One thing that has been interesting as Mark has gone through the rare stuff on the 60s box is that it's mostly better (IMO) than the rare stuff included on the 60s Vault disc in the Complete Albums box. But I know that that's a conversation for when we get to that set, possibly in a year or so!
September 1993 Out Of The Box - 6 from the 60's - RDJ 62624 2 (promo cd) October 1993 Silver Bells (take 1) / Silver Bells (master) 07863 62411 4 (cassingle) 07863 62411 7 (cd?) The Legend Lives On - Readers Digest (4cd set) - RDB 191 CD1 February 1994 Elvis (73) - 07863 50283 2 Raised On Rock - 07863 50288 2 Good Times - 07863 50475 2 Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis - 07863 50606 2
May 1994 Double Features/ Frankie And Johnny - Paradise Hawaiian Style 07863 66360 2 RCA – 07863 66360 2, BMG Bertelsmann Music Group – 07863 66360 2 Series: Double Features – , Elvis In The 90s (RCA) – Format: CD, Compilation, Remastered Country: Europe Released: 1994 Genre: Pop, Stage & Screen Style: Soundtrack Frankie And Johnny 1Frankie And Johnny2:23 2Come Along1:52 3Petunia, The Gardner's Daughter2:58 4Chesay1:37 5What Every Woman Lives For2:25 6Look Out, Broadway1:39 7Beginner's Luck2:32 8Down By The Riverside And When The Saints Go Marching In1:55 9Shout It Out2:16 10Hard Luck2:50 11Please Don't Stop Loving Me2:02 12Everybody Come Abroad1:49 Paradise, Hawaiian Style 13Paradise, Hawaiian Style2:37 14Queenie Wahine's Papaya1: My Back2:12 16Drums Of The Islands2:33 17Datin'1:22 18A Dog's Life1:58 19House Of Sand2:03 20Stop Where You Are2:04 21This Is My Heaven2:34 22Sand Castles2:58 ----------------------------------------------- I guess they did the album buying a fans a favour by putting these two together ... made them easier to avoid
May 1994 Spin out - Double Trouble 07863 66361 1 Label: RCA – 07863 66361 2, BMG Bertelsmann Music Group – 07863 66361 2 Series: Double Features – , Elvis In The 90s (RCA) – Format: CD, Compilation, Remastered Country: Europe Released: 1994 Genre: Rock, Stage & Screen Style: Soundtrack, Rock & Roll Spinout 1Stop, Look, Listen1:29 2Adam And Evil1:52 3All That I Am2:15 4Never Say Yes1:51 5Am I Ready2:23 6Beach Shack1:46 7Spinout2:32 8Smorgasbord1:57 9I'll Be Back2:02 Double Trouble 10Double Trouble1:38 11Baby, If You'll Give Me All Of Your Love1:47 12Could I Fall In Love1:42 13Long Legged Girl (With The Short Dress On)1:27 14City By Night3:04 15Old MacDonald2:04 16I Love Only One Girl1:52 17There Is So Much World To See1:53 18It Won't Be Long1:44 ----------------------------------------------------- With these we have a scenario where Spinout is somewhat weakened by the omission of the non soundtracks songs. Although it is still a pretty good soundtrack. These two are actually both pretty good, with the exception of a couple of tracks.
Yep, two of the weakest soundtrack albums (F&J & Paradise) back-to-back for your listening pleasure...
May 1994 Kissin Cousin - Clambake - Stay Away Joe o7863 66362 2 RCA – 07863 66362 2, BMG Bertelsmann Music Group – 07863 66362 2 Series: Double Features – , Elvis In The 90s (RCA) – Format: CD, Compilation, Remastered Country: Europe Released: 1994 Genre: Pop, Stage & Screen Style: Soundtrack Kissin' Cousins 1Kissin' Cousins (Number 2)1:14 2Smokey Mountain Boy2:36 3Theres Gold In The Mountains1:53 4One Boy Two Little Girls2:31 5Catchin' On Fast1:20 6Tender Feeling2:32 7Anyone (Could Fall In Love With You)2:28 8Barefoot Ballad2:25 9Once Is Enough2:16 10Kissin' Cousins2:12 Clambake 11Clambake2:35 12Who Needs Money?3:14 13A House That Has Everything2:12 14Confidence2:32 15Hey, Hey, Hey2:29 16You Don't Know Me (Original Film Version)2:12 17The Girl I Never Loved1:51 18How Can You Lose What You Never Had2:25 19Clambake (Reprise)0:21 Stay Away Joe 20Stay Away Joe1:37 21Dominic1:42 22All I Needed Was The Rain1:48 23Goin' Home2:27 24Stay Away2:21 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Again with these three, some obvious low points, but still some great stuff on here ... and it's a three album compile
Ah! The presentation of - and annotations on - the back covers of the Double Features CDs, together with the names Ernst Mikael Jørgensen and Roger Semon, give some indication of the quality of the Elvis releases that would come after this.
That hurts. I'm on record as loving both of these soundtracks...not in their entirety, but when put together on this CD, I can skip the tracks I don't like (basically, the slow numbers and Scratch My Back) and end up with a mindlessly fun, exotic-sounding 36-minute experience. It's also worth noting that, as with Harum Scarum, this mix of Frankie & Johnny is a vast improvement over the original.
Gotta have fun with it. I like songs on each. They are probably the joint low point in the recorded output of our guy though
For the most part, the Double Features series does a great job of selecting soundtracks that fit well together, both sonically and chronologically. This one's the exception for me. It's almost like they forgot about Kissin' Cousins until partway through the release program, panicked, and decided to throw it in with the planned Clambake/Stay Away Joe release. A better solution might have been to put the Kid Galahad tracks in with the Flaming Star/Wild In The Country/Follow That Dream CD, and then pair Girls! Girls! Girls! with It Happened At The World's Fair, and put Fun In Acapulco with Kissin' Cousins. It would have made the Clambake/Stay Away Joe CD a bit short, but they could have always filled it up with a few more bonus tracks (the slow version of Stay Away, perhaps?).
I seem to recall reading (possibly in The Man And His Music magazine) that with certain titles (Follow That Dream & Kissin' Cousins) they were holding out to see if better masters were available before they committed them to the series. I could be misremembering though...
Kissin' Cousins should have been paired with Viva Las Vegas. Then they could have just stuck with chronology for the subsequent films: Roustabout/Girl Happy Harum Scarum/Frankie and Johnny Paradise Hawaiian Style/Spinout Easy Come/Double Trouble Clambake/Speedway/Stay Away Joe I assume @When In Rome must be correct that there was some sort of issue with the Kissin' Cousins tapes that prevented its release in the first batch. And perhaps they decided they didn't want to delay the release of Viva Las Vegas since it was probably the most in-demand soundtrack, having never been compiled as one release before and being a popular film to boot. So they put VLV with Roustabout so it could be part of the first batch of releases... but that screwed up the chronology for Kissin' Cousins.
Three tracks made their debut on official releases this time around, if Mark wants to post youtube videos: You Don't Know Me (film version) Clambake (reprise) Dominic
Yes indeed. If a person is inclined to listen to Frankie and Johnny, this release is the only decent way to do it. A VAST improvement over the original mix. Unfortunately, remixing can't improve songwriting.
I put F&J at the very bottom. The combination of poor songwriting coupled with a musical approach (conventional showtunes backed by a Dixieland band) that was completely inappropriate for Elvis make it uniquely awful in a way that exceeds the other bad soundtracks.
I personally rate Frankie & Johnny as the worse soundtrack album Elvis ever made in his life. I know their might be one or two other candidates for that dishonor, but I loathe almost everything about the F & J album, from Elvis's flat and uninspired singing to the very weak songwriting and atrocious engineering. Oh sure, there are one or two songs that I can enjoy without grimacing, but it is basically an album I will continue to avoid like the plague. And this is coming from someone who actually really likes the remixed Harum Scarum version from the double album.
Two great minds actually think alike. Apparently, we were both writing the same response at the exact same time.
I always liked the title track of Frankie And Johnny. Nice arrangement of an old song and I like the way he sings it. The Movie was great because of Donna Douglas.
Ernst Jørgensen said at the time that the remix of the Frankie and Johnny soundtrack wasn't originally planned. He heard the original mix and asked BMG for a budget to remix it.
Agreed. The only quasi-redeemable track may be Please Don't Stop Loving Me. It is a rough soundtrack to get through.
