read the above I'm half-hoping your musical tastes include the likes of the mighty Bolthrower or Cannibal Corpse......

The earlier comments about classical and jazz I could have related to once upon a time. It depends on what you listen to. Rock is far easier to get "into" - you get an idea of a certain genre and you go with that. In my teens, I was a big rock fan (and still am) - Rush, Motorhead, Genesis, Gong, Hillage and on and on....then next came electronic stuff; Tangerine Dream, Jarre, Klaus Schulze, Patrick Moraz, Larry Fast...some good, some a bit iffy....

I met my wife who studied music and that was like being given the keys to the sweet shop! Having an idea of the kind of composers to start with rather than just picking up Schoenberg or Stockhausen in one of the finer atonal moments gives you a better platform to run with. And generally, the standard of performance is so high it leaves rock standing; live performance especially - the musicianship is beyond doubt. Would I could say that with some vocalists who can't carry the tune outside the recording studio....!

Jazz - Jarret's "The Koln Concert" - enough said. Solo piano and at times you'd thin he had an entire phalanx of them; a really stunning album. If you find a copy on vinyl, get it, but the ECM CDs are good too.

'let it be' lost out in the grammys to the carpenters 'why do birds' as did bridge over troubled water .....

timwileman:

'let it be' lost out in the grammys to the carpenters 'why do birds' as did bridge over troubled water .....

Ah but then Close to You (to give it its true title) was written by the mightly Burt Bacharach 

Also responsible for Walk on By, Say a Little Prayer, 24 Hours from Tulsa, I'll Never Fall in Love Again, The Look of Love, Do you Know the Way to San Jose, and many more 1960s classics.

the record spot:

PJPro:

The most overrated artist ever (in my opinion).

Why PJ? Just out of curiosity...

I agree with the pro. But that's my personal taste. Think of the songs that Elvis made and then think of what Paul Weller has done since the 70s. Absolutely no comparison in my eyes. From leaving the Jam when they were huge and going all soul and pastel jumpers with Style Council and then reinventing himself from the late 80s onwards as a solo artist. Fabulous. For me, he is up there with Paul McCartney (Joel, I am shocked!) as our greatest singer songwriter.

Clare Newsome:

timwileman:

'let it be' lost out in the grammys to the carpenters 'why do birds' as did bridge over troubled water .....

Ah but then Close to You (to give it its true title) was written by the mightly Burt Bacharach 

Also responsible for Walk on By, Say a Little Prayer, 24 Hours from Tulsa, I'll Never Fall in Love Again, The Look of Love, Do you Know the Way to San Jose, and many more 1960s classics.

But when it come to The Carpenters I personally would rather have Hot Pokers stufferd somewhere rather uncomfortible than listen to Karen Carpenters horible voice! And sorry to dissagree with You Clare but Mr Bacharach is responsible for some of the most iritating music ever IMHO. But each to their own.

Well I'm glad this has got everybody talking. Is a close run thing between Close To You and BOTW though (I personally prefer Goodby To Love, which made me pick up the guitar).

Bridge Over Troubled Water was No1 when I was born... Great song, superb album. Now, Paul Simon - there's another real talent.... A big weekend-morning-listening favourite, in S&G and solo form.

Songs good enough to woo Princess Leia with  

Clare Newsome:

Bridge Over Troubled Water was No1 when I was born... Great song, superb album. Now, Paul Simon - there's another real talent.... A big weekend-morning-listening favourite, in S&G and solo form.

Yes, though he still huffs that he has this enormous body of extraordinary work and it's Art that gets the lighters out with Bridge.......

Yes, not the most functional of partnerships, is it? Love the bit in the Concert at Central Park recording when Art goes, pointedly, "and this is one of mine..." before launching into April Comes She Will.

sounds like a marrage....!

Clare Newsome:

Yes, not the most functional of partnerships, is it? Love the bit in the Concert at Central Park recording when Art goes, pointedly, "and this is one of mine..." before launching into April Comes She Will.

The "(you b-----d)" was tacit.