Elvis' soundtrack albums/recordings - what are your favorites?

My favourites are:

Viva Las Vegas
Edge of Reality
Rubberneckin'
Clean Up Your Own Backyard
Let Yourself Go
Hard Luck

 

Loving You
Jailhouse Rock
King Creole
Viva Las Vegas

Flaming Star is a terrific western -- one of the top 10 westerns of the 1960s with Elvis' finest performance as an actor -- but it isn't a musical. It has the two songs, which are okay.

Loving You is vastly under-rated and a favorite film of mine.

I bought all the two-fers when they came out. Listened to them all. But I haven't played them since.

 

I find that there are four different types of Elvis films: the pre-army films, from 1956-1958, wherein the films are an extension of his music persona: the 1960-1962 films which showcase his desire to be a serious actor, i.e Kid Galahad, Flaming Star, Wild In The Country, and then the conveyor-belt musicals from 1961 onwards. The conveyor-belt musicals are the ones that generated the most money, hence why they kept being knocked out, one after the next.

Finally, in the last year or so, from 1968 onwards, you have some experimental films, which were totally bypassed by audiences, i.e Charro, Trouble With Girls, Live A Little Love A Little, and Change of Habit. Maybe experimental is the wrong term to use, but these films weren't like the Blue Hawaii, Girls Girls Girls, etc films.

 

I feel like people might enjoy them more if they changed their expectations - not that you should need to, but it's like, I don't put on Roustabout expecting artistic greatness or anything. I just accept it for what it is - a fun soundtrack with some fun songs, and I get total enjoyment that way.

 

That is true. Now, if these same songs were done circa 76 Elvis voice? There would be little for me to enjoy about them. Elvis being at the height of his vocal power during the worst material is almost a punchline to tragic, yet the very reason there is anything redeeming to the songs. Its a testament to his abilities as a singer and that voice of his. We could have nothing but crappy films and *no* songs. So I simply make believe in some ways.

 

Some of my favourites:

Wild in the Country [from Wild in the Country]
In My Way [from Wild in the Country]
Forget Me Never [from Wild in the Country]
Lonely Man (solo) [from Wild in the Country]
Can't Help Falling in Love [from Blue Hawaii]
Rock-A-Hula-Baby [from Blue Hawaii]
King of the Whole Wide World [from Kid Galahad]
Return to Sender [from Girls! Girls! Girls!]
Fun in Acapulco [from Fun in Acapulco]
Bossa Nova Baby [from Fun in Acapulco]
Viva Las Vegas [from Viva Las Vegas]
What'd I Say [from Viva Las Vegas]
Little Egypt [from Roustabout]
Frankie And Johnny [from Frankie and Johnny]
Hard Luck [from Frankie and Johnny]
I'll Be Back [from Spinout]
Spinout [from Spinout]
Long Legged Girl (With The Short Dress On) [from Double Trouble]
There Ain't Nothing Like A Song [from Speedway]
Let Yourself Go [from Speedway]
A Little Less Conversation [from Live a Little, Love a Little]
Almost in Love [Live a Little, Love a Little]
Clean Up Your Own Back Yard [from The Trouble with Girls]
Summer Kisses, Winter Tears (Movie Version) [from Flaming Star]
Relax [from It Happened at the World's Fair]
Golden Coins [from Harem Holiday]
Girl Happy [from Girl Happy]
The Meanest Girl in Town [from Girl Happy]
Puppet on a String [from Girl Happy]
Anyone (Could Fall in Love With You) [from Kissin' Cousins]
Once Is Enough [from Kissin' Cousins]
A House That Has Everything [from Clambake]
You Don't Know Me [from Clambake]
How Can You Lose What You Never Had [from Clambake]
All I Needed Was the Rain [from Stay Away Joe]
Goin' Home [from Stay Away Joe]
Rubberneckin' [from Change of Habit]
Let's Be Friends [from Change of Habit]
Change of Habit [from Change of Habit]
Wooden Heart [from G.I. Joe]

 

As I mentioned earlier, another thing that gives a lot of them a pass for me is the musicianship. Some of the songs may be crap, but what fantastic players!

 

Well said!

I think one reason that the soundtracks are among my main passion within Elvis' catalogue is precisely for that reason - their ease and likeability. I like that I can throw almost any one of them on and not have to "judge their merit" in a way that I would the Sun Sessions or Sgt Pepper or Kind Of Blue or something.

I always thought the thing that made Elvis so beloved and so iconic was not merely that he was great and spear-headed a revolution but that he was personable, normal, friendly, capable of humility, playful, and simply loved to entertain people, whether it was performing a gritty blues number, a gospel song, a love song, or "Slicin Sand".

For me, the soundtracks always illustrated Elvis's breadth of appeal, versatility, and charm. They never detracted from his image (as some seem to feel).

But I think you are right. Many gain a perception or expectation of an artist and often don't like when something deviates or adds colors to that image. Especially if that something contains a number like "Ito Eats".

But it isn't merely Elvis either. I see criticisms with quite a few artists who release an album or have an "era" that seemingly clashes with what they rose to fame on. I guess it's all just part of the game - and simply reflects how individual personal taste truly is.

 

What's not to like?



Incidentally, has this film mix (running a little fast in this clip - PAL source, probably) of the title song with the orchestral overdub ever been released on CD?

 

I bet the Colonel crapped his overalls when Elvis hit the deck @1:54!

 

I'm prejudiced because the very first album I ever bought was the It Happened At the Worlds Fair soundtrack, so that album has warm and fuzzy memories for me .
It's hard to beat the Can't Help Falling In Love , the Hollywood Hits release for a fun, quick overview of his movie songs. "Follow That Dream" is still one of my favorite movie tunes Elvis did.

 

Angel from FTD is another great performance and the record sounds awesome as well.

 

It also doesn't hurt that most of them are so short - by the time you start thinking about the merits of said album, it's practically over!

 

It's such a puzzling decision. Generally the rule of thumb was that if a film had six songs or less it got an EP, but Viva Las Vegas had 12 songs featuring Elvis that were recorded for it, ten of which made the film. They could easily have done an album rather than an EP. Viva Las Vegas is the only Elvis film with more than six original songs that didn't get a soundtrack LP. It amazes me that to this day they still haven't released a complete soundtrack CD that features the 12 Elvis songs plus the two Ann-Margret solos and their outtake duet on Today Tomorrow and Forever. Seems like such a release would be a no-brainer.

 

What's the official reason as to why there wasn't a release?

 

Perhaps the uploader deliberately made it run fast to defeat the youtube copyright bots?

Anyway, the overdubbed versions of this song and "There's No Room To Rhumba (in a Sports Car)" have not been officially released. Even with the FTD series, there's still a few soundtrack anomalies that remain unreleased, like the overdubbed Shelley Fabares duet version of "Spring Fever" and the Elsa Lanchester duet version of "Yoga is as Yoga Does."

 

I don't think I've ever heard an official reason. I've heard speculation that the Colonel didn't want an Elvis album that co-featured Ann-Margret, but if that really was the case they could easily have left out the songs on which she duetted and just padded out the album with a couple non-soundtrack songs, like they did on the Fun In Acapulco and Kissin' Cousins soundtrack LPs. There really is no good reason I can think of, and it's all the more puzzling given it was one of his more popular films.

 

Yep, and there's basically three distinct periods as far as his 60s soundtracks go:
1. 1960-64 (GI Blues through Viva Las Vegas): During this period, there's a fair amount of good material, well-produced and performed. Every film has one or two very good to great songs, plus a few okay ones, and a few silly/expository ones that tend to overshadow everything else to casual observers. The production values are decent, and Elvis seems to be really trying.
2. 1965-67 (Kissin' Cousins through Clambake): During this period, the budgets are cut, the quality of the material nosedives, and the engineering/mixing is pretty uniformly crappy. Elvis seems to be phoning it in much of the time. There's some good stuff to be found in here, but it's more of an effort.
3. 1968-69: (Stay Away Joe through Change of Habit): Elvis is re-energized by his comeback special, and starts working with producer Billy Strange and an entirely new group of musicians. The quality of the material improves notably, and there's a conscious effort to sound modern. The later films have less songs, but most of the stuff is pretty good, and there's nothing I'd call downright awful in this period (okay, except "Dominick" right at the beginning).

 

That's true! It's amazing how short some of the album sides were in those days (really with many artists, but especially on those soundtracks). I think a few only have a total running time of like 27 minutes! I guess this is where the phrase "short but sweet" truly applies.