Elvis Presley - The Albums and Singles Thread pt2 The Sixties

I know Guralnick did not conduct any interviews with the Memphis Mafia guys (according to Marty Lacker). He did rely a lot on previously-published interviews, as opposed to someone like Alanna Nash who relies primarily on original research. It's really not okay for him to present speculation as fact, though, which he seems to be doing with You'll Be Gone.

 

@mark winstanley will there be an entry for us to discuss Tickle Me (the EP)? I assume so but since it's mostly a reissue I thought I'd ask. There's some interesting things to discuss with that film.

 

This single is a bizarre but very significant release in Elvis' career. RCA digs through the vaults and finds a 5-year-old gospel outtake, and they decide for some reason to not only release it, but to make it a single a-side! Even weirder, the song proves to be a surprise hit, making it all the way to #3 on the charts! Who could have predicted this? The #3 chart showing makes this Elvis' ONLY top ten hit in the 5 1/2 year gap between Bossa Nova Baby and In The Ghetto.

Thinking about it more, I think it's possible (though I have no evidence) that this surprise hit is what provided the impetus to record the How Great Thou Art album a year later. Seeing a gospel song hit big may have really inspired Elvis, and I can see the Colonel and RCA thinking "there's money in that gospel stuff" and it probably made them more receptive to the idea than they would otherwise have been. So this surprise hit may have been the trigger for the beginnings of Elvis' comeback.

He was not satisfied with it in 1960 for sure, but there's a 1965 interview where he describes it as his best-ever performance, or his favorite performance, or something of that nature. So he either changed his mind, or was not above lying to promote the single.

 

I hope so. It's got one of Elvis' very best co-stars, Jocelyn Lane. And it is a weird/interesting film.

 

I hope so. He recorded a new vocal to I Feel That I've Known You Forever for the film. And it's one of the few films that is available on Blu-ray.

 

Tickle Me is the next in line ... I was going to do it this morning, but with so many unusual reissues, I thought I would hold off until tomorrow

 

Great! I don't think I've ever seen a thread where participants are looking forward to discussing Tickle Me but this one is breaking all the rules

 

I think that's true - and I think his writing has got more speculative as years go by. That said, I'll take Guralnick over Greil Marcus any time. He has a wonderful way with words, but there are so many factual errors in the latest version of Mystery Train that it's almost impossible to know where to begin.

I think it's ok to be speculative, as long as you keep reminding your reader, no matter how subtly, that you are being speculative - or that you don't have total trust in your source. It doesn't take much to use a newspaper or magazine interview from fifty years ago and reference it by saying "Elvis is quoted as saying..." instead of "Elvis said..," for example. You're not going to do that every time you quote something, but doing it regularly I think helps remind the reader what kinds of sources you are building your story from. And sometimes you see the same viewpoint being stated in more than one article or interview, and then you can be more certain that it's pretty close to the words said at the time.

 

I have learned that if I have first hand knowledge of any subject that any journalist, news media, writer, etc publishes or broadcasts, they are NEVER 100% accurate and when it comes to news media, they often do not understand their subject well OR they intentionally lie to fit their agenda.

 

I remember I loved Mystery Train when I first read it back in high school. It was especially great as far as introducing me to artists I wasn't that familiar with at the time, like The Band and Sly. My recollection about his views on Elvis though was that he essentially took the position that it was all downhill after Sun, and (aside from the 68 Comeback) there was little to recommend about the post-Army stuff. I was already a deep enough Elvis fan to see that was bulls**t.

 

Somewhere in the course of Beatles fandom, I read that many of the Beatles’ quotes in the early days, particularly and for obvious reasons in telephone interviews, were in fact quotes from Derek Taylor and other P.R. men. I’m sure that was common back in the day, and many quotes from “Elvis” in newspaper and magazine articles in the 50s weren’t necessarily made by Elvis himself. Or were highly edited by the journalist conducting the interview.

 

One of my favorite Elvis songs is "Crying In The Chapel". It also shows that Elvis could pretty much dominate any genre of music.

 

I used to sing this one in church and it always was well received

 

Tickle Me


EP by
Elvis Presley
Released June 1965
Genre Pop
Length 10:31
Label RCA Victor

Tickle Me Vol. 1 and Tickle Me Vol. 2 are two extended plays by Elvis Presley, containing songs from the motion picture of the same name. They were released by RCA Victor in 1965.

For the first time in his career, the budget did not allow new songs to be commissioned for a Presley film. The soundtrackwas assembled from previously released recordings, recycling nine songs in total with some dating back to recording sessions from 1960.[1]

All songs were taken, as originally pressed, from previously released albums but a new vocal was recorded for "I Feel That I've Known You Forever", and a harmony vocal and narration was removed on "I'm Yours".

Four of the songs were released on singles, with the other five on an extended play single as the official soundtrack. "(Such an) Easy Question," by Otis Blackwell and Winfield Scott, was paired with "It Feels So Right" by Fred Wise and Ben Weisman. Released previously on Pot Luck with Elvis and Elvis Is Back! respectively, they were reissued as catalogue 47-8585 in June 1965, with the A-side "Easy Question" going to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the B-side peaking at #55 independently. A second pairing, "I'm Yours" by Don Robertson and Hal Blair also from Pot Luck with "(It's A) Long Lonely Highway" by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman from Kissin' Cousins, were reissued as the A and b sides respectively of catalogue item 47-8657 in August 1965, "I'm Yours" also peaking on the chart at #11.

"I'm Yours" was released on 45 rpm as presented on film and the flip side was the movie opening number "(It's a) Long, Lonely Highway" , but in an alternate take.

The soundtrack EP was issued in June 1965 containing the other five songs. It only reached #70 on the singles chart, another indication of format's lack of appeal by the mid-1960s,[2] although the fact its contents featured songs that were already available on various still-in-catalog albums may have also played a role. RCA would only issue one more extended play single for Presley in 1967. And with Beatlemania and the British Invasion in full swing, the music was stagnant.

In the UK, a Tickle Me Vol. 2 EP was issued containing the four tracks released on singles in the US.

In the 1960s, to obtain all nine songs in long-playing format, one would have to acquire Elvis Is Back!, Something for Everybody, Pot Luck, and the Fun in Acapulco and Kissin' Cousins soundtracks (which featured some of the songs as non-movie "bonus tracks"). In 2005, Sony Music issued a compact disc soundtrack of Tickle Me on their specialty Presley-oriented collectors label, Follow That Dream. It featured the film's nine songs along with five bonus tracks.

• • Elvis Presley – vocals; guitar (recordings prior to June 1961)
  • The Jordanaires, Millie Kirkham - backing vocals
  • Boots Randolph - saxophone
  • Scotty Moore, Hank Garland, Harold Bradley, Grady Martin, Jerry Kennedy – electric guitar
  • Floyd Cramer - piano
  • Bob Moore - double bass
  • D. J. Fontana, Buddy Harman - drum

Tickle Me, Vol. 1
Side one
1. "I Feel That I've Known You Forever" (from Pot Luck with Elvis) Doc Pomus, Alan Jeffreys
2. "Slowly But Surely" (from Fun in Acapulco) Ben Weisman, Sid Wayne
Side two
1. "Night Rider" (from Pot Luck with Elvis) Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman
2. "Put the Blame On Me" (from Something for Everybody) Fred Wise, Kay Twomey, Norman Blagman
3. "Dirty, Dirty Feeling" (from Elvis Is Back!) Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller April 3, 1960 1:35

Tickle Me, Vol. 2 (UK only)
Side one
1. "I'm Yours" Hal Blair, Don Robertson
2. "(It's A) Long, Lonely Highway" Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman
Side two
1. "It Feels So Right" Ben Weisman, Fred Wise
2. "(Such An) Easy Question" Otis Blackwell, Winfield Scott
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This EP seems like an interesting scenario all 'round. The soundtrack had just reissues due to budget from what I read up there, and you guys said that some vocals were rerecorded and that all sounds very strange to me.
I think we have been through all the songs here, but please fill me in on any or all the details that surround this unusual release and lets see what we end up with.
If there is an alternate version of any of the songs that appeared on the EP/EPs please post it for out reference and if we have these EP's covered by then, tomorrow we'll hit the next alnum.

Cheers guys

 

And just in case any fan missed it, it was then re-edited to be included on 'Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits' boxset a year later as a 'bonus'. No fan can live without this legendary interview. Obvs.

 

The re-recorded vocal for I Feel That I've Known You Forever has never been released officially.
I'm Yours is the undubbed version without the harmony vocal and the spoken part.
Long Lonely Highway is take 1

 

Cheers.
Your contributions here have been invaluable

 

That's true. Not always the case, of course, but often - and that's something we must remember when writing about such "interviews" - and it's generally quite easy to tell what came from Elvis's mouth and what didn't. The words might be slightly altered, for sure, but we know what he would and wouldn't have said.

 

RE: Interviews. I spent a summer in Savanah MO in 1971. On the local radio station they were making a huge deal they were going to interview Elvis Presley (I think it was a St Joseph MO station). Well, I was SURE to catch that! So, when the interview finally took place it was so damned obvious it WASN'T Elvis at all. Standard questions were asked and pat, well known answers were giving. I could not understand how they could have gotten away with this.

 

I think they could have easily gotten away with making a Tickle Me LP. All they needed was 3 bonus songs. Since the LPs they took the material from were all around 300,000 sellers, there were plenty of potential customers who would have found most, if not all of the material new to them. The fact that both I'm Yours and Easy Question singles sold 500,000 supports my theory.

For some reason EPs fell out of favor by the early 60s. If I ever had a choice of picking up a non-LP Elvis song between a single and an EP, I chose the EP over the single every time. I did not know back in the day It's A Long Lonely Highway single was a different take than the one on Kissin' Cousins or I would have bought that single. Unless you go FTD, it is still almost impossible to find on CD. On the Japanese Complete Singles box it is a needle drop. (in mono of course).

Does anyone know of a CD release with a stereo version of take 1 of Long Lonely Highway other than FTD?

 

I never bought a single in my life... I did buy a couple of EP's

 

I had to buy a few singles. And I had to keep a few EPs because there were songs that never appeared on an Elvis LP in his lifetime.

 

One of the great things about CD singles was that they essentially brought back the EP format. Oasis, in particular, did a great job of creating mini-masterpieces within the format.

I agree that a Tickle Me album could (perhaps should) have been released. Between the alternate versions and the various outtakes they had in the can (as well as songs that had never been released on an album before), there was plenty to attract even the people who bought the original albums.

 

The movie production really called the shots on the audio on this one, didn't it. Some info on the movie from Wiki, and I've highlighted the more interesting bits:

Tickle Me is a 1965 American musical comedy film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Elvis Presley as a champion rodeo bull-rider and bronco-buster.

Presley won a 1966 Golden Laurel Award as best male actor in a musical film for this role. It is the only Elvis film released by Allied Artists Pictures and saved the studio from financial collapse, Tickle Me helping to avert bankruptcy thanks to a song from its recycled soundtrack, "(Such an) Easy Question", which was a Top 40 hit in the United States, peaking at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reaching #1 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart in July, 1965.[4] The film made $5 million at the box office.

The soundtrack had no "new" material, as album cuts were selected, then overdubbed. In one case, a different take was used ("I Feel That I've Known You Forever", featuring what appears to be a vocal done on the soundstage). In another case , a song was presented without the harmony vocal and narration ("I'm Yours").

Julie Adams and Jocelyn Lane co-star. The screenplay was written by Elwood Ullman and Edward Bernds, who had written The Three Stooges film shorts and theatrical films as well as scripts for The Bowery Boys.

Production
Elvis Presley was in trouble with the IRS and needed an acting fee to cover his debts. Colonel Tom Parker, his manager, arranged a quick one-off deal with Allied Artists to make a movie.[2]

The film was originally called Isle of Paradise. It was written by Edward Bernds and Elwood Ullman, who had written for The Three Stooges and the Bowery Boys.[2]

Elvis was paid $600,000 plus $150,000 in expenses and 50% of the profits. The below-the-line costs were estimated at $399,750; it went $6,650 over budget and finished at $406,400. This made it the cheapest Elvis movie to date. Costs were minimised by the fact that the soundtrack consisted of previousky released Elvis tracks , so no new music needed to be recorded (although many songs featured were overdubbed ).

Although produced by Allied Artists, the movie was actually made at Paramount Pictures Studios, which Allied hired for the duration of the shoot. It was shot over 23 days in October—November 1964, plus two days of second unit photography.

Reception
Howard Thompson of The New York Times called the film "the silliest, feeblest and dullest vehicle for the Memphis Wonder in a long time. And both Elvis and his sponsors, the time Allied Artists, should know better."[6] Variety noted that the screenplay was "wispy thin" but allowed Presley to "rock over nine numbers from past albums to good effect."[7] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film had "lousy color, cheap sets, hunks of stock footage, painted scenery and unconvincing process work. But who's to quibble when the movie is so much fun?"[8] The Monthly Film Bulletin called it an "Exceptionally routine Presley vehicle" with "uninspired songs."

The film was popular at the box office, making over $3 million in the US and $5 million worldwide. It became the third highest-grossing film in the history of Allied Artists and saved the studio from bankruptcy.

Awards
Elvis Presley won a 1966 Golden Laurel Award for best male performance in a musical film. This was the only acting award that he received during his film career.

Tickle Me - Wikipedia

The notion that Tickle Me saved Allied Artists amuses me no end, especially as I consider it the worst Elvis movie (well, perhaps tied with Harum Scarum for the worst), and that's saying a lot. And I didn't realize Elvis was in financial trouble with the IRS at the time... either that or I forgot it. Also amusingly he won an award for his acting in this film. Now I'm someone who thought Elvis had a lot of potential as an actor (as seen in King Creole, Flaming Star, Follow That Dream, etc.) but I'm wondering if those awarding him actually saw Tickle Me? His acting isn't very good, although I'm fairly certain that's due to the poor script, low budget (probably not a lot of budget for multiple takes), lack of direction that comes with making a 'quickie' movie, etc.

 

I always saw the resemblance of the concept for Scooby Doo in Tickle Me.