OUT IN HOLLYWOOD - BMG 74321 67677 2
1. Review by Oven Egeland
2. Review by Keith Flynn |
HARDLY VERY EXCITING...
1: Mexico (7)
2: Cross My Heart And Hope To Die (6)
3: Wild In The Country (11)
4: Adam And Evil (16)
5: Lonely Man (4)
6: Thanks To The Rolling Sea (3)
7: Where Do You Come From (13)
8: King Of The Whole Wide World [M7-version] (3)
9: Little Egypt (21) [Prev. released on 'Time Life']
10: Wonderful World (7)
11: This Is My Heaven (Vocal overdub 4)
12: Spinout (2)
13: All That I Am (2)
14: We'll Be Together (10) [Previously "released" on Latino]
15: Frankie And Johnny (1)
16: I Need Somebody To Lean On (8)
17: The Meanest Girl In Town (9)
18: Night Life (3)
19: Puppet On A String (7)
20: Hey Little Girl (1, 2)
21: Edge Of Reality (6)
22: Baby I Don't Care (Vocal overdub 6) [Master overdub] |
1. Review by Oven Egeland
When I first heard the content on this second release on the Collectors Label, I felt I had already reviewed it! Well, I'll try to be open-minded and don't let this "impression" be too dominant when I actually write a review!
'Mexico' runs slightly faster than the master version, and also features some lyrics not heard on the master. Due to the high tempo and the rather bad timing from Elvis, take 7 is a bit messy.
'Cross My Heart And Hope To Die' left no impression at all. 'Wild In The Country' on the other hand is nice. 'Adam And Evil' is one of those milestones Elvis did during his film period! This is the only take except for the master where Elvis actually managed to finish the song. He did 20 takes! Actually I think this one sounds better on the bootleg release. BMG has a tendency to mix a very narrow stereo. This way they remove some noise, but you also lose some of the dynamic feeling.
'Lonely Man' is a true beauty. I've yet to hear a bad version of this. "Hot damn that's pretty!" a person in the control room says. Very accurate!
'Thanks To The Rolling Sea'. This is the 3rd version of this song... and the best so far! Especially the drums are nice on this one, more dominant than on other takes. I like this one!
'Where Do You Come From?' is nice enough. One of the first albums I bought of Elvis was from the terrible English Camden - Pickwick Company. I remember that the only song I liked on that album was 'Where Do You Come From?' (and 'Long Legged Girl' - my definition of rock at that time...:-) )
I have never liked 'King Of The Whole Wide World' for some reasons. The same goes for this version. Very similar to the master take, featured is the saxophone solo at the end also on this one.
'Little Egypt' is per definition a COOL song. This version is not very different from the master. True quality!
'Wonderful World'. Imagine Elvis singing this stupid song just months before the '68 comeback special! This song is about at the same level as 'Old McDonald' in my point of view...
I have a liking for the sweet (very sweet) 'This Is My Heaven'. This outtake does not hold the quality of the master take. Elvis is less harmonious in his voice, to put it that way.
'Spinout' is bullshit! Also take 2! 'All That I Am' is one of the better film songs. This take is not much different then the master. 'We'll Be Together' is a nice tune. This outtake is less 'Spanish', but still good. I believe this is the same version that BMG used for Latino some years ago. In other words one of the takes that was featured on 'There's Always Me' Vol. 2, one of the many nice bootlegs from Bilko.
Take 1 of 'Frankie And Johnny' is less bad than the master is. 'I Need Somebody To Lean On' is one of the best songs from 'Viva Las Vegas'. Featured here is take 8. I don't understand why Elvis chose to do another 12 takes, because this version is at least as good as the final master (take 20).
'The Meanest Girl In Town'... The sound is better on this outtake than on the 'Girl Happy' album. The 'Night Life' - outtake is mixed poorly. Elvis also messes up the lyrics at the end of the song.
'Puppet On A String' is better than the master of this super-duper dippidi dup. Actually I like this song.
'Hey Little Girl' is very different from the master take. None of them are good, but I think the master is best.
'Edge Of Reality' is one of the better film songs from Elvis in the late 60's.
Personally I don't see the point in releasing vocal overdubs like 'Baby I Don't Care'. When BMG released 'Let Me' earlier without background music it was nice enough, but a song like 'Baby I Don't Care' does not deserve this treatment. What we have here is the master take, just without the band. Not exciting at all!
In general: Really not a "dramatic" second release on the collector's label! The artwork is better than the first release, the content hardly.... It is already decided that the third release will feature more home recordings from the 60's. I still hope that we in the future can get something really special.
©
, Norway, 2000
Thanks to Crister Berge for proof reading |
2. Review by Keith Flynn
Before I start, I must say that this is the first review of a CD that I have ever written. It seemed as no one else was going to review this CD, so I thought I would. First, I must say that I do love listening to studio sessions (out-takes / alternate takes etc...) It's amazing how different a song can sound from take 1 up to the master take, examples being 'Sand Castles' (listen to Takes 1 & 9 on the import release Hawaii USA and you'll see what I mean) and 'Stay Away' take 2 that was released on FTD Vol.5 Long Lonely Highway last year. I know some people don't like these "stupid" movie songs - they say that these songs weren't the real Elvis. But I will say this: What a perfectionist Elvis was with his music! How many other artistes would go to the lengths of recording 31 takes of 'King Of The Whole Wide World' or 20 takes of 'Adam & Evil' before getting them the way he liked them? I don't think many would.
There's nothing really outstanding on this CD, but they are all new alternate takes. A lot of these have been released before on Import releases, but for some, it is the first time they have been released in any form so I personally like this CD. In this review I refer a lot to the released version of a song, this is the master take of the song already released by RCA or BMG on the soundtrack Album.
The CD starts with 'Mexico' (take 7) from Fun in Acapulco. This is actually very different to the released version (take 5) as Elvis sings all of the words of the song. It's interesting to hear Elvis sing the complete song himself. This version is released for the first time. Next is 'Cross My Heart And Hope To Die (take 6) from Girl Happy. This is interesting because there's no piano intro at the beginning of the song. This is also released for the first time on this CD. 'Wild In The Country (take 11) is next. This is quite different to the master version (take 19) in that the backing vocals seem a bit flat and there seems to be no feeling whatsoever. Also there seems to be a tapping all the way through the song, as if someone is tapping a guitar the whole time, very irritating.
'Adam & Evil' (take 16) from Spinout is next. Well after doing 15 takes of this song, and not finishing a complete take, Elvis must have been really tired of it, and it showed. We get a few seconds of 'When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano' and a couple of improvised lines of 'Adam & Evil' by Elvis at the beginning of the take. Even though this take is complete, Elvis did another four takes until he gets the song the way he likes it. The master version is take 20. 'Lonely Man' (take 4 Record Version) is next, and is released for the first time here. It is a lot slower than the released version (take 13) and in my opinion, a lot better. We even get the engineer at the end of the take saying "God damn, that's pretty", and Elvis saying "Thank you". It's a shame they didn't put take 1 or 3 of 'Lonely Man' (Solo) on this CD, especially as it was the solo version that was supposed to be used in Wild in the country. I say that because I have a movie trailer on video, for Wild in the country with Elvis (with guitar in hand) singing Lonely Man.
On 'Thanks To The Rolling Sea' (take 3) from Girls, Girls, Girls Elvis almost stumbles on the lyrics "Abalone steaks and tuna fish cakes" at the end of the take, but manages to keep the song going to the end. It's not too different to the master version (take 5). 'Where Do You Come From?' (take 13) also from Girls, Girls, Girls is next. This too only differs slightly from the released version, where Elvis almost stumbles on the line "Or from some di-stant star", and again at the end with the line "And tell me what you'll say". Next we have take 3 of 'King Of The Whole Wide World'. The only difference here to the released version (take 4) seems to be the longer saxophone ending. Now we come to 'Little Egypt' (take 21), this should be called Little Egypt #2, as it was recorded the day after the released version was recorded. Elvis seems a lot more relaxed, singing this song now, and he sings it a lot slower - and in my opinion - a lot better, than
the final master. Elvis also fools around at the end of this take. 'Wonderful World' (take 7) is next. The released version (take 17) was sung over the opening credits of Live A Little, Love A Little. This is not much different to the released version, apart from maybe a longer ending.
'This Is My Heaven' (take 4 vocal overdub) is quite different to the master version, as Elvis can't seem to get those high notes needed for this song. Elvis must have had trouble with the other takes too, as the master is a splice between take
6 & take 8. We also get the last few seconds of take 3 here. 'Spinout' (take 2) is not much different to the released version (take 5), apart from the ending. On this take we don't get Elvis finishing the song with "Well let me tell you spinout". 'All That I Am' (take 2) also from Spinout, differs a lot due to the fact that there are no strings on this take, only piano, guitar etc.... The vocals are much the same as the master version (take 5), which makes me think that the piano
was overdubbed onto the master. 'We'll Be Together (take 10), yet another song from Girls, Girls, Girls is next, and it's not much different to the released version (take 11). You can hear Elvis himself say - almost at the end of the take - knowing that he would have to do another one.
'Frankie And Johnny' (take 1) is next up. This is the only other complete take of this song, apart from the released version (take 6), and Elvis is just trying this song out here. He doesn't even sing the last part of the song "Well Frankie told Johnny, well this is the end of the song" etc... but never the less, this is another alternate version and is welcomed on this CD. 'I Need Somebody To Lean On' (take 8) from Viva Las Vegas doesn't sound much different to the master (take 20), apart from the backing, less piano etc... This is the only other take of this song to be released, apart from the master take (take 20) so it is also welcomed here.
'The Meanest Girl In Town' (take 9) another song from Girl Happy is next. It is a little slower than the released version (take 13), and Elvis doesn't "Whoop" it up as much here, not as many Ha, Ha, Ha's as the master version has.
'Night Life' (take 3) from Viva Las Vegas is next, and Elvis doesn't seem at ease with this song yet, and you can tell, he even sings the wrong lyrics after the instrumental break, but manages to keep the song going to the end. The released version (take 14) has a much more bouncy feeling, but hey, he had to do another eleven takes of the song to get it that way! But as this is the only other take of this song to be released, apart from the master, this is a welcome addition to this CD too. 'Puppet On A String' (take 7) from Girl Happy is next; it's a little bit different to the released version (take 11). About ¾'s of the way through take 11 the tempo rises slightly, and Elvis gives the song that extra kick, but on the take we get here, this doesn't happen, and the song is sung at the same pace. A nice song nevertheless! Another new complete take here is 'Hey Little Girl' from Harem Holiday (takes 1 & 2), actually we get two takes (take 2 is complete). This is a little different to the Released version, (take 5) as Elvis sings his "Huh's and Ha's" differently in the instrumental break.
'Edge of Reality' (take 6) is next, and this seems a little slower, with a longer fade out at the end, compared to the master (take 8). Finally we get 'Baby I Don't Care' (vocal overdub #2 take 6) from Jailhouse Rock. This was first released by RCA in 1986, on Essential Elvis. But what we get here is the vocal overdub only, without the backing track. It's really strange hearing a song like this, and it made me think that there must have been a lot more songs done like this, backing track recorded first, then Elvis adds his vocals a few days later. That's probably how they did the Guitar Man Album in the 80's, and more recently with Too Much Monkey Business.
Well this was Vol. 2 in the Follow That Dream series, and if you like Elvis in the Movies, or just like alternate takes, I think you'll enjoy this CD.
© Keith Flynn, May 28 2001 |
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