Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

That might be the best part of the song. Is that a back handed compliment by the both of us?

 

Well often the tune, arrangement, performance is just fine. It is typically the lyrics that sink a lot of these soundtrack songs. And the lyrics are bound to the movie subject matter. Even if the lyrics are embarrassing, often times they ARE witty (A Dog's Life comes to mind).

 

Wolf Call is probably the worst song on the album. A corny novelty song with dopey lyrics.

On the flipside, Do Not Disturb is one of the better songs here. Well crafted and performed.

 

Nor just that he wasn't a businessman, I don't think, but that he didn't learn from his mistakes - even more than that, perhaps: he refused to learn from his mistakes.

 

I used to really scratch my head at these song choices for a talent like Elvis Presley. It always seemed like a thoroughbred racehorse pulling a rickety apple cart while listening to the worst of the movie songs. After seeing the sales charts for albums posted in this thread, I'm wondering if Elvis himself didn't scratch his head about the discrepancy of sales between quality studio LPs and soundtrack albums. Surely he saw the chart positions tapering off with his singles and The British Invasion exploding onto the scene with a sound reminiscent of his early days.

 

Elvis said as much himself in the 1972 EOT interview. He also said that he didn’t agree with the [management] view that he’d continue to sell despite a decline in the quality of his material. He didn’t lack self-awareness.

When it comes down to tin tacks, Elvis simply wasn’t a strategic thinker & planner, he was a creative. Priscilla said he needed a game plan: I assume she’d know that aspect of his personality better than most. I firmly believe he wasn’t a very confident person, the evidence being in the almost constant self-deprecation - especially in his live performances - that many fans find irritating. Overthinking, or as its put in mental health circles, the “inner critic”, can lead to paralysis by analysis and it’s been well-documented that he was prone to anxiety and depression, as were his extended family.

Charlie Chaplin comes to mind as someone who successfully combined art and business, but then again his brother Sidney had his back.

It’s a tricky one.

 

I'm sure he figured the discrepancy was due to the films promoting the soundtracks, rather than because listeners preferred the soundtrack songs. Even given that, it's notable that when the quality of the soundtracks declined, their sales declined too (though there were probably several factors at work there).

One interesting thing... If we look at the singles released during 1965, the most successful ones were old studio tracks (Crying in the Chapel at #3 and Such an Easy Question And I'm Yours at #11) whereas the soundtrack songs fared notably worse (Do the Clam #25, Puppet on a String #14). So it seems at this point the record buyers were demonstrating a preference for quality in Elvis singles.

 

I believe Do The Clam made it to #21 on the Billboard charts. And Puppet On A String was released pretty far after the movie came out, it was released after Harum Scarum (as that LP didn’t have any singles and they needed a 45 to release so they reached back to Girl Happy). Your pint still stands though.

 

Ah, I stand corrected. I double checked wiki and somehow still managed to get it wrong.

Now that I think about it though, Such an Easy Question and I'm Yours are technically soundtrack songs too, by dint of their appearance in Tickle Me. But I guess my point is still valid... Around this time the soundtracks got notably worse, and the singles that were expressly recorded as soundtrack songs generally did not chart as well as singles from non-soundtrack sessions.

 

If they released Tickle Me as an LP instead of an EP, it would have probably sold at least 300,000 instead of the miserable 100,000 copies the EP sold. (In the UK they had a Tickle Me vol 2 EP as well) But the two singles for Tickle Me each sold around 500,000 copies, not bad. Of course had they make a Tickle Me LP, they would have to include 3 bonus tracks which they could have use other great songs from Elvis Is Back, Something For Everybody and/or Pot Luck. At least it would have given some of those song another chance to be heard by fans who missed out on any or all of those three LPs. Tickle Me was probably the best soundtrack of ANY of the soundtrack LPs that came out in the 60s.

 

While we're on the topic of Tickle Me and Elvis' motivation (or lack thereof) in the 60s...I always thought that, if he really wanted to record certain songs in, say, 1965, he could have easily gone into the studio to do so. Either way, they would have been released: RCA would have put them on an LP eventually, or the Colonel's "let nothing go to waste" policy would have kicked in, and they could have been released as part of a film soundtrack (since Tickle Me had set a precedent of sorts...not to mention that, later on, the "studio" version of You Don't Know Me would make it to the Clambake album instead of the proper film version).

Anyway, Wolf Call is rather absurd, from the we're-not-even-trying lyrics to the out-there bass vocals ("Ball!"). Even the arrangement is half-baked (could it have killed them to put more bottom end in there?). I'm also fairly sure there's a sloppy splice right before the second verse ("Just a little kiss..." starts rather abruptly). I really can't think of a genuinely positive thing to say about it, other than that despite it all...I like it. A lot, actually. It's there on my mixtape of soundtrack songs that I always enjoy listening to (a hair over 100 tracks, plus a few alternates...not that anyone asked!).

Do Not Disturb is a sweet little track, with an odd cadence about it that sets it quite apart from any other Elvis song (it's no wonder it took him so many takes to nail it...I'd love to hear the songwriters' demo!). I do think that it would have benefited from a more committed vocal, as unlike the previous five tracks, it's not fast-paced enough for Elvis to get away with blowing through the lyrics. Given how well he sang the other "ballad" on the soundtrack, I can't help but wonder if the final result might have been better had he taken a day off and tried to recut the song at a later date. It's quite enjoyable for what it is, but it's also something of a missed opportunity.

 

Cross My Heart And Hope To Die
Written By :
Sid Wayne & Ben Weisman

Recorded :
Radio Recorders, Hollywood, June 10-12 and 15, 1964: June 11, 1964. splice take 9&11

This is a very cool song. It has a styling that feels like it could go on the Pot Luck album. A smooth semi-blues type of song that has a moderate tempo and a great feel.

 

The Meanest Girl In Town
Written By :
Joy Byers

Recorded :
Radio Recorders, Hollywood, June 10-12 and 15, 1964: June 10, 1964. take 13

This song is my kind of thing. This is a great rocker with a Night Rider kind of feel but a little more aggressive. Good stuff.

 

Yes, Cross My Heart reminds me a little of Such An Easy Question. Or Put The Blame On Me.

Damn it. Girl Happy is a better listen than I remember.

 

Cross My Heart... actually has some pretty good lyrics; "Very hard to handle, like a Model T" is my favourite. We also get to hear Elvis in full-on apology mode ("I can explain about last night"), which makes for a nice change.

Meanest Girl... is a solid little rocker, but my favourite thing about it is that it gave us the greatest false start in Elvis history (start at 4:34):

 

It's a pretty good album.
It's funny looking through but 1965 isn't the pit of despair everyone suggests really.
Elvis For Everyone is a little bit disappointing, but it's ok
There are a couple of decent singles......
If Harum Scarum was erased from history and a decent studio album of new material was in there it would be a good year

 

For the record I saw Follow That Dream last night .... I think for the first time ....
What a great movie. I loved it. Sure it's a little goofy, but I wish the world was like that lol
Again I am struck by the fact that Elvis played a very good part in the movie.
So far he has played his part well in all the movies I have watched, and there have been some very different characters.

Love Me Tender - a great debut as a support actor
Loving You - pretty good, no complaints
Jailhouse Rock - played a great part and so well my wife disliked him lol
Follow That Dream - played the somewhat comedic role with aplomb
Viva Las Vegas - great fun
Blue Hawaii - another well played role

The funny thing is, we both prefer the movies where he sings less and acts more

 

Follow That Dream is probably his best acting ever. But make sure you see King Creole for his best role and pretty decent acting too.

 

Sorry I missed King Creole ... that is probably my favourite Elvis movie. Good script, well acted, and the music to acting ratio is good also

 

It has been a waterfall of Elvis of the last few months ... lol

 

I don't get why Hard Headed Woman is not in the movie though. What a great song.

 

Cross My Heart and Hope To Die is a MUCH better track than I remember. For a soundtrack song, it's one of the better from this era. And it wouldn't have been out of place on Viva Las Vegas. Meanest Girl In Town is also a better track than I remember. Reminds me of Leave My Kitten Alone. But what's up with the fade-in on the right channel? With the speed errors, a few sloppy edits, weird levels, etc. I'd have to say the mixing and mastering are pretty bad on this album.

 

Did they fix these errors on the FTD release?
Does Anyone Know?

 

You guys are really making me reevaluate this movie soundtrack period that I really thought was to be avoided for the most part. Oh sure, there is some throwaway stuff in there, but I am truly shocked by the amount. of songs I really like and the musicianship featured on most of the recordings. So far, Elvis still feels like he is enjoying the process and giving it some pretty fine effort. This is evident to me even in the outtakes that @DirkM has been kind enough to post here as a reminder.

 

To clarify, when I talk about 1965 being a terrible year for Elvis, I mean his recordings from that year, not his releases. Though I don't like Girl Happy as much as some of you guys, it's a 1964 recording despite being released in 1965. Elvis' 1965 recordings were the Harum Scarum, Frankie and Johnny, and Paradise Hawaiian Style albums, which is why it tends to be consensus pick for his very worst year as an active recording artist.