''Spinout'' is the 14th soundtrack album by American singer and musician
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
, released by
RCA Victor in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 3702, on October 31, 1966. It is the soundtrack to the 1966
film of the same name starring Presley.
Recording sessions for the film songs took place at
Radio Recorders in
Hollywood, California
Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...
, on February 16 and 17, 1966. The album was augmented with three non-film songs recorded earlier in the year. It peaked at number 18 on the
Top Pop Albums chart.
Background
In early 1966, executives at RCA and Presley's manager,
Colonel Tom Parker, had arrived at the same conclusion. They could no longer expect records of only soundtrack recordings and session leftovers to perform as strongly as in the past.
[Jorgensen, Ernst. ''Elvis Presley A Life in Music: The Complete Recording Sessions''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998; p. 203.] Popular music was rife with changes in the mid-1960s, Soundtrack sales were plunging, shifting fewer units and peaking at lower positions on the chart.
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Content
The ''Spinout'' sessions still adhered to the same formula of the past four years. Nine songs were recorded for the soundtrack, all of which appeared in the film. Most of the songs derived from the standard pool of songwriters, their publishing rights signed over to Elvis Presley Music and Gladys Music, the companies owned by Elvis and the Colonel. One song, "Stop, Look, and Listen", was previously recorded by Ricky Nelson
Eric Hilliard "Ricky" Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician and actor. From age eight, he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he began a ...
and Bill Haley & His Comets.
Two songs were released as a single the month before the film's premiere, the title track backed with " All That I Am", and although both sides charted independently the A-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...
just barely made the Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
.
Acknowledging shifts in taste, three additional tracks of a contemporary nature were added as a "special bonus" to bring the album up to a more acceptable running time. Recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
during the sessions for his gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
album '' How Great Thou Art'' early in 1966, two were rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...
songs. The other was " Tomorrow Is a Long Time", an original by Bob Dylan (publishing rights for which were, of course, not signed over to Presley and Parker), with a ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...
from a later Nashville session in June. " Down in the Alley" had been released in 1957 by The Clovers, and Presley knew of and appreciated the Dylan song from the version on '' Odetta Sings Dylan'' by the folk singer
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
Odetta. Presley's recording exceeded five minutes in length, making it the longest studio recorded he ever released, but with a length that (at that time) was considered too long for release as a single. " I'll Remember You" had been a record by Don Ho, and reflected Presley's infatuation with Hawaii and its culture. Its songwriter, Kui Lee, died of cancer only a few months after the album's release; Presley's later Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite concert (on which he performed "I'll Remember You") was a fund-raiser for a cancer fund set up in Lee's name.
Even with these inclusions, the album fared little better than its predecessors in 1966.
Dylan confessed to ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' in June 1969 that Presley's version of "Tomorrow Is a Long Time" was the cover of one of his songs that he "treasured the most." The three additional songs can be found on '' From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential 60s Masters'', while three songs from the film soundtrack appeared on '' Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II'': " Spinout", " All That I Am", and "I'll Be Back".
Reissues
In 2004 ''Spinout'' was reissued on the Follow That Dream label in a special edition that contained the original album tracks along with numerous alternate takes.
Track listing
Original release
Note
*" Spinout" was released as a single in October 1966 with " All That I Am" as its B-side. The songs reached number 40 and 41, respectively, in the United States on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and, respectively, numbers 21 and 18 in the United Kingdom.
2004 Follow That Dream CD reissue
Personnel
* Elvis Presley – vocals
* The Jordanaires – backing vocals
* Boots Randolph – saxophone
* Scotty Moore – electric guitar
* Tommy Tedesco – electric guitar
* Tiny Timbrell
Hilmer J. "Tiny" Timbrell (January 15, 1917 – May 7, 1992) was a Canadian-born session musician, session guitarist.
Timbrell was born in Canada but moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue his career in music. For a time, he sold guitars at ...
– acoustic guitar
* Floyd Cramer
Floyd Cramer (October 27, 1933 – December 31, 1997) was an American pianist who became famous for his use of melodic "whole-step" attacks. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His signatur ...
– piano
* Charlie Hodge – piano (on "Beach Shack" and possibly "I'll Be Back , arranged by Hodge)
* Bob Moore – double bass
* D.J. Fontana – drums
* Buddy Harman – drums
Charts
Album
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
1966 soundtrack albums
Elvis Presley soundtracks
RCA Records soundtracks
Musical film soundtracks
Comedy film soundtracks
Albums recorded at Radio Recorders