The movie was released in black and white, and the soundtrack in Mono, but now, almost 70 years later, we get it in Stereo in a colorful package. Does this upgrade take the soundtrack to the 21st century with the class this classic deserves, or are the producers looking for 'trouble'?
Design
The soundtrack comes on a 10-inch vinyl LP, big enough to fit the 22 minutes and one second of the original album. The CD comes with five bonus tracks, making it too big to fit on a smaller 3-inch CD, so we don't get a scaled down music carrier here.
Designer David Parker, who also wrote the liner notes, created a contemporary design, based on the old Extended Play sleeves with the white header, and cool headshot of our man. The signature typography makes it instantly clear which album we're seeing.
The vinyl version is graced with the same picture as used on 'A Legendary Performer Vol. 3' (1979), the LP that first brought us the deleted soundtrack song 'Danny' while the CD features a more happy-looking Elvis, the same picture used by the Follow that Dream collectors label on the back of their vinyl edition.
The back comes in black and white, and has that fifties feel too, showing Elvis in the studio.
The real beauty lies inside. When you pull out the record we get a beautifully printed inner sleeve with a picture that would have made a great alternate cover in my book, but it is probably less appealing to the casual fan and a collection of record and movie-posters memorabilia on the other side.
The CD comes housed in a mini-gatefold cover with different color pictures and a 4-page black and white booklet holding the same liner notes as the back of the LP.
Content
This set was released by "popular demand," as these songs were the favorites of many people who bought RDM-Edition's 2024 'PRESLEY - The Essential 50's Masters' 4-CD-set, featuring all the fifties Mono II Stereo mixes by producer Anthony Stuchbury. Many fans asked for a vinyl version, and they got it, but with a twist.
The original album opened with the title track, but these producers decided to go a different way. Presenting us the movie versions, it isn't that strange that they sequenced the songs exactly as they were presented in the movie, so no hard-hitting 'King Creole' opening the album, but the medley of 'Turtles, berries and Gumbo', the instrumental version of 'King Creole' and 'Crawfish', with Kitty Wells joining in with Elvis. This version is different to the version we heard on FTD's Deluxe 'King Creole' box.
‘Crawfish’ is perhaps one of the album's most underrated gems. Stripped down to mainly drums with sparse guitar licks and featuring Kitty White's backing vocals, it comes close to calypso and creates an atmospheric piece that works beautifully in context, especially as part of this medley.
This opener is a nice illustration of the work that went into this release. It was reconstructed from scratch from four different sources and blended together, just like in the movie, but without all the background noise. To these ears, the vinyl version sounds even more as a whole than it did on the 'Presley' set.
‘Steadfast, Loyal and True’ serves as a brief high school Alma Mater song that's strictly for plot purposes. At less than a minute, it's admittedly forgettable, even if it sounds very clean and clear here.
The bouncy little ‘Lover Doll’ proves divisive among listeners. Some find it a silly track that doesn't fit with the rest of the album, while others appreciate its Frank Sinatra-influenced swing as one of the more original-sounding songs on the record. It's certainly quirky and gimmicky, but that's part of its charm, representing Elvis's willingness to experiment during this period. Here we get the Undubbed Version with the double acoustic guitar, but without the drum and the Jordanaires we heard on the original soundtrack album. I never heard the finger snapping this clearly, nice to discover.
'Trouble' as performed by "Hoodlum” Danny Fisher represents a real high point. The bluesy and aggressive Leiber-Stoller creation, that opened the 1968 TV Special a decade later, finds Elvis exploring classic blues structure in a way he rarely attempted elsewhere. The big band arrangement actually enhances the song's impact, giving it a weight and sophistication that the subtle pluckings of original bluesmen couldn't achieve.
Stuchbury succeeded to give this song the expressive sound it needs, especially in this Stereo Version, he really opened up the song, allowing all elements to shine, just listen how that brass really come through, I felt like I'm watching the movie, and cranking up the volume takes me straight into the Blue Shade club where Danny shows us how “Dixieland Rock(s)”.
Playing the vinyl, which is of course mastered differently than the CD (that sounds a little sharper with more prominent highs), I don't need headphones to step back in time to experience 1958.
Stuchbury had to extract and reassemble the lead vocal, the bass, guitar, drums, backing vocals and of course the brass from the big band. Especially the latter is hard to do, but he made it work, emphasizing the backing vocals a little at the end, making it sound different from the Studio Master we know.
He did the same on 'Dixieland Rock', the brass really jumps at you, listen to that trombone, so both songs got an extra spin from me!
Turning the LP, Danny shows his softer and seductive side, sharing his 'Young Dreams'. Oh how different were the lyrics 70 years ago, compared to all the "bitches and ho's, dropping it all on the floor" we hear in today’s music. 'Young Dreams' takes us back to the story, Elvis' voice nicely takes the lead and you clearly hear how Elvis plays with his voice, showing the versatile singer he is.
'New Orleans' was the closing song on the original album, but here it is part of the storyline. It literally takes us to the movie, and on this version Stuchbury did some repair work, adding the 'where' from the Jordanaires that were previously not audible on the Record Version Master.
The song also showcases some of Elvis' most unusual and fantastic vocal stylings. His voice goes surprisingly deep here, showcasing his range while the bluesy arrangement captures the essence of the Crescent City. It's ambitious perhaps to a fault - Elvis occasionally struggles with the over-busy arrangement - but represents the album's experimental spirit at its peak.
Just like in the movie, Elvis takes center stage with DJ and Bill Black driving the beat, Scotty Moore adding his guitar licks on the right and the brass section positioned behind this set-up placed across the mix. It's as if Elvis and the band were standing in front of the horn-section with it backing them from both sides! Similar to the movie. The little echo on the end emphasizes the "big sound' from the brass band. This song illustrates so well that Elvis really could make anything sound like Rock and Roll!
We continue the high with the title track, finally I would say, as it is the ninth song on the album, and we're used to hearing it as the opener. This Leiber-Stoller composition illustrates the soundtrack's gritty tone. With its springy bassline and rhythmic, almost rap-like verses, it's a great showcase for both Elvis' intense vocals and the interplay between Scotty Moore's guitar work and the brass section. The song reached the U.K. Top 5 and remains one of Elvis' classics.
For this project, the main issue with the title track was that the drums were not really drums, but brushes. These were hard to isolate, but the producer succeeded, and doing so, he also created clean stamps for the piano and the guitar. This is something nobody managed to do at this level, perhaps with the exception of peter Jackson's team, but they charge over US$10,000 per track.
With the musical elements at is disposal, Stuchbury created a new presentation: Elvis and the drums in the middle, with the piano and guitar panned to the side, creating a real Stereo presentation instead of "one big block of audio" in the middle. On the rocking songs he placed the Jordanaires more in the middle, really backing Elvis, while on the ballads, he placed them more to the side, creating a balanced Stereo presentation. So these mixes are more that "just Mono to Stereo gimmicks".
Stuchbury also added a little drum roll and guitar to the title track where Elvis sings "plays his guitar like a tommy gun" and "bends a string" to the studio version, a nice little extra, which we recognize from the Memphis Mansion flexi-single release of this song a few years back. Nice to have it on a less-flexible format. Without the background noise from the movie, this is a great clean version.
The vinyl version closes with two slower songs. 'Don't Ask Me Why' is another ballad where Elvis sounds magnificent, though it suffers from being somewhat derivative, still, his vocal commitment elevates the material beyond its formulaic origins. Just listen to Scotty playing those last notes closing the song, great to pick up on new elements that were buried in the Mono versions.
While some dismiss it as standard movie fare, this song is far more. Elvis's voice is in top form here, and the performance really benefits from the new Stereo Mix that gives Elvis' voice, the guitar, the piano and the backing vocalists space to breathe and flourish, better audible on their own, they sound more like a whole, complementing each other.
Where the vinyl version comes to an end with this great ballad, the CD continues with five more Stereo Masters of the songs that we heard in the movie versions, a nice encore that completes the album. There are only three tracks on the vinyl release that are exactly as on the 'PRESLEY - The Essential 50's Masters' set, 'Trouble', 'Hard Headed Woman' and 'As Long As I Have You', so you're not buying the same tracks if you decide to add these to your collection.
It would have been nice if the producers had been able to include 'Danny', that would really have completed this soundtrack album, but due to copyright legislation, that was not possible.
Conclusion
Listening to these new Stereo movie versions and Studio Masters we have come a long way. Not only returning to how it sounded in the studio (Stereo) but also from the first LPs and CDs with movie versions taken from VHS movie-tapes and later DVDs, with all the background noise audible.
In an interview with Piers Beagley on the Elvis Information Network, Stuchbury said "After letting a friend hear the end result of the vinyl master his opinion was that this Stereo Mix really opens up the tracks, with the brass and Jordanaires sounding much clearer. The original Mono Mix doesn't really do justice to what was achieved in the studio. I'd have to agree with that as a lot of the musicianship is buried in the Mono Mix, but it's all there for the taking, I feel that I've enhanced their work by creating this new Stereo Mix allowing you to focus on it better." Visit the >>> Elvis Information Network website for the complete interview.
I can only conclude that he succeeded in what he set out to do and compliment the engineer and designer on their work, again! They weren't looking for trouble, they delivered the goods with their stellar work on the audio - for now my go-to versions - and the packaging.
And for those who think "another positive review of these Mono to Stereo mixes?" I can only say, yes I'm a fan of these versions, as they offer the authentic sound, but upgraded to the 21st century. This new soundtrack reconfirms that. Go to the >>> RDM-Edition website, and judge for yourself with the previews available.
The soundtrack LP and CD are available from the >>> Bennies Fifties webshop.