re: Rare look at Elvis Presley recording "Always On My Mind" in 1972

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If I could see any performer alive or dead. I would choose Elvis. But I struggle with whether I would want to see early Elvis or Vegas Elvis

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Correct answer is right when he started being Vegas Elvis. He was on his game from the 68 Special till about ‘72.

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these are the facts and they are undisputed

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The 3 octave range is questioned however. I did read 2-1/3 octave. Regardless, his work within that range is stunning.

He is every bit the King just as much as Arnold Palmer was the king, regardless of Nicklaus and Woods and everyone else. It goes beyond numbers.

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The 3 octave range is questioned however.

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yeah, I don't know how it could be verified now, never heard him hit any super low notes and he loved the bass and bass singers, loved to hear J.D. Sumner rattle the walls

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Now Roy Orbison... Whew!!!

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definitely could get up there

You guys have got me wanting to pack a small bag and truck it on up to Graceland for the weekend now. It’s been about 3 years since I went.

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The man is iconic, but vocally, not very good.

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Yeah, that's what I read -- Elvis's "handlers" and advisers made him dye his dark brown hair VERY early in his career -- 1956 sounds right.

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It’s a shame we didn’t get to see the old-man grizzled Elvis singing Johnny Cash-style Country/Folk Music.

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Try this one...

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, but vocally, not very good.

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This is silly. From a "technical" standpoint, he had good natural instincts (despite having really good pitch, he was willing to sign off key if the song called for it) and a decent natural singing voice, with an impressive range. He surrounded himself (or the Colonel did) with staggeringly good (for pop music) musicians and singers and this helped. He also had the ability to (kind of) sing, naturally as a tenor, baritone and bass (albeit not a particularly deep or resonating bass, but it was serviceable).

It also helped that he recognized, very early, that he was going to have to work at his craft. He almost instinctively anticipated both the ravages of time and improvements in recording technology that required him to continue to improve.

He worked on his voice all the time through his late 20s and early 30s (like the movie era).

I agree that his voice really peaked in that late 60s/early 70s era and the decline really wasn't that noticeable in the months leading up to his death.

Terry Blackwood (a really impressive singer, BTW) said:

"He would probably be considered a baritone, but he could reach notes that most baritone singers could not. Much of his abilities emanated from a very intense desire to execute a song as he wanted to do it, which meant that he really sang higher than he would normally be able to. When the adrenalin is going, and the song is really pumping, you can get into that mode where you can actually do things, vocally, that you couldn’t normally do. So he had a tremendous range because of his desire to excel and be better, and that’s why he could do a lot of things that most people couldn’t."