Someone recently posed an intriguing question, and that is 'Did Elvis Presley ever record a duet on any of his albums'? I can't say that I was surprised that the answer was no, as I certainly couldn't recall one, but it was pointed out that he did record quite a few duets in his films, and some of them then appeared on the subsequent soundtrack albums. I might be a bit cynical here, but could it be that Colonel Tom thought that if Elvis recorded a duet then he'd have to split the royalties? Whatever the reason, you won't find any duets on his official albums, and so I thought that I should gather up the best of them from the films so that we can hear him sharing the spotlight with a variety of male and female artists. Not every duet from a film is worth more than one hearing, so this isn't a comprehensive collection, but all of these songs are good enough that you won't need to skip any when listening to what turned out to be a very enjoyable album. Three of the best tracks are those with Ann-Margret (who also features on the cover) from 1964's 'Viva Las Vegas', and you can just feel the chemistry between them. His duet with Kitty White from 'King Creole' is the earliest track here, from 1958, and we go right through to his penultimate film in 1969, with 'The Trouble With Girls'. Ray Walker features a couple of times from 1966 and 1967, while the duet with Nancy Sinatra from 1968's 'Speedway' is excellent as well, even though she only appears at the end. So enjoy this album of the best of these rarely heard songs from Presley's 60's films.
01 Crawfish (with Kitty White from 'King Creole' 1958)
02 Pocketful Of Rainbows (with Juliet Prowse from 'G.I. Blues' 1960)
03 Aloha Oe (with The Surfers from 'Blue Hawaii' 1961)
04 How Would You Like To Be (with Vicki Tiu from 'It Happened At The World's Fair' 1963)
05 Happy Ending (with Joan O'Brien from 'It Happened At The World’s Fair' 1963)
06 Mexico (with Larry Domasin from 'Fun In Acapulco' 1963)
09 The Lady Loves Me (with Ann-Margret from 'Viva Las Vegas' 1964)
10 Spring Fever (with Shelley Fabares from 'Girl Happy' 1965)
11 Frankie And Johnny (with Eileen Wilson & Ray Walker from 'Frankie And Johnny' 1966)
12 Scratch My Back (with Marianne Hill from 'Paradise Hawaiian Style' 1966)
13 Who Needs Money (with Ray Walker from 'Clambake' 1967)
14 There Ain't Nothing Like A Song (with Nancy Sinatra from 'Speedway' 1968)
15 Signs Of The Zodiac (with Marilyn Mason from 'The Trouble With Girls' 1969)
This is great and an invite for other intriguing questions.
ReplyDeleteI looked up Vicky Tui. She was a kid when she was cast in "It Happened At The World's Fair', and that was her only movie role, but she grew up to be the First Lady of the state of Hawaii!
ReplyDeleteThe chemistry with Ann=Margret is not surprising - they were having an affair in Hollywood while Priscilla was back home in Graceland.
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