Elvis Presley - Duets (1969)

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. 

Track listing    

 
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)

07 You’re The Boss (with Ann-Margret from 'Viva Las Vegas' 1964)

08 Today Tomorrow And Forever (with Ann-Margret from 'Viva Las Vegas' 1964)
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)

Elvis Presley - I'm Leavin' (1971)

For this year's Record Store Day, a limited edition Elvis Presley album was released called 'I'm Leavin'', consisting of the best of his folk and country recordings from 1966 to 1973. It included masters from Elvis' session at RCA Victor's Studio B in Nashville from May 1971, where during the recording of some gospel and holiday songs, he taped a number of contemporary folk tunes. The session has attained legendary status over the years, and although some of the songs did eventually turn up, randomly scattered onto subsequent releases over the following few years, there are still some that are unheard. So while it's great to hear five of those songs on the Record Store Day release, I feel that they missed an opportunity there, as they could have released an album consisting of just the songs recorded in Nashville in 1971. As they didn't, then I'll have to, and so this it what the RSD album should have been, with all of the tracks taken from the May 1971 session. I've edited a couple of the tracks, but mostly these are just as they were recorded, and even though I'm not that much of an Elvis fan (heresy, I know, but I love the 1956 stuff and not much else) I do really like this album, and that has to be down to the superb selection of songs which were chosen to cover.

Track listing

01 I'm Leavin'
02 Early Morning Rain
03 I'm Still Here
04 Until It's Time For You To Go
05 Help Me Make It Through The Night
06 Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
07 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
08 It's Only Love
09 I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen
10 Amazing Grace
11 (That's What You Get) For Lovin' Me
12 I Will Be True