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. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I've always liked Sing You Children. It doesn't have the authenticity of the HGTA material, of course, but it's a fun, uplifting song.

    I'll Take Love is another song that I really love. It reminds me of songs like Happy Ending and There's A Brand New Day On The Horizon; optimistic, peppy, and perfect album/EP closers (or should-have-been closer, in the case of There's A Brand New Day...). It is a shame about the sound quality, though.
     
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  2. Hooperfan

    Hooperfan Your friendly neighborhood candy store owner

    Location:
    New York


    Elvis does some interesting arm movements...but he also looks 3 sheets to the wind as well o_O
     
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  3. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    The sound is definitely bad on Easy Come Easy Go, but it's not Harum Scarum/F&J bad (at least not in my opinion). It doesn't have the "Elvis too high in the mix" problem that torpedoed the 1965 recordings, but it does have the ambiance of an aircraft hangar.

    Sing You Children is probably my favorite song on the soundtrack, and you've identified two of the reasons why... the nifty bass and the horn section. It's lightweight gospel, but it's a decent little song.
     
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  4. Dave112

    Dave112 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    I remember reading that one time Elvis had bought some new Lincoln cars at a dealership. Somehow, he thought he had gotten ripped off by the dealership ( whether he did or not???). Anyway, he furiously took all of the cars back and got Cadillacs instead. If that is true, I don't see how he calmly viewed some of those conducting business for him. Especially in later years.
     
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  5. Revelator

    Revelator Disputatious cartoon animal.

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Before--it happened on the last day of shooting Roustabout. On April 20, 1964 a story appeared in the Las Vegas Desert News and Telegram, headlined “Elvis Helped in Success of Burton-O’Toole Movie”:

    Would you believe that Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole owe part of their current success to Elvis Presley? These two brilliant Shakespearean-trained actors, winning worldwide acclaim for their performances in Becket, might not have had the opportunity to star in the picture, were it not for Sir Swivel Hips. Don’t laugh, it’s not that Elvis refused either the role of Henry II or Becket. No, Elvis helped finance Becket indirectly. Producer Hal Wallis, who has made Presley’s biggest hits, also produced Becket. And were it not for the revenue from Elvis’ movies, there might not have been the wherewithal to film Becket. Says Wallis, “In order to do the artistic pictures, it is necessary to make the commercially successful Presley pictures. But that doesn’t mean a Presley picture can’t have quality, too.”

    The story was reprinted in papers across the country, and Elvis was livid with rage and mortification. It confirmed that he would never be taken seriously as an actor and that Wallis was two-faced huckster. (And hypocrite--how could an Elvis picture have quality when "Wallis kept the screenplays shallow," according to scriptwriter Allan Weiss?)

    But the falling-out was only on Elvis's side, because the Colonel continued making film deals with Wallace. For Paradise, Hawaiian Style, the Colonel got Wallis to come up with a $90,000 bonus on top of Elvis’ $200,000 salary (the bonus was pf course split 50–50 between Elvis and the Colonel). Then, for Easy Come, Easy Go, the Colonel obtained an arrangement whereby Elvis received $500,000 plus 20 percent of the profits. Afterward, Wallis told his business partner Joe Hazen that he would never again do business with the Colonel. Falling profits certainly didn't change his mind.
     
  6. Dave112

    Dave112 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    Thanks Revelator! I have wondered about that. A lot of the Elvis movies were bad but I have always said that only Elvis could have made anything of them at all. You name the great, respected actor and I'll bet they would have fallen flat on their face with the bad scripts Elvis had to work with many times.
     
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  7. Revelator

    Revelator Disputatious cartoon animal.

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Yes, I don't think even Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole could have salvaged the slop Elvis was given. What happens when classically-trained actors are given stupid material was described by Pauline Kael in her review of Exorcist II: The Heretic: "the movie has Richard Burton, with his precise diction, helplessly and inevitably turning his lines into camp, just as the cultivated, stage-trained actors in early-30s horror films did. Like them, Burton has no conviction in what he's doing, so he can't get beyond staginess and artificial phrasing." At least with Elvis there's no staginess! Instead, to quote Kael on Elvis, he walked "through his starring roles with his face somnolent and masked; you don’t have a clue as to what he’s thinking...He must have understood that he would never amount to diddly in these crum-bum movies, and been resentful and bored."

    And to be honest, even in a serious movie like Flaming Star, with had an above-average script and director, Elvis doesn't fully deliver as an actor. On front of a microphone he sang with zero self-consciousness, but in front of the camera he was emotionally closed-off. He did better in light comedy, but in drama he probably needed either training or a great director who knew how to coax good performances (Michael Curtiz in King Creole came close).
     
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  8. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    I love the sound of the lead guitar on You Gotta Stop.
     
  9. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Long Legged Girl With The Short Dress On/That's Someone You'll Never Forget -
    [​IMG][​IMG]

    Written By :
    John Leslie McFarland & Winfield Scott

    Recorded :

    Radio Recorders, Hollywood, June 28-30, 1966 and MGM Studios: June 29, 1966. take 5

    A-side "Long Legged Girl (With the Short Dress On)"
    B-side "That's Someone You Never Forget"
    Released April 28, 1967
    Format 7" vinyl 45
    Genre Rock and roll, Pop
    Length 1:29
    Label RCA Victor[1]
    Songwriter(s) J. Leslie McFarland, Winfield Scott

    "Long Legged Girl (With the Short Dress On)" is a song first recorded by Elvis Presley as part of the soundtrack for his 1967 MGM motion picture Double Trouble.[3][4]

    The song was written by J. Leslie McFarland and Winfield Scott and published by Elvis Presley Music, Inc.[3]

    Released in 1967 as a single, with "That's Someone You Never Forget" (from the 1962 album Pot Luck) as the B-side,[5][2] it spent 6 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at no. 63 on the week ending June 10.[6] The single reached no. 24 in Canada, no. 36 in Australia on the Go-Set chart, and no. 49 in the UK.[7]
    ----------------------------------------
    We already know That's Someone... from the Pot Luck album, and long legged girl is from the upcoming Double Trouble album.
     
  10. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Double Trouble
    [​IMG]
    Released June 1, 1967
    Recorded May 1963, June 1966
    Genre Rock, pop
    Length 22:36
    Label RCA Victor
    Producer Jeff Alexander

    Recording sessions took place at Radio Recorders and at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in Hollywood, California, on June 28, 29, and 30, 1966.[2] It peaked at number 47 on the Billboard 200.[3]

    After his enthusiasm for his gospel album How Great Thou Art made in the previous month in Nashville, the rushed and pedestrian soundtrack returned Presley to the depressing grind of churning out forgettable records for forgettable movies.[4] Even the chosen release date for Double Trouble would prove unfortunate — the same day as The Beatles' era-encapsulating landmark album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

    Presley had usually insisted on working in the comfortable environment of a regular recording studio, and had avoided the large movie studio sound stages, but MGM executives with an eye on budgets insisted on moving the soundtrackrecordings after the first night to just such a sound stage.[5] A frustrated Elvis dutifully went along, but the final straw was having to sing "Old MacDonald," Presley storming out of the session in a huff after finishing a very short master recording of "Long Legged Girl (With the Short Dress On)."[5] That song would be issued as a single in late April, prior to the film's premiere, and would peak at an anemic number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100.

    Nine songs were recorded for the film, coming in at a brief 17:11 and far too short for a normal LP. To bring up the running time, three tracks recorded at the "lost album" sessions of May 1963, were added to push the album over the twenty-minute mark.[6] Two had already been issued as b-sides to singles, "Never Ending", the flipside to a four-year-old album track "Such a Night", and "Blue River" on the back of an eight-year-old vault track, "Tell Me Why."[7] "It Won't Be Long" was recorded for the film but was not used.

    Side one
    1. "Double Trouble" Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman June 29, 1966 1:38
    2. "Baby, If You'll Give Me All of Your Love" Joy Byers June 29, 1966 1:47
    3. "Could I Fall in Love" Randy Starr June 28, 1966 1:42
    4. "Long Legged Girl (With the Short Dress On)" Leslie McFarland, Winfield Scott June 29, 1966 1:27
    5. "City by Night" Bill Giant, Bernie Baum, Florence Kaye June 28, 1966 3:04
    6. "Old MacDonald" Randy Starr June 29, 1966 2:04
    Side two
    1. "I Love Only One Girl" Sid Tepper, Roy C. Bennett June 29, 1966 1:52
    2. "There Is So Much World to See" Randy Starr June 28, 1966 1:53
    3. "It Won't Be Long" (bonus track) Ben Weisman, Sid Wayne June 29, 1966 1:44
    4. "Never Ending" (bonus track) Buddy Kaye, Phil Springer May 26, 1963 1:57
    5. "Blue River" (bonus track) Paul Evans, Fred Tobias May 27, 1963 2:11
    6. "What Now, What Next, Where To" (bonus track) Hal Blair, Don Robertson May 26, 1963 1:56
    Follow That Dream reissue

    13. "Double Trouble" (take 1) 1:39
    14. "Baby, If You'll Give Me All Of Your Love" (take 2) 2:25
    15. "I Love Only One Girl" (take 1) 2:25
    16. "It Won't Be Long" (takes 1,2) 2:21
    17. "Long Legged Girl" ([2nd version] takes 1,2) 2:40
    18. "Could I Fall In Love" (take 6 [undubbed master]) 2:27
    19. "There Is So Much World To See" (take 10) 2:27
    20. "Long Legged Girl" ([1st version] take 6) 1:44
    21. "City By Night" (take 3/10) 2:56
    22. "It Won't Be Long" (take 5) 1:47
    23. "Double Trouble" (takes 2,3) 1:50
    24. "Baby, If You'll Give Me All Of Your Love" (takes 3,4) 2:49
    25. "Could I Fall In Love" (harmony take 1) 1:48
    Total length: 51:54
    -------------------------------------------------------------

    The run down tells the story really, Elvis wanted to record in a proper studio, but the budget conscious mobvie folks wanted cheap .... It doesn't add up to a successful product, although this isn't terrible. There are some good songs, the lead single being one of them.
    It is remarkable in this day and age to see that movie companies really thought very little about the music and its sound, especially when you consider that with cheap scripts, cheap budgets, little attention to detail, the only thing likely to sell their awful little product was music from the person referred to as the King Of Rock And Roll.

    What are your thoughts about this soundtrack.... and movie if you like?
    Cheers
    Mark
     
  11. EPA4368

    EPA4368 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento CA
    I enjoyed both the movie and album. They didn't bring Elvis back into the conversation over the airwaves like with HGTA, but it was certainly a step up from EC,EG, and some DJs did play "Long Legged Girl (With the Short Dress On)".

    [​IMG]
     
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  12. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    I've played side 2 of Double Trouble a lot in my life. What is with RCA's propensity to release songs from EIB, SFE and Pot Luck on singles ad nauseum? B sides of Christmas singles, B sides of soundtrack singles, and another single coming up with both sides. And of course then there is Tickle Me (which made some sense).
     
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  13. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    It is bizarre the way they put this stuff together. I keep seeing these singles and thinking "5 or 6 years too late guys"
    I don't understand why the movie studios wouldn't let a musician record in a studio. I mean they were using him in movies on the strength of his music?
    They never really let him be an actor, so what's the deal with "no, we're recording it on a soundstage"?
     
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  14. EPA4368

    EPA4368 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento CA
    I'd say it came down to profitability.
     
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  15. shanebrown

    shanebrown Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norfolk, UK
    The film is actually rather decent until the three idiots enter. There is a rather fun scene near the beginning when Elvis sings Could I Fall in Love along with the radio, and shows his sense of comic timing was rather good - something that was more exploited in the approaching Speedway.
     
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  16. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    Yes, the three VERY POOR Inspector Clouseau clones, how obnoxious they were. Quite an insult to the brilliant Peter Sellers.
     
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  17. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  18. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Haven't seen the movie, but I am assuming these are the three ....
    [​IMG]
     
  19. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

  20. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    Double Trouble is an interesting album to me, as I prefer the earlier takes to the masters. Elvis seems more committed, and in the case of Baby, If You'll Give Me All Your Love, the slower tempo turns a fun quasi-rock song into something truly fine. I do like the soundtrack as-released, but the outtakes make for a rawer, more interesting listen.

    Also, the bonus tracks are my favourites from any soundtrack.
     
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  21. NumberEight

    NumberEight Came too late and stayed too long

    I’m still insulted that Elvis filmed Double Trouble and recorded The Last Farewell without ever bothering to visit England...
     
  22. EPA4368

    EPA4368 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento CA
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  23. EPA4368

    EPA4368 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento CA
  24. shanebrown

    shanebrown Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norfolk, UK
    No, these ones
    [​IMG]
     
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  25. EPA4368

    EPA4368 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento CA
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