A Date With Elvis (Single / EP / LP - RCA, 1959)

Title:

A Date With Elvis

Label:

RCA Victor [LPM 2011]

Format:

LP

Number of tracks:

10

Running time:

22:00

Type of album:

Studio / Compilation

Linked to:

Official discography

Year:

1959

Recorded:

July 7, 1954 - April 30, 1957

Released:

July 24, 1959

Singles:

"Mystery Train/I Forgot to Remember" (Sept. 30, 1958)

A Date With Elvis is the eighth album by Elvis Presley on RCA Victor. It is a compilation of hits recorded between 1954 and 1957, covering content from both RCA and Sun Studio.

After Presley's induction into the United States Army on March 24, 1958, RCA Victor director, Elvis, and Colonel Tom Parker faced the prospect of keeping his name before the public for two years with no possibility of performances or films and few recordings not yet released.

A recording session was hastily arranged on June 10, 1958 to meet this demand, producing enough tracks for five singles, which was the commercial focus for rock music in the 1950s. Four of these tracks would be released on EPs in 1958 and 1959, during his absence.

Presley, however, also did well in the album market. Each of his six LPs prior to "For LP Fans Only" charted between number one and number three.

Like its predecessor, "A Date With Elvis" featured tracks that were issued by Sun Records with limited release and were nearly impossible to locate beyond certain parts of the South. However, all 5 Sun singles were reissued by RCA in November 1955 and remained in print until the 1970s. The other five songs derived from three different EPs from 1956 and 1957.

Even by the standards of the late 1950s and early 1960s where long play albums were only about 35 minutes long, this was a very short record and as such became Elvis' lowest-charting LP of the decade - only reaching number 32 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums. The cover of the work unfolded to assemble a calendar of the year 1960.

A different version of the album, expanding the track listing to a healthy 14 tracks, was published in Australia in September 1959. RCA re-released the original album on CD in 1989. FTD released its own version in 2017.

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RECORDING SESSIONS

Dates:

July 7, September 12-16 and November 15, 1954; February 4 and July 21, 1955; August 24, 1956; January 19 and April 30, 1957

Studio:

Sun Studio
RCA Studio 1
 20th Century Fox Sound Stage 1
Radio Recorders Studio 1

Location:

Memphis, Tennessee

New York, New York

Hollywood, California

Musicians:

Voice: Elvis Presley
Guitar: Elvis Presley
Electric guitar: Scotty Moore, Hilmer "J. Tiny" Timbrel
Bass: Bill Black, Bob Moore
Drums: DJ Fontana, Murray "Buddy" Harman
Piano: Dudley Brooks, Floyd Cramer
Backing Vocals: The Jordanaires

Sound engineer / Recording engineer:

Thorne Nogar / Bob Farris


 JULY 7, 1954
                                     Blue Moon Of Kentucky F2WB 8041-NA

SEPTEMBER 12-16, 1954
                                     Tomorrow Night F2WB 8115-07
                                     I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin') F2WB 8116-NA
                                     Satisfied
                                     Just Because F2WB 8118-NA
                                     Good Rockin' Tonight F2WB 8043-02
                                     I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine F2WB 8042-03

NOVEMBER 15, 1954
                                        Milkcow Blues Boogie F2WB 8044-NA
                                        You're A Heartbreaker F2WB 8045-NA
                                        I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone (Slow Version) OPA1 4196-05

FEBRUARY 4, 1955
                                         I Got A Woman
                                         Tryin' To Get To You
                                         Baby Let's Play House F2WB 8046-01

JULY 21, 1955
                                        I Forgot To Remember To Forget F2WB 8000-NA
                                        Mystery Train F2WB 8001-01
                                        Tryin' To Get To You F2WB 8039-NA

AUGUST 24, 1956
                                        We're Gonna Move
                                         Poor Boy
                                         Love Me Tender G2WB 4767-02
                                         We're Gonna Move ('Men's Chorus' Overdub)
                                         We're Gonna Move ('Hand Claps' Overdub) G2WB 7260-01

JANUARY 19, 1957
                                         It Is No Secret (What God Can Do) H2WB 0282-13
                                         Blueberry Hill H2WB 0283-09
                                         Have I Told You Lately That I Love You H2WB 0284-15
                                         Is It So Strange H2WB 0285-12
                                         Is It So Strange (Backup Vocal Overdub / Repair) H2WB 0285

APRIL 30, 1957
                                         Jailhouse Rock (Alternate Master)
                                         Jailhouse Rock
                                         Jailhouse Rock (Pickup to instrumental, chorus and on)
                                         Jailhouse Rock (Record Version - Composite) H2WB 6779-SP
                                         Treat Me Nice (First Movie Version) HRA1 8681-19
                                         Young And Beautiful (Record Version) H2WB 6777-22
                                         Young And Beautiful (Alternate Master)
                                         Young And Beautiful (Movie End Version - Composite)
                                         Young And Beautiful (Solo / Prison TV Version) WPA5 2507-03
                                         Young And Beautiful (Florita Club Version) HRA1 8682-07

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SESSION LOGS

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RELATED SINGLES AND EPS TRACKS

GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT (SINGLE)

September 30, 1958 (Gold Standard)

1. Good Rockin' Tonight

2. I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine

MYSTERY TRAIN (SINGLE)

September 30, 1958 (Gold Standard)

1. Mystery Train

2. I Forgot to Remember to Forget

A TOUCH OF GOLD, VOLUME 1 (EP)

April 21, 1959

1. Hard Headed Woman

2. Good Rockin' Tonight

3. Don't

4. I Beg of You

A DATE WITH ELVIS (LP)

July 24, 1959

1. Blue Moon of Kentucky
2. Young and Beautiful
3. (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care
4. Milkcow Blues Boogie
5. Baby Let's Play House
6. Good Rockin' Tonight
7. Is It So Strange
8. We're Gonna Move
9. I Want to Be Free
10. I Forgot to Remember to Forget

A TOUCH OF GOLD, VOLUME 3 (EP)

February 23, 1960

1. Too Much
2. All Shook Up
3. Don't Ask Me Why
4. Blue Moon of Kentucky

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FTD'S VERSION

Title:

A Date With Elvis

Label:

FTD [FTD 160] [506020 975107 8]

Format:

Double CD

Number of tracks:

61

Running time:

134:00

Type of album:

Studio / Compilation / Live

Linked to:

FTD discography

Year:

2017

Recorded:

July 7, 1954 - April 1959

Released:

March 2017

Singles:

---

FTD exceeds expectations for this CD, which once again suffers from the lack of enough alternative takes to compose a full-length album. However, the record company managed to obtain tapes in excellent condition with most of the recordings from the period covered by the original release.

As expected, the takes of "Is It So Strange", which did not appear on the "Elvis' Christmas Album" CD sessions, are here almost in their entirety.

Continuing the work, FTD reissued recordings made by Elvis and his friends in 1959 while serving in the Army in Germany (previously released on the CD "In a Private Moment"). In his house in Bad Nauheim, the King of Rock rehearses and sings songs of different styles, from pop hits of the time to Gospel and Christmas, in order to choose material for new official recordings.

Finally, the CD cover opens into three parts. In addition to the front cover, the middle part has the tracks from both CDs and the last one, a calendar from 1960. Inside, the cover hides a 12-page booklet with various information and dozens of photos of Elvis in Germany. The work includes the following tracks:

CD 1

ORIGINAL ALBUM

1. Blue Moon Of Kentucky

2. Young And Beautiful

3. (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care

4. Milkcow Blues Boogie

5. Baby Let's Play House.

6. Good Rockin' Tonight

7. Is It So Strange

8. We're Gonna Move

9. I Want To Be Free

10. I Forgot To Remember To Forget

BONUS SONGS

11. I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine

12. Let Me

STEREO AND BINAURAL

13. Young And Beautiful

14. (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care

15. We're Gonna Move

16. I Want To Be Free (Movie Version, splice of takes 10, 12 & 13)*

17. I Want To Be Free (Record Version, splice of takes 11 & final ending take 5)*

18. Is It So Strange (take 1)

19. Is It So Strange (takes 2-9)

20. Is It So Strange (take 10)

21. Is It So Strange (take 11)

22. Is It So Strange (take 12 - Original Master Take)

*previously unreleased

CD 2

PRIVATE RECORDINGS IN GERMANY

1. I'm Beginning To Forget You (1)

2. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You) (ending only)

3. Mona Lisa

4. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)

5. Guitar Piece

6. Danny Boy (1)

7. Danny Boy (2)

8. Loving You (Incomplete)

9. Talk

10. I'm Beginning To Forget You (2)

11. Christmas

12. I'm Beginning To Forget You (3)

13. I'm Beginning To Forget You (4)

14. I Asked The Lord (1, incomplete)

15. I Asked The Lord (2, incomplete)

16. Apron Strings (1)

17. Soldier Boy

18. I Asked The Lord (3, incomplete)

19. I Asked The Lord (4)

20. I Asked The Lord (5)

21. Earth Angel

22. I Will Be True

23. There's No Tomorrow

24. I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen (Slow)

25. Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)

26. Hound Dog

27. I Asked The Lord (6)

28. I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen (fast)

29. Apron Strings (3)

30. The Titles Will Tell

31. Send Me Some Lovin'

32. The Fool (1)

33. The Fool (2 incomplete)

34. The Fool (3)

35. The Fool (4)

BADLY DISTORTED AUDIO

36. I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen (fast)

37. I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen (slow 1)

38. Apron Strings (2)

39. It's Been So Long Darling

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