Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

I think Harum Scarim’s overall reputation would have been a bit better had the original 1965 mix been similar to the Double Features remix. It really changes the listening experience for the better. IMO it’s the best remix in the Double Features series, for those albums/tracks that were remixed.

 

Girl Happy wasn't remixed for Double Features but a lot of digital reverb was added. I wonder if some the multi-tracks are lost.

 

Well, the songs are still what they are. 1965 was a lost period for Elvis.

 

I totally agree with you on this point, but it sure did not help the sales of this soundtrack that the movie was just plain awful to watch. A real stinker that I have never been able get completely through. And I also agree that the original mix reduced whatever chances their were for this to be held in any higher regard in Elvis circles, but surprisingly, over on @mark winstanley's Elvis album thread more than a few of us like some of the tracks on the album. I have a strong belief that Animal Instinct could have actually been a potential hit single if it had been released in 1965, which as POB points out was a very dismal year for Elvis recordings.

Yes indeed that is true, but as someone who was previously accustomed to avoiding a lot of Elvis's movie soundtracks like the plague, I have to tell you that I really have grown to like this album. I was so thrilled when RCA/BMG first came out with the 6o's Box set as it completely avoided the soundtrack material more or less, and I was thrilled about that. What I did not realize or had forgotten was that Elvis did record some of the movie material in Nashville and with some of those great studio legends as well. Now the material varies widely on these soundtracks as I have almost no love for the Frankie and Johnny soundtrack, but I have found more than a few gems on Fun In Acapulco, Kissin' Cousins, Roustabout, Girl Happy, and surprisingly to me, Harum Scarum. I had an inherent bias against this material as I had grown up watching the movies and although I enjoyed a few of them, I was much more interested in Elvis's regular studio recordings of the 50's, 60's and 70's. I well recognize that you have probably listened to this material thoroughly previously and will most likely not change your mind now, but I do find some of the material worthwhile myself, which was a real revelation for me. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks or at least new listening habits.

 

I don't have much to say about Hard Luck or Please Don't Stop Loving Me, other than that I find them to be just as dreary and tuneless as Beginner's Luck. Everybody Come Aboard is a cute way to end the album, but the real jewel here for me is Shout It Out. Elvis really gets into the song, and it's very catchy and fun. This is the one that's most improved by the DF remix, imo; it actually has muscle and bite, which you'd never guess from the original mix.

 

I wonder how many Elvis fans first heard the songs in the movies (which oftentimes had terrible overdubs/edits) and consequentially viewed the soundtracks even more negatively than they might have otherwise. I never made it all the way through Fun In Acapulco, but I seem to remember some of the songs sounding absolutely dreadful in the film.

 

A very excellent point that I have noticed a lot when reviewing some of the songs on YouTube. Just yesterday, I came across the movie version of You Don't Know Me and was shocked how inferior it is to the Nashville cut version for the soundtrack album for Clambake.

 

Just for the record ...
Sales of albums, an often debatable topic. This article seems well researched and balanced.
For The Billionth And The Last Time | Lifting the Lid on the King's record sales | Elvis Articles

 

Both versions were cut in Nashville. It is pretty amazing the difference, considering both versions were not only recorded at the same studio but featured pretty much the exact same musicians. It just goes to show what a difference enthusiasm and the overall vibe of a session can make in the finished product. Amid all the lousy Clambake songs, Elvis couldn't muster up a great performance, but a few months later when he was doing some great new material and the buzz of having Jerry Reed around was energizing everyone, he did a performance of the song that was for the ages. And thankfully, the movie version was left off the soundtrack album in favor of the remake.

 

I first heard You Don't Know Me on Command Performances, and I hated it (still do, actually). So when I got the 60s box, I just skipped over it immediately, figuring I didn't need to suffer through it. It wasn't until I got a copy of the Clambake album and gave it a blind listen that I finally heard the "studio" version, which is absolutely magical, and one of my all-time favourite Elvis performances.

 

Elvis's voice is invested in this song like his life is hanging in the balance. He identified with the song so intimately that it makes me really wonder the back story was or why he loved it so much. The arrangement was fantastic, from Floyd Cramer's gorgeous piano to Bob Moore's great bass guitar. Oh yeah, the Jordanaires background vocals were perfect as well. A splendidly written song by Eddy Arnold and Cindy Walker that some of my all time favorite vocalists have done cover versions of over the years, including both Charlie Rich and Ray Charles among many others, but nobody sang it with more feeling or delicacy than one Elvis Presley.

 

I first heard this as a child on "Elvis Sings Songs From His Movies" Camden album.(my first Elvis album that was mine and not my mom's) It was so much better than the Command Performances CD version. Night and day difference.

 

Speaking of Sings Hits From His Movies, it has to be the most hilariously random album in my collection. I like most of the songs, but man...they couldn't have made the sequencing more absurd if they'd tried!

 

Love Letters



Written By :
Edward Heyman & Victor Young

Recorded :
RCA's Studio B, Nashville, May 25-29, 1966: May 26, 1966. take 9

This is an exquisite song, and it seems to be recorded well, rather than some of the substandard sounding soundtrack recordings. This rightfully found its way onto Golden Records 4 and is a light in a somewhat dark tunnel of mid sixties wandering.
I'm not sure how the general populace responded at the time, but I think this is fantastic.

 

Come What May
-


Written By :
Franklin Tableporter

Recorded :
RCA's Studio B, Nashville, May 25-29, 1966: May 28, 1966. take 8

This isn't Elvis' best rock and roll song, but it is solid and a very good b-side that wound up on the I Got Lucky album in the seventies.

 

Great song, great performance. It should have done better on the charts and sales. Come What May is good too. Just a couple of year ago Elvis would have had a double sided hit with this combo.

Although Fools Fall In Love did end up on I Got Lucky LP. Come What May did NOT. (although it is featured as a bonus track on I Got Lucky in the Albums Collection). Come What May did not even make it to "The Lost Singles" on the Elvis Aron Presley silver box. The stereo master for the song was truly lost. They used an alternate take for the 60s box as well as Tomorrow Is A Long Time. Although it appeared on FTD release Sings Guitar Man the stereo master of Come What May did not show up on a regular RCA/BMG/Sony release UNTIL The Album Collection.

The mono master did show up on the EU/UK LP and CD Rare Elvis.

 

Especially since they included "Old Macdonald" of all things (and two of the songs weren't even movie tracks...they couldn't even fill up a durn budget release with just soundtrack material )

 

RE: The two volumes of Camden Hit From His Movies. These are the albums and the only albums that went out of print during Elvis lifetime:
Elvis Christmas Album (replaced by the Camden LP with the same title)
It Happened At The World's Fair
Harum Scarum
Frankie And Johnny
Spinout
Double Trouble
Clambake

It would have made SENSE if Hits From His Movies would only use songs from these titles since they could not have been purchased new at this time. Vol 1 did adhere to this (intentionally or not). But Vol 2 included songs from LPs that were still in print as well as one that wasn't.

 

Thanks for the correction mate. Apologies for my incorrect info.

 

I don't want to get ahead of ourselves here, but I always found the pairing of If I Can Dream with Edge of Reality as one of the most bizarre a/b side combinations on a 45 single by anyone.

Regarding Love Letters, this is a fantastic song/recording. My favorite part is David Briggs piano playing, simply perfect. And Elvis' vocal is sublime. Why they went and re-recorded this song a few years later, and then chose to name an album after it is bizarre as that version is clearly inferior. Well, I know why they re-recorded it but still...

Come What May is certainly a further step in the right direction. Not tremendous but a solid offering that's far better than what's on the surrounding soundtracks.

Speaking of Fools Fall In Love, @mark winstanley when will that one get discussed? Chronologically it fits in here, but as Skatterbrane mentions wasn't released till 1971 on a Camden LP.

 

You're welcome. The haphazard handling of Elvis' catalog is mind staggering. I am sure that NO ONE can keep up with all the idiosyncrasies. And I have made tons of errors myself and have forgotten much of what I used to know. At one time, I could list the songs on EVERY lifetime album in running order and of course, every album in the order they were released. Not anymore. Now I have to remember to take my high blood pressure pills every day. (I think I developed high blood pressure memorizing all the songs and albums by Elvis).

 

I am following the official release schedule that I found. It seems to be accurate and comprehensive, so I assume if it only got released on the Camden LP. then that's where it will come in.

 

Love Letters, originally written in 1945, was probably not the right song to compete with Revolver and Paint It Black on the charts of 1966, but it is a beautiful song that finds Elvis caring and trying hard again in the studio, with excellent results.

 

Love Letters and Come What May are pleasant enough, but I also tend to forget about them unless I play the Guitar Man FTD (or, in the case of Love Letters, Gold Records Vol. 4). They work far better in the context of an album (even a "lost" one) than on a single, imo.