Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

Yeah, those Pair discs sound quite good even though the content doesn't make much sense.

 

I don't know, I think I prefer Your Groovy Self over He's You Uncle Not Your Dad

 

I'm not a big fan of Nancy either, but the song stands head and shoulders above the awful title number, There Ain't Nothin' Like a Song (or This Ain't Much of a Song as it should be called), the forgettable Who Are You, and He's Your Uncle. That only leaves Let Yourself Go (which is fine) and the cute Your Time Hasn't Come Yet.

 

I agree! The mono mix of the title track completely smokes the stereo mix. I haven't heard the rest of the album in mono, but I'd imagine it'd be an improvement over the rather weak stereo mixes.

Not much survives from KC, unfortunately, but the 2-CD FTD with demos on the second disc is a great little release. It only has one or two of the movie versions, but it's nice to have the original mixes, the monitor mixes, and some other goodies in one place (and sounding much better than Essential Elvis Vol. 3). For me, the demos disc is the real treasure.

 

Correct.

The Pair Remembering contains eight tracks from a neutral transfer of the stereo Pot Luck LP master.

In addition, the Pair Speedway/Clambake has an alternate mix of "Western Union" from a rejected album master for Speedway.

 

That photo answers one question that I had about did they try to "modernize" the RCA logo on the front cover like they did with the classic albums? Nipper was just too old fashioned for them I guess. This was the age of space exploration and mainframecomputers. I wonder how many Elvis Sails EPs were pressed in orange label? I can't imagine much demand even from rabid fans in '69. Thank you for sharing the picture.

 

The Pairs Speedway/Clambake could have picked these Elvis songs over Nancy's song:
1.Your Time Hasn't Come Yet Baby
2. He's Your Uncle Not Your Dad
3. Five Sleep Heads
4. Mine.
I would have chosen either 1 or 4. No need to put Nancy's song on a truncated edition of the original LP.

The Pair transfer of 8 songs from A Date With Elvis is uneven and generally bad. (It was "paired" with Pot Luck).

 

For many Elvis LP and EP releases, RCA Victor would print many, many more sleeves/jackets than needed, and would use them for years after they were printed. I’m certain this was for economical purposes. But they’d press vinyl on a much more as-needed basis. This is why you can often find later pressings in earlier jackets, particularly for slower-selling titles. And why it’s a crap shot to buy still-sealed Elvis albums. Those Elvis Sails sleeves on the orange label release probably date to 1960.

 

That makes sense. I have a couple of albums with old style covers and newer vinyl labels on the records. I knew they were original because I bought them at the record store sealed back in the day. This was a couple of years before Elvis died. After he died, the demand for his records must have blown through the remaining new old stock LP covers. Thanks Shawn!

 

I have bought most of is EPs new, and none of them were ever sealed. I do not think they ever updated the covers for the EPs to reflect the "mod" RCA logo. Nipper was on the cover of the EPs even with the orange labels. Most of the LP covers did get a "mod" RCA logo on the cover once the nipper versions ran out. I did buy a Blue Hawaii new with the Living Stereo cover, but it had an orange label inside. It was one of the last LPs I bought before I got all caught up sometime in 1969/early 1970.

All the Elvis LPs I bought from Girl Happy up were first versions. I had to go back and rebuy all the pre Girl Happy LPs once I became educated enough to know there were MANY version of the early LPs. I wanted to have the original versions of each LP.

 

Actually most if not all of the Speedway tracks on that CD are alternate mixes (vintage I'm pretty sure), not just "Western Union". Even "Your Groovy Self". Bought it a couple years ago to confirm after someone brought it up and yes it's true. Although these sound like an early pass at a stereo mix and I can see why they weren't used originally.

 

Well, I'd rate all the Elvis songs except "He's Your Uncle" over "Bring Your Groovy Cellphone Home" (as me and my daughter used to jokingly call it). It's an okay song, but I sure don't hear it as being dramatically better than the Elvis tracks.

 

As you noted, the Pair CDs all feature deleted songs, and there seems to be absolutely no rhyme or reason to the deletion choices. Certainly there's no attempt to delete weaker songs. The choices might just as well have been random (perhaps they were).

 

Forgive a dumb question here but when you say "pair CDs" to what are you referring? I know the double features CDs of the soundtracks and I've seen some albums paired up on one CD like Elvis Is Back and Something For Everybody. Thanks for the info.

 

Your Time Hasn't Come Yet Baby
Written By :
Joel Hirschhorn & Al Kasha

Recorded :
MGM Studios, Hollywood, June 20-21, 1967: June 20, 1967. take 6

This is a fun little song that has a feel of the times to me. It sounds as though it could have been a sixties hit. It is a very short song, and is probably in sync with the early rather than late sixties, but this is a cool little song.

 

Who Are You (Who Am I)
Written By :
Ben Weisman & Sid Wayne

Recorded :
MGM Studios, Hollywood, June 20-21, 1967: June 20, 1967. take 6

This track isn't bad, but normally the big ballad is a stand out on these soundtrack albums. As I say, this is pretty good, but so far it is very much in the shadow up the uptempo songs we have had so far. Some nice sax here though.

 

Pair Label - Elvis Presley CD

 

Oct 68

 

I really like Who Are You? (Who Am I?). It has a very attractive melody and arrangement, and that weird chord near the end makes it particularly memorable. I'll definitely take it over the ballads on the previous few soundtracks.

 

June/July 68

 

Elvis, Line Renaud, Edward G. Robinson - July 1968 Dunes Hotel

 

June 68

 

Perhaps that speaks to how much better the uptempo tracks are here ... idk

 

This is another example of the cheap and cheerful way of getting Elvis some songs. We know he had an affinity with the Latin rhythms that were popular at the, and there was a period in the early 1960s when he recorded a batch of them, as well as the Acapulco soundtrack (although that has a rather different sound and feel). Sadly, rather than tackling the classics of the genre by the likes of Jobim, he made do with second-hand rip-offs from Tepper & Bennett and the like. The only one of the bossa rip-offs that had any substance was All That I Am for Spinout. Who Are You is yet another rip-off, trying to sound like it's by one of the masters but coming up short with a forgettable melody and a ridiculous lyric which makes Elvis sound as if he is just coming around from concussion.

Luckily, Elvis did finally get to sing a song by a master of the genre when words were put to a Luis Bonfa (who wrote Black Orpheus/Manha da Carnaval) melody for Almost in Love. But how much better it would have been if this had been the rule rather the exception, and we had got to hear Elvis singing Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars and How Insensitive instead of the flimsy Fountains of Love.