Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

I think Elvis would have nailed that! I get a sense that it would be similar to "They Remind Me Too Much Of You". I like that one too.

 

There's Always Me - Judy -



Released: August 8, 1967.

More catalog weirdness. This single was released five years after the album ..
I suppose they could have just been fulfilling a contract, or perhaps they thought the songs were unfairly ignored in the first instance, but it just seems strange to release a single from an album five years after the fact.

 

Big Boss Man/ You Don't Know Me -


Released: September 26, 1967
* Recorded: RCA Studio B, Nashville, September 10, 1967
** Recorded: RCA Studio B, Nashville, September 11, 1967

Here we have the lead single from the Clambake soundtrack. A good lead single, and a much more sensible way to release a single .... prior to an albums release, not five years afterwards lol .... but we'll go through these two songs on the album.

 

This is weird. If you'll notice the picture sleeve reads "Summer Vacation Special". I like the songs and Elvis does a fine job but I don't see this being played while vacationing. Usually upbeat and uptempo dance rockers would be what I would go for.

 

Clambake -


Released October 10, 1967
Recorded February 21–23 and September 10,11, 1967
Genre Rock, pop, country
Length 29:36
Label RCA Victor
Producer Jeff Alexander, Felton Jarvis

Clambake is the sixteenth soundtrack album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released by RCA Victor in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 3893, in October 1967. It is the soundtrack to the 1967 film of the same name starring Presley. He entered RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee on February 21, 1967 for Recording sessions for his twenty fifth film. Supplemental material sessions took place on September 10 and 11, 1967. It peaked at number 40 on the Billboard 200.[2]

By the end of 1966, Presley no longer commanded the same level of sales or artistic respect as he had during the first ten years of his career.[3] But Elvis had little enthusiasm at this juncture for more soundtrack sessions, the project already in jeopardy before it started.[4] The sessions turned out a fiasco; of the eight songs recorded, two had been edited out of the film, and even with "How Can You Lose What You Never Had" restored to the soundtrack, that left an album of merely seven songs.[5]

The album would prove to be a turning point in Presley's career. After many years of churning out forgettable songs for forgettable films, he was clearly past his prime. All realms of popular music had totally bypassed him during the 1960s while he had been "lost in Hollywood". So Presley decided to begin recording music written by accomplished songwriters. A session to record additional material in Hollywood was cancelled in August, rescheduled at RCA Studio B in September.[6] Disregarding publishing control, Presley picked songs that appealed to him personally, including Eddy Arnold's country and western hit of 1956 "You Don't Know Me" and Jimmy Reed's 1960 rhythm and blues hit, "Big Boss Man." Both selections were issued as a single at the end of September before being added to the album, the A-side just barely making the Top 40.[7] Presley also requested a song he had heard on the radio in Los Angeles by Jerry Reed, inviting Reed himself to duplicate the distinctive acoustic guitar part.[8] They rousted Reed from a fishing-trip, who arrived to play on Presley's version of his own composition, "Guitar Man." After it was recorded, Reed refused to turn over the usual publishing percentages to Freddy Bienstock, another assault on the soundtrack formula that had been in place throughout the decade.[9] Five songs were selected from this session to bring the album up to a total of twelve tracks.

Including this LP, of his fifteen albums since Pot Luck with Elvis in 1962, only three had not been film soundtracks: one (Elvis' Golden Records Volume 3) was a compilation of hit singles, another (Elvis for Everyone) a compilation of leftovers from a ten-year span of recording sessions, and the third being a bona fide studio album, the gospel How Great Thou Art. Even with the five recent non-movie songs, including a hit single, Clambake sold less than 200,000 copies, faring worse than its predecessor Double Trouble which had been his lowest-charting album so far.[10]

• Elvis Presley − vocals
• The Jordanaires − backing vocals
• Millie Kirkham − backing vocals
• Dolores Edgin − backing vocals
• June Page − backing vocals
• Priscilla Hubbard − backing vocals
• Boots Randolph − saxophone
• Norm Ray − saxophone
• Pete Drake − pedal steel guitar
• Scotty Moore − rhythm guitar
• Chip Young − lead guitar, rhythm guitar on "Guitar Man" and "Big Boss Man"
• Jerry Reed − acoustic lead guitar on "Guitar Man" and "Big Boss Man"
• Charlie McCoy − organ, harmonica
• Floyd Cramer − piano, organ
• Hoyt Hawkins − piano, organ
• Bob Moore − double bass
• D. J. Fontana − drums
• Buddy Harman − drums

Side one
1. "Guitar Man" (bonus song) Jerry Reed September 10, 1967 2:30
2. "Clambake" Ben Weisman and Sid Wayne February 22, 1967 2:36
3. "Who Needs Money" Randy Starr February 22, 1967 3:15
4. "A House That Has Everything" Roy C. Bennett and Sid Tepper February 21, 1967 2:14
5. "Confidence" Roy C. Bennett and Sid Tepper February 22, 1967 2:33
6. "Hey, Hey, Hey" Joy Byers February 22, 1967 2:30
Side two
1. "You Don't Know Me" Cindy Walker and Eddy Arnold September 11, 1967 2:27
2. "The Girl I Never Loved" Randy Starr February 21, 1967 1:52
3. "How Can You Lose What You Never Had" (bonus track) Ben Weisman and Sid Wayne February 21, 1967 2:27
4. "Big Boss Man" (bonus track) Luther Dixon and Al Smith September 10, 1967 2:50
5. "Singing Tree" (bonus track) A.L. Owens and A.C. Solberg September 11, 1967 2:17
6. "Just Call Me Lonesome" (bonus track) Rex Griffin September 10, 1967 2:05
2006 Follow That Dream reissue

Additional movie masters
No. Title Length
13. "You Don't Know Me" (film version – take 20) 2:19
14. "Clambake" (reprise – take 4) 0:21
Outtakes
No. Title Length
15. "Clambake" (take 3B) 2:42
16. "How Can You Lose What You Never Had" (takes 1 & 2) 4:16
17. "You Don't Know Me" (film version – take 3) 2:42
18. "Hey, Hey, Hey" (takes 3, 5 & 6) 5:05
19. "The Girl I Never Loved" (takes 4 & 5) 3:33
20. "Clambake" (takes 1 & 5) 3:26
21. "A House That Has Everything" (takes 4, 5 & 6) 4:00
22. "You Don't Know Me" (film version – takes 7 & 10) 3:15
23. "How Can You Lose What You Never Had" (take 3) 2:37
24. "Hey, Hey, Hey" (takes 7 & 8) 4:13
25. "Clambake" (reprise – takes 1, 2 & 3) 2:48
Total length: 1:10:40

2016 The RCA Albums Collection reissue
1. "Guitar Man" (bonus track) 2:19
2. "Clambake" 2:35
3. "Who Needs Money?" 3:15
4. "A House That Has Everything" 2:13
5. "Confidence" 2:32
6. "Hey, Hey, Hey" 2:29
7. "You Don't Know Me" 2:29
8. "The Girl I Never Loved" 1:51
9. "How Can You Lose What You Never Had" (bonus track) 2:26
10. "Big Boss Man" (bonus track) 2:51
11. "Singing Tree" (bonus track) 2:17
12. "Just Call Me Lonesome" (bonus track) 2:06
13. "Hi-Heel Sneakers" (bonus track) 2:47
----------------------------------------------------

I actually watched this movie a week or so ago, and I really thought it was pretty good, sure it isn't One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, but it is good fun and worked pretty well.
More importantly, I think this is a good soundtrack. We have some strong songs and some much better performances. We are starting to get into some, "what happened to my music territory here, and that is a relief. It is almost like if Chet Atkins had just stopped playing guitar and played the bouzouki for seven years, but anyhow.
I enjoy this one, yes even confidence.

What are your feelings about this album and movie?
Give us the lowdown and we'll hit the first track tomorrow.

Cheers,
Mark

 

As far as the actual movie songs go, Clambake is probably my least favourite full-length Elvis soundtrack. I enjoy most of the songs in a campy way when I watch the movie (I agree with Mark that it's an entertaining way to spend an hour and a half; it also helps that I have some very happy memories associated with it), but on record, they don't work quite as well for me. On the plus side, the bonus songs are mostly good, and at least they used the exquisite studio version of You Don't Know Me instead of the dull performance that's featured in the movie.

I find it interesting that the album collection added Hi-Heel Sneakers to the end of the album; personally, I'd have preferred that they had included it in the first place instead of Just Call Me Lonesome, but that's just me.

 

When I first dropped he needle on side 1 back in the day, HOLY CRAP! Guitar Man just blew me away. Oh then came "mama's little baby loves short'nin' " embarrassing. The only other song on side 1 that was not so embarrassing was A House That Has Everything. Confidence is the worst of the lot. Hey, Hey, Hey, not bad IF you do not pay attention to the lyrics. Who Needs Money, not bad but I am not into the duet thing, but it worked well in the movie.

Now side 2. Well, it is probably the best side of a 60s soundtrack album Elvis ever had. I have always said if you take the best songs from Spinout and Clambake, in fact I would allow 7 songs a side, and you'd have an excellent album, a real contender. And non LP songs such as Come What May, Fools Fall In Love and High Heel Sneakers would improve either Spinout or Clambake.

 

The thing that hurts Clambake most is the actual title. Who in their right minds names an Elvis Presley vehicle ‘Clambake’? The word alone invites ridicule.

 

I know you want to hold off on discussing the music here until it comes up in the album sequence, so I will just comment on a few logistical things:

When I was looking through the chronology a couple weeks ago, I was surprised to find out Big Boss Man was the leadoff single from the September 1967 session. I'd always thought it was Guitar Man. I wonder why they made this choice? Big Boss Man was an older song, and had already been covered several times (both Charlie Rich and Jerry Lee Lewis beat Elvis to the song). By contrast, Guitar Man was a new song that wasn't well-known at all (Jerry Reed's version had only barely scraped into the country top 40). It seems like Guitar Man would have been a better choice. Although by this point, Elvis' image was so damaged that simply making quality music wasn't going to be enough to sell records. He needed to fix/restore his image before the public would take him seriously again.

Another interesting thing is how the release schedule jumbles the chronology. At the time of release, the material from Double Trouble was a full year old... 1966 recordings released in 1967. By contrast, this single was released just two weeks after it had been recorded.

 

It's all good mate.
As you say the releases are beyond bizarre. In the fifties you could probably give the excuse that they were still learning how rock and roll was going to work commercially, but by 67 the groundwork was laid and plenty of solo acts and bands had tilled the soil...
So it just kind of leaves you thinking the parties responsible were incompetent

 

BIG BOSS MAN was the real beginning of Elvis return: again, after several years, you could feel the energy and Presley was sounding "mean". The hoarsy voice fits perfectly this Country Rock version of Jimmy Reed's classic Blues song. Sure it was an old composition but it sounded so fresh through Elvis newly found excitement. I know that GUITAR MAN was newer, the highlight of those studio dates and everything but if I had to chose my two favorite numbers from those awesome 1967 sessions, it would be BIG BOSS MAN and the bluesy HI-HEEL SNEAKERS.



Nothing positive to say about the actual "Clambake" soundtrack: it's dreadful and totally uninspired. The movie is even worse which was no easy feature at all.

 

The soundtrack itself is pretty dreadful, but the five studio cuts saves the album as a whole.
The movie is one of the very worst and that says a lot!

 

One of the strangest Elvis pictures (and that too is saying a lot!) - Elvis and Lee Hazlewood. To be a fly on the wall during that conversation...

I think this was taken on the set of Clambake?

 

Looks like Speedway, hair-wise, plus Lee worked with Nancy Sinatra around that time, and she was the co-star

 

Yeah I think you're right. And the female in the pic is Lee's daughter, based on what I've read online.

 

Wow, that is one gorgeous song and you are absolutely correct, Elvis should have recorded that one too.

 

I think it was the publishing controversy between Hill And Range and Jerry Reed Hubbard that delayed the single release of Guitar Man. It was settled in time for the LP, but not in time for the 4 week scheduled lead that the single would have had to make.

Big Boss Man out sold Guitar Man however. Some may theorize that had Guitar Man been released first, it would have sold better. I am not so sure. It is not like the LP sold well enough to defer any single sales Guitar Man would have garnished had it been released 4 weeks before the LP. No one, especially disc jockeys, was paying attention to Elvis releases at this point, no matter how GOOD the singles were becoming. It took television to bring him back into the spotlight. Heck, I doubt If I Can Dream, In The Ghetto or even Suspicious Minds or Don't Cry Daddy would have done as well as they did had it not been for the TV Special.

 

I would say The Girl I Never Loved, How Can You Lose What You Never Had and A House That Has Everything, each being soundtrack recordings, are decent to pretty good. How Can You Lose... being the best of them. So with the 5 studio recordings that is 8 out of 12 that are at least decent in my book.

 

That seems plausible. It wasn't even a four-week lead time... the Big Boss Man single was released just 16 days after the song was recorded.

 

Guitar Man
Written By :
Jerry Reed Hubbard

Recorded :
RCA's Studio B, Nashville, September 10-12, 1967 : September 10, 1967. take 12

"Guitar Man" is a 1967 song written by Jerry Reed, who took his version of it to number 53 on the Billboard country music charts in 1967.

Soon after Reed's single appeared, Elvis Presley recorded the song[1] with Reed playing the guitar part, and it became a minor country and pop hit. According to Peter Guralnick in his two-volume biography of Presley, the singer had been trying unsuccessfully to record the tune, but wasn't happy with the groove. He said something to the effect of: "Get me that redneck picker who's on the original tune", and his staff brought Reed into the studio - who nailed it on the first take (though this romantic account is contradicted by a studio tape of the session that documents the first, second and fifth takes which are available on video-sharing website youtube.com). The single spent one week at number one on the country chart.[2]

Thirteen years later, "Guitar Man" was re-recorded in a new electric arrangement, with Presley's original vocal left intact, and it was the last of his eleven number one country hits. The record also peaked at number twenty-eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and was his last top-40 pop hit in the U.S.[3]

The Jesus and Mary Chain recorded a version of this song to the b-side of Reverence single, in 1992.
-------------------------------
This is a great bouncy song. We have somewhat of an itinerary lyric, like promised land, and the words really stream out.
Elvis sounds interested and quite playful, which is a real bonus. Jerry Reed is a great musician and it is an added bonus to have him on the song.
Another interesting thing to me also, is that with the songs he recorded in the sixties, particularly the better ones later in the sixties, it really should have come as no surprise that Elvis moved more into country music in the seventies.

 

Clambake
Written By :
Ben Weisman & Sid Wayne

Recorded :
RCA's Studio B, Nashville, February 21-23, 1967: February 23, 1967. take 10

I feel I'll be in the minority here, but I don't dislike this song. I wasn't sure what a clambake was to be honest, I assumed people getting together and cooking up clams?
I am not perturbed by the shortnin' bread quote.
For me this isn't a bad song. Upbeat, nice musical arrangement, and Elvis sounds interested... maybe he was hungry, idk

 

Complete version with What'd I Say ending.

 

Yea, it's a shame they edited it. That complete piece is really good, and would have been a solid opening for an album ... although the soundtrack diversion and a complete lack of understanding on the powers that be part of putting an album together obviously prevented that.

 

The Fifties Easy Reference guide
Elvis Presley the Albums and Singles Thread *

1959 - Feb 10 1964 - Reference guide -
Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties