• Source: Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II

      • Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II is a two-disc compilation of studio master recordings by American singer and musician Elvis Presley during the decade of the 1960s, released in 1995 on RCA Records, catalogue number 66601-2. It also includes a booklet with session details and an essay by Susan M. Doll.


      Contents


      The set comprises a selection of recordings made by Presley during the decade specifically at a session for the soundtrack of a feature film, of which Presley made 27 during the 1960s. Excluded are all other studio recordings from the decade, as well as those for his 1968 television special and the 1969 live recordings. These soundtrack songs, of which 211 were released in Presley's lifetime, originally appeared in a variety of formats: on 15 full-length long-playing albums, five EPs, and numerous singles. Of the 211, 23 were released on later compilations, both standard and budget, while two tracks were used to bring up the running times respectively of Something for Everybody and Pot Luck. All of Elvis' 1960s movies are represented by at least one song in this set with the exception of Tickle Me, its EP soundtrack consisting of five previously issued studio recordings, all of which were included on the box set first volume of the Essential '60s Masters.
      The two discs present the studio masters in rough chronological session order. Two previously unreleased masters appear: a version of the Eddy Arnold song "You Don't Know Me" recorded during the sessions for the movie Clambake; and an alternate take of the song "Follow That Dream" as the stereo master for the original has been lost, and the compilers opted not to use the surviving mono master. The songs "Can't Help Falling in Love" and "Rock-A-Hula Baby" were released as, respectively, the A-side and b-side of a single following the release of the Blue Hawaii album, and went to #2 and #23 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. "Puppet on a String" appeared as a single seven months after the release of the Girl Happy soundtrack, backed with "Wooden Heart" from G.I. Blues, and peaked at #14 on the singles chart. "Wooden Heart" had also been released as the flipside to a reissue of "Blue Christmas" eleven months earlier.
      RCA issued a box set for the complete non-gospel songs that were not recorded at soundtrack sessions during the decade, From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential 60s Masters, and released a similar two-disc set for the gospel recordings in 1994, Amazing Grace: His Greatest Sacred Performances.


      Purpose


      Generally, Presley's 1960s soundtrack recordings command the least regard among the singer's recorded work. The most successful commercially, such as G.I. Blues and Blue Hawaii, fell in the tradition of the film musical as it had developed through the 1950s, that of the integrated musical where the songs are integral to the story line. Hence, songs such as "Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce" from Girl Happy or "There's No Room to Rhumba in A Sports Car" from Fun in Acapulco made no sense outside of their movies and hardly found a place in Presley's stage act, or could ever be considered classics along the lines of "Jailhouse Rock" or "Love Me Tender", whose films were not integrated musicals. As stated by Susan Doll in the liner notes, the songs from the soundtracks are often judged by inappropriate criteria:

      ...this type of (integrated) musical was standard fare in Hollywood for decades. However, those who criticize Elvis' musical vehicles generally overlook this, preferring to attack the songs as being inferior to his non-movie output...
      This package, collecting 62 of the songs released on record in association with the films, selects in many cases those numbers that can stand outside of their film vehicles, concentrating on title tracks and songs that had been also released as singles immediately prior to the release of the soundtrack.
      All selections recorded at Radio Recorders, Western Recorders, Paramount Recording Stage, MGM Studios, Samuel Goldwyn Studio, United Artist Recorders, Decca Universal Studio, and RCA Studios in Hollywood, RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee. Original recordings produced by Joseph Lilley, Urban Thielmann, Hans Salter, Jeff Alexander, George Stoll, Gene Nelson, Fred Karger, Felton Jarvis, Billy Strange, Hugo Montenegro, Billy Goldenberg, and Leith Stevens. Discographical information below taken from Elvis Presley A Life in Music: The Complete Recording Sessions, by Ernst Jorgensen, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1998.


      Track listing


      Chart positions for LPs from Billboard Top Pop Albums chart; positions for singles and EPs from Billboard Pop Singles chart. By late 1968, Billboard discontinued charting B-sides. Titles listed without corresponding LP/EP designation were initially released as singles only.


      = Disc one

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      = Disc two

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      Personnel




      References

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