Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II explained

Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II
Type:	Compilation
Artist:	Elvis Presley
Cover:	Commandperformancesset.jpg
Released:	July 18, 1995
Recorded:	April 1960 – March 1969
Genre:	Rock
Label:	RCA Records
Producer:	Ernst Jorgensen Roger Semon
Prev Year:	1994
Next Year:	1995

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.

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.^[1] 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.^[2] 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, .

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...^[3] 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

Track	Song Title	Writer(s)	Time	Recorded	Release Date	Original LP/EP Issue	Catalogue	Chart Peak	Film
1.	"G.I. Blues"		2:37	1960-04-27	1960-10-01	G.I. Blues	LSP 2256	1	G.I. Blues
2.	"Wooden Heart"		2:02	1960-04-28	1960-10-01	G.I. Blues	LSP 2256	1	G.I. Blues
3.	"Shoppin' Around"		2:22	1960-05-06	1960-10-01	G.I. Blues	LSP 2256	1	G.I. Blues
4.	"Doin' the Best I Can"		3:10	1960-04-27	1960-10-01	G.I. Blues	LSP 2256	1	G.I. Blues
5.	"Flaming Star"		2:25	1960-10-07	1961–02	Flaming Star	LPC 128	14	Flaming Star
6.	"Wild in the Country"		1:52	1960-11-07	1961-05-02		47-7880b	26	Wild in the Country
7.	"Lonely Man"		2:43	1960-11-07	1961-02-07		47-7850b	32	Wild in the Country
8.	"Blue Hawaii"		2:34	1961-03-22	1961-10-01	Blue Hawaii	LSP 2426	1	Blue Hawaii
9.	"Rock-A-Hula Baby"		1:57	1961-03-23	1961-10-01	Blue Hawaii	LSP 2426	1	Blue Hawaii
10.	"Can't Help Falling In Love"		2:59	1961-03-23	1961-10-01	Blue Hawaii	LSP 2426	1	Blue Hawaii
11.	"Beach Boy Blues"		2:02	1961-03-23	1961-10-01	Blue Hawaii	LSP 2426	1	Blue Hawaii
12.	"Hawaiian Wedding Song"		2:48	1961-03-23	1961-10-01	Blue Hawaii	LSP 2426	1	Blue Hawaii
13.	"Follow That Dream"		1:37	1961-07-02		previously unreleased			Follow That Dream
14.	"Angel"		2:38	1961-07-02	1962–04	Follow That Dream	EPA 4368	15	Follow That Dream
15.	"King of the Whole Wide World"		2:06	1961-10-27	1962–08	Kid Galahad	EPA 4371	30	Kid Galahad
16.	"I Got Lucky"		1:55	1961-10-27	1962–08	Kid Galahad	EPA 4371	30	Kid Galahad
17.	"Girls! Girls! Girls!"		2:31	1962-03-27	1962-11-09	Girls! Girls! Girls!	LSP 2621	3	Girls! Girls! Girls!
18.	"Because of Love"		2:31	1962-03-27	1962-11-09	Girls! Girls! Girls!	LSP 2621	3	Girls! Girls! Girls!
19.	"Return to Sender"		2:06	1962-03-27	1962-10-02	Girls! Girls! Girls!	47-8100	2	Girls! Girls! Girls!
20.	"One Broken Heart for Sale"		1:46	1962-09-22	1963-01-29	World's Fair	47-8134	11	World's Fair
21.	"I'm Falling In Love Tonight"		1:39	1962-09-22	1963-04-10	World's Fair	LSP 2697	53	World's Fair
22.	"They Remind Me Too Much of You"		2:31	1962-09-22	1963-01-29	World's Fair	47-8134b	53	World's Fair
23.	"Fun in Acapulco"		2:28	1963-01-23	1963-11-01	Fun in Acapulco	LSP 2756	3	Fun in Acapulco
24.	"Bossa Nova Baby"		2:02	1963-01-22	1963-10-01	Fun in Acapulco	47-8243	8	Fun in Acapulco
25.	"Marguerita"		2:42	1963-01-22	1963-11-01	Fun in Acapulco	LSP 2756	3	Fun in Acapulco
26.	"Mexico"		1:58	1963-01-22	1963-11-01	Fun in Acapulco	LSP 2756	3	Fun in Acapulco
27.	"Kissin' Cousins"		2:12	1963-09-30	1964-02-10	Kissin' Cousins	47-8307	12	Kissin' Cousins
28.	"One Boy, Two Little Girls"		2:31	1963-09-29	1964-04-02	Kissin' Cousins	LSP 2894	6	Kissin' Cousins
29.	"Once Is Enough"		2:16	1963-09-29	1964-04-02	Kissin' Cousins	LSP 2894	6	Kissin' Cousins
30.	"Viva Las Vegas"		2:20	1963-07-10	1964-04-28	Viva Las Vegas	47-8360b	29	Viva Las Vegas
31.	"What'd I Say"		3:02	1963-08-30	1964-04-28	Viva Las Vegas	47-8360	21	Viva Las Vegas

Disc two

Track	Song Title	Writer(s)	Time	Recorded	Release Date	Original LP/EP Issue	Catalogue	Chart Peak	Film
1.	"Roustabout"		1:56	1964-04-29	1964-10-20	Roustabout	LSP 2999	1	Roustabout
2.	"Poison Ivy League"		2:02	1964-03-02	1964-10-20	Roustabout	LSP 2999	1	Roustabout
3.	"Little Egypt"		2:15	1964-03-02	1964-10-20	Roustabout	LSP 2999	1	Roustabout
4.	"There's a Brand New Day on the Horizon"		2:00	1964-03-03	1964-10-20	Roustabout	LSP 2999	1	Roustabout
5.	"Girl Happy"		2:07	1964-06-10	1965-03-01	Girl Happy	LSP 3338	8	Girl Happy
6.	"Puppet on a String"		2:39	1964-06-10	1965-03-01	Girl Happy	LSP 3338	8	Girl Happy
7.	"Do The Clam"		3:20	1964-06-12	1965-02-09	Girl Happy	47-8500	21	Girl Happy
8.	"Harem Holiday"		2:18	1965-02-26	1965-11-03	Harum Scarum	LSP 3468	8	Harum Scarum
9.	"So Close, Yet So Far (From Paradise)"		3:01	1965-02-25	1965-11-03	Harum Scarum	LSP 3468	8	Harum Scarum
10.	"Frankie and Johnny"		2:32	1965-05-14	1966-03-01	Frankie and Johnny	47-8780	25	Frankie and Johnny
11.	"Please Don't Stop Loving Me"		2:02	1965-05-13	1966-03-01	Frankie and Johnny	47-8780b	45	Frankie and Johnny
12.	"Paradise, Hawaiian Style"		2:37	1965-07-27	1966-06-10	Paradise, Hawaiian Style	LSP 3643	15	Paradise, Hawaiian Style
13.	"This Is My Heaven"		2:34	1965-07-27	1966-06-10	Paradise, Hawaiian Style	LSP 3643	15	Paradise, Hawaiian Style
14.	"Spinout"		2:32	1966-02-17	1966-09-13	Spinout	47-8941	40	Spinout
15.	"All That I Am"		2:15	1966-02-17	1966-09-13	Spinout	47-8941b	41	Spinout
16.	"I'll Be Back"		2:02	1966-02-17	1966-10-31	Spinout	LSP 3643	18	Spinout
17.	"Easy Come, Easy Go"		2:08	1966-09-28	1967–03	Easy Come, Easy Go	EPA 4387		Easy Come, Easy Go
18.	"Double Trouble"		1:38	1966-06-29	1967-06-01	Double Trouble	LSP 3787	47	Double Trouble
19.	"Long Legged Girl"		1:27	1966-06-29	1967-04-28	Double Trouble	47-9115	63	Double Trouble
20.	"Clambake"		2:35	1967-02-22	1967-10-10	Clambake	LSP 3893	40	Clambake
21.	"You Don't Know Me"		2:12	1967-02-21		previously unreleased			Clambake
22.	"Stay Away, Joe"		1:37	1967-10-01	1970–04	Let's Be Friends	CAS 2408	105	Stay Away, Joe
23.	"Speedway"		2:15	1967-06-20	1968-05-01	Speedway	LSP 3989	82	Speedway
24.	"Your Time Hasn't Come Yet Baby"		1:51	1967-06-20	1968-05-21	Speedway	47-9547	72	Speedway
25.	"Let Yourself Go"		2:58	1967-06-21	1968-05-21	Speedway	47-9547b	71	Speedway
26.	"Almost in Love"		3:01	1968-03-07	1968-09-03		47-9610b	95	Live a Little, Love a Little
27.	"A Little Less Conversation"		2:10	1968-03-07	1968-09-03		47-9610	69	Live a Little, Love a Little
28.	"Edge of Reality"		3:33	1968-03-07	1968-11-05		47-9670b		Live a Little, Love a Little
29.	"Charro!"		2:44	1968-10-15	1969-02-25		47-9731b		Charro!
30.	"Clean Up Your Own Backyard"		3:07	1968-10-23	1969-06-17		47-9747	35	The Trouble with Girls
31.	"Change of Habit"		3:18	1969-03-05	1970–04	Let's Be Friends	CAS 2408	105	Change of Habit

Personnel

Elvis Presley – vocals, guitar
Scotty Moore – guitar
Tiny Timbrell – guitar
Howard Roberts – guitar
Hank Garland – guitar
Barney Kessell – guitar
Billy Strange – guitar
Tommy Tedesco – guitar
Chip Young – guitar
Neal Matthews – guitar
Harold Bradley – guitar
Joseph Gibbons – guitar
Neil Levang – guitar
Charles Britz – guitar
Al Casey – guitar
Dennis Budimir – guitar
Mike Deasy – guitar
Jerry Kennedy – guitar
Charlie McCoy – guitar, harmonica
Alvino Rey – steel guitar
Bernal Lewis – steel guitar
Fred Tavares – ukulele
Bernie Lewis – ukulele
Cecil Brower – fiddle
Gordon Terry – fiddle
Floyd Cramer – piano
Dudley Brooks – piano, organ
Don Robertson – piano, organ
Calvin Jackson – piano
Larry Muhoberac – piano
Don Randi – piano
Hoyt Hawkins – tambourine
Bob Moore – double bass, electric bass
Ray Siegel – double bass
Meyer Rubin – double bass
Henry Strzelecki – bass
Larry Knechtel – electric bass
Charles Berghofer – double bass
Max Bennett – bass
Lyle Ritz – bass
D.J. Fontana – drums
Buddy Harman – drums
Frank Bode (aka Uffe Baadh) – drums
Bernie Mattinson – drums
Hal Blaine – drums
Frank Carlson – drums
Kenny Buttrey – drums
Carl O'Brian – drums
John Guerin – drums
Milt Holland – percussion
Victor Feldman – percussion
Emil Radocchia – percussion
Gene Nelson – congas
Jimmie Haskell – accordion
Boots Randolph – saxophone, clarinet
Clifford Scott – saxophone
William Green – saxophone
Steve Douglas – saxophone
Bill Justis – saxophone
Tony Terran – trumpet
Rudolph Loera – trumpet
James Zito – trumpet
Herb Taylor -trombone
Randall Miller – trombone
Rufus Long – flute
Ralph Stobel – oboe
George Fields – harmonica
The Jordanaires – backing vocals
The Surfers – backing vocals
The Mello Men – backing vocals
The Amigos – backing vocals
The Jubilee Four – backing vocals
The Carole Lombard Trio – backing vocals
Millie Kirkham – backing vocals
Dolores Edgin – backing vocals

Notes and References

Jorgensen, Ernst. Elvis Presley, A Life In Music. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998, passim.
Jorgensen, ibid.
Doll, Susan M., Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II insert booklet, p. 16