A Good year.

By '68, Elvis had grown estranged to his music, going from session to session and set to set. Since G.I. Blues (1960), he was making between two and four films a year which were generally shot in two weeks time. The King was becoming frustrated when comparing his career (to let's say oh... the Beatles, perhaps) to new emerging successful ones on top of the charts. Why couldn't he, the man who'd seen every peek position in a four year period with a handful of grooves, get a piece of it now? Secondly, why couldn't he feel passionate about his music, wings of his soul? Truth is, Elvis wasn't Presley, he was MGM, Paramount and UA. Disowned and discouraged from the claws of pop, that of Good Luck Charm or Have a Happy, '68 came and gave a breath of fresh air with the Speedway ST.

I'm not sure if the Colonel had to with it, But the connection to the sexy, tongue dropping Ms Sinatra seemed to've brought chemistry to the music. Listen to "Speedway" or "Let yourself go" (check out the Comeback version - HOT!). These are, yes indeed, pop dipped tracks but all-groove. There's a feeling in that music which is indescribably fly. La crème de la crème is no other than "There Ain't nothing like a song", where Elvis' voice sounds like it had been sleeping in a Memphis studio for a few years and pulled out of a drawer for the recording. It's fresh, hip and the way E.P. likes it most: Rock'N' Roll, baby.

However, nobody paid much mind to the product, Elvis having been a franchise performer for too long. It was just another Elvis movie with a soundtrack.
"Hey Joe, You wanna like go see that Elvis flick?
- Forget that, man, like I got tickets to see the Byrds.
- Whoa, man, I'm like there too."
Thank goodness, Elvis' prayers from How Great Art Thou (his '66 Grammy award-winning gospel album) had been answered because '68 was a good one. After marrying Pricilla on May 1st, the Comeback Special was filmed two months later and redeemed the man's soul until his death and that, despite those last intolerable films he had to make after the Comeback.

So buy the double album (because ECEG is kinda worth it - Nonetheless, it's better than the two films that part ECEG to Speedway) and pay attention to the Speedway soundtrack. Invite your friends over and have a bikini party with the music. If your friends don't dance, then change your friends!!! The girls should consider taking their tops off by the time Let Yourself Go plays...

Two of the Best Soundtracks - Easy Come, Easy Go and Speedwa

Sure this album does not have the depth of the 1968 Comeback Special or the 1969 Memphis Sessions, but these are some of the most fun tracks Elvis ever recorded. Easy Come, Easy Go is a great set with 6 songs from the movie, a song recorded for the movie but not used, and 3 great outtakes. The alternate take of Sing You Children Sing is worth the price of admission. The alternate take is done slower and really grooves. She's a machine is a great number that Elvis tackles with vigor. Easy Come, Easy Go, You Gotta Stop, and I'll Take Love are outstanding songs, and Elvis handles each with a coolness and looseness that is unsurpassed by any other of the soundtrack tunes he recorded. Easy Come, Easy Go is Elvis having fun and it's infectious. These songs were recorded at the studio sound stage and they have a "live" concert feel. Great stuff!



Speedway is also a great set, with a great title track along with other great songs like Let Yourself Go and There Ain't Nothing Like a Song.



People cast unfair judgement on the movie songs. The movies and the songs were all about having fun. And Elvis is right on target with it!



A great companion to the CD Tomorrow is a Long Time. This is a great period that is overlooked.