Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Oct 7, 2018.

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  1. Dave112

    Dave112 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    These are two of my favorite Elvis songs of the 1960's. While Elvis was doing a lot of soft ballads at this time, he would still do a stellar rocker every now and then. I really like how they teamed these two songs together on the same single. It seemed to me as if Elvis was letting the piano on "His Latest Flame" and the great lead and bass guitar licks on "Little Sister" do the work that the Jordanaires would usually do. The vocals and music work together so wonderfully!
     
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  2. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Blue Hawaii
    [​IMG]
    Soundtrack album by Elvis Presley
    Released
    October 20, 1961
    Recorded March 21–23, 1961
    Genre Pop, Hawaiian music
    Length 32:02
    Label RCA Victor
    Producer Steve Sholes

    Singles from Blue Hawaii
    1. "Can't Help Falling in Love" / "Rock-A-Hula Baby"
      Released: November 21, 1961

    Blue Hawaii is the fourth soundtrack album by American singer Elvis Presley, released on RCA Victor Records in monoand stereo, LPM/LSP 2426, on October 20, 1961.[5] It is the soundtrack to the 1961 film of the same name starring Presley. In the United States, the album spent 20 weeks at the number one slot and 39 weeks in the Top 10 on Billboard's Top Pop LPs chart. It was certified Gold on December 21, 1961, Platinum and 2x Platinum on March 27, 1992 and 3x Platinum on July 30, 2002 by the Recording Industry Association of America.[6] On the US Top Pop Albums chart Blue Hawaii is second only to the soundtrack of West Side Story as the most successful album of the 1960s.

    RCA and Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, had initially planned a schedule of one soundtrack and one popular music release per year for Presley, in addition to the requisite four singles.[7] To coincide with the location of the film, touches of Hawaiian music were included, from instrumentation to the traditional song "Aloha 'Oe".[8] The title song was taken from the 1937 Bing Crosby film Waikiki Wedding, and "Hawaiian Wedding Song" dates from a 1926 operetta.[9]

    Recording sessions took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood on March 21, 22, and 23, 1961.[10] The songs "Can't Help Falling in Love" and "Rock-A-Hula Baby" were pulled off the album for two sides of a single released on November 21, 1961.[11] The A-side "Can't Help Falling in Love," which would become the standard closer for an Elvis Presley concert in the 1970s, went to number two on the Billboard Hot 100, while the b-side charted independently at number 23.[12]

    The success of this soundtrack and its predecessor G. I. Blues, both of which sold in much greater quantity than Presley's two regular releases of the time, Elvis Is Back! and Something for Everybody, set the pace for the rest of the decade.[13]Parker and Presley would focus on Elvis' film career, non-soundtrack albums taking a back seat with only six during the 1960s against sixteen full-length soundtrack albums among 27 movies and the comeback special.

    The Blue Hawaii soundtrack was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1961 in the category of Best Sound Track Album or Recording of Original Cast from a Motion Picture or Television.[14]

    Blue Hawaii was reissued on compact disc in 1997 and again in 2008. The latter edition was a deluxe 2-disc release on the Follow That Dream label that featured numerous alternate takes. It also corrected the error with the 1997 issue that incorrectly reversed the stereo channels.[15] Five songs from this album appear on the 1995 compendium soundtrack box set Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II: "Can't Help Falling in Love", "Rock-a-Hula Baby", "Blue Hawaii," "Hawaiian Wedding Song," and "Beach Boy Blues."[16]


    Side one
    1. "Blue Hawaii" Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger March 22, 1961 2:36
    2. "Almost Always True" Ben Weisman and Fred Wise March 22, 1961 2:25
    3. "Aloha 'Oe" Queen Lydia Lili'uokalani March 21, 1961 1:53
    4. "No More" Don Robertson, Hal Blair and Sebastián Iradier March 21, 1961 2:22
    5. "Can't Help Falling in Love" George David Weiss, Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore March 23, 1961 3:01
    6. "Rock-A-Hula Baby" Ben Weisman, Fred Wise, Dolores Fuller March 23, 1961 1:59
    7. "Moonlight Swim" Ben Weisman and Sylvia Dee March 22, 1961 2:20
    Side two
    1. "Ku-U-I-Po" George David Weiss, Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore March 21, 1961 2:23
    2. "Ito Eats" Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett March 22, 1961 1:23
    3. "Slicin' Sand" Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett March 21, 1961 1:36
    4. "Hawaiian Sunset" Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett March 21, 1961 2:32
    5. "Beach Boy Blues" Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett March 23, 1961 2:03
    6. "Island of Love" Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett March 22, 1961 2:41
    7. "Hawaiian Wedding Song" Al Hoffman, Charles King, Dick Manning March 22, 1961 2:48
    1997 Reissue[edit]
    On April 29, 1997, RCA released a remastered and expanded version for compact disc. Tracks 1-7 were the seven songs from side one of the original LP and tracks 8-14 were from side two. Tracks 15-22 are bonus tracks, all of which had been recorded during the original album sessions and were previously unreleased except for "Steppin' Out of Line" which had originally appeared on the LP Pot Luck with Elvis (1962).

    15. "Steppin' Out of Line" (originally issued on the Pot Luck With Elvis LP) Ben Weisman, Fred Wise, Dolores Fuller March 22, 1961 1:53
    16. "Can't Help Falling in Love" (movie version) George David Weiss, Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore March 23, 1961 1:54
    17. "Slicin' Sand" (alternate take 4) Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett March 21, 1961 1:45
    18. "No More" (alternate take 7) Don Robertson and Hal Blair March 21, 1961 2:35
    19. "Rock-A-Hula Baby" (alternate take 1) Ben Weisman, Fred Wise, Dolores Fuller March 23, 1961 2:15
    20. "Beach Boy Blues" (movie version) Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett March 23, 1961 1:58
    21. "Steppin' Out of Line" (movie version) Ben Weisman, Fred Wise, Dolores Fuller March 22, 1961 1:54
    22. "Blue Hawaii" (alternate take 3)

    FTD 2008
    original album +
    15. "Steppin' Out Of Line" (movie version) 1:56
    16. "Beach Boy Blues" (movie version) 1:59
    17. "Can't Help Falling In Love" (movie version) 1:54
    18. "Moonlight Swim" (undubbed master) 2:25
    19. "Steppin' Out Of Line" (record version) 1:57
    20. "Blue Hawaii" (takes 1,2,3) 3:54
    21. "Almost Always True" (take 3) 2:33
    22. "Aloha Oe" ([section 2] take 1) 1:20
    23. "No More" (take 7) 2:36
    24. "Can't Help Falling In Love" (take 13) 2:38
    25. "Rock-A-Hula Baby" (takes 1, 2, 3) 3:41
    26. "Moonlight Swim" (take 2) 2:38
    27. "Ku-U-I-Po" (take 1) 2:34
    28. "Ito Eats" (takes 1, 2) 2:36
    29. "Slicin' Sand" (takes 1, 2, 3) 2:59
    30. "Hawaiian Sunset" (take 1) 2:42
    31. "Island Of Love" (take 8) 3:02
    32. "Hawaiian Wedding Song" (take 1) 3:00

    1. "Hawaiian Sunset" (take 2) 2:46
    2. "Hawaiian Sunset" (takes 6, 3) 3:18
    3. "Aloha Oe" ([section 2] take 6) 1:19
    4. "Aloha Oe" ([section 2] takes 7/5) 0:55
    5. "Ku-U-I-Po" (takes 2, 4, 5) 3:55
    6. "Ku-U-I-Po" (takes 6, 7) 2:51
    7. "No More" (takes 1, 2, 4, 8) 6:15
    8. "No More" (takes 11, 15 [insert ending]) 3:16
    9. "Slicin' Sand" (take 4) 1:43
    10. "Slicin' Sand" (takes 5, 6, 7) 3:32
    11. "Slicin Sand" (takes 8, 13, 15, 16, 14) 4:06
    12. "Blue Hawaii" (takes 4, 5, 6) 4:39
    13. "Ito Eats" (takes 4, 6, 5) 2:21
    14. "Island Of Love" (takes 1, 2, 4, 6) 4:31
    15. "Island Of Love" (takes 7, 9) 3:16
    16. "Steppin' Out Of Line" ([movie version] takes 4, 5, 7/8) 3:22
    17. "Steppin' Out Of Line" ([record version] takes 10, 11, 16, 15) 4:08
    18. "Steppin' Out Of Line" ([tag for movie] takes 18/19) 1:15
    19. "Always Almost True" (takes 2, 4, 5) 5:11
    20. "Almost Always True" (takes 7, 6) 2:52
    21. "Moonlight Swim" (takes 1, 4) 3:54
    22. "Can't Help Falling In Love" (takes 14, 15, 16) 3:08
    23. "Can't Help Falling In Love" (takes 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24) 4:27
    24. "Can't Help Falling In Love" (takes 25, 26) 2:15
    --------------------------------------------------------------
    Well here we are with another soundtrack album, and I have no idea what the general feeling was about this album, but I always loved it. Yea, I know it is full of love songs, but, to me, they were really great love songs. Yea I know we have Ito Eats, which I always found to be quite bizarre, but I just always liked this album. This is the only soundtrack album I had prior to getting the box set. I now know there are others that I like a lot more, but this is a very good album and sits well in the catalog for me.

    Anyhow ....
    Do you like this album? Do you dislike this album? Why?
    When did you first hear it?
    Did you ever see the movie?

    Please let us know your thoughts and feelings on this album, and we'll hit the first couple of songs tomorrow.
    Cheers,
    Mark
     
  3. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    His Latest Flame was the A side, it reached #4. Little Sister reached #5, but stayed on the charts longer and ended up at a higher ranking than His Latest Flame on the end of year chart. It always puzzled me why Little Sister was featured on WWGAH vol1 and His Latest Flame was sluffed off for vol 2.

    But then again there are a few songs on Vol 1 that should have been on Vol 2 and visa versa, if one were to go by sales and chart position.
     
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  4. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    Blue Hawaii's success set off the unintended consequence of nearly destroying Elvis' recording career that only the 68 comeback TV Special could remedy. The movie is fluff plot-wise, but has high production values and is great entertainment. The album was also his best seller back in the day. The music is so well performed it is hard to fault it. The songs were appropriate to the movie, and is generally a fun listen. However, it ain't an Elvis Is Back is it?

    I got my misinformed and distorted view of women due to Elvis and James Bond movies and Playboy magazine back when I was a kid. It turns out it was a more insidious lie than Santa Claus ever was!
     
  5. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Nicely stated all round
     
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  6. Madlove

    Madlove Hare Hunter Field

    Location:
    Upstate NY
    [QUOTE I got my misinformed and distorted view of women due to Elvis and James Bond movies and Playboy magazine back when I was a kid. It turns out it was a more insidious lie than Santa Claus ever was![/QUOTE]

    As far as the women thing, #MeToo. I still to this day pull some Elvis movie moves / dialouge on my wife and she's like "what the hell?"
     
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  7. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    My personal favorite Elvis quote along these same lines is the one he delivers in Jailhouse Rock after he kisses Judy Tyler a second time, "That ain't tactics, honey, that's just the beast in me!"
     
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  8. Dave112

    Dave112 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    This is the one. It was one of the best selling albums of the entire 1960's by any artist. It is quite prophetic that the previous album ended with "I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell" because this album and movie set the trajectory of Elvis career through the mid 1960's. Due to the success of the movie and the soundtrack album, Elvis would try to recapture the profitability of this for the next 6 years almost exclusively. While it"s not a bad album, the fluff movie songs become Elvis' calling card while Dylan and The Beatles soon take the lead in music scene. If Blue Hawaii had only been a more moderate success, Elvis' musical output in the mid 1960's might have been very different.
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2018
  9. NumberEight

    NumberEight Came too late and stayed too long

    The songs: a very, very mixed bag. Mostly embarrassing*.
    Elvis’ voice: at a peak. Stunning.

    * Embarrassing® = something I can only listen to when no-one else is around.
     
  10. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    it's not one i pull out at a party lol
     
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  11. artfromtex

    artfromtex Honky Tonkin' Metal-Head

    Location:
    Fort Worth, TX
    You don't jam "Ito Eats" at full volume with the windows down in traffic?? :D
     
  12. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Blue Hawaii is a real tour-de-force as far as ballad singing. If there was any doubt Elvis had taken a giant leap forward in his ability to sing ballads post-Army, these recordings remove any doubt. The title song and Don Robertson's "No More" are fine pieces of work, and even the sentimental "Hawaiian Wedding Song" comes off well. And of course there's "Can't Help Falling in Love", one of those rare 60s soundtrack songs that should be numbered among his very best work, period.

    The big flaw in the album is the lack of any credible rock-n-roll. As with GI Blues, the uptempo songs here ("Slicin' Sand", "Beach Boy Blues", and especially "Rock-a-Hula Baby") feel like lightweight parodies of rock-n-roll rather than the real thing, written by people with no real affinity for the genre. And unfortunately the most passable rocker ("Steppin' Out of Line") was left off the album. And of course there's "Ito Eats"... a silly song, but to me not as bad as "Big Boots." I'd rank this record above GI Blues because the highs are higher, in my opinion.
     
  13. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    I don't think it would have made a difference if Blue Hawaii had been less successful. As long as it sold more then Something for Everybody and grossed more than Wild in the Country the Colonel would have had his argument that it made the most sense to concentrate on projects that were more profitable rather than ones that had more artistic merit. The only way Elvis' career might have gone differently is if Blue Hawaii had been an outright flop.
     
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  14. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    I'd give the edge to Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel, but this one is certainly a close second. Elvis sure was lucky to have Pomus and Shuman in his corner at a time when a lot of the better writers were starting to look elsewhere for sales.
     
  15. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Blue Hawaii
    Written By :
    Lee Robin & Ralph Rainger

    Recorded :

    Radio Recorders, Hollywood, March 21-23, 1961: March 22, 1961. take 7

    "Blue Hawaii"
    is a popular song written by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger for the 1937 Paramount Pictures film Waikiki Wedding, starring Bing Crosby and Shirley Ross. Crosby recorded a version with backing by Lani McIntyre and His Hawaiians, which was released in 1937[2] as the B-side of "Sweet Leilani." This reached the No. 5 spot in the charts of the day during a 13-week-stay [3]

    The song subsequently received numerous cover versions, most successfully as the title track of the 1961 Elvis Presley film, the soundtrack of which stayed at #1 on the album chart for twenty consecutive weeks.
    ---------------------------------------------
    This may not be the most original rock and roll song, but for me this song has always been hypnotically beautiful. It has a gentle feel without being morbidly slow. It musically sounds somewhat like Hawaiian music and the pedal steel really gives it some character. Elvis sounds so comfortable singing this, and doing this is the first time I knew that this wasn't originally done by him. A lush beautiful introduction to this album.
     
    Last edited: Nov 13, 2018
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  16. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Almost Always True
    Written By :
    Fred Wise & Ben Weisman

    Recorded :

    Radio Recorders, Hollywood, March 21-23, 1961 : March 22, 1961. take 8

    This track isn't exactly rock and roll, it kind of is and kind of isn't. It's like a distant cousin of rock and roll. It's uptempo and fun and has a great rock and roll sax rolling through the song. I think it is the obvious fact that it's a movie song and the bongos and so forth just take the rock and roll edge off. Having said all that, I really enjoy this song also. It's really good fun and vibrant .... I can almost (well almost) hear them having a big laugh when they finished the take.

     
  17. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I love this song and Elvis's almost hypnotic delivery. His ability to master ballad singing was almost a disservice to how great he was as a rock 'n' roll singer. The conflict of being able to master so many genres was going to be a challenge for the remainder of his career, but it was also one of his most intriguing vocal assets. I guess you could say Elvis's great voice was almost a blessing and a curse.
     
  18. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney

    How do the Blue Hawaii mono mixes compare to the stereo mixes?
     
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  19. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    sorry mate I can't help you with that one. the only mono stuff I have is because there is no stereo version
     
  20. HE1NZ

    HE1NZ Forum Resident

    Location:
    Russia
    Some great songs on this LP. My favorites are No More, Blue Hawaii, Moonlight Swim and Rock-A-Hula Baby. Can't Help Falling in Love is one of the best songs ever of course.
     
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  21. HE1NZ

    HE1NZ Forum Resident

    Location:
    Russia
    I get the feeling most of Elvis stuff was downfolded to mono. I think there's a thread on this forum about it.
     
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  22. WolfSpear

    WolfSpear Music Enthusiast

    Location:
    Florida
    Blue Hawaii's 20 weeks at #1 is the most for any album in the 1960's.
    More than even Sgt. Pepper ;)

    [Yes, West Side Story spent 54 total weeks, but 53 come from being the top STEREO seller. It's a feat in itself, but the market was substantially MONO]
     
  23. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  24. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  25. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    "Blue Hawaii" is a fun soundtrack with some quality material, wonderful vocal work, with an attractive Hawaiian musical sound. As with all of Elvis' soundtrack work, it is far from perfect and has its share of nonsensical tracks, but there are legitimately good songs on this soundtrack album. "Blue Hawaii," along with "GI Blues," were the two soundtracks that presented the most consistent and strong musical cycles of all of Elvis' soundtrack work. I can listen to Elvis sing three-quarters of this material without ever getting tired of it.
     
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