 |
 |
This intriguing set of lost Elvis demos was recently published by the excellent ‘Bear Family’ label from Germany. As we all know, in the sixties Elvis’ Hill and Range song publishers were desperate for movie soundtrack compositions. With three movies per year, and songs that had to fit into specific script requirements, the vast majority of the time it truly was quantity over quality. The glorious 1950’s soundtrack days with composers such as Jerry Leiber /Mike Stoller were left behind as Parker demanded more percentage and more control. Teams like Sid Tepper / Roy Bennett (43 Elvis compositions), Ben Weisman / Fred Wise plus Bill Giant / Bernie Baum / Florence Kaye (41 songs) were massive contributors to Elvis’ sixties soundtracks. In fact Giant / Baum / Kaye would compose six of the ten songs from Elvis’ Paradise Hawaiian Style something you surely wouldn’t want on your resume!
Randy Starr, a dentist by profession, would supply eleven songs that were actually recorded by Elvis for his movies, often co-written with the lyricist Fred Wise. Starr’s biggest seller would be ‘Kissin' Cousins’ which would be released as a single making Billboard #12. Other Starr compositions were the following soundtrack songs, ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas’, ‘Carny Town’, ‘Look Out Broadway’, 'Adam and Evil', 'Could I Fall In Love', 'The Girl I Never Loved' and he wrote the lyrics to Live a Little, Love a Little’s ‘Almost in Love’. Starr would also compose some of Elvis’ very worst songs - ‘Datin'’ from Paradise, Hawaiian Style, ‘Old MacDonald’ (Double Trouble) and Clambake’s ‘Who Needs Money’. Like all the writing teams, Randy Starr would pitch multiple songs for each Elvis movie and the sad fact is that while we all know how sub-par the chosen soundtrack songs were, the vast majority of the demos on this album were considered even worse and so were rejected by the production team. Most fans would agree that ‘Easy Come, Easy Go’ featured six terrible songs yet Randy Starr submitted five alternate demos which were all rejected as being more inferior. It’s hard to believe. This CD features 35 professional demos exclusively made for Elvis’ publishers. Only six of these demos are songs that Elvis actually recorded, ‘Kissin’ Cousins’, ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas’, ‘Look Out Broadway’, ‘Datin'’, ‘Adam and Evil’ and ‘The Girl I Never Loved’. Previously released compilations showcasing Elvis’ other collaborators such as Jerry Leiber /Mike Stoller or Tepper / Bennett all celebrated their success in getting their songs recorded by Elvis - whereas this intriguing compilation tells the differing story of supplying endless demos with most of them being rejected. And that strangely provides some of curiosity about this release. The 34 pages of detailed sleeve notes were written by Elvis author Trevor Simpson who sadly died earlier this year. Simpson’s research was always very thorough and it is his detailed interviews with Randy Starr, along with his examination into each track, that adds interest to this release. The booklet describes how the writers worked together, the demands of Elvis’ publishers and also the thorough way the demos were recorded to make them appealing to both the movie producers and Elvis. Unlike the majority of composers Randy Starr was a musician and singer and so often sang the demos himself. The booklet also has a section detailing the other demo singers that he employed, such as Malcolm Dodds and Kenny Karen. At one point Randy Starr explains..
Sadly the audio quality of some of these old demos is pretty poor and could have been improved by better remastering. Bear Family Records state “we commissioned an experienced sound engineer to master the original sources. The result sounds brilliant!” but that is ridiculous since even the right-left channel levels are at times badly unbalanced and there is distortion that could easily be removed The Music ‘Kissin’ Cousins’ is interesting for having the original lyrics changed so as avoid any possible incestuous impression. While still sounding very similar to the final release you can easily understand how Elvis’ vocal and personal touch enhanced each recording.
Several of the rejected alternate demos here have exactly same titles as the compositions Elvis did record. This is not a surprise seeing as the composers were all pitching for the same spot in the movie. Randy Starr explains..
Sadly Elvis' mid-sixties soundtrack albums were run-of-the-mill fluffiness at best – and a lot of songs were downright awful - so there is a fascination here in discovering what the producers, or Elvis, rejected. Listening to this compilation I couldn’t help but imagine Elvis throwing the rejected acetate across the studio saying, “Hey Freddie, What is this shit?” ‘Viva Las Vegas’ has far less power and is lightweight compared to the Pomus / Shuman version but it does cleverly include the obvious Elvis’ “uh-huh-huh” gimmick. ‘Easy Come, Easy Go’ includes a terrible “doo-doo-doo” backing vocal and some even worse rhymes than the real movie title song. ‘I'll Take Love’ is as terrible as any song on the original EP but this features an awful ice-ring organ and was understandably rejected. ‘Clambake’ the title track to Elvis’ 67 movie was dreadful but then again who could write a good song called Clambake? This demo “we’ll have a clambake, we’ll have a ball” is similarly dreadful. Starr’s ‘Charro!’ does have a similar western-movie arrangement with Mexican guitar but not the atmosphere of the Mac Davis / Billy Strange recorded number.
If one was composing songs for Elvis 1960’s soundtracks surely you’d try something more original or exciting to capture the producer’s ear. Sadly almost all of these demos sound like throwaway compositions dashed off in no time at all purely to make some cash. ‘Kissing In The Rain’, ‘Three Wishes’, ‘You Can Do It’, ‘Better and Better’, ‘Little Girl’ are all super lightweight and sound more like Cliff Richard pre-The-Beatles rather than anything Elvis should have recorded. ‘Bring On The Dancing Girls’, ‘A Thousand And One Night’ for Harum Scarum and ‘Polynesian Paradise’ (Paradise Hawaiian Style) have the requisite musical theme but were - luckily for both Elvis and us! - similarly rejected. On the other hand a couple of tracks would have perfectly suited Elvis such as the delightful ‘Never Say Forever’ for Spinout. ‘Love on the Rocks’ would also have been a great rocker for ‘Easy Come Easy Go’ but is an uncredited rip-off of Jimmy Reed’s excellent ‘Shame, Shame, Shame.’ Similarly ‘Let It Go’ (Clambake) copies The Beatles ‘And I Love Her’ melody but this time it is acknowledged in Simpson’s sleeve notes. ‘Strange Vibrations’ is truly fascinating for being the ‘Edge Of Reality’ alternate and also includes some wild psychedelia. In the notes Trevor Simpson suggests it was purely the short length of the demo, under 2 minutes, that caused it to lose out to ‘Edge Of Reality’, but this I somehow doubt! Another demo ‘We Can See Him Everywhere’ could have however been easily swapped out for the similar feel of Change Of Habit’s ‘Let Us Pray’. The cd ends with three Christmas demos for a possible 1966 album, “Freddy Bienstock told me Elvis was planning to record a Christmas album in 1966”, but listening to them I can only thank God that the session was cancelled.
EIN Note 1: The most interesting compilation of Elvis demos was released with the FTD ‘Writing for The King’ book. Randy Starr’s ‘Kissin’ Cousins’ was included but was certainly one of the lesser tracks. EIN Note 2: Notably the demos for Starr's ‘Old MacDonald’ and Clambake’s ‘Who Needs Money’ are not included (also missing are ‘Carny Town’ and ‘Could I Fall In Love’) but a volume two is promised! EIN Note 3: A large amount of Trevor Simpson’s sleeve notes were featured in 2011-12 ‘Essential Elvis’ magazines. In fact the old ‘Essential Elvis’ interview mistake where Starr discusses Elvis’ harmony vocal on ‘The Girl I Never Loved’ is repeated here in the sleeve notes. He actually meant ‘Could I Fall In Love’.
Overall Verdict: There is no doubt that despite the lightweight feel of all these demos this release does help explain the difficulty of finding good material for Elvis’ mid-sixties soundtrack albums. Three movies a year was actually NOT a good policy for the world’s biggest superstar, neither was demanding a percentage of writer’s royalties. Trevor Simpson’s extremely detailed sleeve notes provide great insights into the production process and some of the demos are quite entertaining for showing alternate options. Fans who love Elvis’ mid-sixties soundtracks may get more musical enjoyment from this lightweight fluff than I did, nevertheless with the 34 pages of detailed sleeve notes I personally found it an interesting history lesson. RIP Trevor Simpson who died January 11, 2024. (EIN talked with Trevor Simpson back in 2016 about his book 'Elvis: His Songs Of Praise') Click here to comment on this review
See EIN review of 'Young Man With The Big Beat'. See EIN review of 'Elvis Is Back!' Legacy Edition review: See EIN review of 'On Stage' 40th Anniversary LEGACY in-depth review: See EIN review of From Elvis In Memphis (40th Anniversary Legacy Edition) EIN Website content © Copyright the Elvis Information Network.
Elvis Presley, Elvis and Graceland are trademarks of Elvis Presley Enterprises. The Elvis Information Network has been running since 1986 and is an EPE officially recognised Elvis fan club.
\
|
|
