Elvis Presley - Rare Studio Recordings 1959 (Bootleg)

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Elvis Presley may be the single most important figure in American 20th century popular music. Not necessarily the best, and certainly not the most consistent. But no one could argue with the fact that he was the musician most responsible for popularizing rock & roll on an international level. Viewed in cold sales figures, his impact was phenomenal. Dozens upon dozens of international smashes from the mid-'50s to the mid-'70s, as well as the steady sales of his catalog and reissues since his death in 1977, may make him the single highest-selling performer in history.

More important from a music lover's perspective, however, are his remarkable artistic achievements. Presley was not the very first white man to sing rhythm & blues; Bill Haley predated him in that regard, and there may have been others as well. Elvis was certainly the first, however, to assertively fuse country and blues music into the style known as rockabilly. While rockabilly arrangements were the foundations of his first (and possibly best) recordings, Presley could not have become a mainstream superstar without a much more varied palette that also incorporated pop, gospel, and even some bits of bluegrass and operatic schmaltz here and there. His 1950s recordings established the basic language of rock & roll; his explosive and sexual stage presence set standards for the music's visual image; his vocals were incredibly powerful and versatile. 

Unfortunately, to much of the public, Elvis is more icon than artist. Innumerable bad Hollywood movies, increasingly caricatured records and mannerisms, and a personal life that became steadily more sheltered from real-world concerns (and steadily more bizarre) gave his story a somewhat mythic status. By the time of his death, he'd become more a symbol of gross Americana than of cultural innovation. The continued speculation about his incredible career has sustained interest in his life, and supported a large tourist/entertainment industry, that may last indefinitely, even if the fascination is fueled more by his celebrity than his music. 

Born to a poor Mississippi family in the heart of Depression, Elvis had moved to Memphis by his teens, where he absorbed the vibrant melting pot of Southern popular music in the form of blues, country, bluegrass, and gospel. After graduating from high school, he became a truck driver, rarely if ever singing in public. Some 1953 and 1954 demos, recorded at the emerging Sun label in Memphis primarily for Elvis' own pleasure, helped stir interest on the part of Sun owner Sam Phillips. In mid-1954, Phillips, looking for a white singer with a black feel, teamed Presley with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black. Almost by accident, apparently, the trio hit upon a version of an Arthur Crudup blues tune, "That's All Right Mama," that became Elvis' first single. 

Elvis' five Sun singles pioneered the blend of R&B and C&W that would characterize rockabilly music. For quite a few scholars, they remain not only Elvis' best singles, but the best rock & roll ever recorded. Claiming that Elvis made blues acceptable for the white market is not the whole picture; the singles usually teamed blues covers with country and pop ones, all made into rock & roll (at this point a term that barely existed) with the pulsing beat, slap-back echo, and Elvis' soaring, frenetic vocals. "That's All Right Mama," "Blue Moon of Kentucky," "Good Rockin' Tonight," "Baby Let's Play House," and "Mystery Train" remain core early rock classics. 

The singles sold well in the Memphis area immediately, and by 1955 were starting to sell well to country audiences throughout the South. Presley, Moore, and Black hit the road with a stage show that grew ever wilder and more provocative, Elvis' swiveling hips causing enormous controversy. The move to all-out rock was hastened by the addition of drums. The last Sun single, "I Forgot to Remember Forget"/"Mystery Train," hit number one on the national country charts in late 1955. Presley was obviously a performer with superstar potential, attracting the interest of bigger labels and Colonel Tom Parker, who became Elvis' manager. In need of capital to expand the Sun label, Sam Phillips sold Presley's contract to RCA in late 1955 for 35,000 dollars; a bargain, when viewed in hindsight, but an astronomical sum at the time. 

This is the point where musical historians start to diverge in opinion. For many, the whole of his subsequent work for RCA — encompassing over 20 years — was a steady letdown, never recapturing the pure, primal energy that was harnessed so effectively on the handful of Sun singles. Elvis, however, was not a purist. What he wanted, more than anything, was to be successful. To do that, his material needed more of a pop feel; in any case, he'd never exactly been one to disparage the mainstream, naming Dean Martin as one of his chief heroes from the get-go. At RCA, his rockabilly was leavened with enough pop flavor to make all of the charts, not just the country ones. 

At the beginning, at least, the results were hardly any tamer than the Sun sessions. "Heartbreak Hotel," his first single, rose to number one and, aided by some national television appearances, helped make Elvis an instant superstar. "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" was a number one follow-up; the double-sided monster "Hound Dog"/"Don't Be Cruel" was one of the biggest-selling singles the industry had ever experienced up to that point. Albums and EPs were also chart-toppers, not just in the U.S., but throughout the world. The 1956 RCA recordings, while a bit more sophisticated in production and a bit less rootsy in orientation than his previous work, were still often magnificent, rating among the best and most influential recordings of early rock & roll. 

Elvis' (and Colonel Parker's) aspirations were too big to be limited to records and live appearances. By late 1956, his first Hollywood movie, Love Me Tender, had been released; other screen vehicles would follow in the next few years, Jailhouse Rock being the best. The hits continued unabated, several of them ("Jailhouse Rock," "All Shook Up," "Too Much") excellent, and often benefiting from the efforts of top early rock songwriter Otis Blackwell, as well as the emerging team of Jerry Leiber-Mike Stoller. The Jordanaires added both pop and gospel elements with their smooth backup vocals. 

Yet worrisome signs were creeping in. The Dean Martin influence began rearing his head in smoky, sentimental ballads such as "Loving You"; the vocal swoops became more exaggerated and stereotypical, although the overall quality of his output remained high. And although Moore and Black continued to back Elvis on his early RCA recordings, within a few years the musicians had gone their own ways.

Presley's recording and movie careers were interrupted by his induction into the Army in early 1958. There was enough material in the can to flood the charts throughout his two-year absence (during which he largely served in Germany). When he re-entered civilian life in 1960, his popularity, remarkably, was at just as high a level as when he left. 

One couldn't, unfortunately, say the same for the quality of his music, which was not just becoming more sedate, but was starting to either repeat itself, or opt for operatic ballads that didn't have a whole lot to do with rock. Elvis' rebellious, wild image had been tamed to a large degree as well, as he and Parker began designing a career built around Hollywood films. Shortly after leaving the Army, in fact, Presley gave up live performing altogether for nearly a decade to concentrate on movie-making. The films, in turn, would serve as vehicles to both promote his records and to generate maximum revenue with minimal effort. For the rest of the '60s, Presley ground out two or three movies a year that, while mostly profitable, had little going for them in the way of story, acting, or social value. 

While there were some quality efforts on Presley's early-'60s albums, his discography was soon dominated by forgettable soundtracks, mostly featuring material that was dispensable or downright ridiculous. In time he became largely disinterested in devoting much time to his craft in the studio. The soundtrack LPs themselves were sometimes filled out with outtakes that had been in the can for years (and these, sadly, were often the highlights of the albums). There were some good singles in the early '60s, like "Return to Sender"; once in a while there was even a flash of superb, tough rock, like "Little Sister" or "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame." But by 1963 or so there was little to get excited about, although he continued to sell in large quantities.

The era spanning, roughly, 1962-1967 has generated a school of Elvis apologists, eager to wrestle any kernel of quality that emerged from his recordings during this period. They also point out that Presley was assigned poor material, and assert that Colonel Parker was largely responsible for Presley's emasculation. True to a point, but on the other hand it could be claimed, with some validity, that Presley himself was doing little to rouse himself from his artistic stupor, letting Parker destroy his artistic credibility without much apparent protest, and holing up in his large mansion with a retinue of yes-men that protected their benefactor from much day-to-day contact with a fast-changing world. 

The Beatles, all big Elvis fans, displaced Presley as the biggest rock act in the world in 1964. What's more, they did so by writing their own material and playing their own instruments; something Elvis had never been capable of, or particularly aspired to. They, and the British and American groups the Beatles influenced, were not shy about expressing their opinions, experimenting musically, and taking the reins of their artistic direction into their own hands. The net effect was to make Elvis Presley, still churning out movies in Hollywood as psychedelia and soul music became the rage, seem irrelevant, even as he managed to squeeze out an obscure Dylan cover ("Tomorrow Is a Long Time") on a 1966 soundtrack album.

By 1967 and 1968, there were slight stirrings of an artistic reawakening by Elvis. Singles like "Guitar Man," "Big Boss Man," and "U.S. Male," though hardly classics, were at least genuine rock & roll that sounded better than much of what he'd been turning out for years. A 1968 television special gave Presley the opportunity he needed to reinvent himself as an all-out leather-coated rocker, still capable of magnetizing an audience, and eager to revisit his blues and country roots.

The 1968 album Elvis in Memphis was the first LP in nearly a decade in which Presley seemed cognizant of current trends, as he updated his sounds with contemporary compositions and touches of soul to create some reasonably gutsy late-'60s pop/rock. This material, and 1969 hits like "Suspicious Minds" and "In the Ghetto," returned him to the top of the charts. Arguably, it's been overrated by critics, who were so glad to have him singing rock again that they weren't about to carp about the slickness of some of the production, or the mediocrity of some of the songwriting. 

But Elvis' voice did sound good, and he returned to live performing in 1969, breaking in with weeks of shows in Las Vegas. This was followed by national tours that proved him to still be an excellent live entertainer, even if the exercises often reeked of show-biz extravaganza. (Elvis never did play outside of North America and Hawaii, possibly because Colonel Parker, it was later revealed, was an illegal alien who could have faced serious problems if he traveled abroad.) Hollywood was history, but studio and live albums were generated at a rapid pace, usually selling reasonably well, although Presley never had a Top Ten hit after 1972's "Burning Love." 

Presley's 1970s recordings, like most of his '60s work, are the focus of divergent critical opinion. Some declare them to be, when Elvis was on, the equal of anything he did, especially in terms of artistic diversity. It's true that the material was pretty eclectic, running from country to blues to all-out rock to gospel (Presley periodically recorded gospel-only releases, going all the way back to 1957). At the same time, his vocal mannerisms were often stilted, and the material — though not nearly as awful as that '60s soundtrack filler — sometimes substandard. Those who are not serious Elvis fans will usually find this late-period material to hold only a fraction of the interest of his '50s classics. 

Elvis' final years have been the subject of a cottage industry of celebrity bios, tell-alls, and gossip screeds from those who knew him well, or (more likely) purported to know him well. Those activities are really beyond the scope of a mini-bio such as this, but it's enough to note that his behavior was becoming increasingly instable. His weight fluctuated wildly; his marriage broke up; he became dependent upon a variety of prescription drugs. Worst of all, he became isolated from the outside world except for professional purposes (he continued to tour until the end), rarely venturing outside of his Graceland mansion in Memphis. Colonel Parker's financial decisions on behalf of his client have also come in for much criticism. 

On August 16, 1977, Presley was found dead in Graceland. The cause of death remains a subject of widespread speculation, although it seems likely that drugs played a part. An immediate cult (if cult is the way to describe millions of people) sprang up around his legacy, kept alive by the hundreds of thousands of visitors who make the pilgrimage to Graceland annually. Elvis memorabilia, much of it kitsch, is another industry in his own right. Dozens if not hundreds make a comfortable living by impersonating the King in live performance. And then there are all those Elvis sightings, reported in tabloids on a seemingly weekly basis. 

Although Presley had recorded a mammoth quantity of both released and unreleased material for RCA, the label didn't show much interest in repackaging it with the respect due such a pioneer. Haphazard collections of outtakes and live performances were far rarer than budget reissues and countless repackagings of the big hits. In the CD age, RCA finally began to treat the catalog with some of the reverence it deserved, at long last assembling a box set containing nearly all of the 1950s recordings. Similar, although less exciting, box sets were documenting the 1960s, the 1970s, and his soundtrack recordings. And exploitative reissues of Elvis material continue to appear constantly, often baited with one or two rare outtakes or alternates to entice the completists (of which there are many). In death, as in life, Presley continues to be one of RCA's most consistent earners. Fortunately, with a little discretion, a good Elvis library can be built with little duplication, sticking largely to the most highly recommended selections. 

01.I Got Stung (take 8 - take 20 (pre-song banter) 
02.A Fool Such As I (takes 4-5) 
03.Ain't That Loving You Baby (Medium tempo takes 2-4) 
04.A Big Hunk O' Love (take 2) 
05.A Fool Such As I (takes 6-8) 
06.I Need Your Love Tonight (take 1) 
07.I Got Stung (takes 15-16) 
08.Lawdy Miss Clawdy (take 4) 
09.I Was The One (takes 1-3) 
10.One Sided Love Affair (master take 8 with count-in) 
11.Ain't That Loving You Baby (fast tempo take 8) 
12.I Need Your Love Tonight (takes 11-13) 
13.A Big Hunk O' Love (take 3) 
14.I Got Stung (takes 21-22) 
15.Lawdy Miss Clawdy (take 5) 
16.I Want You, I Need You, I Love You (take 14 with take 5 count-in added) 
17.I Need Your Love Tonight (take 4) 
18.Ain't That Loving You Baby (fast tempo takes 9-10) 
19.I Got Stung (take 11) 
20.I Need Your Love Tonight (take 15) 
21.Lawdy Miss Clawdy (take 6) 
22.I Want You, I Need You, I Love You (take 16) 
23.Ain't That Loving You Baby (fast tempo take 11) 
24.I Got Stung (takes 17-18) 
25.I Need Your Love Tonight (takes 16-17, 8-9) 
26.Lawdy Miss Clawdy (take 1) 
27.A Big Hunk O' Love (take 1)

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Elvis Presley - Loving You (Classic & Great Album US 1957)

Size: 58.6 MB
Bitrate: 256
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Ripped by: ChrisGoesRock
Artwork Included
Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

Loving You is the third album by Elvis Presley, issued on RCA Victor Records in mono, LPM 1515, in July 1957 - the July 1 release date is unconfirmed. Recording sessions took place on January 15, 16, 17, and 18, 1957, at the Paramount Pictures Scoring Stage, and on January 12, 13, 19, and February 23 and 24, 1957, at Radio Recorders in Hollywood. These are the first sessions where Steve Sholes is officially listed as producer. It spent ten weeks at #1 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart.

The soundtrack includes seven songs composed expressly for the movie from writers contracted to the publishing companies owned by Elvis and the Colonel, Elvis Presley Music and Gladys Music. An eighth song intended for but not appearing in the movie, "Don't Leave Me Now," was included on the album, and a new recording would appear on the soundtrack for his next film, Jailhouse Rock.

The previously released material comprises both sides the single taken from the soundtrack, Presley's #1 hit "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" backed with the film's title track, "Loving You". Producer Hal Wallis liked "Teddy Bear" so much that he insisted it be included in the movie. Songs were added to bring up the running time of the album, including the swing era favorite "Blueberry Hill," covered by many had been recently a big hit for Fats Domino in 1956. "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" had been done previously by the Sons of the Pioneers as well as Bing Crosby with The Andrews Sisters. Cole Porter's last great standard, "True Love," written for the 1956 musical film High Society also made the album, either to feature a straightforward romantic song, or to give Presley and The Jordanaires an excuse for some close harmony singing. The practice of RCA augmenting soundtrack recordings with extra songs from non-soundtrack studio sessions to bring up the running time of the LP to acceptable lengths would become a commonplace occurrence with Presley soundtracks through the 1960s.

The album was reissued for compact disc in an expanded edition on April 15, 1997, appending eight tracks to the original album. All tracks derive from the same sessions, with three alternate takes, the remaining track from the Just For You EP, three single sides including "Tell Me Why" which would wait almost nine years to be released, and a remake of the Sun master "When It Rains It Really Pours," also released much later on the 1965 LP Elvis for Everyone. On January 11, 2005, Sony BMG reissued the album again, remastered using DSD technology with the six bonus tracks appended in standard fashion. A two-disc set was released on the Follow That Dream collectors label on January 12, 2006, with the bonus tracks and numerous additional takes.

Purporting to be the soundtrack to Elvis' second film, this album collects songs used in the film on one side with new material on the other. The weakness of a couple of the movie tunes and the fact that the new songs were leftovers from the sessions used to produce Elvis' first gospel EP and latest single add up to his weakest album offering, although any album with "Got a Lot o' Living to Do" is alright. If you think of Loving You as simply an Elvis Presley album rather than a somewhat misleadingly packaged soundtrack, it was actually one of his more coherent and cohesive long-players, assembled from sessions all conducted in the first two months of 1957. By this time, he was doing precious little that was wrong, and his range and control were growing geometrically -- thus, amid some powerful rock & roll, including "Mean Woman Blues" (which could almost have passed for one of his Sun tracks), "Teddy Bear," the electric guitar-driven "Got a Lot 'o Livin' to Do," Ivory Joe Hunter's "I Need You So," and a hard, brittle-textured outtake of "I Beg of You," the King does some brilliant ballad singing on "One Night of Sin" and "Is It So Strange," and belts out one of his great blues performances on "When It Rains, It Really Pours" -- which boasts a killer Scotty Moore guitar part -- and moves into Sons of the Pioneers territory with the hauntingly beautiful Western ballad, "Lonesome Cowboy." He doesn't do badly with "Blueberry Hill," either. 

01. 1/13/57    Mean Woman Blues Claude Demetrius 2:15 
02. 1/24/57 47-7000 7/11/57 #1 (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe 1:45 
03. 2/24/57 47-7000b 7/11/57 #28 Loving You Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller 2:12 
04. 1/12/57    Got a Lot o' Livin' to Do Aaron Schroeder and Ben Weisman 2:31 
05. 1/15-18/57    Lonesome Cowboy Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett 3:07 
06. 1/15-18/57    Hot Dog Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller 1:17 
07. 1/22/57 Party Jessie Mae Robinson 1:26 
08. 1/19/57 Blueberry Hill Vincent Rose, Al Lewis, Larry Stock 2:39 
09. 2/23/57 True Love Cole Porter 2:05 
10. 2/23/57 Don't Leave Me Now Aaron Schroeder and Ben Weisman 1:58 
11. 1/19/57 Have I Told You Lately That I Love You? Johnny Russell and Scott Wiseman 2:31 
12. 2/23/57 I Need You So Ivory Joe Hunter 2:37 

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Elvis Presley - King Creole (Classic Album US 1958)

Size: 49.3 MB
Bitrate: 256
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Ripped by: ChrisGoesRock
Artwork Included
Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

King Creole is the sixth album by Elvis Presley, issued on RCA Victor Records, LPM 1884 in mono in September 1958, recorded in three days at Radio Recorders in Hollywood. It contains songs written and recorded expressly for the film, and peaked at #2 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart. It followed the film release by over ten weeks.

The bulk of the songs originated from the stable of writers contracted to Hill and Range, the publishing company jointly owned by Presley and Colonel Tom Parker: Fred Wise, Ben Weisman, Claude Demetrius, Aaron Schroeder, Sid Tepper, and Roy C. Bennett. Conspicuous in their relatively limited contribution were Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who had come to an impasse with the Colonel during the making of the previous movie, Jailhouse Rock, in which they had practically dominated the musical proceedings. Furious over mere songwriters having such easy access to Presley without going through Parker's "proper channels," the Colonel closed off their avenue to his prize client, especially since the duo had also tried to influence Presley's film direction, pitching him an idea to do a gritty adaption of Nelson Algren's recent novel, A Walk on the Wild Side, with Elia Kazan directing, and Leiber and Stoller providing the music. 

The Colonel put the kibosh on such notions, although echoes of the concept remained in the film, and the pair still managed to place three songs on the soundtrack, including the title track and "Trouble," arguably the film's best songs. Presley's performance of "Trouble" in the film alludes to Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley; he would return to the song for his tremendously successful television comeback special.

The songs "Hard Headed Woman" and "Don't Ask Me Why" appeared as two sides of a single on July 10, 1958, to coincide with the release of the film. "Hard Headed Woman," the A-side, and "Don't Ask Me Why" both made the pop singles chart, peaking at #1 and #25 respectively.

The album was reisued for compact disc in an expanded edition on April 15, 1997, and again in an audiophile version from Japan on August 25, 2005. For the both reissues, an additional seven tracks were added, including the song "Danny" taken from the same sessions, with six alternates, four previously unreleased.

King Creole was the last movie that Elvis Presley made before he entered the army in the spring of 1958 -- it was also his last film in black-and-white, as well as his final effort directed by a serious old-time filmmaker (Michael Curtiz); and, apart from a few isolated, quirky efforts like Flaming Star, Change of Habit, and Charro, this was the last of his serious movies, in which Presley was trying hard, pushing himself as an actor and, really, all through the score, as a musician. This is reflected in the soundtrack, which is one of the stronger film-related releases of his career. 

The original 11 songs included a hot title track by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller that was a dazzling showcase for Scotty Moore's and Tiny Timbrell's guitars as well as Elvis' intense, exciting lead vocal. Leiber and Stoller's "Trouble" and Claude Demetrius' "Hard Headed Woman" have Moore's and Timbrell's electric guitars competing successfully with a five-man brass and reed section. Even "Dixieland Rock," if not up to the level of those other two numbers, features good playing and a strong performance by Presley, and "Young Dreams" is a decent midtempo number. 

The slow ballads are where the soundtrack falls flat, "As Long As I Have You" coming up to standard but "Lover Doll" and "Don't Ask Me Why" failing to excite or maintain interest; "Crawfish" can only have been included to bring the album up to the minimum acceptable length for an LP. 

The 1997 remastered CD features rather upgraded sound and seven additional numbers that are outtakes from the score; these include two alternate takes of "King Creole" with considerably different guitar and brass parts, and two superior alternate versions of "As Long as I Have You," both in a much more spare arrangement -- basically just Elvis and a single piano accompanying him -- plus a discarded alternate title track ("Danny"). The undubbed "Lover Doll" is superior to the released version, featuring Presley accompanied by a single acoustic guitar.

01. 1/23/58 King Creole Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller 2:16 
02. 1/16/58 As Long As I Have You Fred Wise and Ben Weisman 1:50 
03. 1/15/58 Hard Headed Woman Claude Demetrius 1:53 
04. 1/15/58 Trouble Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller 2:16 
05. 1/16/58 Dixieland Rock Aaron Schroeder and Rachel Frank 1:46 
06. 1/16/58 Don't Ask Me Why Fred Wise and Ben Weisman 2:06 
07. 1/16/58 Lover Doll Sid Wayne and Abner Silver 2:09 
08. 1/15/58 Crawfish Fred Wise and Ben Weisman 1:48 
09. 1/23/58 Young Dreams Aaron Schroeder and Martin Kalmanoff 2:23 
10. 1/23/58 Steadfast, Loyal And True Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller 1:15 
11. 1/15/58 New Orleans Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett 1:58 

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Elvis Presley - G.I. Blues (Great Album US 1960)

Size: 57.2 MB
Bitrate: 256
mp3
Ripped by: ChrisGoesRock
Artwork Included
Source: Japan 24-Bit Remaster

G.I. Blues is the eleventh album by Elvis Presley, released on RCA Victor Records in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 2256, in October 1960. Recording sessions took place on April 27 and 28, and May 6, 1960, at RCA Studio C and Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California. The album topped the Billboard Top Pop Album chart and has been certified by the RIAA as a platinum album.

Music on this album comprised songs that had appeared in the film of the same name. The song "Wooden Heart" was released as a single in the United Kingdom, where it was #1 for six weeks. In the United States, Joe Dowell recorded a cover version of "Wooden Heart" that topped the Billboard Hot 100. RCA later released "Wooden Heart" by Presley as the b-side of a single twice, once in 1964 on the back of a reissue of "Blue Christmas," and again on the flip of a belated issue in 1965 of "Puppet On A String" from the Girl Happy movie. Four songs from this album appear on the 1995 soundtrack compilation: "G.I. Blues," "Wooden Heart," "Shoppin' Around," and "Doin' the Best I Can."

Due to copyright reasons, the European version of the soundtrack album and film substitutes the opening track "Tonight Is So Right for Love" with the song "Tonight's All Right for Love," adapted from a melody by 19th century waltz-king Johann Strauss II. Interestingly, the melody for "Tonight Is So Right for Love" was taken directly from a barcarolle composed by Jacques Offenbach, one of Strauss's contemporaries. An American release of "Tonight's All Right for Love" did not occur until it appeared on the compilation album Elvis: A Legendary Performer Volume 1 in 1974. The version of "Blue Suede Shoes" used on the soundtrack is a new recording of the song Presley first recorded in 1956, and is one of only a few songs that Presley would re-record in a studio setting during his career, others being "Love Letters" and "A Little Less Conversation."

On April 27, 1997, RCA remastered the album for compact disc, adding eight outtakes from the recording session as bonus tracks. Two songs were previously released, the acoustic version of "Big Boots" appearing on the posthumous 1978 album Elvis Sings for Children and Grown-Ups Too, and the substitute "Tonight's All Right For Love."

01. 4/27/60 Tonight Is So Right for Love Abner Silver and Sid Wayne 2:14 
02. 4/28/60 What's She Really Like Abner Silver and Sid Wayne 2:17 
03. 5/6/60 Frankfort Special Sid Wayne and Sherman Edwards 2:58 
04. 4/28/60 Wooden Heart Ben Weisman, Fred Wise, Kathleen Twomey, Bert Kaempfert 2:03 
05. 4/27/60 G.I. Blues Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett 2:36 
06. 5/6/60 Pocketful of Rainbows Ben Weisman and Fred Wise 2:35 
07. 5/6/60 Shoppin' Around Aaron Schroeder, Sid Tepper, Roy C. Bennett 2:24 
08. 5/6/60 Big Boots Sid Wayne and Sherman Edwards 1:31 
09. 4/27/60 Didja' Ever Sid Wayne and Sherman Edwards 2:36 
10. 4/28/60 Blue Suede Shoes Carl Perkins 2:07 
11. 4/27/60 Doin' the Best I Can Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman 3:10 

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