EAP Index World: Paradise, Hawaiian Style (LP

Title:

Paradise, Hawaiian Style

Label:

RCA Victor [LSP/LPM 3643]

Format:

Number of tracks:

Running time:

22:20

Type of album:

Soundtrack

Linked to:

Official discography; Paradise Hawaiian Style, 1966

Year:

1966

Recording date:

July 26 - August 4, 1965

Release date:

June 10, 1966

Singles:

---

Paradise, Hawaiian Style is Elvis' twenty-first soundtrack album, his 22nd LP for RCA, and his 49th audiophonic release (including singles and EPs). Recorded at Radio Recorders in July and August 1965, it contains the complete soundtrack to the film of the same name.

Elvis was in 1965 recording soundtrack albums for films that were almost a year away—the days when the final session of a record and its release were spaced out no more than a week apart were a distant memory. While working on this album, his most recent theatrical film was "Tickle Me", and Elvis had completed three more films since then.

With titles like "A Dog's Life" and "Queenie Wahine's Papaya", he openly ridiculed the material, making a point of taking his time—an extremely expensive task when it comes to recording—before stepping up to the microphone to do the job in a way that suited him best. Elvis, deeply enraged, agreed to record songs that he would have vehemently rejected years earlier. Of course, his ethics allowed him to finish the job, but Elvis found himself being led by greater forces than a star in control of his own career.

Of the ten songs recorded in the soundtrack sessions, nine appear in the film and all are on the LP. The song omitted from the production, "Sand Castles", was included on the album to bring the number of tracks to 10 and the running time to over 20 minutes, the minimum requirements for an LP release at the time. No single was released to promote the soundtrack, but RCA released a single on June 8, 1966, two days before sales began, featuring the tracks "Come What May" and "Love Letters", recorded during the "How Great Thou Art" sessions in May 1966.

Sales of the album were less than 250,000 copies, a new low in Elvis' popularity. Surprisingly, the LP managed, inexplicably, to peak at #15 on the charts, outperforming both "Frankie and Johnny" (#20) and even the legendary "How Great Thou Art" (#18). The real good news was the aforementioned single, which peaked at a respectable #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at least reflected Elvis' real tastes outside of soundtrack recording duties. The single was also his first contemporary recording since "(You're the) Devil in Disguise" in June 1963 to hit stores.

In 2004, "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" was reissued on the Follow That Dream label in a special edition that contained the tracks from the original album along with numerous alternate takes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RECORDING SESSIONS

Dates:

July 26 - August 4, 1965

Studio:

Radio Recorders

Location:

Hollywood, Califórnia

Musicians:

Voice: Elvis Presley
Electric guitar: Scotty Moore, Barney Kessel, Charlie McCoy
Accoustic guitar: Bernal Lewis
Bass: Ray Siegal
Drums: DJ Fontana, Milton Holland, Hal Blaine
Piano: Larry Muhoberac
Backing Vocals: The Jordanaires

Sound engineer:

Dave Wiechman

JULY 26, 1965
Drums Of The Islands (Track)
Datin' (Track)
Scratch My Back (Track)

JULY 27, 1965
Stop Where You Are (Track)
A Dog's Life (Track)
This Is My Heaven (Track)
Paradise, Hawaiian Style (Track)
House Of Sand (Track)
House Of Sand (Track - Part)
House Of Sand (Track - Part)
Queenie Wahine's Papaya (Track)

AUGUST 2, 1965
Drums Of The Islands (Vocal Overdub)
Drums Of The Islands (Tag Ending - Vocal Overdub)
Drums Of The Islands (Composite) TPA3 3837-SP
This Is My Heaven (Vocal Overdub) TPA3 3838-SP
Sand Castles
Sand Castles (Dubdown)

AUGUST 3, 1965
Sand Castles (Vocal Overdub)
Sand Castles (Choral Overdub) TPA3 3839-02
Scratch My Back (Vocal Overdub) TPA3 3840-02
Stop Where You Are (Vocal Overdub)
Stop Where You Are (Tag - Vocal Overdub)
Stop Where You Are (Composite) TPA3 3841-SP
House Of Sand (Vocal Overdub) TPA3 3842-01

AUGUST 4, 1965
House Of Sand (Movie Opening)
House Of Sand (Part)
House Of Sand (Movie Version - Composite)
A Dog's Life (Vocal Overdub)
Datin' (Vocal Overdub) TPA3 3843-14
Queenie Wahine's Papaya (Vocal Overdub)
Queenie Wahine's Papaya (Open - Vocal Overdub)
Queenie Wahine's Papaya (Composite) TPA3 3834-SP
Paradise, Hawaiian Style (Vocal Overdub) TPA3 3835-SP
A Dog's Life (Vocal Overdub) TPA3 3836-09

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SESSION LOGS

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LP TRACKS (RCA, 1966)

PARADISE, HAWAIIAN STYLE (LP)

June 10, 1966

1. Paradise, Hawaiian Style

2. Queenie Wahine's Papaya

3. Scratch My Back

4. Drums of the Islands

5. Datin'

6. A Dog's Life

7. House of Sand

8. Stop Where You Are

9. This is My Heaven

10. Sand Castles

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FTD VERSION

Title:

Paradise, Hawaiian Style

Label:

FTD [FTD 037] [82876 59846 2]

Format:

Number of tracks:

Running time:

69:30

Type of album:

Soundtrack / Recording session

Linked to:

FTD discography

Year:

2004

Recording date:

July 26 - August 4, 1965

Release date:

July 17, 2004

Singles:

---

Without much material to work with, FTD decided to release only the remastered album and some new takes, just as it had done, for the same reason, with "Harum Scarum" and "Frankie and Johnny". The improvement of the audio, removing background noise and modifying the mono tracks to sound like stereo, was the best move the label made for this work. A 12-page booklet with information about the recording sessions, filming, behind-the-scenes and promotional photos closes this release.

The work includes the following tracks:

ORIGINAL LP

1. Paradise, Hawaiian Style

2. Queenie Wahine's Papaya

3. Scratch My Back

4. Drums of the Islands

5. Datin'

6. A Dog's Life

7. House of Sand

8. Stop Where You Are

9. This is My Heaven

10. Sand Castles