Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

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Juan Luis

Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by Juan Luis »

r&b wrote:
matilda wrote:His voice on PHS (the song) is not great. In fact on most songs of that soundtrack his voice sounds like his tongue doubled in size.
And he sounds a LOT older than his age at the time. Listen to the opening of Queenie, the She sells seashells line. It is not a youthful voice you hear there. Bored maybe, but not the sound of a young guy, and not the sound young people were going to be into anymore. This is why Spinout was a bit of a reprieve from all these horrible soundtracks. At least there was a bit of energy there.
When I hear a voice I don't look up what age he was when singing. I just like it or I don't. Sinatra ALWAYS sounded "old" to me when I was a kid. Later I found out he was this or that age at the time. I enjoyed his voice anyhow.




r&b

Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by r&b »

Juan Luis wrote:
r&b wrote:
matilda wrote:His voice on PHS (the song) is not great. In fact on most songs of that soundtrack his voice sounds like his tongue doubled in size.
And he sounds a LOT older than his age at the time. Listen to the opening of Queenie, the She sells seashells line. It is not a youthful voice you hear there. Bored maybe, but not the sound of a young guy, and not the sound young people were going to be into anymore. This is why Spinout was a bit of a reprieve from all these horrible soundtracks. At least there was a bit of energy there.
When I hear a voice I don't look up what age he was when singing. I just like it or I don't. Sinatra ALWAYS sounded "old" to me when I was a kid. Later I found out he was this or that age at the time. I enjoyed his voice anyhow.
Sinatra sounded older, well, because he was, and was always considered music my parents generation liked. What he sounded like in 1965/66 is what I expected him to sound like. And the material fit. Elvis seemed to sound older by the LP to me back then. PHS was a big change from Viva Las Vegas in just 2 yrs. I didnt understand the heavy sounding voice change. I guess that would be ok if the material was good like Franks, but the material was dire and he wasnt into singing it at all which made the whole thing a mess to this teenager back then. He was losing young fans with each release.




poormadpeter2

Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by poormadpeter2 »

Again, another example of how not all reviews of the film were negative, This is the one from Variety, dated June 8, 1966
paradise.jpg
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Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by rlj4ep »

poormadpeter2 wrote:Again, another example of how not all reviews of the film were negative, This is the one from Variety, dated June 8, 1966
paradise.jpg
Thanks poormadpeter2. I appreciate the post. It was a good read.

rlj



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Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by Chris Roberts »

Of course, we now know how much better his career would become with the TV Special and the Memphis recording sessions. But imagine (I know r@b can) being there when this was first released following on from HS and F@J. At that time we didn't know the future, and I would play albums such as Elvis Is Back, Elvis Presley and Elvis (56) and wonder why? what has happened? There was always a few tracks on these movie albums to give us hope, and the follow up LP Spinout with its bonus songs, was certainly a step in the right direction. However it wasn't until the release of How Great Thou Art, that we finally got a full album that re-confirmed to us the talent that was Elvis Presley.




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Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by stevelecher »

a mess of polk salad wrote:
matilda wrote:His voice on PHS (the song) is not great. In fact on most songs of that soundtrack his voice sounds like his tongue doubled in size.
I love it! I like the operatic element to it. It's big and powerful. He's obviously enjoying singing it...


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Operatic element? C'mon.

Chris Roberts, yes at the time it was difficult listening to these increasingly unsatisfactory albums and wondering where it would keep going. For me though, I was even more concerned with what was going on with the vocals. How could a 30 year old Elvis be losing his voice at this age? The singer of PHS is not the singer of VLV. What was wrong? For me the voice that sang I Need Somebody To Lean On never came back though obviously, numerous good records will be recorded.




r&b

Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by r&b »

Chris Roberts wrote:Of course, we now know how much better his career would become with the TV Special and the Memphis recording sessions. But imagine (I know r@b can) being there when this was first released following on from HS and F@J. At that time we didn't know the future, and I would play albums such as Elvis Is Back, Elvis Presley and Elvis (56) and wonder why? what has happened? There was always a few tracks on these movie albums to give us hope, and the follow up LP Spinout with its bonus songs, was certainly a step in the right direction. However it wasn't until the release of How Great Thou Art, that we finally got a full album that re-confirmed to us the talent that was Elvis Presley.
Right Chris. I know some folks on here get it, but I know a lot of them dont. When you discover these movie songs much later on after he died like on a Camden, or an old album you found that your Mother owned, it is totally different then hearing them when they came out for the first time back in the day. Totally. its not even close. I cant convey enough the disappointment and almost amazement at what had happened to this guy. The songs, the voice. We were all wondering if he would ever be great again. For these reasons and others, these are albums I dont ever care to play again, and I will never miss hearing them again. Im not sorry for that. its how I felt about them then and still do. From PHS, I would pick out Sand Castles and burn it onto a CD. Thats it.




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Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by Davelee »

r&b wrote:
Chris Roberts wrote:Of course, we now know how much better his career would become with the TV Special and the Memphis recording sessions. But imagine (I know r@b can) being there when this was first released following on from HS and F@J. At that time we didn't know the future, and I would play albums such as Elvis Is Back, Elvis Presley and Elvis (56) and wonder why? what has happened? There was always a few tracks on these movie albums to give us hope, and the follow up LP Spinout with its bonus songs, was certainly a step in the right direction. However it wasn't until the release of How Great Thou Art, that we finally got a full album that re-confirmed to us the talent that was Elvis Presley.
Right Chris. I know some folks on here get it, but I know a lot of them dont. When you discover these movie songs much later on after he died like on a Camden, or an old album you found that your Mother owned, it is totally different then hearing them when they came out for the first time back in the day. Totally. its not even close. I cant convey enough the disappointment and almost amazement at what had happened to this guy. The songs, the voice. We were all wondering if he would ever be great again. For these reasons and others, these are albums I dont ever care to play again, and I will never miss hearing them again. Im not sorry for that. its how I felt about them then and still do. From PHS, I would pick out Sand Castles and burn it onto a CD. Thats it.
I can feel your frustration and disappointment even though i wasn't around then, i didn't come into the world until 1967, so i missed it all,but can absolutely understand what you and Chris must've felt.




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Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by matilda »

r&b wrote:
Juan Luis wrote:
r&b wrote:
matilda wrote:His voice on PHS (the song) is not great. In fact on most songs of that soundtrack his voice sounds like his tongue doubled in size.
And he sounds a LOT older than his age at the time. Listen to the opening of Queenie, the She sells seashells line. It is not a youthful voice you hear there. Bored maybe, but not the sound of a young guy, and not the sound young people were going to be into anymore. This is why Spinout was a bit of a reprieve from all these horrible soundtracks. At least there was a bit of energy there.
When I hear a voice I don't look up what age he was when singing. I just like it or I don't. Sinatra ALWAYS sounded "old" to me when I was a kid. Later I found out he was this or that age at the time. I enjoyed his voice anyhow.
Sinatra sounded older, well, because he was, and was always considered music my parents generation liked. What he sounded like in 1965/66 is what I expected him to sound like. And the material fit. Elvis seemed to sound older by the LP to me back then. PHS was a big change from Viva Las Vegas in just 2 yrs. I didnt understand the heavy sounding voice change. I guess that would be ok if the material was good like Franks, but the material was dire and he wasnt into singing it at all which made the whole thing a mess to this teenager back then. He was losing young fans with each release.
The problem with his thick-tongued voice was gone a year later on the spinout soundtrack. Something was clearly wrong with his voice on the PHS Soundtrack.




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Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by matilda »

r&b wrote:
matilda wrote:His voice on PHS (the song) is not great. In fact on most songs of that soundtrack his voice sounds like his tongue doubled in size.
And he sounds a LOT older than his age at the time. Listen to the opening of Queenie, the She sells seashells line. It is not a youthful voice you hear there. Bored maybe, but not the sound of a young guy, and not the sound young people were going to be into anymore. This is why Spinout was a bit of a reprieve from all these horrible soundtracks. At least there was a bit of energy there.
It's not just the energy...its the voice.
If elvis had recorded "stop, look and listen" while the PHS sessions......it would have sounded awful.
May e he was just in bad voice at those sessions.one year later while spinout his voice sounded more clearer and lighter.




matilda
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Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by matilda »

a mess of polk salad wrote:
matilda wrote:His voice on PHS (the song) is not great. In fact on most songs of that soundtrack his voice sounds like his tongue doubled in size.
I love it! I like the operatic element to it. It's big and powerful. He's obviously enjoying singing it...


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If an opera singer would read this I am sure he would just shake his head.
On PHS, for instance, its not an operatic approach.....he is straining on the notes and sometimes struggling to keep his vibrato halfway under control.




r&b

Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by r&b »

matilda wrote:
r&b wrote:
Juan Luis wrote:
r&b wrote:
matilda wrote:His voice on PHS (the song) is not great. In fact on most songs of that soundtrack his voice sounds like his tongue doubled in size.
And he sounds a LOT older than his age at the time. Listen to the opening of Queenie, the She sells seashells line. It is not a youthful voice you hear there. Bored maybe, but not the sound of a young guy, and not the sound young people were going to be into anymore. This is why Spinout was a bit of a reprieve from all these horrible soundtracks. At least there was a bit of energy there.
When I hear a voice I don't look up what age he was when singing. I just like it or I don't. Sinatra ALWAYS sounded "old" to me when I was a kid. Later I found out he was this or that age at the time. I enjoyed his voice anyhow.
Sinatra sounded older, well, because he was, and was always considered music my parents generation liked. What he sounded like in 1965/66 is what I expected him to sound like. And the material fit. Elvis seemed to sound older by the LP to me back then. PHS was a big change from Viva Las Vegas in just 2 yrs. I didnt understand the heavy sounding voice change. I guess that would be ok if the material was good like Franks, but the material was dire and he wasnt into singing it at all which made the whole thing a mess to this teenager back then. He was losing young fans with each release.
The problem with his thick-tongued voice was gone a year later on the spinout soundtrack. Something was clearly wrong with his voice on the PHS Soundtrack.
But sadly returned again for the Clambake soundtrack. I bet it had to do a lot with the material also. He was probably more into the Spinout songs than either the PHS or Clambake stuff. The title tracks alone are 100 times worse than Spinout. I remember watching Aloha, and once the PHS title song started, I was like oh no, regression time. A return to the bad years. Even though the theme fit, the song should have been dropped & forgotten,
Last edited by r&b on Sat Jul 16, 2016 10:18 pm, edited 2 times in total.




poormadpeter2

Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by poormadpeter2 »

i think we need to remember that sometimes, for whatever reason, people simply aren't in good voice, Elvis wasn't singing as much in 1965, and as far as we know hadn't yet started work on the private recordings which sparked some creativity in him the following year. If he wasn't singing, you can't just turn up for a day every three months and expect your voice to be sounding as good as it always does. Now, one can argue that it was up to Elvis to make sure his voice was in good order, but that's a slightly different thing altogether.




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Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by stevelecher »

It's more than that though Poormadpeter. There were outside forces affecting his voice. I never thought about Elvis doing the Spinout songs in that PHS voice, but I've pondered what The Fun In Acapulco album might have sounded like with it. Spinout certainly seemed like a breath of fresh air after PHS.



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Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by MikeFromHolland »

.

We might say that non of the (big) musical talents in the studio that time,including Elvis, gave their best to the material at hand. It wasn't just Elvis who wasn't inspired. There was no chemistry, no synergy, no real motivation. Just do the job and get over it.

I've known those periods in my career as well. Who hasn't? And which artist hasn't?

.


Mike

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take it easy
And try a smile...

.

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Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by jurasic1968 »

The problem to me is the big difference in Elvis' voice from PHS to Spinout. In Spinout Elvis sings like he's a young singer, and in PHS he sings like he's a lot older.



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Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by jurasic1968 »

Mature sound in PHS? I listen only to a tired, bored and out of shape singer at only 30 years old.




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Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by stevelecher »

I just disagree. There's nothing natural about a 30 year old singer's voice changing so much from 28 to 30, and being so much less supple. And he was much more versatile and capable in 1963 than he was in February 1970. The fact seems to be that Elvis' lifestyle was affecting him already by the mid 1960's.




Juan Luis

Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by Juan Luis »

If he had recently partied. Doesn't matter what age. The voice would have been different. Just happened at a time too close to recording session before full recovery, in my opinion. No big whoop this was the beginning of anything that he hadn't done before. Normal people in their twenties or earlier have voice alterations after weekend binging etc...




poormadpeter2

Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by poormadpeter2 »

stevelecher wrote:I just disagree. There's nothing natural about a 30 year old singer's voice changing so much from 28 to 30, and being so much less supple. And he was much more versatile and capable in 1963 than he was in February 1970. The fact seems to be that Elvis' lifestyle was affecting him already by the mid 1960's.
You're right that, in most cases, voices don't change from year to year - but in Elvis's case, this happened on a regular basis. His voice in 1956 had changed since 1954 (check out the ballads), and changed again between 1958 and 1960 (It's Now or Never in 1958? Wouldn't have happened!) The same is true again between 1963 and 1966 - the bass notes wouldn't have been possible in 1963. Again the power of 1970 wasn't around in 1968, and the rawness of 1968 wasn't around in 1966. And on it goes. 1965, while there could have been many different factors, could have been a voice in flux, boredom, just a case of being in "bad voice," due to medication (just taking something like codeine for a day or two can make your voice sound different), etc.




Juan Luis

Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by Juan Luis »

His voice was back to normal for the HGTA sessions in 1966 with gems as "Stand By Me", and "Tomorrow Is A Long Time". This was a fluke type thing at that specific time.



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Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by drjohncarpenter »

stevelecher wrote:I just disagree. There's nothing natural about a 30 year old singer's voice changing so much from 28 to 30, and being so much less supple. And he was much more versatile and capable in 1963 than he was in February 1970. The fact seems to be that Elvis' lifestyle was affecting him already by the mid 1960's.
Some might argue that most of the singing on the August 1965 session is the sound of someone who has given up, knows the songs are terrible, and so is not in any way trying to deliver something of quality or sincerity.

Pop radio that Los Angeles summer was mind-blowingly fantastic, and Presley knew it well. That "Sand Castles" is the only noteworthy number must be due to the fact that it was done live with the musicians, not a vocal overdub like the other tracks. Perhaps its gentle melody somehow captured his attention, resulting in a beautiful vocal.


.
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Stop, look and listen, baby <<--->> that's my philosophy!


poormadpeter2

Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by poormadpeter2 »

drjohncarpenter wrote:
stevelecher wrote:I just disagree. There's nothing natural about a 30 year old singer's voice changing so much from 28 to 30, and being so much less supple. And he was much more versatile and capable in 1963 than he was in February 1970. The fact seems to be that Elvis' lifestyle was affecting him already by the mid 1960's.
Some might argue that most of the singing on the August 1965 session is the sound of someone who has given up, knows the songs are terrible, and so is not in any way trying to deliver something of quality or sincerity.

Pop radio that Los Angeles summer was mind-blowingly fantastic, and Presley knew it well. That "Sand Castles" is the only noteworthy number must be due to the fact that it was done live with the musicians, not a vocal overdub like the other tracks. Perhaps its gentle melody somehow captured his attention, resulting in a beautiful vocal.
Following this topic, I listened to the LP the other night and, other than its brevity, Sand Castles is the only good thing about. In fact the vocal on it sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the other nine tracks.




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Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by matilda »

Sorry.but no.surely on songs like stand by me his voice is delicate but not more the silkness of the early 60s.
The lighthearted way and effortlessnes bouncing from the high notes to the deep notes on a masterful piece like I believe in the man in the sky he would not have been able to deliver in 1966.




Juan Luis

Re: Paradise Hawaiian Style Sessions - Full Of Talents!

Post by Juan Luis »

matilda wrote:Sorry.but no.surely on songs like stand by me his voice is delicate but not more the silkness of the early 60s.
The lighthearted way and effortlessnes bouncing from the high notes to the deep notes on a masterful piece like I believe in the man in the sky he would not have been able to deliver in 1966.
What he lacks in silkiness from the early 60's he compensates with feeling by 1966. Still great vocals.