Elvis Presley discography (LPs: 1966 – 1970)

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During the latter part of the sixties and into the beginning of the new decade, the Elvis Presley discography saw a sea change in his output. Of the seven LPs from Frankie and Johnny in March 1966 to Speedway in May 1968, six were insipid, soundtrack albums of ever-decreasing quality. Just one album, How Great Thou Art, allowed him to express himself with tracks he actually wanted to sing.

After Speedway and beginning with his Comeback Special, Presley reasserted himself as a serious artist, playing catch up with the developments of the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Neil Diamond, Paul Simon and many others. He became an innovator once again.

*note that the LP track listings are those on the original American releases

Frankie and Johnny (March 1, 1966, RCA Victor, LPM/LSP-3553)

Presley’s twelfth soundtrack album, Frankie and Johnny, was recorded at Radio Recorders in Hollywood between May 12 and 14, 1965.

Creative tensions within Presley himself, never mind any collaborators, were known to be at the fore in this work. It has been alleged that he recorded his vocals away from the musicians and that tantrums were thrown in the studio.

Almost universally, it was panned by the critics. However, it still sold in sufficient quantity to reach number 25 on the Billboard LP chart. Fans though, were deserting Presley.

Does it have any redeeming features as a historical document? Or are you an Elvis completionist? Why don’t you buy a vinyl copy to complete your collection?

Side 1	Side 2
Frankie and Johnny Come Along Petunia, the Gardner’s Daughter Chesay What Every Woman Lives For Look Out, Broadway	Beginner’s Luck Down By the Riverside / When the Saints Go Marching In Shout It Out Hard Luck Please Don’t Stop Loving Me Everybody Come Aboard

Paradise, Hawaiian Style (June 1, 1966, RCA Victor, LPM/LSP-3643)

Another soundtrack album, his thirteenth, Paradise, Hawaiian Style was recorded over sessions in July and August 1965. Again, Radio Recorders in Hollywood was the location.

Presley’s quality control was virtually non-existent by now and there are songs recorded and then included on the album that perhaps only months earlier he would have rejected. Of course, the work was always completed, but resentfully, almost petulantly.

Of the ten tracks on the album, all bar Sand Castles were used in the film. Sand Castles itself was recorded during the sessions and included on the album to bring the track listing up to ten, which even then brought the album in at a measly 22 minutes.

No singles were released from this album. However, Love Letters, recorded in May 1966, was released as a single a week after this album. This was Elvis performing an Elvis-type song, not the formulaic nonsense of his soundtrack albums.

Side 1	Side 2
Paradise, Hawaiian Style Queenee Wahine’s Papaya Scratch My Back (Then I’ll Scratch Yours) Drums Of the Island Datin’	A Dog’s Life House Of Sand Stop Where You Are This Is My Heaven Sand Castles

Spinout (October 24, 1966, RCA Victor, LPM/LSP-3702)

Here we go again, Presley’s fourteenth soundtrack album. The cold wind of change meant that soundtrack albums were just not selling in sufficient quantities. This may be the album, during the making of which, Presley and his entourage seemed to be adjusting their strategy.

Consequently, this album contains a total of twelve tracks, nine from the film, and three bonus tracks. The film tracks were recorded at Radio Recorders in February 1966. The additional three bonus tracks (including Bob Dylan’s Tomorrow Is a Long Time*) were recorded in May and Jun 1966 during sessions for his next album which, at last, was not going to be a soundtrack album.

Spinout reached number 18 on the Billboard Top LPs Chart. The title track, b/w All That I Am reached only number 40 upon its release as a single ahead of the album.

*In fact, Dylan was highly enamoured with Presley’s rendition of the song, calling it “the one recording I treasure the most.”

Side 1	Side 2
Stop, Look and Listen Adam and Evil All That I Am Never Say Yes Am I Ready Beach Shack	Spinout Smörgåsbord I’ll Be Back Tomorrow Is a Long Time Down In the Alley I’ll Remember You

How Great Thou Art (February 20, 1967, RCA Victor, LPM/LSP-3758)

At last! With his first non-soundtrack album since 1961’s Something for Everybody, Presley finally managed to escape the treadmill of producing soundtracks.

In marked contrast to the declining commercial performance of those soundtrack albums, Presley’s first gospel album, His Hand in Mine (1960) was still selling well nearly seven years after its release. Furthermore, Crying in the Chapel, a track recorded during the sessions for His Hand in Mine had been a number 3 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965.

All this had prompted a change of heart from RCA and (Colonel Tom) Parker in response to Presley’s agitating to release another gospel album. Accordingly, sessions were booked for the end of May 1966 at RCA Studio B in Nashville.

The result was twelve tracks which, along with Crying in the Chapel formed the thirteen-track, thirty-one-minute album How Great Thou Art. Side One contains slower numbers whilst the second side has faster-paced tracks.

Side 1	Side 2
How Great Thou Art In the Garden Somebody Bigger Than You and I Farther Along Stand By Me Without Him	So High Where Could I Go but to The Lord By And By If The Lord Wasn’t Walking by My Side Run On Where No One Stands Alone Crying In the Chapel

Double Trouble (June 1, 1967, RCA Victor, LPM/LSP-3787)

After May’s excitement of recording How Great Thou Art, June 1966 saw Presley’s return to the abject drudgery of recording his fifteenth soundtrack album. It was also a return west to Radio Recorders and MGM Studios to record.

Presley’s discontent boiled over at the point in the recording sessions when he was required to sing Old MacDonald on the night of Wednesday, June 29. By all accounts, he had stormed out of the studio after finishing a 1m 27s recording of Long Legged Girl (with the Short Dress On), the only track from the album released as a single.

In total, just nine songs were recorded for the film. At just over seventeen minutes, more songs were needed to pad the album out to a more respectable length. In the event, It Won’t Be Long, which was recorded for the film but not used was added along with three additional tracks from May 1963’s ‘lost album’ sessions at Studio B in Nashville.

Of the three tracks, Never Ending and Blue River had already been released as b-sides to the singles Such a Night and Tell Me Why, respectively. But at least Parker had an album almost 23 minutes in length.

Side 1	Side 2
Double Trouble Baby, If You’ll Give Me All of Your Love Could I Fall in Love Long Legged Girl (with the Short Dress On) City By Night Old MacDonald	I Love Only One Girl There Is So Much World to See It Won’t Be Long Never Ending Blue River What Now, What Next, Where To

Clambake (October 23, 1967, RCA Victor, LPM/LSP-3893)

Another day, another soundtrack album. Presley’s total dissatisfaction with his lot was to reach its apogee with Clambake. The 1960s had almost passed him by. In 1967 he no longer sold records in the huge numbers he had in the late fifties and early sixties.

Plus, he was an innovator no more. The Beatles released their seminal album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967 in response to the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds of a year earlier. Jimi Hendrix and his Experience released two epochal albums, Are You Experienced? and Axis: Bold as Love.

Here was Presley, recording garbage songs for equally garbage films. The initial sessions in Nashville in February 1967 resulted in just seven tracks being deemed suitable for release, with only six appearing in the film. Consequently, after a session in Hollywood had been called off in August, it was back to Nashville in September.

It was now that Presley at last asserted himself. He picked songs that he wanted to sing, not songs that would fit the formula. So, after two days in the studio, You Don’t Know Me was added to the film and the album along with Guitar Man, Big Boss Man, Singing Tree and Just Call Me Lonesome which were added just to the album.

So, there are a couple of better tracks on Clambake. You could buy a vinyl copy of the album and find out for yourself.

Side 1	Side 2
Guitar Man Clambake Who Needs Money? A House That Has Everything Confidence Hey, Hey, Hey	You Don’t Know Me The Girl I Never Loved How Can You Lose What You Never Had Big Boss Man Singing Tree Just Call Me Lonesome

Speedway (May 20, 1968, RCA Victor, LPM/LSP-3989)

There was the beginning of a Presley pushback with his previous soundtrack album. However, judging by the fact that Speedway is yet another of the type, it’s not immediately obvious that his pushback had had any real impact.

History tells us though, that as well as being his seventeenth full soundtrack album, it would also be his last. Speedway was such a stinker that at last, the soundtrack album concept was finally laid to rest. You can see why. Speedway sold less than 100,000 copies and reached a sickly position of number 82 on the Billboard LP chart.

Eight of the songs included on the album were recorded at MGM Studios on June 20 and 21, 1967. Western Union was taken from the May 1963 sessions at RCA Studio B in Nashville. Mine came from an additional session in September 1967 and Goin’ Home was recorded in January 1968, also at RCA B. The first track on side two, Nancy Sinatra’s Your Groovy Self, is the first (and only) track Presley did not record included on an album in his name.

This was the last of Presley’s albums to be released on both mono and stereo due to the mono recording standard being retired by the music industry. As a result, mono copies of Speedway attract great interest from collectors.

Side 1	Side 2
Speedway There Ain’t Nothing Like a Song Your Time Hasn’t Come Yet Baby Who Are You (Who Am I) He’s Your Uncle Not Your Dad Let Yourself Go	Your Groovy Self Five Sleepy Heads Western Union Mine Goin’ Home Suppose

Elvis, aka TV Special, Comeback Special, or NBC-TV Special (November 22, 1968, RCA Victor, LPM- 4088)

This album was, strictly speaking, a soundtrack. However, it was nothing like any of his earlier soundtracks. It was a true labour of love for Presley.

Finally released from the pain of recording formulaic songs to promote his formulaic films, this was Presley back doing what he did best; recording the songs he liked best.

Recording studio and TV studio sessions were held during June 1968 at Western Studios in Hollywood and NBC’s Studio 4 in Burbank, CA. The final product, coming in at forty-four minutes was the shot in the arm that Presley’s career needed. It reached number 8 on the Billboard LPs chart, after Speedway’s desperate showing of number 82.

Side one of the album features two individual tracks, Trouble and Guitar Man, recorded at Western Studios plus a 14-minute, 9-song medley recorded in the TV studio. Side two contains three shorter medleys plus the two singles from the album, If I Can Dream, and Memories. The former reached number 12 – his best-performing single since 1965.

Truly, this is an epic album. It is as if Elvis was venting the frustration of the past few years wasted on crummy soundtrack albums. Here is back to his visceral, enthusiastic, joyful best. You could do worse than buy yourself a vinyl copy and check it out.

Side 1	Side 2
Trouble Guitar Man Lawdy Miss Clawdy Baby, What You Want Me to Do Dialogue Heartbreak Hotel Hound Dog All Shook Up Can’t Help Falling in Love Jailhouse Rock Love Me Tender	Where Could I Go but to The Lord Up Above My Head Saved Dialogue Blue Christmas One Night Memories Nothingville Dialogue Big Boss Man Guitar Man Little Egypt Trouble Guitar Man If I Can Dream

From Elvis in Memphis (June 17, 1969, RCA Victor LSP-4155)

During the recording of Elvis, he had confided to the show’s producer, Steve Binder, that he was no longer happy singing songs that he didn’t believe in. This was after Binder had convinced Presley to perform songs from his earlier playbook, rather than the Christmas carols Parker had planned for him to sing.

Consequently, Presley decided that his next album would be a return to his roots. Over a series of sessions between January 13 and February 20, 1969, an album of twelve tracks was produced from a total of thirty-four recorded. It sounded as fresh and vibrant as anything he had recorded to date.

Part of the reason was his final release from the drudgery of soundtrack production, but also, he had been persuaded to record at a different recording studio, American Sound Studio in Memphis. Accordingly, he had also utilised the studio’s house band, the Memphis Boys.

Accordingly, this is an epic album. Better than Elvis? Possibly, but why don’t you buy a copy and decide for yourself?

Just one single, In The Ghetto, was released from the album. A song of social commentary totally out of character with Presley’s usual material, In The Ghetto reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, his first top ten hit in four years.

Side 1	Side 2
Wearin’ That Loved on Look Only The Strong Survive I’ll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms) Long Black Limousine It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin’ I’m Movin’ On	Power Of My Love Gentle On My Mind After Loving You True Love Travels on A Gravel Road Any Day Now In The Ghetto

From Memphis to Vegas – From Vegas to Memphis (October 14, 1969, RCA Victor LSP-6020)

Feeling liberated and wanting to build upon the momentum of From Elvis in Memphis, Presley’s eleventh studio album and his second live recording was his first double LP.

The first two sides were recorded at the International Hotel in Las Vegas on August 24, 25 and 26, 1969 which themselves formed part of Presley’s month-long residency at the venue. Side one consists of tracks such as Blue Suede Shoes, All Shook Up and Hound Dog from his fifties repertoire along with R ‘n B standards such as Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode.

Side two has more up-to-date material such as In The Ghetto, Suspicious Minds
and Can’t Help Falling in Love, plus a cover of the Bee Gee’s Words.

Sides three and four take ten tracks from the 34 recorded at American Studios in January and February which were not included on From Elvis in Memphis. There is some element of rehashing with The Fair’s Moving On and You’ll Think of Me having already seen the light of day as b-sides.

Side 1	Side 2
Blue Suede Shoes Johnny B Goode All Shook Up Are You Lonesome Tonight Hound Dog I Can’t Stop Loving You My Babe	Mystery Train – Tiger Man Words In The Ghetto Suspicious Minds Can’t Help Falling in Love
Side 3	Side 4
Inherit The Wind This Is the Story Stranger in My Own Home Town Little Bit of Green And The Grass Won’t Pay No Mind	Do You Know Who I Am From a Jack to a King Fair’s Moving On You’ll Think of Me Without Love (There Is Nothing)

On Stage, February 1970 (June 23, 1970, RCA Victor LSP-4362)

Presley’s first album in the seventies continued with the theme of releasing recordings from live shows. Again, the venue was the International Hotel in Las Vegas. The tracks chosen were tracks which Presley had hitherto not been associated with.

Two tracks, covers of Del Shannon’s Runaway and the Beatles’ Yesterday, were taken from the August 1969 shows that had provided the material for the first two sides of From Memphis to Vegas – From Vegas to Memphis.

The remaining tracks were recorded in February 1970. They include Eddie Miller’s Release Me, Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline, and John Fogerty’s Proud Mary. The Wonder of You, written by Thomas Baker Knight Jr. was released as a single ahead of the album’s release reached number one in the UK and Ireland, as well as making the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100.

Side 1	Side 2
See See Rider Release Me Sweet Caroline Runaway The Wonder of You	Polk Salad Annie Yesterday Proud Mary Walk A Mile in My Shoes Let It Be Me

Elvis in Person at the International Hotel (October 1, 1970, RCA Victor LPM/LSP-4428)

Essentially, this is a reissue of sides 1 and 2 of the 1969 double album From Memphis to Vegas – From Vegas to Memphis.

Side 1	Side 2
Blue Suede Shoes Johnny B Goode All Shook Up Are You Lonesome Tonight Hound Dog I Can’t Stop Loving You My Babe	Mystery Train – Tiger Man Words In The Ghetto Suspicious Minds Can’t Help Falling in Love

Back in Memphis (October 1, 1970, RCA Victor LPM/LSP-4429)

Essentially, this is a reissue of sides 3 and 4 of the 1969 double album From Memphis to Vegas – From Vegas to Memphis.

Side 1	Side 2
Inherit The Wind This Is the Story Stranger In My Own Home Town Little Bit of Green And The Grass Won’t Pay No Mind	Do You Know Who I Am From A Jack to A King Fair’s Moving On You’ll Think of Me Without Love (There Is Nothing)

That’s the Way It Is (November 11, 1970, RCA Victor LSP-4445)

Presley’s twelfth studio album is a mixture of eight studio tracks with an additional four recorded in concert, once again, at the International Hotel, Las Vegas. It reached a high of number 21 on the Billboard LPs chart.

The studio tracks were recorded on June 4, 5, 6 and 7, 1970 at RCA Studio B in Nashville. The four live tracks were recorded on August 11 and 12, 1970. The tracks include covers of tracks that others had big hits with such as You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me, originally by Dusty Springfield; You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’, originally by the Righteous Brothers and Just Can’t Help Believin’, originally by B.J. Thomas.

The LP also includes a cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water. On this album, is a studio version. However, Presley’s rendition at one of his August 1970 shows, attended by Paul Simon prompted Simon to declare that “… we should all give up now.”

Three tracks were released as singles, I’ve Lost You (number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100), You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me (number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100), and Just Can’t Help Believin’ (UK number 6, not released in the US).

Side 1	Side 2
Just Can’t Help Believin’ Twenty Days and Twenty Nights How The Web Was Woven Patch It Up Mary In the Morning You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me	You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ I’ve Lost You Just Pretend Stranger In The Crowd The Next Step Is Love Bridge Over Troubled Water

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