Would love to see you do a whole episode on missed opportunities by RCA and how the albums should have been presented. Kind of like what you did with the Camden albums. Viva Las Vegas, The Lost Album, 67-68 sessions, Standing Room Only. Im sure there is more. Love the content guys. Thank you for everything you do.
That was a lot of fun Guys!!! I agree, what the hell was RCA thinking of with some of those single releases. For me the strangest and most up setting release was putting It Hurts me (one of if not the BEST mid sixties recordings by Elvis) on the B side to Kissin Cousins. It Hurts me could been Elvis biggest selling record of that whole period if released and promoted correctly!!!! I cant think of a stronger performance?
Thanks so much, Ken! Yeah, we love the sessions (obviously, lol). And it's definitely a head-scratcher; I don't know what the heck they were thinking. On a stronger performance, that's a good question! We'll have to think on that!
Hi boys ! This item is F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C !! The Elvis sound of 63 was amazing ! I think that the low sales of "Pot Luck" and the good ones of "Blue Hawaii" and "Girls Girls Girls" they made the Colonel and RCA decided to replace this album with "Elvis Gold Records Vol 3 " in September of 1963 and the good sales of this brought the editions of previous songs like "Such a Night ",Ain't That Loving You Baby" and "Tell me Why ",is what occurs to me ! Thank You and TCB !👑👍
Thank you very much John and Jamie for another most fascinating discussion I have always thought this would of made a marvellous album . Just as I have always thought the Tickle Me EP is one of the better soundtracks from this period which I think used at least 3 of the tracks from these sessions.And watching Elvis sing these numbers in Tickle Me that date back to 1960 works quite well and is a pleasure to watch as they are all very good Elvis songs . I would of loved to have seen a Tickle Me Album I’m sure they could of come up with another 4 songs from this period and how amazing would the cover have looked if they used that great shot of Elvis just off the bus with guitar and saddle in hand at the start of the movie. I think that shot was used on a CD I have called Great Country Songs . And also speaking of the Bus and Tickle Me it has one of the very best openings of all Elvis movies as he sits on the moving bus looking out the window singing It’s A Long Lonely Highway how cool is that ? I was also thinking if saving money by re-using old material of this quality compared to the typical movie material was Colonel Tom Parkers idea perhaps in some strange way he has contributed artistically on this rare occasion in a positive way to an Elvis project how bizarre and thanks once again guys you were fantastic cheers Carl .
Yes I see your point of view I had forgotten that but back then in 1965 and with the added let’s say 4 other released tracks sure would of liked them all in the one place instead of getting out various singles and albums to listen to the bonus tracks . And that is providing that I had of bought all of those albums and singles already . Thank you very much for your reply cheers Carl .
Hi, Carl! Thank you so much! And I can see how a Tickle Me album would have been cool (honestly surprised it wasn't made into a Camden/budget album later, now that I think about it), but I think the idea (besides saving money by not recording new songs) was to use the movie to advertise the other albums where the songs were - that way people would potentially buy multiple albums instead of just one.
It was blasphemous the way RCA treated Elvis’ music in the 60s. Placing good songs as filler in garbage soundtracks. Poor Elvis. The soundtrack 60’s are why Elvis lost respect and credibility in the music industry that sadly one could argue has never fully recovered from to this day.
Yeah, it was definitely crazy - sometime in a future episode, John and I will have to re-discuss something we talked about recently: what would have happened if it had gone differently? We came up with some interesting answers, actually!
Hi, Paul! That's true, but I think there are specific reasons for his going along with things that can be hard to see from the outside - ones that I can certainly attest to as a recording artist, myself. It's a very interesting period of transition, and we'll have to talk more about it!
A little "late" but the cover photo of the booklet is from the European release as stated by someone here, artwork included on the cover was done by the GREAT Ger Rijff. Books published by him through Tutti Frutti productions include:Fire in the sun, Florida close up and many more. I really enjoy these reviews. 👍
Great reviews again guys, who hasn't made their own For the Asking album? Off topic why hasn't FTD ever made these releases more available on Amazon etc? Cheers JnJ. ❤
Hi, Denny! Absolutely - and as for why FTD isn't available more places online, I think (at least at one time) they made it available to fan clubs because that was what the bootleggers did, and this was meant as an official revenue stream for them - but that might be wrong. I heard that waaay back in 1999 when the label first started.
Oh, I'd love it if they were on streaming! Though when we get to certain sessions, like the U.S. Male sessions, it's probably better that some aren't as they'd be grossly misunderstood.
"How Great Thou Art" is Elvis' Sgt.Peppers/Pet Sounds. I totally agree with John, that HGTA was the beginning of Elvis' comeback as an artist. I think the Colonel sabotaged VLV because he didn't want Elvis being around Ann-Margret and her management. Elvis might have started comparing management styles.
Absolutely - HGTA was him finding and redefining himself again. Interesting point on Ann and her management, as I'd heard Elvis had wanted the Col to help her. I'll have to look further into that, but you might be onto something!
I just bought this one, along with the His Hand in Mine Sessions. The sound is great- a little smoother on the top end than the 2008 classic album FTD, so I could see some preferring that. I'm going to experiment with the "lost album" order though, between the 1990 and 2008 - presenting it in release order here is good historically, but not very cohesive, IMO!
That cover of the slipcase is absolutely fantastic. I've had this release for a few weeks now and it's truly a great release. Thanks for these reviews.
It wouldn't have been a stretch to make it an album in conjunction with the '64 cuts, as they did the same with Pot Luck (1961/62). That said, I'm surprised a proposed album master was seemingly never prepared at the time.
@@EAPSociety⚡⚡ I agree and That's when I start analyzing how many strands of hair are hanging but only an Elvis nerd would take the time..🙄 BTW: I think this would have been a great Album I love these songs but in my personal opinion some of these songs needed more work.
That's why this is the home for Elvis nerds! 😁 And possibly on the material, though I think more songs like "Devil In Disguise" to pump up the album, too.
Another great episode, but I’m gonna have to disagree on one aspect of this. While the sessions box is wonderful and in terms of sonics, is great, but I still think that the 1990, “The Lost Album”/“For The Asking” mastered by Dick Baxter is the best sounding version of these sessions. No doubt. And of course, we always have to give a shout out to the wonderful, Bill Porter for being at the board and recording those wonderful 3 and 2 track masters.
Hi, Francesco! I thought I'd replied to this already, but I'll have to go back and do another comparison - Dick Baxter was definitely one heck of an engineer - and Bill Porter was a genius with recording!
The booklet photo was used on a German RCA release LP called "For The Asking" which was released in 1990. Do I actually have an ELVIS LP that John and Jamie don't have? ;-) I agree with Jamie that the material here is stronger than Pot Luck in many ways. They could have made a super LP if they'd combined the strong tracks from Pot Luck and this.
Hey, Col! It's very possible that you do have one we don't, lol, we're not a big with vinyl collection as of yet, having grown up as CD fanatics, 🤣 But yeah, this and the "Tomorrow Is A Long Time" tracklists are too good nit to be albums in their own right.
But... "For The Asking" was not only released on vinyl in 1990 but also on CD. I bought the CD day one, because I was so excited for finally getting an official release of the "Lost Album". For the time it came out it also sounded pretty good. And I like the running order of it way more than that of the FTD classic album. They took the original cover of that release for the complete sessions box. Was this not available in the US? I'm surprised.
@oliverhilscher9332 Oh, it was released here, but as "The Lost Album" with tape box imagery all over it. And I say it's possible he has an LP we don't mainly because John and I don't have particularly large LP collections. 😁
The reason why the 1963 album never took shape was because the Col. and RCA went and released “Elvis’ Golden Records, Volume 3” in it’s place, with the logic that a “Hits” package would outperform a new studio release with new music in untested water. Go figure.
Don't know if this has been covered in the comments - that 1st photo was not taken at Chenault's. Spa Guy covered that claim in a video and the picture was actually taken at a dairy queen or similar spot.
Hi, Pablo! Jamie here - that song is "My Society," which I wrote and did the vocals & most instruments on, and John did the guitar. The one verse + chorus that we recorded so far is the first video we put up on the channel, so check that out if you'd like to hear the rest. 😁
