Double your displeasure

This CD consists of two Elvis soundtracks from 1966 and 1967. Elvis' career hadn't quite hit bottom at this point, but it was about to. He wasn't exactly getting prime material for his soundtracks, and it shows here. With the exception of "All That I Am", Spinout doesn't really have any good songs on it. But at least "Stop, Look and Listen", "Adam and Evil", "Never Say Yes" and "Spinout" are fun, in a dumb kind of way. On the other hand, "Beach Shack" and "Smorgasbord" are just flat out awful. As for Double Trouble, it's even worse. The only song here that is the least bit intriguing is "Long Legged Girl". Everything else is terrible, especially "Old McDonald" and "I Love Only One Girl". This CD is for Elvis completists only.

Spinout/Double Trouble

This is a great soundtrack to a good film. If you havent seen the film then the soundtrack wont mean very much to you, and to enjoy this album to it maximum you have to be a great fan of Elvis, this soundtrack is not for the part time elvis fan, its for the experienced elvis fans and collectors!

The best of the latter day Elvis soundtrack albums

When Elvis hung out with the Beatles in 1965, John Lennon was reported as saying to Elvis "When are you gonna do another Rock and Roll record? When you do, we'll buy that one". Though it would be a few more years till Elvis did just that, there's definitely more rock and roll going on in the "Spinout" soundtrack than any other Elvis soundtrack album from the 60's.

Recorded in that glorious summer of 1966 (the Beatles "Revolver, Beach Boys "Pet Sounds, Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde") "Spinout" is obviously not a great artistic statement by any means. Fans looking for that from Elvis during this time period should purchase the excellent "How Great Thou Art".

What "Spinout" DOES have is more fun, spirit, vibe and yes, rock and roll, to be found on any Elvis soundtrack record since the 1950's. Elvis sounds like he's having fun, and the band does too.

This record has a very "live" feel to it. From the opening track "Stop, Look and Listen", the drums are live and lively sounding, the bass booms, the guitars are groovy, and the vocals sound looser and more rock and roll than anything he'd done in some time. The production is also unusually good for an Elvis soundtrack album. Many of them sound pretty flat acoustically, whereas "Spinout" seems very bright, clear and powerful.

Sure the songs are a bit on the silly side lyrically, but the enthusiasm in the performances is what makes "Spinout" a great album. A good example here would be "Beach Shack" - an above average Elvis movie song, with pretty inane lyrics, is elevated to greatness just through the atmosphere of fun and the quality performances by Elvis and the band.

I own all of the Elvis soundtracks and "Spinout" is by far and away the best and most consistent listen.

The "Double Trouble" album, on the other hand, is back to business as usual. The production and sound quality aren't much to speak of and though there are a few good rockers on here - "Long Legged Girl with the Short Dress On" and "Double Trouble", most of the songs are more of the usual standard Elvis movie track variety. "Double Trouble" has the honor of containing two of the absolute best/worst Elvis movie songs: "Old MacDonald" and "I Love Only One Girl". These must be heard to be believed.

All in all, this is my favorite of the Double Feature reissue series. I recommend this as a great starting point for someone who's interested in checking out the better aspects of the 1960's Elvis soundtrack albums.