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'ELVIS The Complete Movie Masters 1960-62 Plus Session Out-takes'
Published in April 2024 it has taken a little while for this new MRS ‘ Complete Movie Masters 1960-62’ book / combo set to arrive in Australia. Working within the EU Public Domain laws this set nicely ties up with the previous 2018 MRS set ‘Complete 50’s Movie Masters’
The narrative element: A one-page Prelude (all text) sets the scene for Elvis' early sixties films and a similarly sized Epilogue is a brief reflection (with hindsight) of Elvis' celluloid career, and while it strays beyond just the films from 1960 to 1962, it makes an important point:
For each of the films, the text is a mix of interesting background, description and commentary. About G.I. Blues:
Two of the book's 26 pages about Blue Hawaii
About Blue Hawaii:
Kid Galahad only receives a one-paragraph account, including:
About the mixed music content in Girls! Girls! Girls!:
The visual element: As mentioned, the visuals dominate the book element. Printed on quality gloss paper stock each visual is crisp and clean and while we've seen many of them countless times, they are still attractive to view. Elvis’ look changed quite a bit over the 1960-62 period as the photos for each film illustrate. The photos are a nice mix of film stills, relaxing between scenes, promotional images, film posters, lobby cards, album covers, and more. There is an interesting posed photo of Elvis dressed only in green and white boxing shorts and red boxing gloves (p115). Rare images include Elvis having make-up applied to his face in preparation for a scene in G.I. Blues (p14) a sepia colored image of Elvis standing between takes on Blue Hawaii (p69), and Elvis relaxing off-set with co-star, Nancy Walters (p70). Also, on p70 is an unusual image, again from Blue Hawaii, of Elvis half shrouded in shadow.
Stunning color close ups of Elvis feature throughout the book
There is a stunning image of Elvis and Barbara Eden from Flaming Star (p28) (see below), while the photo on the following page invites you look closely at Elvis’ eyes. Also from Flaming Star are two glorious "in your face" color close ups of Elvis during the filming of Flaming Star adorn pp38 and 39 (above), while "studio shot" promotional images for Blue Hawaii (pp78-79) look at tad out of place. Not so, photos of a dapper, dining jacket wearing Elvis during the recording studio session for the film (p60). A color portrait image (p56) features an unusual head and shoulders portrait image for Wild in the Country and you almost think it is not Elvis. There is also a striking b&w "double page" spread (pp110-11) of Elvis and Charles Bronson (see below) from Kid Galahad. Page 130 features an evocatively stunning color image of the King (see below).
Of the film posters, I found G.I. Blues somewhat bland, Flaming Star dramatically designed, Wild in the Country rather cluttered with a too large font size for the co-star names, Blue Hawaii oozes with lush tropical color and warm breezes, Follow That Dream has a neat hillbilly feel, Kid Galahad (p100) had a contemporary 1960s vibe, and Girls! Girls! Girls! colorfully swingin-est. Overall, the book section is a neat complement to the four CDs. Given the nature of the set, it does its job of providing enough background information for each film and offering a veritable pot-pourii of attractive images for the reader (particularly the fairer sex) to savor.
Elvis having make-up applied in preparation for a scene in G.I. Blues
The Audio. Growing up at the time when Elvis’ movies played regularly on Sunday afternoons during school-holidays has always given me more affection towards Elvis’ fluffy sixties movies than they perhaps deserve. Their soundtrack is the soundtrack of my school years. Because there is still so much new / upgraded, Elvis product being released it’s fairly rare for me to have time to sit back, “relax” and enjoy Elvis’ original albums but having recently spent two weeks in sunny Polynesia lying under a palm tree there really couldn’t be a better place to enjoy some of Elvis’ early sixties fun soundtrack recordings. The audio quality (Remastered by Studio D, Germany) is top-notch, while Tony Stuchbury (recent Mono<>Stereo RDM releases) is also thanked for audio technical advice. What collectors need to know is some key Elvis tracks are in STEREO for the very first time and it also includes several tracks that have never been released officially by RCA / FTD. It’s a cleverly compiled collection.
The Music Featuring all the Movie Masters from Elvis first seven films plus 2cds of outtakes, running at close to five hours this is a fun-packed listening experience. The cds themselves feature some great Elvis images. CD1: The Masters – GI Blues / Flaming Star/ Wild In The Country / Blue Hawaii. 76 mins G.I. Blues was the very first Elvis album I ever listened to, courtesy of inheriting it from my elder brother. And to be honest I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it and how many old memories it would bring back. This certainly wasn’t the creative excitement of ‘Elvis Is Back’ recorded just three weeks earlier but for his first 60's 'fluffy' soundtrack session Elvis had some great musicians with him. Scotty Moore was joined by 'Tiny' Timbrell plus Dudley Brooks on piano, Ray Siegel played a mean bass while Frank Bode joined D.J. Fontana on percussion. The "german" flavour being added by Jimmie Haskell on accordion. I had forgotten how it was Ray Siegel’s great bass-line (not Bob Moore) along with Jimmie Haskell’s accordion that kicked off Elvis’ first 60’s soundtrack album on 'Tonight Is So Right For Love'. Then check out Dudley Brooks’ fabulous piano trills that start ‘What’s She Really Like’ along with Elvis’ beautiful soaring vocal on ‘Pocketful Of Rainbows’ and the wonderful Doin' the Best I Can. Sadly the film-related lyrics let down a lot of the good melodies and ‘Shoppin’ Around’ could have been a great single with better lyrics. This time round I also noticed the rather rough acoustic guitar on the ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ which sounds like Elvis playing, as well as his “one more time” @01:14. He seemed to be having more fun jamming on this old classic than the rest of the album. This may be no surprise since tracks like ‘Big Boots’ and ‘Didja Ever’ were indications of future lesser soundtrack requirements. ‘Flaming Star’ really should have stuck with the one title song, and it is extraordinary that the lightweight ‘Summer Kisses Winter Tears’ – dropped from the film itself- took twenty attempts to complete. The Bonus cd features six outtakes that help demonstrate that for first couple of years Elvis worked hard even on the lesser soundtrack material. ‘Wild in The Country’, recorded only a week after the ‘Hand In Mine’ sessions, features some delicious Elvis vocals. The title track includes some neat Tiny Timbrell tic-tac guitar matching Meyer Rubin's bass-work and Jimmie Haskell is back on accordion for the ‘Lonely Man’ single. Alvino Rey’s fabulous steel guitar then kicks off ‘Blue Hawaii’ taking us to the lovely Polynesian sound. The even stronger additions of Hal Blaine on drums (check out his fills on Beach Boy Blues), Hank Garland guitar and Floyd Cramer on piano created a serious group of musicians for this soundtrack. I had forgotten how the ‘Blue Hawaii’ album basically stuck to the song timeline in the film. It seems very odd that ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ didn’t end Side One and ‘Rock-A-Hula Baby’ kick-off Side two, it certainly would have been a stronger sequence. MRS neatly add ‘Steppin’ Out Of Line’ into the tracklist. As fans know this was filmed for the movie but rather abruptly edited out. Listening to the album all the way through I am always surprised that Elvis was satisfied with his vocal on ‘Hawaiian Wedding Song’. Recorded in just two takes his vocal is somewhat mannered at times (he was obviously reading the lyrics) and his voice wavers on the very final note.
CD2: THE MASTERS Follow That Dream / Kid Galahad / Girls, Girls, Girls 54 minutes For collectors the treat here is the ‘Follow That Dream’ masters for the very first time in stereo on an album. Previously released on an MRS ‘EP’ the new remasters sound fabulous, the Jordanaires singing on the right channel are beautifully separated from Elvis’ central vocal and it sounds superb. While ‘Sound Advice’ is no doubt the most insubstantial number the STEREO version is a delight as you can clearly hear all the musicians, Bob Moore’s bass, Hank Garland and Scotty Moore’s guitars all beautifully separated. ‘Kid Galahad’ from the end of 1961 is a favourite of mine and with stronger compositions due to their only being six songs in the film. Tiny Timbrell was back as lead guitarist for the hospitalised Hank Garland while Dudley Brooks added some very fine jazzy piano work to the session, his work on ‘Riding The Rainbow‘ is sensational Buddy Harman, who had been there for Elvis’ key June 1958 singles session was back on second drums, listen to his snappy ‘I Got Lucky’ finale, while the rockin’ ‘King Of The Whole Wide World’ could have been a single A-side. ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ was Elvis’ seventh film since leaving the army and the strain was beginning to show. As the book states, “apart from the title track, ‘Return To Sender’ and ‘Because Of Love’ it was a mediocre collection”. Revisiting the album it is a surprise that it is on the lightweight sea-shanties ‘Thanks To The Rolling Sea’ and ‘We’re Coming In Loaded’, with their rather gospel call-and-response feel, where Elvis seems to actually be enjoying himself. A neat ending to this collection is the MRS additional ‘Girls, Girls, Girls, End Title’ version. It’s a shame that this didn’t bookend the original LP.
CD3: Session Outtakes G.I Blues, Flaming Star, Follow That Dream - 74 minutes. While the new FTD “complete” soundtrack sessions are fascinating for being able to listen to Elvis and the band perfecting each individual track, sometimes hearing thirty attempts in a row can be a little wearying. On the final two CDs here MRS have compiled a selection of soundtrack outtakes – sixty-two in total – and being within the EU “public domain” rules also means that they are the lesser known outtakes which makes them even more enjoyable. Starting with the rough feel of ‘Tonight's All Right For Love (Take 1)’ followed by the alternate ‘Tonight Is So Right For Love (Take 4)’ is a great start. Elvis was doing his best Dean Martin impression on the lovely ‘What's She Really Like (Take 11)’ - listen out for his “booo, boo, boo” @ 01:50 as well as his finger-clicks @02:18. ‘Frankfort Special (Remake Take 8)’ has a lovely “Mystery Train” feel with Elvis throwing so neat extras towards the end i.e. “Ya, Ya” @ 0228 – he was obviously enjoying himself. ‘Pocketful Of Rainbows’ (Vs1 Take 7)’ finds Elvis trying to hard rather than letting his vocal soar and he notes, “Let’s take another one real quick”. ‘Shoppin' Around’ (Vs 1 Take 10) is a delight with Elvis deliciously sliding around with his vocals while at the same time playing rhythm guitar. It sounds very rough & "unplugged" compared to the final version. ‘Doin' The Best I Can (Take 7LFS)’ with its sublime vocals demonstrates Elvis’ serious focus when it stops with him apologising “Oh, hell, I’m sorry” Another treat here is the MRS stereo version of ‘Shoppin' Around (Take 14)’. Previously released as a rather “flat” sounding acetate, this is fabulous in stereo with a lovely clear bass line and great percussion. ‘Flaming Star’ (Takes 1-5) adds more enjoyable session eavesdropping, “OK gentlemen, here we go” with the first take as a lovely lightweight run-through, listen out for Elvis again clicking his fingers in the background keeping time. Before Take 3 Elvis starts singing the lovely ‘Lonely Man’ to himself. This is quite extraordinary as Elvis would not be recording this song until a month later for his next movie! How fascinating that Elvis was already listening to potential songs for ‘Wild In The Country’ when pre-production had not even started. At the end of Take 3 Elvis also delightfully sings, “too fast, much too fast” to the right melody. This is an absolute gem showing the enthusiasm and fun of the session. Why Elvis agreed to record the awful ‘Britches’ (Takes 1-4 LFS & 6LFS) no one knows. A ludicrous song where Elvis regularly broke down laughing as he tried his best to sing the ridiculous lyrics, "Don't mess with a gal in britches, Yo-di-o-di-o" was previously only released in mono. Here you can listen to Elvis’ vocal overdub struggle in stereo! The tom-tom drums movie overdub of ‘Summer Kisses, Winter Tears’ previously only available in mono, is also presented in stereo here. Six outtakes of ‘Summer Kisses, Winter Tears’ then show Elvis working hard to perfect a master of a lightweight soundtrack song. Laughing at the start of session Elvis sounds in fine humour despite the quality of the material. The early takes feature a slower tempo and a lighter arrangement but with The Jordanaires annoyingly "oohing & ahhing" through the whole song. More of a run-though, the band mess-up the ending and Elvis asks afterwards, "Let us hear it back, Thorny". On later Takes16-19 the guitar line is dropped and replaced by Dudley Brook’s delightful lead piano. “You guys just do what you were doing, I think it’s pretty” Elvis says before Take 19 but he wouldn’t be satisfied until the master Take 20. Collectors will be fascinated as the session went beyond the Master when Native Indian drumming was used to try and add movie flavour. Only previously released in mono on bootleg the complete Takes 24 / 25 are officially released for the first time in stereo and sounding rather fine. Before Take 25 Elvis laughs and cutely sings to himself showing that even after all these unending attempts he was still in good humour. These takes have never been released by RCA / FTD.
CD4: Session Outtakes- Wild In The Country / Blue Hawaii / Kid Galahad – 76 mins The delightful ‘Wild In The Country’ (Take 8LFS) kicks off this final CD and while a lready having the feel of the final master and only stops – with a delightful whistle - due to Scotty Moore missing a note. Before ‘I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell (Take 6)’ you can hear Elvis’ unhappy sigh. It’s complete and could have been a Master save for Elvis’ vocal waver before “Dazzled and dizzy” and Dudley Brook slight reticent on the piano thrills. Take 10 differs from the final release as it features the weaker ending without the final down-beat. Elvis however sings the cute “ummm, my knees are week" @01.20 which for some reason would be dropped from the master take. ‘Lonely Man’ took thirteen attempts to get to the final master. Take 3, where you can easily hear Elvis’ acoustic guitar, is a true delight. Elvis had stopped playing guitar by Take 9 but this complete take is one of the very best featuring a brilliant and very gentle vocal, with Elvis carefully harmonising with The Jordanaires. This cut only fails due to a couple of piano and accordion stumbles and an odd noise at the very end. Seven Blue Hawaii outtakes follow. ‘No More Take 3’, slower than the master in fact has Elvis noting "Not too fast" as he still feels his way with the melody while complete Take 9 is a delight featuring a lighter vocal and with Elvis still sounding unsure of the changing tempos. ‘Slicin’ Sand’ Takes 10 & 17 are great outtakes featuring Elvis throwing in all of his vocal mannerisms and having fun, but obviously knowing it would never be a final take. Listen out for Elvis’ unusual "Ah, ha, ha" at @1.17. I can’t believe Elvis tried so many takes on this lightweight number. For some reason four of the Blue Hawaii tracks (8, 9, 11, 12) are in mono which is odd since there are so many previously unreleased stereo tracks on this set. The early session tape of ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’ is owned by a private collector but in this MRS set two of the best attempts Take 8 and Take 9 are in better audio quality than the recent FTD “complete sessions” set! On Take 8 it is fascinating to hear Elvis trying to remember the melody - “Shit. Hold it. Hot damn tamale. How does it go again?” he asks when we all know Elvis would eventually sing it over 1000 times live in concert! Complete Take 9 is a real delight in this quality and a fantastic, near perfect, movie version. "Ok, fellows let’s pop to it" Elvis says hoping for a Master take but unfortunately he still sounds a little reticent with his vocal at the start. The delightful Movie Master ends this selection.
Seventeen outtakes from Kid Galahad wrap up this packed CD. A delightfully rough ‘I Got Lucky’ (Remake)' fails towards the end, while ‘This Is Living’ Take 8 is very close to the master and a cute if slightly reticent alternate version. The key song ‘King Of The Whole Wide World’ would take 31 attempts before Elvis was satisfied and the five takes here nicely show the hard work they had to put in. Take 6 “Rich man wants to be the princess” jokes Elvis before they start - was the final attempt before they dropped the Jordanaires’ “Nah, nah, nah, nah” intro. It is still a fabulous early version with a less guitar-orientated arrangement plus lots of wild Boots Randolph sax and Buddy Harman tight drumming. It is one of the best. The joy on all these takes is listening to Boots Randolph’s fabulous sax solos. The wonderful ‘King Of The Whole Wide World’ Take 10 with Boot’s farty squeaking @01:20 meant that it could never be a final take but they still keep going to a fabulous, messy ending. By Take 29 the arrangement and tempo had changed but the overall rockin’ feel had been left behind even if Boot’s still blasted on his sax. ‘A Whistling Tune’ features Elvis’ lovely smooth vocal and Take 8 which plays to the final fade-out would be used for the final edit. Any outtake of ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is’ is essential for one’s Elvis collection and Take 12 with its slower tempo to the master and with the gentle picking guitar arrangement is totally exquisite. The penultimate Take 20 at the faster tempo is another delight while the final unedited is immaculate. Eight session outtakes of ‘Riding The Rainbow’ complete this delightful look at Elvis’ soundtrack sessions. Early Takes 3 / 4 are at the slower tempo but by Take 6 they have increased the tempo and it includes some lovely jazzy piano licks courtesy of Dudley Brooks. Realising this could never be the master Elvis throws in a delicious groan on the final “To where you are”. A gem. By the later ‘Riding The Rainbow’ remake the band have relaxed to a cooler vibe, but still featuring some wonderful Dudley Brooks piano licks. Take 5 fails half-way through but with Thorne Nogar noting, “Sounds right”. Take 7 would be used for the spliced master.
Overall Verdict: In terms of value-for-money this MRS look at Elvis' early sixties movies certainly packs a punch! Of course everything would change after 1962 with the creative impact of Elvis' movies along with their soundtracks ever diminishing. Elvis himself would also lose interest. However in his first two years out of the army there was still a real confidence in these earlier films, Elvis still looked stunning and the soundtracks were great fun. Covered in 140 pages MRS have assembled a stunning visual element combined with four CDs packed with some of the most- appealing sixties soundtrack material. The newly remastered stereo tracks will please any collector and the session outtakes also add plenty of interest. Please note that the low-res personal scans used in this review do not show the true quality of the images.
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