'Sparkling Day' by Elvis

Pretty self-explanatory
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Ypsilanti
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Re: 'Sparkling Day' by Elvis on soundtrack for 'One Day' Aug

Post by Ypsilanti »

Sparkling Day: Finally listened to it. Upon first listen...not loving, really. For me, it seems like the vocal and the melody are at odds with each other. Perhaps the lyric is too wordy for the music to support the vocal properly. But I will give it another try...

Power belting: Love it most of the time. "That Day Is Done", "God Give Me Strength", "I Hope" and dozens more. I say, let him have his vibrato and passages in the upper register. For me, the results are often thrilling. Elvis knows what he's doing. When he takes his idiosyncratic, imperfect voice and fearlessly applies it to a big, fat ballad he knows how he sounds (and by the way, I'm sure none of us ever hear the recording unless he is satisfied with the results). Not sure why so many on this forum take it for granted that Elvis is really thickheaded with no self-awareness.

Self-harmonies: I'm shocked that anyone objects to this. The demo version of "Turning The Town Red", for example. C'mon. That's so awesome.

Comparison to Tom Waits: Really? Might as well compare Elvis to Betty Boop. Of course, Tom is a genius, but I wouldn't necessarily say it's because of his singing. Tom is an actor, a performance artist--he tells stories, inhabits characters...the "voice" he employs for any given song is only part of of the package. He's a ringmaster, a carnival barker, a film noir narrator, a vaudevillian, a poet reading aloud. Certainly Elvis sings with conviction and know how to sell a song, but that's what he is: a singer. He and Tom have totally different jobs.
So I keep this fancy to myself
I keep my lipstick twisted tight
taramasalata
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Re: 'Sparkling Day' by Elvis on soundtrack for 'One Day' Aug

Post by taramasalata »

Neil. wrote:Well, I know it's going to sound like sacrilege, but I cannot STAND Tom Waits's singing style.

He's a brilliant songwriter, but that put-on drunken hobo act, which is not his natural voice, is incredibly irritating - it's as though a down-and-out character from a musical is making album after album. It's so affected, I just don't know how people can stand it.

What am I missing?
Congratulations Neil!
Finally I find someone who is expressing what I think about Tom Waits, while everyone else at least in the kingdom of singer/songwriter lovers worships him like hell. And it's not that I always thought of him like that, I did like his early stuff and I really loved his three 80's classics, they were really something outstanding then. But I don't know, I can't relate him to him anymore, and it's not just that false and mannered character he's pretending to be and his affected vocals: I gave him one more chance with his latest realease just the other day and while he's actually singing less mannered and more "natural" now, I can't help that these songs, that SOUND very well, all seem like mere variations from Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs and Frank's Wild Years.
And, for better or for worse of some his works, that's something I never felt with Elvis' music.
johnfoyle
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Re: 'Sparkling Day' by Elvis on soundtrack for 'One Day' Aug

Post by johnfoyle »

Oscar nominations in one hours time - will Elvis get one? I'll be off-line so feel free anyone to post then news!
Neil.
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Re: 'Sparkling Day' by Elvis - Oscar nomination?

Post by Neil. »

Alas, no nomination for our man - he was eclipsed by The Muppets and some parrots:

Music (Original Song)
"Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio" from "Rio" Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawa ... inees.html

Maybe he would've been in with more of a chance if they'd used 'Tramp the Dirt Down' on The Iron Lady soundtrack.
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: 'Sparkling Day' by Elvis - Oscar nomination?

Post by And No Coffee Table »

Documentary (Short Subject)

"The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement"
"God Is the Bigger Elvis"
"Incident in New Baghdad"
"Saving Face"
"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom"
jardine
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Re: 'Sparkling Day' by Elvis - Oscar nomination?

Post by jardine »

God is the bigger Elvis? Thems fightin' words!

Oh, wait, THAT Elvis? Okay, no problem.
redsfan720
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Re: 'Sparkling Day' by Elvis - Oscar nomination?

Post by redsfan720 »

The song from The Muppets was pretty fantastic. I saw the film and would have understood if any of its original songs were nominated, especially the one chosen. Very clever. Apt enough for the younger audience for which the movie was partially intended, and oddly moving enough for the adults that comprised the other half of the intended audience.

I thought Sparkling Day was a good song, but I'm not sure anything particularly set it apart. I don't think that movie helped its cause any, either.
johnfoyle
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Re: 'Sparkling Day' by Elvis

Post by johnfoyle »

http://thespaceuk.wordpress.com/2012/03 ... an-macrae/

March 1, 2012.

(extract)

For an Oscar winner, Rachel Portman, OBE, gives a first impression of pure personable warmth, both on and off stage. When asked by an audience member about working with musicians, she recounted being asked to work on a track with Elvis Costello for the film One Day: “I had nightmares about it, I was so worried I was going to mess it up”.
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