Critics be Damned

Elvis's movie career, especially the mid to late 1960s output, has long been the favorite whipping boy of critics. Of the King's many cinematic endeavors from this era, few elicit more scorn and ridicule than the four featured on this collection: 1968's "Live a Little, Love a Little" and the three 1969 releases, "Charro!", "The Trouble with Girls (and How to Get into It) and "Change of Habit." Given this negative stigma, it is not surprising that the music associated with these four films have been virtually ignored by all but the most uncompromising Elvis fan. This is unfortunate because as evidenced by the four soundtracks compiled on this version of "Elvis: Double Features", the quartet of films featured some very underrated songs. This disc contains 20 tracks representing an eclectic grouping of Presley recordings that is more diverse than any collection this side of an all encompassing boxed set. Soft love ballads, upbeat sing-alongs, social minded mantras, and a couple of unreleased tracks highlight this collection. The movie "Live a Little" offers two top-notch performances: the bluesy "Edge of Reality" (B-Side of the 1968 hit "If I Can Dream) and the underappreciated "A Little Less Conversation", another 1968 single that achieved very mediocre chart position. Both performances sound fresh and each has a gritty drive far removed from what was usually found on Presley soundtracks. "Charro!", a movie best remembered as the one in which Elvis sported a full beard and delivered just one song (during the film's opening credits) offers up two gems. In the title track, Elvis's strong vocals are backed by the magnificent Hugo Montenegro Orchestra, and the combination delivers a classic, albeit, cliché laden western movie love ballad. The second track, "Let's Forget About the Stars", didn't make it into the film's final version and that is unfortunate because the song is a tender sonnet. RCA should have released this song with "Charro!" as a single instead of using the latter as a throw away B-Side with "Memories" in 1969. The third movie of this soundtrack, "The Trouble with Girls", features eight tracks. The highlight is "Clean Up Your Own Backyard", a Dylan-esque narrative with the underlining theme of "people who live in glass houses...". The very short, but very touching ballad "Almost" effectively shows off Elvis's fine vocals. This CD features dubbed and undubbed versions of each song. Saving the best for last, Elvis's last feature film "Change of Habit" contributes the remaining five songs of this collection. All are excellent. "Have a Happy" is an upbeat ditty (even if it does sound like something the "Brady Bunch" would have recorded) and is harmless fun. The title track is a quick tempo song with a social conscious and the very catchy "Let Us Pray" is a gospel rocker RCA should have released as a single. The final track, "Rubberneckin", packs a wallop and features a musical composition quite contemporary for the era in which it was produced...the record deserved a much better fate than to be paired as the B-Side of the 1969 release "Don't Cry Daddy." Ironically, this disc features the two Elvis songs, "A Little Less Conversation" and "Rubberneckin", that both reached number one on the charts when released in a dance remix format in 2002 and 2003 respectively. Can remix versions of "Change of Habit" or "Clean Up Your Own Backyard" be far behind? All in all, "Elvis: Double Features" clearly prove that Elvis possessed the ability to produce above quality music though burdened by substandard movie scripts...critics be damned!!

OUTSTANDING VOCALS, SOME GREAT SONGS.

As Elvis' movies matured in their content, the songs improved as well. This CD includes all the songs included and recorded for Elvis' last four movies and suprise, it is very good.

The songs from "Live a Little, Love a Little" are an odd mixture and quite different from Elvis' previous soundtracks. While this movie contained, as almost every Elvis movie did, a love ballad(s) and a rocker(s), the songs are smarter and geared to a more adult audience. The love ballad "Almost In Love", a song with an unusual tempo, is sung in a very deep voice and while not one of Elvis' best ballads, it is still above average. "Little Less Conversation", the rocker, has mean lyrics and Elvis is perfect for this type of song. Two versions of this song appear on this CD, the original 1968 single version and the version that appeared on the RCA / Camden budget LP "Almost In Love". "Wonderful World", a feel good ballad that should have been released as a single, and "Edge Of Reality" an unusual, interesting and indescribable ballad, are the remaings songs from this movie.

While only one song was included in the movie "Charro!", that being the title song, there was another song recorded for the movie that was not in the final print of the film. "Let's Forget About The Stars" is a fine ballad in which urges his love to forgot about astrology and follow her heart. The title song is passionately sung and one the few story ballads Elvis recorded.

The songs from "The Trouble With Girls" are an even odder mixute than the ones from "Live A Little.." "Clean Up Your Own Backyard" is a social commentary song that actually hit the Top 40 in 1969 and Elvis growls and chews on the lyrics as only he could. "Almost" is a lovely and sad, although short ballad. Elvis could sing these songs till his blue moon turned to gold. "Swing Down, Sweet Chariot" is a remake from Elvis 1960 gospel album "His Hand In Mine" and Elvis gives it just as solid of a treatment as he did eight years previously. The rest of the songs from this movie, "Violet", "The Whiffenpoof Song" and Signs Of The Zodiac" (a duet with co-star Marilyn Mason) were recorded directly from the soundtrack of the movie and are not noteworthy.

"Change of Habit" was Elvis' last movie in which he acted and the songs range from exellent to average. "Let Us Pray" is an outstanding gospel number and the title song is a psuedo gospel number that while well sung and written, suffers from being over produced. "Rubberneckin" was not recorded for this movie, but was actually recorded at Elvis' famous Memphis sessions of 1969 that produced "Suspicious Minds" and "Kentucky Rain". It was included in the movie and it is a wild, raucous song that has to be heard to be believed. "Have A Happy" is a more typical Elvis movie song that in the movie is sung to a child, and it is innocuous and pleasant. "Let's Be Friends" was cut from the movie and was actually an alternate song for "Have A Happy". It has slightly more mature lyrics than "Have a Happy" and again is a nice, listenable track.

Overall, I would give this CD 4 and 1/2 stars and recommend it to any Elvis fan.