Show J026 - Elvis Country

 Show J026 Elvis Country

With DJ Jimothy

Album of the week - volume 20

As with every other album of the week, all we ask you to do, it pull out your vinyl, 8 track cassette, cassette, or CD. Or even stream it from your favourite streaming site, or even download it, whichever is your preference to listen, just give the album a listen, then give us your thoughts and feedback. We would love you to actually listen to the album, just to refresh your memory.
Thanks.

Harum Scarum (Harum Holiday)

 

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Harum Scarum is the twenty-fourth album by Elvis, released by RCA Victor in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 3468, in November 1965. It is the soundtrack to the 1965 film of the same name starring Presley. Recording sessions took place at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee, on February 24, 25, and 26, 1965. It peaked at number eight on the Top LP's chart.

Content

Although 1965 had seen the release of Elvis for Everyone, a studio album which was actually recorded over a ten-year period dating back to Presley's first recordings from Sun Studios in Memphis, and a surprising worldwide hit with a five-year-old Gospel track, "Crying In The Chapel", it was back to the grind of making soundtracks. Elvis continued to grumble about the material and the continued pressure put on the stable of songwriters corraled by Freddy Bienstock — the writing team of Giant, Baum, and Kaye alone had provided 17 of 47 songs on the past four soundtracks in an eighteen-month period — but he soldiered on with as much grace as possible^. In reality, almost any song could have been squeezed into the story lines, including old classics. But as long as sales continued, the formula required guaranteed control of publishing and new songs by the same songwriters. However, Presley's sales were plunging in music stores as well as ticket sales at the box office.

Eleven songs were recorded for Harum Scarum, and all were used and issued on the soundtrack with two of the tracks omitted in the film. As with Roustabout, no singles were issued in conjunction with the album. A single was issued a month later, using the leftover 1957 track "Tell Me Why" backed with "Blue River" from the aborted May 1963 "album" sessions. In an ominous sign of things to come, it only made it to number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100, the lowest charting single of Presley's career to date.^[5]

Elvis recorded "Wisdom of the Ages" on February 24, 1965 at RCA studios.^[6] It featured as a bonus track on the soundtrack album, along with "Animal Instinct", but did not feature in the film itself. The Jordanaires sang backing vocals. The film and its soundtrack are widely considered one of the lowest points of Presley's career. The song progresses from F major to B flat major, to D minor to E flat major to F major.

In 2003 Harum Scarum was reissued on the Follow That Dream label in a special edition that contained the original album tracks along with numerous alternate takes.

Track listing

Side one
No.	Title
1.	"Harem Holiday"
2.	"My Desert Serenade"
3.	"Go East - Young Man"
4.	"Mirage"
5.	"Kismet"
6.	"Shake That Tambourine"

	Side 2
1.	"Hey Little Girl"
2.	"Golden Coins"
3.	"So Close, Yet So Far (From Paradise)"
4.	"Animal Instinct" (bonus track)
5.	"Wisdom of the Ages" (bonus track)

 

Album Of The Week - Volume 19

As with every other album of the week, all we ask you to do, it pull out your vinyl, 8 track cassette, cassette, or CD. Or even stream it from your favourite streaming site, or even download it, whichever is your preference to listen, just give the album a listen, then give us your thoughts and feedback. We would love you to actually listen to the album, just to refresh your memory.
Thanks.

Released    November 11, 1970

Recorded   June and August 1970

Genre   Country, pop, soft rock

Length   47:00

Label   RCA Records

Elvis: That's the Way It Is is an album by Elvis, released on RCA Records, LSP 4445, in November 1970. It consists of eight studio tracks recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville, and four live in-concert tracks recorded at The International Hotel in Las Vegas. It accompanied the theatrical release of the documentary film of the same name (although it is not generally considered a soundtrack album), and peaked at number 21 on the Billboard 200 and at number eight on the country chart. It was certified Gold on June 28, 1973 by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Content

The original vinyl LP consisted of eight tracks recorded in the studio in Nashville at the marathon sessions in June 1970 that would also yield several singles and the Elvis Country album, and four tracks from his August 1970 engagement at The International Hotel in Las Vegas. The track "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" had been released as the advance single on October 6; its b-side, "Patch It Up", appears in a live version here. "The Next Step Is Love" had previously been released as a b-side in July 1970, and its A-side "I've Lost You" appears in a live version here as well. The concert version of "I Just Can't Help Believin'" from this album would be released as a single in the United Kingdom in November 1971 and go to number six on their charts. Its b-side "How the Web Was Woven" was also taken from this album. A rehearsal version of the latter song was featured in the 1970 documentary Elvis: That's the Way It Is.

Reissues

On June 11, 2000, a three-disc Special Edition was released. It contained the full album remastered, along with added bonus studio tracks recorded around the same time. The set also includes the full August 12, 1970 midnight show from The International Hotel and rehearsals from late July and early August prior to the engagement. The bonus tracks included an additional concert track previously released on Walk A Mile In My Shoes: The Essential 70s Masters, five tracks that appeared on Presley studio LPs from the 1970s, and the single "Rags to Riches" from February 1971.

In 2008, the collectors' label Follow That Dream released a two-disc special edition of the album, with a 20-page booklet. This edition contains the full original album plus bonus tracks and outtakes.

In 2009, the Follow That Dream label released The Wonder of You which contains the full concert from August 13, 1970. Some concert footage from that date was used in the documentary.

On July 6, 2012, Follow That Dream released a two-disc LP special edition of the album. This edition offers highlights from the 2-CD Follow That Dream release. It contains 21 tracks and features different takes of the songs.

Tracklist

I Just Can't Help Believin'
Twenty Days And Twenty Nights
How The Web Was Woven
Patch It Up
Mary In The Morning
You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
I've Lost You
Just Pretend
Stranger In The Crowd
The Next Step Is Love

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Below:

This album, That's The Way It Is, was ranked number 53 in the worst to best chart of Elvis albums, meaning it is ranked as the 4th worst album……

What do YOU say?

Vulture.com lists

All 57 Elvis Presley Albums Ranked, From Worst to Best

By Adam Litovitz

53. That’s the Way It Is (1970)
Elvis was cranking out records in 1970, and this one was a cocktail of Jumpsuit Elvis from his longstanding tenure at the International Hotel in Vegas and some Nashville studio stuff loosely tied to a documentary film. The concert material is mainly of the showy countrypolitan variety, smooth but less exciting than his earlier live albums.  However, we get Elvis tearing eagerly into “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” The studio tracks tend to be sluggish and overwrought, with lyrics about tasting the “icing on the cake we’ve been baking with the past,” on “The Next Step Is Love.”  As tragic songs about cake go, it’s no “MacArthur Park.”

Album Of The Week 18

As with every other album of the week, all we ask you to do, it pull out your vinyl, 8 track cassette, cassette, or CD. Or even stream it from your favourite streaming site, or even download it, whichever is your preference to listen, just give the album a listen, then give us your thoughts and feedback. We would love you to actually listen to the album, just to refresh your memory.
Thanks.

 ELVIS (1956)

(Also known as Elvis Presley No. 2)

LPM-1382 

Released: October 19th 1956

Recorded: January 30th, September 1st - 3rd 1956

Studio; RCA Studio 1 - New York, Radio Recorders Studio 1, Hollywood

Genre: Rock and roll, rockabilly, rhythm and blues, country

Length: 29 minutes 47 seconds 

Label: RCA Victor

 

Tracklist

A1     Rip It Up
A2     Love Me
A3     When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again
A4     Long Tall Sally
A5     First In Line
A6     Paralyzed
B1     So Glad You're Mine
B2     Old Shep
B3     Ready Teddy
B4     Anyplace Is Paradise
B5     How's The World Treating You
B6     How Do You Think I Feel

Elvis / Elvis Presley No. 2 is the second studio album by Elvis, released by RCA Victor in October 1956 in mono.
Recording sessions took place on September 1, September 2, and September 3 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, with
one track left over from the sessions for Presley's debut album at the RCA Victor recording studios on January 30
in New York. It spent four weeks at #1 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart that year, making Presley the
first recording artist to have both albums go straight to number one in the same year. It was certified Gold on
February 17, 1960, and Platinum on August 10, 2011, by the Recording Industry Association of America.

It was originally released in UK in 1957 as Elvis Presley No. 2 with a different front cover
(on His Master's Voice CLP1105). It was also catalogued as Rock 'n' Roll No. 2.

Content

RCA Victor producer Steve Sholes had commissioned two new songs for this batch of sessions, "Paralyzed" from Otis
Blackwell and "Love Me" from Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the authors respectively of both sides of Presley's
summer hit of 1956, "Don't Be Cruel" backed with "Hound Dog," the first record to top all three of the Billboard
singles charts then in existence: pop, R&B, and C&W. Presley decided upon three Little Richard covers, and
selected three new country ballads respectively from regular Everly Brothers writer Boudleaux Bryant and guitarist
Chet Atkins, Sun staff musician and engineer Stan Kesler, and Aaron Schroeder and Ben Weisman. The latter two,
contracted to Hill and Range, the publishing company of Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, would write dozens
of songs for Presley through the 1960s. Also included was the song with which Presley won second prize at a fair
in Tupelo when he was ten years old, Red Foley's 1941 country song, "Old Shep."

With all but one track on the album recorded at a single set of sessions over three days in September, Presley and
his touring band of Scotty Moore, Bill Black, and D.J. Fontana, along with The Jordanaires, managed to recreate the
loose feel from Sun Studio days, mixing rhythm and blues and country and western repertoire items as they had on all
of his Sun singles. They reinforced this effect by including material echoing his very first Sun record: a blues
by Arthur Crudup, author of "That's All Right (Mama);" and a song recorded by bluegrass founder Bill Monroe,
"When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again." The sessions were attended by a few outsiders, namely his current girlfriend
at the time, actress Natalie Wood and actor Nick Adams, both of whom had starred in Rebel Without a Cause, Presley's
favorite James Dean film. Steve Sholes was the RCA man at the session, and handled the paper work and such, but
basically Elvis himself chose the songs, led the session, made all the decisions concerning which take would be the
master and so forth. Thus it would be fair to say that for most practical purposes, Elvis himself at this session and
throughout his career would continue to do most of the things that a regular record producer normally would do.

The piano player on this album is not registered in the official RCA archives, except for the song "So Glad You're Mine",
which was cut at a previous session in New York. In a 1984 interview conducted by Jan-Erik Kjeseth, Gordon Stoker of the
Jordanaires stated that he was the piano player on most of the songs on the album. In an article written by Kjeseth for
the Flaming Star magazine, it was argued that the piano player on "Love Me", "Old Shep" and "How's the World Treating You"
was Elvis himself. Ernst Jørgensen, writer of Elvis Presley - A Study in Music, seems to be of the same opinion.
Kjeseth also claims that Elvis played the piano on the single from this session, "Playing for Keeps". Again, Jørgensen
seems to be of the same opinion. Gordon Stoker played the piano on "Rip it Up" and "Anyplace is Paradise". RCA first
reissued the original 12-track album on Compact Disc in 1984. This issue, in reprocessed (fake) stereo sound, was quickly
withdrawn and the disc was reissued in original monophonic.
Reissues
RCA reissued an expanded edition of the album in 1999, and again in 2005. For the 1999 reissue, six bonus tracks were
added that were both sides of three singles, altering the running order. Four of the tracks were chart-toppers:
"Love Me Tender", "Too Much", and the double-sided classic "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel". Bonus tracks recorded
on July 2 at RCA Studios in New York City, in September at Radio Recorders, and "Love Me Tender" at 20th Century Fox
Stage One during the sessions for Love Me Tender. The 2005 reissue was remastered using DSD technology with the six
bonus tracks appended in standard fashion, in the following order: "Playing for Keeps", "Too Much", "Don't Be Cruel",
"Hound Dog", "Any Way You Want Me (That's How I Will Be)", and "Love Me Tender". This acclaimed latest remaster was
the handiwork of audio restorer Kevan Budd, who also drew praise for his 2005 remasters of Presley's first and third
albums (respectively, Elvis Presley and Loving You) as well as the 2004 upgrade known as Elvis at Sun. These rock-n'roll
tapes are believed to have been among those ignobly dumped into the Delaware River near RCA Victor's Camden, New Jersey
plant in the late 1950s. 

 

Album Of The Week 17

As with every other album of the week, all we ask you to do, it pull out your vinyl, 8 track cassette, cassette, or CD.
Or even stream it from your favourite streaming site, or even download it, whichever is your preference to listen, just give the album a listen, then give us your thoughts and feedback.
We would love you to actually listen to the album, just to refresh your memory.
Thanks.

 Fun In Acapulco

LPM-2756

Released: November 1st 1963

Recorded: January and May 1963

Genre: Mexican music, Pop

Length: 29 minutes 30 seconds 

Label: RCA Victor

Fun in Acapulco is the nineteenth album by Elvis, released on RCA Victor Records in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 2756, in November 1963 – the November 1 date is disputed. It is the soundtrack to the 1963 film of the same name starring Presley. Recording sessions took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood on January 22 and 23, 1963; and at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 26 and 27, 1963. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart.  The album, along with the accompanying film, would be Presley's last release before the arrival of Beatlemania.

Content

The third of his tropical "travelogue films" for Paramount Pictures after Blue Hawaii and Girls! Girls! Girls! finds Elvis frolicing in Mexico. The standard stable of songwriters for Presley delivered songs to match, with titles like "Marguerita," "El Toro," "You Can't Say No In Acapulco," and "The Bullfighter Was A Lady." Included as well was the 1937 standard "Guadalajara" by Pepe Guizar. With the change from the normal routine, and with the addition of trumpet players Rudolph Loera and Anthony Terran, Presley engaged the material with greater enthusiasm than on recent soundtrack outings. Four of these songs would be included on the 1995 compilation Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II: the title track, "Mexico," "Marguerita," and the song released as the lead single, "Bossa Nova Baby".
"Bossa Nova Baby" arrived in stores one month prior to the soundtrack, coupled with the track "Witchcraft" by rhythm and blues songwriter and arranger Dave Bartholomew and a hit for The Spiders in 1956. The fact that the bossa nova craze of the 1960s was a Brazilian phenomenon rather than a Mexican one mattered little, as the single peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as reaching as high as the 20th spot on the R&B singles chart.
Compensating for the short ten-track It Happened at the World's Fair album, Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, insisted on making Fun in Acapulco a good value. Two additional tracks, "Love Me Tonight" and "Slowly But Surely" were pulled from the aborted album sessions of May 1963, and added here to bring the running order up to thirteen tracks.
In 2003 Fun in Acapulco was reissued on the Follow That Dream label in an edition that contained the original album along with numerous alternate takes



Tracklisting 

A1 Fun in Acapulco 2:30

A2 Vino, dinero y amor 1:54

A3 Mexico 1:59

A4 El toro 2:41

A5 Marguerita 2:40

A6 The Bullfighter Was a Lady 2:02

A7 (There's) No Room to Rumba in a Sports Car 1:50

B1 I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here 2:51

B2 Bossa Nova Baby 1:59

B3 You Can't Say No in Acapulco 1:53

B4 Guadalajara 2:42

B5 Love Me Tonight 1:58

B6 Slowly But Surely 2:11