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. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Who Needs Money is a song my daughter and I used to enjoy singing along with, so I have a soft spot for it. I like the Latin percussion. It's obviously one of those expository songs, but it doesn't bother me like some of them do. I wonder why whenever they needed one of the Jordanaires to sing a duet though, it was Ray Walker who got the nod? His voice is pretty idiosyncratic and having a bass singer duet seems kind of unusual. He'll be back again on the next album...
     
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  2. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    I agree that a studio album of any of his great 1966-1968 material would not have sold all that well. Elvis Is Back, Something For Everybody and Pot Luck only sold around 300K each initially. Sales of GI Blues, Blue Hawaii and Girls, Girls, Girls were far and away better. (Which ultimately led to the conclusion that the formula should be repeated until it nearly wrecked his recording career). Even Elvis Gold Records Vol 4 only sold less than 400K initially. His best albums such as From Elvis In Memphis only sold 500K. He had very few albums that sold 500K or more initially in his entire catalog!

    They were:
    Elvis (2nd LP) (these are all initial sales, many others have sold much better in the intervening years).
    GI Blues
    Blue Hawaii
    Girls Girls Girls
    Golden Records Vol 3
    Elvis Sings Flaming Star
    Elvis (NBC-TV Special)
    From Elvis In Memphis
    On Stage (FEB 1970)
    That's The Way It Is
    Elvis Country
    Elvis: As Recorded At Madison Square Garden
    Burning Love And Hits From His Movies
    Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite
    A Legendary Performer Volume 1
    Elvis: As Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis
    Pure Gold
    A Legendary Performer Volume 2

    You can see the vast majority of them are after the TV Special. And most of those are compilations or live albums.

    If RCA had compiled a fabulous studio LP in 1968 BEFORE the TV Special, I doubt it would have sold any more than 300K initially. Even after the TV Special it would have only probably done 500K.
     
  3. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    That's really interesting..... and weird.
    I do understand that these are initial sales.
    Do we draw a conclusion that this reflects that at the height of his 50's and early 60's career, people just didn't really buy albums?
    Can we also take an educated guess that a lot of folks that didn't take Elvis seriously as a musician has their minds changed by Elvis having the dominant guitar in the sit down shows from the special?
    do we guess that the movies got more exposure, and therefor more sales?

    I find those initial sales soooo bizarre. Anyone with half a head for music would get the three initial 60's studio albums over any of the soundtracks... and I like most of the soundtracks
     
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  4. EPA4368

    EPA4368 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento CA
    The advantage that the soundtrack albums had over the regular studio albums, is that there was cross promotion. The movies probably had the bigger effect of promoting the album.

    Elvis (NBC-TV Special) - "Singer" and Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite - "Chicken Of The Sea" had their TV Sponsors' promoting them.

    Elvis' first time at At Madison Square Garden wasn't given the promoting that I thought it should have had, but still did very will peaking at 11 in US (BB).

    A huge mistake, not releasing the Anniversary Album.

    [​IMG]
     
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  5. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    The Anniversary album WAS released, it was renamed Elvis For Everyone.
     
  6. EPA4368

    EPA4368 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento CA
    Elvis should have recorded new songs for the 10th Anniversary Album, instead of relying on songs that had been rejected for release at the time of recording.

    Side 1
    Your Cheatin' Heart
    Summer Kisses, Winter Tears
    Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers
    In My Way
    Tomorrow Night
    Memphis, Tennessee

    Side 2
    For the Millionth and The Last Time
    Forget Me Never
    Sound Advice
    Santa Lucia
    I Met Her Today
    When It Rains, it Really Pours

    [​IMG]
     
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  7. ClausH

    ClausH Senior Member

    Location:
    Denmark
    Yeah, but he was busy making all those movies.
     
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  8. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    There are quite a few factors affecting his LP sales through the years. Mostly teenagers bought Elvis records in the 50s. They bought singles and EPs. (That his first LP sold 300K initially and his second sold 500K was quite phenomenal). The movie LPs had both the movie and usually a hit single to accompany it. Hit singles were not included in his studio LPs until much later.

    Single sales in general diminished as LP sales took over through the 60s and 70s. In fact RIAA awards were modified several times to accommodate this. Until 1989 to earn a gold award for a single it required 1Mil sales! In 1976 they added the Platinum award for singles that sold 2Mil. The thresholds were reduced in 1989 to 500K for gold and 1Mil for platinum. So Elvis' original gold award for singles was for 1Mil sales. After 1989 (1992) he got a LOT of retroactive gold and platinum awards!!! Elvis first official gold record for 1Mil sales for a single was Hard Headed Woman. 1958 was the year RIAA established the award.

    elvis' riaa gold record awards 1958-1975 (while he was alive)
     
    Last edited: Apr 1, 2019
  9. EPA4368

    EPA4368 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento CA
    I hear what you're saying, but after G.I. Blues many fans left and after Sunday, Feb. 9, 1964, fans left in droves.

    Regarding Gold Record Awards, in the early-mid 60's, I'd recall hearing and seeing photos (which was rare) primarily associated to the in-house awards than RIAA.

    In-House Award for Elvis' Christmas Album...
    [​IMG]


    RIAA Awards Presented '70 Feb Houston...
    [​IMG]
     
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  10. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    Over on the FECC form, a certain DrJohnCarpenter refused to believe the earlier methods RIAA used to certify gold and platinum because he could find no "proof" on the internet and argued that not even RIAA's official site agreed with me. I basically quit that forum because of him (not the first encounter, but one of the last). I finally found information on the internet that supports what I have known for decades before the internet was invented! But alas it is too late for me to present this information to DrJohnCarpenter as I will never go back to that forum again. But, if he is still the same guy, he would either refuse to believe it and make up some excuse. Or if he were convinced, he would not say a word and certainly NEVER admit he was wrong. There are people posting in this thread who know EXACTLY what I am talking about.

    More on that: https://www.elvis-atouchofgold.com/original-riaa/
     
  11. SKATTERBRANE

    SKATTERBRANE Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tucson, AZ
    The Christmas album and other 50s LPs saw a boost in sales between 1962 (when most) and 1965 (when the remaining) were issued in Electronically Reprocessed sTeReO.
     
  12. EPA4368

    EPA4368 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento CA
    After Elvis passed away, RCA couldn't keep up with the demand. They had plants working 24/7 and I recall hearing, 200 million records sold by year end in '77. I'm sure theses sales helped with presenting many singles and albums getting Gold/Platinum Awards as well.
     
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  13. Revelator

    Revelator Disputatious cartoon animal.

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I like it too! I even like Ray Walker's voice--his stentorian honk is incongruously funny next to Elvis's mellifluous cool. The result is a cartoony, Bugs & Daffy combination that suits material like this comedic showtune. The lyrics even have a bit of cleverness and wit:

    Elvis: A gal who's tender, that's what I love
    Ray: It's legal tender, I want a pile of
    Just let my liquid assets overflow
    Elvis: You can't take it with you when you go

    Elvis sounds like he's having fun (rather than dying of embarrassment) and even gives Ray sotto voce encouragement ("Whaddya want?"). "Who Wants Money" is also a reminder that Elvis had an innate talent for light comedy, though his films rarely gave him decent enough material.
     
  14. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Cheers! DrJohnAsperger is the reason I quit reading or posting at FECC too. I deal with that sort of personality at work all the time... don't need it in my free time.
     
  15. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    Wikipedia claims that Hound Dog sold an astonishing four million copies on its initial release. Clearly Elvis’s 50s and early 60s teen audience bought more singles and EPs than albums, so selling 300,000 to 500,000 copies of his albums was a pretty good achievement by the standards of the pre-Sgt. Pepper era, I think.
     
  16. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Nice info cheers ... I have always found the whole thing a little baffling.
     
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  17. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    A great post and I agree with every sentiment you have written. I was so prepared not to like this song as I am not really a show tune guy, if you know what I mean. I like some show stuff, but I am pretty selective about it. I listened to Who Needs Money? like three times in a row, looking to find something negative to say about it, and the more I listened to it, the more I actually got to like it. It is rather amazing, when you put you own musical prejudices aside for a moment and just listen to the music. Yeah, I even love the contrast of Ray Walker's voice to Elvis's as well.
     
  18. Pelvis Ressley

    Pelvis Ressley Down in the Jungle Room

    Location:
    Capac, Michigan
    Correct. There are several original gold awards for the pre-1958 singles on display at Graceland (or there were, if they haven't been auctioned off), but they're in-house awards.

    The RIAA gold award for Elvis (LPM-1382) is dated 1960.

    The less said about Johnny Saulovich ("Dr. John Carpenter"), the better.
     
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  19. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    I have no idea what Fecc is, or who the people mentioned are lol ... sounds like a good thing, I reckon I would get ignorant with them....
     
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  20. Hooperfan

    Hooperfan Your friendly neighborhood candy store owner

    Location:
    New York
    For Elvis CD Collectors forum
     
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  21. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Ahhh.
    This is the only forum I have ever been on ... and it has only been two or three years ... maybe
     
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  22. I'm in the minority about not liking 'Who Needs Money '- who would have guessed it :laugh:
     
  23. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    You think you are in the minority now, just wait until we get to the 70's and From Elvis Presley Boulevard Memphis, Tennessee album that I actually love a whole lot. This album made me become a full fledge Elvis fan, along with Elvis's Moody Blue album. Go figure.
     
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  24. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Well i like those albums, so you won't be alone :)
     
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  25. ClausH

    ClausH Senior Member

    Location:
    Denmark
    I'm with you. Terrible song and the rest of side 1 isn't much better.
     
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