Review Jailhouse Rock and Blue Hawaii Shaped Picture Discs

The French V.P.I. closes 2023 with the release of 2 Shaped Picture Disc Limited Editions of ‘Blue Hawaii’ and ‘Jailhouse Rock’. With the renewed popularity of vinyl, and recent picture disc releases it was a matter of time before the old-fashioned shaped discs would be released. 

 

The French label is the first to do so, to celebrate the 62nd and 66th anniversaries of these two cinematic and musical landmarks.

Design

 

The picture discs come housed in a plastic sleeve with a nicely designed single cardboard insert, with illustrations and recording information printed on both sides, allowing the shaped picture to take the spotlight. 

 The discs are 10-inch in size, and look like they were cut from a 12-inch record (they play at 33 RPM), creating space for the shaped-element. And the pictures chosen for both sides of each disc are spot on classics, something that will instantly appeal to the buyer . 

 

The quality of the pictures on the discs is sharp, although the ‘Blue Hawaii’ headshot is a tad stretched. Still, this is something you take off the shelf for a closer look when you see them in a record store. 

 

Content

 

I found myself being more careful than usual placing my needle on the shaped disc, afraid Elvis’ hand or head would cut the needle right off! Fortunately there is a big lead-in area for a  needle-drop. The discs feel solid, are flat and play fine. 

 

Like all their releases, the producers compiled an Alternate Edition of both soundtracks. The ‘Blue Hawaii’ disc features all 14 tracks of the original 1961 soundtrack in Alternate and Movie versions. It is a different and entertaining version of the album, probably more for fans that for the casual buyers as these are not the complete version they probably know and expect to hear. The tracklisting is clear though. 

 

On the ‘Jailhouse Rock’ disc we get Alternate Takes of all 5 songs from the original 1957 Extended Play with Take 19 of the Movie Version for ‘Treat Me Nice’ as a bonus. With just 6 tracks it is a short play compared to the Hawaiian disc. It would have been nice to replicate the tally of that album. But again, a fun disc to play. 

 

Conclusion

 

With these two shaped discs the V.P.I. record label added a new category to their already vast and varied Elvis Presley record catalogue. 

 

Next to the originals, these two novelty albums will look nice on display in your record storage cabinet or as part of your collection on display, just as these style of discs did back in the eighties. Let’s see what comes out next.

 
The records are available from the Culture Factory web-shop. 
 
Click here for the >>> ‘Jailhouse Rock’ disc, and here for the >>> ‘Blue Hawaii’ disc.

And while you are shopping there, you can also pre-order ‘Elvis Day by Day 2023’ yearbook which will come out in the second half of January 2024. Click here >>> to pre-order 'Elvis Day by Day 2023'. 

 

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