Mike Stoller: The "Vegas" Elvis is ridiculous

The dutch Elvis fanclub "It's Elvis Time" translated an interview in their last magazine with Mike Stoller.

On the question if he had seen some shows of Elvis in Vegas and what he thought of those shows he answered:

"Disappointing. Elvis was a caricature of himself. He still had a fantastic voice, but he made himself ridiculous. It is good when someone (Elvis) has some self-mockery
but he seemed more like an Elvis imitator. It was sad."

The dutch Elvis fanclub "It's Elvis Time" translated an interview in their last magazine with Mike Stoller.

On the question if he had seen some shows of Elvis in Vegas and what he thought of those shows he answered:

"Disappointing. Elvis was a caricature of himself. He still had a fantastic voice, but he made himself ridiculous. It is good when someone (Elvis) has some self-mockery
but he seemed more like an Elvis imitator. It was sad."

In that case, I DREAD to hear what he thinks about "Viva Elvis" which ruins some of his original songs!!!

The dutch Elvis fanclub "It's Elvis Time" had an interview in their last magazine with Mike Stoller.

On the question if he had seen some shows of Elvis in Vegas and what he thought of those shows he answered:

"Disappointing. Elvis was a caricature of himself. He still had a fantastic voice, but he made himself ridiculous. It is good when someone (Elvis) has some self-mockery
but he seemed more like an Elvis imitator. It was sad."

I wonder which shows he saw?

I don't know, but he was definitely the minority.

A searing rebuke from the man who wrote Three Corn Patches.

It is good when someone (Elvis) has some self-mockery
but he seemed more like an Elvis imitator. It was sad."

If only Elvis imitators were ELVIS PRESLEY and as good as that.

Stoller is a total ignorant of Elvis live performing....I doubt he saw an Elvis show. He is a composer of R&R and R&B hits that has been always interested in making his bank account bigger. We all know that some of the shows from the 70's weren't very good ( a minority IMO) but what the hell.....I'd like him to give two shows a day for four weeks!!
what about the Vegas shows from '69 to '72 ?? or august '73?
I think it would have been understandable if he have referred to the last two years as "ridiculous" as we can't denied his bad shape and being worst in those jumpsuits...but to tell that ALL the Vegas shows are ridiculous shows that this guy has no idea and never attended one for sure....I think he didn't even have the humility of watching TTWII or listening to the In Person record.

Well, maybe Stoller went to see Elvis in Vegas in '76...

The dutch Elvis fanclub "It's Elvis Time" had an interview in their last magazine with Mike Stoller.

On the question if he had seen some shows of Elvis in Vegas and what he thought of those shows he answered:

"Disappointing. Elvis was a caricature of himself. He still had a fantastic voice, but he made himself ridiculous. It is good when someone (Elvis) has some self-mockery
but he seemed more like an Elvis imitator. It was sad."

I wonder which shows he saw?

It was the one where Larry Blong sang instead of Elvis..I
m not sure the dates he performed for him though...

Well, maybe Stoller went to see Elvis in Vegas in '76...

good eye.
remember, the original question was (as reported by ton bruins):

if he had seen some shows of Elvis in Vegas and what he thought of those shows

the headline of this thread, "The ´Vegas´Elvis is ridiculous", disorients us. it looks, as if mike stoller was not asked about the "vegas"-elvis in general.
we don´t know, what show/shows mike stoller had seen and is referring to, do we?
if he may have been at the hilton in december ´76, his view may be understandable.

The dutch Elvis fanclub "It's Elvis Time" translated an interview in their last magazine with Mike Stoller.

On the question if he had seen some shows of Elvis in Vegas and what he thought of those shows he answered:

"Disappointing. Elvis was a caricature of himself. He still had a fantastic voice, but he made himself ridiculous. It is good when someone (Elvis) has some self-mockery
but he seemed more like an Elvis imitator. It was sad."

I wonder what his thoughts were about Elvis In Concert back in October of 1977....

Here we go again panning one of the absolute best popular music composers of of the early rock and roll era.

Someone who worked closely with Elvis in his prime.

Face it........beyond February 1970 Elvis was indeed an imitator of himself

Stoller is a total ignorant of Elvis live performing....I doubt he saw an Elvis show. He is a composer of R&R and R&B hits that has been always interested in making his bank account bigger. We all know that some of the shows from the 70's weren't very good ( a minority IMO) but what the hell.....I'd like him to give two shows a day for four weeks!!
what about the Vegas shows from '69 to '72 ?? or august '73?
I think it would have been understandable if he have referred to the last two years as "ridiculous" as we can't denied his bad shape and being worst in those jumpsuits...but to tell that ALL the Vegas shows are ridiculous shows that this guy has no idea and never attended one for sure....I think he didn't even have the humility of watching TTWII or listening to the In Person record.

What a vile and nasty post.

Have some respect

Stoller is a total ignorant of Elvis live performing....I doubt he saw an Elvis show. He is a composer of R&R and R&B hits that has been always interested in making his bank account bigger. We all know that some of the shows from the 70's weren't very good ( a minority IMO) but what the hell.....I'd like him to give two shows a day for four weeks!!
what about the Vegas shows from '69 to '72 ?? or august '73?
I think it would have been understandable if he have referred to the last two years as "ridiculous" as we can't denied his bad shape and being worst in those jumpsuits...but to tell that ALL the Vegas shows are ridiculous shows that this guy has no idea and never attended one for sure....I think he didn't even have the humility of watching TTWII or listening to the In Person record.

What a vile and nasty post.

Have some respect

No you have some respect! To dismiss Elvis' performances after Feb. 70, shows how frickin ignorant you are!

Face it........beyond February 1970 Elvis was indeed an imitator of himself

Absolutely unbelievable.

Stoller is a total ignorant of Elvis live performing....I doubt he saw an Elvis show. He is a composer of R&R and R&B hits that has been always interested in making his bank account bigger. We all know that some of the shows from the 70's weren't very good ( a minority IMO) but what the hell.....I'd like him to give two shows a day for four weeks!!
what about the Vegas shows from '69 to '72 ?? or august '73?
I think it would have been understandable if he have referred to the last two years as "ridiculous" as we can't denied his bad shape and being worst in those jumpsuits...but to tell that ALL the Vegas shows are ridiculous shows that this guy has no idea and never attended one for sure....I think he didn't even have the humility of watching TTWII or listening to the In Person record.

What a vile and nasty post.

Have some respect

No you have some respect! To dismiss Elvis' performances after Feb. 70, shows how frickin ignorant you are!

That is my opinion. After early 1970 the jump suit syle was set with little, if any, variation over the next seven years.

Except for a few song changes the difference between an Elvis show in 1971 and 1977 would be minimal with no creative movement. Elvis was imitating Elvis night after night and getting worse year after year.

That was the tradegy of Elvis Presley

Stoller is a total ignorant of Elvis live performing....I doubt he saw an Elvis show. He is a composer of R&R and R&B hits that has been always interested in making his bank account bigger. We all know that some of the shows from the 70's weren't very good ( a minority IMO) but what the hell.....I'd like him to give two shows a day for four weeks!!
what about the Vegas shows from '69 to '72 ?? or august '73?
I think it would have been understandable if he have referred to the last two years as "ridiculous" as we can't denied his bad shape and being worst in those jumpsuits...but to tell that ALL the Vegas shows are ridiculous shows that this guy has no idea and never attended one for sure....I think he didn't even have the humility of watching TTWII or listening to the In Person record.

What a vile and nasty post.

Have some respect

No you have some respect! To dismiss Elvis' performances after Feb. 70, shows how frickin ignorant you are!

That is my opinion. After early 1970 the jump suit syle was set with little, if any, variation over the next seven years.

Except for a few song changes the difference between an Elvis show in 1971 and 1977 would be minimal with no creative movement. Elvis was imitating Elvis night after night and getting worse year after year.

That was the tradegy of Elvis Presley

That's funny, who do you imitate everyday?!!

The dutch Elvis fanclub "It's Elvis Time" translated an interview in their last magazine with Mike Stoller.

On the question if he had seen some shows of Elvis in Vegas and what he thought of those shows he answered:

"Disappointing. Elvis was a caricature of himself. He still had a fantastic voice, but he made himself ridiculous. It is good when someone (Elvis) has some self-mockery
but he seemed more like an Elvis imitator. It was sad."

A little context would go a long way to understanding what Mike meant by these comments.

1) When was the interview conducted?
2) What Presley show/s did Stoller attend?

If you are going to post a controversial view, at least make the effort to provide all the facts.

Mike Stoller worked nose-to-nose with Elvis in 1957-58, helping to create some of the greatest music of his career. He knows where the bar was set, he helped Presley get it there.

No, Stoller was frustrated of having been pushed out by The Colonel and Elvis back then along with Leiber, and therefore doesn't give the "mature Elvis" his due credit. Anyone with a good set of ears and eyes knows that Elvis, during the first few years after his return to live performing, was the absolute best performer in the world, along with James Brown: a still-creative artist, a super-dynamic performer and a brilliant versatile singer to whom all other pop/rock performers would be compared, forever more.

A lot of creative people with big egos like Stoller, Sam Phillips and Chips Moman were really bitter with Elvis going his own way, cutting loose his ties with them.

Of course it would have been better for their bank acounts and status in the world had he stayed for as long as THEY wanted, and in certain ways it would have been better for him artistically had he cooperated with some of them a while longer, but Elvis was a trend-setter, he had to move along. Change! He instinctively knew that, and Colonel had to do what he was payed to do: solve the problem. Elvis didn't like confrontations. Streisand, the Wests..

Remember Sam Phillips critisizing Elvis for including "Memories" during his first Vegas engagement in 1969 ? The guy thought he was still Elvis' producer.
Nevertheless, Sam and the rest of the guys I mention were immensely talented and instrumental in his career, and they each helped Elvis along to achieve greatness!

There's been some ludicrous comments made on this topic. I frankly don't give a damn about Mike Stoller's comment because it is a an un-informed one and clearly one that was made to align himself with the consensus view many have of "Vegas" Elvis.

It's a vastly complex issue which simply cannot have such basic analysis as what he's given it. It's also wrong to group the whole Vegas or 70's period in one lump because Elvis in 1970 was a totally different guy to say the Elvis of 1976. It's like two different men.

Maybe, just maybe he thought the show he witnessed blew. Its not like Elvis in Vegas was top quality consistently between August 1969 and December 1976. Anyone know which gig he saw?

If you had worked one on one with Elvis in 1957 and 1958 and the next time you saw the man was a throw away show from say 1974 speeding through "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel" in trumped up tired medleys you might - as one of the songwriters of those classic songs - come to the conclusion that Elvis had become a parody of his former self.

A searing rebuke from the man who wrote Three Corn Patches.

Yeah, imagine 50s Elvis without these in his catalogue:

Don't
Hound Dog
Jailhouse Rock
King Creole
Love Me
Loving You
Santa Claus is Back in Town
Treat Me Nice
Trouble
Baby I Don't Care

Hell, imagine that opening of the 68 Special without "If you're looking for trouble, you came to the right place".

The man has earned his place in history.

Maybe, just maybe he thought the show he witnessed blew. Its not like Elvis in Vegas was top quality consistently between August 1969 and December 1976. Anyone know which gig he saw?

What I said!

If you had worked one on one with Elvis in 1957 and 1958 and the next time you saw the man was a throw away show from say 1974 speeding through "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel" in trumped up tired medleys you might - as one of the songwriters of those classic songs - come to the conclusion that Elvis had become a parody of his former self.

What I implied!

Yeah, imagine 50s Elvis without these in his catalogue:

Don't
Hound Dog
Jailhouse Rock
King Creole
Love Me
Loving You
Santa Claus is Back in Town
Treat Me Nice
Trouble
Baby I Don't Care

Hell, imagine that opening of the 68 Special without "If you're looking for trouble, you came to the right place".

The man has earned his place in history.

+1

Maybe, just maybe he thought the show he witnessed blew. Its not like Elvis in Vegas was top quality consistently between August 1969 and December 1976. Anyone know which gig he saw?

What I said!

If you had worked one on one with Elvis in 1957 and 1958 and the next time you saw the man was a throw away show from say 1974 speeding through "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel" in trumped up tired medleys you might - as one of the songwriters of those classic songs - come to the conclusion that Elvis had become a parody of his former self.

What I implied!

Yeah, imagine 50s Elvis without these in his catalogue:

Don't
Hound Dog
Jailhouse Rock
King Creole
Love Me
Loving You
Santa Claus is Back in Town
Treat Me Nice
Trouble
Baby I Don't Care

Hell, imagine that opening of the 68 Special without "If you're looking for trouble, you came to the right place".

The man has earned his place in history.

+1

+ me

Perhaps when we get some CONTEXT for this topic, a true discussion may begin.

A searing rebuke from the man who wrote Three Corn Patches.

You act is if one errant track detracts from an impressive overall body of work, much which was essential to Elvis' greatness in the 50's. And as mediocre as Three Corn Patches is, it isn't like it is the nadir of the Raised On Rock album - that lovely distinction goes to Sweet Angeline and I Miss You.