I suppose this'll be an unpopular opinion, but it's 2/3rds great and 1/3 dross. Lonesome Cowboy is hideous, Hot Dog isn't far behind, and True Love puts me to sleep almost before it even starts. I've already voiced my dislike of the title track, so I won't repeat that here. I think that the rest is fantastic. Party is one of Elvis' most joyous tracks, Have I Told You Lately That I Love You? is one of his sexiest, and Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do! is just a straight-out masterpiece. I'll go so far as to say that I think that Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do! exemplifies the raw abandon and delirious joy in Elvis' music better than any other song. It's the essence of pure rock 'n' roll.
i like the other songs, but i totally agree with Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do, it is fantastic and seems often overlooked as an Elvis masterpiece from this era.
LOVING YOU (LP) (US) RCA LPM 1515 Released: June 20, 1957 Side 1 (All 7 songs featured in the movie) Mean Woman Blues ** Teddy Bear Loving You Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do * Lonesome Cowboy *** Hot Dog **** Party ***** Side 2 (These 5 songs were not in the movie) Blueberry Hill True Love ****** Don't Leave Me Now ****** Have I Told You Lately That I Love You I Need You So * Recorded: Radio Recorders, Hollywood, January 12, 1957 ** Recorded: Radio Recorders, Hollywood, January 13, 1957 *** Recorded: Radio Recorders, Hollywood, January 15, 1957 **** Recorded: Radio Recorders, Hollywood, January 18, 1957 ***** Recorded: Radio Recorders, Hollywood, January 21, 1957 ****** Recorded: Radio Recorders, Hollywood, February 23, 1957 Elvis Presley – vocals, acoustic guitar (playing the back of his guitar on "Teddy Bear" and "True Love") Scotty Moore – electric guitar Tiny Timbrell – acoustic guitar Dudley Brooks – piano Gordon Stoker – piano Hoyt Hawkins – piano, organ Bill Black – double bass D.J. Fontana – drums The Jordanaires – backing vocals George Fields – harmonica The soundtrack includes seven songs composed expressly for the movie Loving You from writers contracted to Elvis Presley Music and Gladys Music, the publishing companies owned by Presley and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker.[6]An eighth song intended for but not appearing in the movie, "Don't Leave Me Now", was included on the album, and a new recording would appear on the soundtrack for his next film, Jailhouse Rock. The previously released material comprises both sides of the single taken from the soundtrack, Presley's number one hit "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" backed with the film's title track, "Loving You".[7] Producer Hal B. Wallis liked "Teddy Bear" so much that he insisted it be included in the movie.[8] Songs were added to bring up the running time of the album, including the swing-era favorite "Blueberry Hill", which had been a big hit for Fats Domino in 1956. "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?" had been done previously by the Sons of the Pioneers, as well as Bing Crosby with The Andrews Sisters. Cole Porter's "True Love", written for the 1956 musical film High Society, also made the album, either to feature a straightforward romantic song, or to give Presley and The Jordanaires an excuse for some close harmony singing. The practice of RCA augmenting soundtrack recordings with extra songs from non-soundtrack studio sessions to bring up the running time of the LP to acceptable lengths would become a commonplace occurrence with Presley soundtracks through the 1960s. RCA reissued the original 12-track album on compact disc in 1988. The album was reissued in an expanded CD edition on April 15, 1997, appending eight tracks to the original album. All tracks derive from the same sessions, with three alternate takes, the remaining track from the Just For You EP, three single sides, including "Tell Me Why", which would wait almost nine years to be released, and a remake of the Sun master "When It Rains, It Really Pours," also released much later on the 1965 LP Elvis for Everyone. On January 11, 2005, Sony BMG reissued the album again, remastered using DSD technology with the six bonus tracks appended in standard fashion. A two-disc set was released on the Follow That Dream collectors label on January 12, 2006, with the bonus tracks and numerous additional takes. 1997 and 2005 reissue bonus tracks[edit] Loving You was issued on CD with the originally album's 12 songs plus the following bonus tracks: No. Title Writer(s) Recording date Length 13. "Tell Me Why" (originally released as a single, 47-8740, December 3, 1965, #33) Titus Turner January 12, 1957 2:05 14. "Is It So Strange" (originally released on the Just For You EP, EPA 4041, April 1, 1957, #16) Faron Young January 19, 1957 2:28 15. "One Night (of sin)" (alternated version of single release, 47-7410, October 21, 1958, #4) Dave Bartholomew, Pearl King January 24, 1957 2:29 16. "When It Rains, It Really Pours" (originally released on theElvis for Everyone, LSP 3450, August 10, 1965, #10) William Emerson February 24, 1957 1:47 17. "I Beg of You" (alternate master take 12) Rose Marie McCoy and Cliff Owens January 13, 1957 1:50 18. "Party" (alternate master take 7) Jessie Mae Robinson January 22, 1957 1:07 19. "Loving You" (uptempo version alternate take 13) Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller February 14, 1957 1:25 20. "Got a Lot o' Livin' to Do" (finale) 2006 Follow That Dream release[edit] Disc 1 Original album No. Title Length 1. "Mean Woman Blues" 2:19 2. "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" 1:49 3. "Loving You" 2:15 4. "Got A Lot O´ Livin´ To Do!" 2:32 5. "Lonesome Cowboy" 3:06 6. "Hot Dog" 1:16 7. "Party" 1:32 8. "Blueberry Hill" 2:40 9. "True Love" 2:07 10. "Don´t Leave Me Now" 2:00 11. "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" 2:32 12. "I Need You So" 2:39 New bonus masters No. Title Length 13. Untitled (One Night) 2:32 14. "I Beg Of You" 1:53 15. "All Shook Up" 2:02 16. "That´s When Your Heartaches Begin" 3:24 17. "Tell Me Why" 2:08 18. "Is It So Strange" 2:29 19. "When It Rains, It Really Pours" 1:50 20. "One Night (of Sin)" 2:36 21. "I Beg Of You alternate master" 1:52 22. "Loving You" (J-16 end version*) 2:18 23. "Party" (A-7 alternate master) 1:21 24. "Loving You" (K-03 main version*) 2:16 25. "Loving You" (HX-14 farm version 2*) 2:04 26. "Got A Lot O´ Livin´ To Do!" (R-13 finale) 1:31 27. "Mean Woman Blues" (BX-07 version 2*) 2:34 28. "Loving You" (KX-21 main version 2) 1:33 29. "Loving You" (HZ 12 farm version 3) 2:05 30. "Blueberry Hill" (from acetate) 3:12 31. "Got A Lot O´ Livin´ To Do!" (D-17 main version [from acetate]*) 1:55 *previously unreleased Disc 2 The February 14 Session 1-12. "Loving You" (HZ all mono farm version takes) 13-34. "Loving You" (KX all mono main version takes) 35-50. "Loving You" (KX take 1-15 binaural main version takes) UK release on 10" vinyl side one track 1 Mean Woman Blues track 2 Teddy Bear track 3 Loving You track 4 Got A Lot O' Living To Do side two track 5 Lonesome Cowboy track 6 Hot Dog track 7 Party track 8 True Love --------------------------------- For me this is just another great album that just happened to be attached to a movie. It is always surprising to me how many versions of these albums came out and to some degree it makes some of the modern variety of these multiple version albums seem less of a big deal.... Anyhow ...
LOVING YOU, VOLUME 1 (EP) (US) RCA EPA 1-1515 Released: June 20, 1957 Side 1 Loving You Party Side 2 Teddy Bear True Love LOVING YOU, VOLUME 2 (EP) (US) RCA EPA 2-1515 Released: June 20, 1957 Side 1 Lonesome Cowboy Hot Dog Side 2 Mean Woman Blues Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do
Mean Woman Blues "Mean Woman Blues" is a 12-bar blues song written by Claude Demetrius. It was first recorded by Elvis Presley as part of the soundtrack for his 1957 motion picture, Loving You. Presley also released the song on Side 2 of a four-song EPrecord. The Elvis Presley version of "Mean Woman Blues" went to #11 on the R&B charts.[1] Jerry Lee Lewis recorded a version of the song on Sun Records which was released in 1957 as part of an EP, The Great Ball of Fire.[2] Lewis also recorded his version of the song on the 1964 live album Live at the Star Club, Hamburg with The Nashville Teens. The song was also featured as the B side to the UK release of his hit "Great Balls of Fire". Jerry Lee Lewis' version differed significantly lyrically from the Claude de Metrius version as recorded by Elvis Presley. Roy Orbison's 1963 recording used the lyrics from the 1957 Jerry Lee Lewis version. In 1959, Cliff Richard and The Shadows recorded a studio version on their Cliff Sings album. 1950s rockabilly artist Glen Glen from Los Angeles recorded a version of this song for England's Ace label which was released on the album "Everybody's Movin' Again" (ACde CD Ch403, scan # 029667140324) using the same musicians from his 1950s Era records. In 1963, the song was recorded with "Blue Bayou" as a 45rpm single by Roy Orbison that went to #5 on the Hot 100. The song was recorded by The Spencer Davis Group on their album Autumn '66 with Stevie Winwood on lead vocals. Jay and the Americans released a cover version of the song on their 1969 album, Sands of Time. Although the song was written in the mid-1950s, many similarly titled though different songs with the same theme had emerged decades previously. These include "Jimmie's Mean Mama Blues," a Jimmie Rodgers composition covered also by Bob Wills, Moon Mullican's "Mean Mama Blues," and Ernest Tubb's "Mean Mama Blues." ----------------------------------------------- This is a classic Rock and Roll song and as you can see, and probably already know, was recorded by a lot of folks. I believe Elvis was the first one to put it down. This has a classic vocal line with a breathy percussive vocal over a stop start musical backing. We having handclaps and chord stucture style harmony vocals from the Jordanaires .... When the instrumental break comes in I tend to think they are finger snaps? ... perhaps both? ,,, Does anyone know on here? Scotty has a nice little semi-chordal-double stop style lead break and also some nice little fills through the song. A nice uptempo rocker to introduce the album.
I think Loving You is a solid fifties soundtrack album. I remember spinning my newly bought vinyl in the late eighties quite a bit. It suffered from a degree of Electronically Reprocessed Stereo but nothing too detrimental to my enjoyment and that cover art looks cool vinyl size, mind you what cover art doesn't? Still got it too...
"Mean Woman Blues" - A great vocal but the old raw spirit has gone. It's variety show rock 'n' roll now (which was creeping in anyway after the initial rush of Sun sides).
Yea i can see that. It still seems to be a contention to this day in modern music, where stepping in with the majors includes a certain amount of polish, that in some peoples eyes is better and in some people's eyes is worse. To be honest I kind of sit in the middle on that aspect of the music industry. I tend to enjoy both sides of that coin .... I would really like there to be a middle ground, so to speak.
I agree that there's something that feels a bit contrived about the rockers ("Mean Woman Blues" and "Got a Lot of Livin' to Do"). The rawness is gone, and they sound too "by the numbers." I like them, but not as much as what came before (or immediately after). That actually is my feeling about the entire album, in fact. Loving You is my least favorite Elvis album of the 50s. There's some good stuff, but nothing that to me reaches the level of greatness of his very best work. And unfortunately, there's a few lousy tracks too. "Lonesome Cowboy" is awful, just as bad as any soundtrack song he did in the 60s. And "Hot Dog" is corny and dumb. It seems like it took Leiber and Stoller awhile to get a handle on writing songs to order for Elvis. Fortunately they would do MUCH better on the next film.
well that's my thinking ... and well .... when the girls are as pretty as the girl out of loving you, it is certainly no hardship lol
It has been a great thread. I haven't posted much, but I am "watching" and perusing. I'll chip in here and there. Usually @PacificOceanBlue takes the words out of my mouth!! haha We have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to realistic Elvis connoisseurs on this forum. Tons of knowledge and the ability to be critical don't always go hand in hand. Most Elvis fans at SHTV are very level headed.
I think the title track is a top-tier performance from Elvis' 1950's era body of work that reaches greatness. The soundtrack may be a bit uneven for 1950's era standards, but it contains a number of wonderful recordings, including the title track.
i have noticed ... i was surprised actually, because until i started doing this I hadn't really seen any Elvis threads ... I must have missed them behind all the Beatles threads
i love it, but i like the album. King creole is probably better, but whether 18 or 24 k gold, it's still gold
I do agree the title track is easily the best song on the album, though I do think maybe he overworked it a little too much (I find myself liking a couple of the alternate arrangements better these days). There is indeed some wonderful stuff on the album. By saying it's my least favorite of his 50s albums, I didn't mean to suggest it's bad by any means. Just that in my opinion it's not as strong as his very best 50s stuff (the early 1956 recordings, Jailhouse Rock soundtrack, and the last pre-Army session).