A Filmography Fit for a King, Chronicled on New Elvis Box Set

If a Legacy Edition of Elvis’ Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis wasn’t enough excitement from the King, try this one on for size: Sony’s U.K. arm is releasing a 20-disc box set collecting Elvis Presley’s soundtrack albums.

From the beginning of his career, Elvis Aaron Presley had an eye on Hollywood. He enjoyed acting, despite having no formal training in it, and had a screen test for Paramount Pictures just days after his first long-player for RCA Victor was released. Producer Hal Wallis (Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon) offered him a contract with Paramount, though he was allowed to work with other studios; it was in fact for 20th Century-Fox that he landed his first role. Originally titled The Reno Brothers, it was renamed for a song Elvis would perform in the film; that song, “Love Me Tender,” was a gigantic hit, and Presley was on his way to Hollywood stardom.

A run of relatively dramatic performances (Loving You, Jailhouse Rock (both 1957) and King Creole (1958)) was halted by Elvis’ stint in the U.S. Army; when he came back, he was back to work in pictures, but all was not well. Elvis loathed the low-budget films, with their by-the-numbers plotting. And the songs he was often given to record were among the worst in his discography, despite a few classics like “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (from 1961’s Blue Hawaii), “Return to Sender” (from Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962)) and the title track to 1964’s Viva Las Vegas.

As Elvis remained stuck on soundstages, American audiences turned to other pop stars to look up to; the all-time low occurred when his final soundtrack album, Speedway (1968), posted a sales tally of under six figures. Elvis would complete five more films afterward, none of which had a soundtrack album. But fortunately for the King, he was able to reclaim his crown at the end of 1968 with a landmark comeback television special on NBC.

Most of the 20 discs in this box set are familiar to fans – and nothing on here is unreleased – but there are a few notable rarities and oddities herein:

• While the American Jailhouse Rock soundtrack was simply an EP’s length of songs, the album presented here is in fact an LP that was pressed only in South Africa, featuring other album cuts.
• The set’s fifth disc features selections from the films Follow That Dream, Kid Galahad and Flaming Star, all of which were released as soundtrack EPs. This reordered disc features only the relevant tracks from those films, in turn dropping half the Flaming Star EP (which consisted of non-movie hits “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” and “It’s Now or Never”) and in turn adding two tracks from Follow That Dream that never ended up on the original LP. (One was released on 1965’s Elvis for Everyone, the other was not released until a 1991 rarities compilation.)
• Viva Las Vegas is presented as the 2010 album-length CD reissue released with several other soundtrack reissues for what would have been The King’s 75th birthday.

Elvis: The Movie Soundtracks is available now in the U.K., with a U.S. import date of January 14. Hit the jump to get your copy and check out the full repertoire!

Elvis Presley, Elvis: The Movie Soundtracks (RCA/Sony Music (U.K.), 2014)

Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.

Disc 1: Loving You (RCA Records LPM-1515, 1957)

1. Mean Woman Blues
2. (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear
3. Loving You
4. Got a Lot O’ Livin’ to Do!
5. Lonesome Cowboy
6. Hot Dog
7. Party
8. Blueberry Hill
9. True Love
10. Don’t Leave Me Now
11. Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
12. I Need You So

Disc 2: Jailhouse Rock (RCA Records 31126 (South Africa), 1957)

1. Jailhouse Rock
2. Young and Beautiful
3. I Want to Be Free
4. Don’t Leave Me Now
5. (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care
6. Treat Me Nice
7. I Beg of You
8. Don’t!
9. Playing for Keeps
10. Shake, Rattle and Roll
11. Good Rockin’ Tonight
12. I Don’t Care If the Sun Don’t Shine

Disc 3: King Creole (RCA Records LPM 1884, 1958)

1. King Creole
2. As Long As I Have You
3. Hard Headed Woman
4. Trouble
5. Dixieland Rock
6. Don’t Ask Me Why
7. Lover Doll
8. Crawfish
9. Young Dreams
10. Steadfast, Loyal and True
11. New Orleans

Disc 4: G.I. Blues (RCA Records LSP 2256, 1960)

1. Tonight is So Right for Love
2. What’s She Really Like
3. Frankfort Special
4. Wooden Heart
5. G.I. Blues
6. Pocketful of Rainbows
7. Shoppin’ Around
8. Big Boots
9. Didja Ever
10. Blue Suede Shoes
11. Doin’ the Best I Can

Disc 5: Selections from Follow That Dream, Kid Galahad and Flaming Star

1. Follow That Dream
2. What a Wonderful Life
3. I’m Not the Marrying Kind
4. A Whistling Tune
5. Sound Advice
6. Angel
7. King of the Whole Wide World
8. This is Living
9. Riding the Rainbow
10. Home is Where the Heart Is
11. I Got Lucky
12. A Whistling Tune
13. Flaming Star
14. Summer Kisses, Winter Tears

Tracks 1-3 and 6 released as Follow That Dream EP (RCA Records EPA 4368, 1962)
Track 4 from Elvis for Everyone (RCA Records LSP 3450, 1965)
Track 5 from Collectors Gold (RCA Records 3114-1-R, 1991)
Tracks 7-12 released as Kid Galahad EP (RCA Records EPA 4371, 1962)
Tracks 13-14 from Elvis By Request: Flaming Star EP (RCA Records LPC-128, 1961)

Disc 6: Blue Hawaii (RCA Records LSP 4246, 1961)

1. Blue Hawaii
2. Almost Always True
3. Aloha Oe
4. No More
5. Can’t Help Falling in Love
6. Rock-A-Hula Baby
7. Moonlight Swim
8. Ku-U-I-Po
9. Ito Eats
10. Slicin’ Sand
11. Hawaiian Sunset
12. Beach Boy Blues
13. Island of Love
14. Hawaiian Wedding Song

Disc 7: Girls! Girls! Girls! (RCA Records LSP 2621, 1962)

1. Girls! Girls! Girls!
2. I Don’t Wanna Be Tied
3. Where Do You Come From
4. I Don’t Want To
5. We’ll Be Together
6. A Boy Like Me, A Girl Like You
7. Earth Boy
8. Return to Sender
9. Because of Love
10. Thanks to the Rolling Sea
11. Song of the Shrimp
12. The Walls Have Ears
13. We’re Comin’ In Loaded

Disc 8: It Happened At The World’s Fair (RCA Records LSP 2697, 1963)

1. Beyond the Bend
2. Relax
3. Take Me to the Fair
4. They Remind Me Too Much of You
5. One Broken Heart for Sale
6. I’m Falling in Love Tonight
7. Cotton Candy Land
8. A World of Our Own
9. How Would You Like to Be
10. Happy Ending

Disc 9: Fun in Acapulco (RCA Records LSP 2756, 1963)

1. Fun in Acapulco
2. Vino, Dinero y Amor
3. Mexico
4. El Toro
5. Marguerita
6. The Bullfighter Was a Lady
7. (There’s) No Room to Rhumba in a Sports Car
8. I Think I’m Gonna Like It Here
9. Bossa Nova Baby
10. You Can’t Say No in Acapulco
11. Guadalajara
12. Love Me Tonight
13. Slowly But Surely

Disc 10: Kissin’ Cousins (RCA Records LSP 2894, 1964)

1. Kissin’ Cousins (Number 2)
2. Smokey Mountain Boy
3. There’s Gold in the Mountains
4. One Boy, Two Little Girls
5. Catchin’ On Fast
6. Tender Feeling
7. Anyone (Could Fall in Love With You)
8. Barefoot Ballad
9. Once is Enough
10. Kissin’ Cousins
11. Echoes of Love
12. (It’s a) Long Lonely Highway

Disc 11: Viva Las Vegas (released as RCA/Sony Music CMG 88697 63237-2, 2010)

1. Viva Las Vegas
2. I Need Somebody to Lean On
3. You’re the Boss
4. If You Think I Don’t Need You
5. What’d I Say
6. Today, Tomorrow and Forever
7. C’mon Everybody
8. Do The Vega
9. Night Life
10. The Yellow Rose of Texas/The Eyes of Texas
11. The Lady Loves Me
12. Santa Lucia

Tracks 2, 4 and 6-7 released as RCA Records EPA 4382, 1964

Disc 12: Roustabout (RCA Records LSP 2999, 1964)

1. Roustabout
2. Little Egypt
3. Poison Ivy League
4. Hard Knocks
5. It’s a Wonderful World
6. Big Love Big Heartache
7. One Track Heart
8. It’s Carnival Time
9. Carny Town
10. There’s a Brand New Day on the Horizon
11. Wheels on My Heels

Disc 13: Girl Happy (RCA Records LSP 3338, 1965)

1. Girl Happy
2. Spring Fever
3. Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce
4. Startin’ Tonight
5. Wolf Call
6. Do Not Disturb
7. Cross My Heart and Hope to Die
8. The Meanest Girl in Town
9. Do the Clam
10. Puppet on a String
11. I’ve Got to Find My Baby
12. You’ll Be Gone

Disc 14: Harum Scarum (RCA Records LSP 3468, 1965)

1. Harem Holiday
2. My Desert Serenade
3. Go East Young Man
4. Mirage
5. Kismet
6. Shake That Tambourine
7. Hey Little Girl
8. Golden Coins
9. So Close Yet So Far (from Paradise)
10. Animal Instinct
11. Wisdom of the Ages

Disc 15: Frankie and Johnny (RCA Records LSP 3553, 1966)

1. Frankie and Johnny
2. Come Along
3. Petunia the Gardener’s Daughter
4. Chesay
5. What Every Woman Lives For
6. Look Out Broadway
7. Beginner’s Luck
8. Down by the Riverside/When the Saints Go Marching In
9. Shout It Out
10. Hard Luck
11. Please Don’t Stop Loving Me
12. Everybody Come Aboard

Disc 16: Paradise, Hawaiian Style (RCA Records LSP 3643, 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

Disc 17: Spinout (RCA Records LSP 3702, 1966)

1. Stop, Look and Listen
2. Adam and Evil
3. All That I Am
4. Never Say Yes
5. Am I Ready
6. Beach Shack
7. Spinout
8. Smorgasbord
9. I’ll Be Back
10. Tomorrow is a Long Time
11. Down in the Alley
12. I’ll Remember You

Disc 18: Double Trouble (RCA Records LSP 3787, 1967)

1. Double Trouble
2. Baby If You’ll Give Me All of Your Love
3. Could I Fall in Love
4. Long Legged Girl (with the Short Dress On)
5. City by Night
6. Old MacDonald
7. I Love Only One Girl
8. There is So Much World to See
9. It Won’t Be Long
10. Never Ending
11. Blue River
12. What Now, What Next, Where To

Disc 19: Clambake (RCA Records LSP 3893, 1967)

1. Guitar Man
2. Clambake
3. Who Needs Money
4. A House That Has Everything
5. Confidence
6. Hey Hey Hey
7. You Don’t Know Me
8. The Girl I Never Loved
9. How Can You Lose What You Never Had
10. Big Boss Man
11. Singing Tree
12. Just Call Me Lonesome

Disc 20: Speedway (RCA Records LSP 3989, 1968)

1. Speedway
2. There Ain’t Nothing Like a Song (Duet with Nancy Sinatra)
3. Your Time Hasn’t Come Yet Baby
4. Who Are You (Who Am I)
5. He’s Your Uncle, Not Your Dad
6. Let Yourself Go
7. Your Groovy Self
8. Five Sleepy Heads
9. Western Union
10. Mine
11. Goin’ Home
12. Suppose