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Post by erik on Jan 8, 2017 12:49:04 GMT -5
This being January 8th, it is important to note two important birthdays:
A man who should have turned 82 today, with an absolutely hysterical live performance from Las Vegas of one of his signature hits (August 26, 1969):
...and the songstress who I rank as my favorite of this 21st century, with a track from her forthcoming album Stitch Of The World; she celebrates her 42nd birthday today:
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2017 16:29:03 GMT -5
Erik and I have long espoused the talents of Ms. Merritt... She has an album out shortly, which I plan on buying and also seeing her in concert in March...
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Post by erik on Jan 8, 2017 19:52:56 GMT -5
Yes, Tift has been one of the great shining artists of our time over her career, with seven superb albums so far: 2002's Bramble Rose; 2004's Tambourine; 2008's Another Country; 2009's Buckingham Solo (recorded live in the UK); 2010's See You On The Moon; 2012's Traveling Alone; and 2013's Night, her collaboration with classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein. Stitch In The World comes out on January 27th. Just speaking for myself, she has forged her own path of Americana, while also paying tribute to the "old school" country-rock of Linda and Emmylou; and we have been fortunate enough to have had her around, even if the mainstream has largely ignored her.
Re. the "laughing" version of "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" from 1969: It was, according to legend (of course, one of thousands surrounding The King), either somebody in the audience losing his toupee ("Do you gaze at your bald head/and wish you had hair?"), background singer Cissy Houston (Whitney's mom) cashing in on the high 'C' notes, or a combination of both, that caused Elvis to crack up the way he did. The record-buying public, however, didn't know about this particular version until it was released on the LP box set Elvis Aaron Presley in 1980, three years after Elvis passed away. It is a priceless moment in the man's career ("that's it man, fourteen years right down the drain"), one that showed he could laugh at his own foibles (IMHO).
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Post by the Scribe on Jan 8, 2017 21:27:28 GMT -5
I am sure she has her hands full with Jean.
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Post by sliderocker on Jan 8, 2017 21:30:22 GMT -5
Yes, Tift has been one of the great shining artists of our time over her career, with seven superb albums so far: 2002's Bramble Rose; 2004's Tambourine; 2008's Another Country; 2009's Buckingham Solo (recorded live in the UK); 2010's See You On The Moon; 2012's Traveling Alone; and 2013's Night, her collaboration with classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein. Stitch In The World comes out on January 27th. Just speaking for myself, she has forged her own path of Americana, while also paying tribute to the "old school" country-rock of Linda and Emmylou; and we have been fortunate enough to have had her around, even if the mainstream has largely ignored her. Re. the "laughing" version of "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" from 1969: It was, according to legend (of course, one of thousands surrounding The King), either somebody in the audience losing his toupee ("Do you gaze at your bald head/and wish you had hair?"), background singer Cissy Houston (Whitney's mom) cashing in on the high 'C' notes, or a combination of both, that caused Elvis to crack up the way he did. The record-buying public, however, didn't know about this particular version until it was released on the LP box set Elvis Aaron Presley in 1980, three years after Elvis passed away. It is a priceless moment in the man's career ("that's it man, fourteen years right down the drain"), one that showed he could laugh at his own foibles (IMHO). It's very ironic that Tift is now the very age Elvis was on what was his last birthday. He had just seven months of life to live. Even sadder is the fact people still debate the cause of his death, even though the cause of death was upheld in the 90s by another coroner as a massive heart attack. One does have to wonder if January 8th is a good day to be born on? As it was only last year that David Bowie, also born this day, had his last birthday, turning 69 and dying just two days later on January 10th. January 10th was the birth date for Jim Croce, who would be killed in a plane crash on September 20th. When Elvis and Jim died, I thought it was very eerie that the days on which both died was double the number of their day of their birth. David Bowie thought the fact he was born on Elvis' birthday meant something, although he later conceded he read too much into it. Did he read too much into it? As like Elvis, he would go into music and would follow Elvis' route by appearing in movies, although he had no Col. Parker-like Svengali to mess up his career the way Parker messed up Elvis' career. Even more strange, Madonna was born on August 16th and felt that when Elvis died, she absorbed some of his spirit and there can be no question that in her early days, Madonna, whatever one thinks of her, was just as outrageous as what Elvis was in his day. So, my guess would be Tift feels something of Elvis in her soul and in her music, being born on the same day. And maybe he is with her in spirit, guiding her and preventing her from making the mistakes he made. It would be nice if Tift's career suddenly went superhot and shake up the Nashville establishment and catch them off guard, although I don't think that is going to happen. It will take another Elvis or Linda (both of whom were 19 or so when they recorded their first songs), and who would be the same age as what Elvis and Linda were, to shake up that establishment. It really needs to be broken and shattered because it keeps a lot of better talent from being heard and a lot of staleness being heard in the form of same musicians playing on all of the recordings. |
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Post by sliderocker on Jan 15, 2017 16:10:24 GMT -5
I meant to post this on January 8, but have gotten sidetracked by other things, but I still want to post this: the "new" duet featuring Elvis on his original recording of "Just Pretend" and German singer Helene Fischer, who bears a slight resemblance to Olivia Newton-John in both appearance and voice. This "new" duet is on the Elvis/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra "The Wonder of You," which topped the classical charts, giving Elvis his second number one album on the classical charts. This is the official video for the song, performed in front of an audience, including the wid'er Presley, Priscilla, who was actually legally divorced from Elvis yet who has made the claim in recent years they never signed off on the decree, therefore she is a wid'er, just like Hank Williams' first wife, Audrey, claimed to be his widow although he had married someone else at the time of his death.
About this performance, not bad. Helene has a lovely voice and it meshes well with Elvis'. But, this is another of Elvis' songs I believe would've been more suited and better suited to our Linda, if she had been able to do the recording. Linda's harmony vocal on this song would've been spot on and spotless. And her lead vocal, if there had been one, would've complimented Elvis' lead vocal, not competed with it and trying to outshine his vocal. Linda, I feel, would've been very respectful of Elvis and his recording and her performance might well have been understated. But, it would've been magic.
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