remove 2-3 very silly songs...add some funny jokes...and it's watchable. but no...reality says, another Elvis coulda-shoulda mediocrity, utilizing 40% of his talent.
gonna cut to the chase...in this case, a racing car track: has a lot of groovy stuff: (it appears) that RCA insisyed Elvis use a Producer to oversee his recording sessions, which were yielding less and less good stuff (Elvis stuck with picking the best of mediocre demos). here we can actually hear the band, and there are some nice touches by running a guitar through a Leslie speaker here and there. we have a real rock and roll song called STOP, LOOK, AND LISTEN, also recorded by fellow '50s rockers, BIll Haley & Ricky Nelson. a terrible tune, SMORGASBOARD is somehow made audible by a great bass arrangement, well mixed. Elvis' voice is too far forward again but there's some real "pop" to the soundtrack on film and on record. we also have a real hit record AL THAT I AM...a huge hit in UK, a modest B-sider here...but it was pretty darn good, and the violins actually worked! I read that Tony Bennett even covered it...can't find any evidence yet.
I'LL BE BACK was arranged by Charlie HOdge and it captures some real '50s walking blues flavor, not dissimilar to MONEY HONEY, from 1956! to the frames: great to watch under rated Debbie Waley as the girl drummer and the sensuous Shelly Fabares (like Elvis) playing a not very hip 20 year old.
there's even a real Duesenberg on hand....great performance....sorry yes we have CArl Betz , Shelly's real TV Father from the Donna Reed show, playing her Dad here. of course he's the backer for Elvis' racing gigs...and she's the sorta spoiled rich kid...but guess what? the ending is NOT what you might expect!
gonna cut to the chase...in this case, a racing car track: has a lot of groovy stuff: (it appears) that RCA insisyed Elvis use a Producer to oversee his recording sessions, which were yielding less and less good stuff (Elvis stuck with picking the best of mediocre demos). here we can actually hear the band, and there are some nice touches by running a guitar through a Leslie speaker here and there. we have a real rock and roll song called STOP, LOOK, AND LISTEN, also recorded by fellow '50s rockers, BIll Haley & Ricky Nelson. a terrible tune, SMORGASBOARD is somehow made audible by a great bass arrangement, well mixed. Elvis' voice is too far forward again but there's some real "pop" to the soundtrack on film and on record. we also have a real hit record AL THAT I AM...a huge hit in UK, a modest B-sider here...but it was pretty darn good, and the violins actually worked! I read that Tony Bennett even covered it...can't find any evidence yet.
I'LL BE BACK was arranged by Charlie HOdge and it captures some real '50s walking blues flavor, not dissimilar to MONEY HONEY, from 1956! to the frames: great to watch under rated Debbie Waley as the girl drummer and the sensuous Shelly Fabares (like Elvis) playing a not very hip 20 year old.
there's even a real Duesenberg on hand....great performance....sorry yes we have CArl Betz , Shelly's real TV Father from the Donna Reed show, playing her Dad here. of course he's the backer for Elvis' racing gigs...and she's the sorta spoiled rich kid...but guess what? the ending is NOT what you might expect!