Clambake (album)

Clambake
Soundtrack album / Studio album by Elvis Presley
Released October 10, 1967
Recorded February 21–23 and September 10,11, 1967
Genre Rock, pop
Length 29:36
Label RCA Victor
Producer Jeff Alexander, Felton Jarvis
Elvis Presley chronology
Double Trouble
(1967)		 Clambake
(1967)		 Elvis' Gold Records Volume 4
(1968)
Singles from Clambake
  1. "Big Boss Man"
    Released: September 1967
  2. "Guitar Man"
    Released: January 1968
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Clambake is the thirtieth album by Elvis Presley, released by RCA Victor in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 3893, in October 1967. He entered RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee on February 21, 1967 for Recording sessions for his twenty fifth film. Supplemental material sessions took place on September 10 and 11, 1967. It peaked at number 40 on the Billboard 200.[2]

Content

By the end of 1966, Presley no longer commanded the same level of sales or artistic respect as he had during the first ten years of his career.[3] But Elvis had little enthusiasm at this juncture for more soundtrack sessions, the project already in jeopardy before it started.[4] The sessions turned out a fiasco; of the eight songs recorded, two had been edited out of the film, and even with "How Can You Lose What You Never Had" restored to the soundtrack, that left an album of merely seven songs.[5]

The album would prove to be a turning point in Presley's career. After many years of churning out forgettable songs for forgettable films, he was clearly past his prime. All realms of popular music had totally bypassed him during the 1960s while he had been "lost in Hollywood". So Presley decided to begin recording music written by accomplished songwriters. A session to record additional material in Hollywood was cancelled in August, rescheduled at RCA Studio B in September.[6] Disregarding publishing control, Presley picked songs that appealed to him personally, including Eddy Arnold's country and western hit of 1956 "You Don't Know Me" and Jimmy Reed's 1960 rhythm and blues hit, "Big Boss Man." Both selections were issued as a single at the end of September before being added to the album, the A-side just barely making the Top 40.[7] Presley also requested a song he had heard on the radio in Los Angeles by Jerry Reed, inviting Reed himself to duplicate the distinctive acoustic guitar part.[8] They rousted Reed from a fishing-trip, who arrived to play on Presley's version of his own composition, "Guitar Man." After it was recorded, Reed refused to turn over the usual publishing percentages to Freddy Bienstock, another assault on the soundtrack formula that had been in place throughout the decade.[9] Five songs were selected from this session to bring the album up to a total of twelve tracks.

Including this LP, of his fifteen albums since Pot Luck with Elvis in 1962, only three had not been film soundtracks: one (Elvis' Golden Records Volume 3) was a compilation of hit singles, another (Elvis for Everyone) a compilation of leftovers from a ten-year span of recording sessions, and the third being a bona fide studio album, the gospel How Great Thou Art. Even with the five recent non-movie songs, including a hit single, Clambake sold less than 200,000 copies, faring worse than its predecessor Double Trouble which had been his lowest-charting album so far.[10]

In 2006 Clambake was reissued on the Follow That Dream label in a special edition that contained the original album tracks along with numerous alternate takes.[11]

Personnel

Track listing

Original release

Side one
No. TitleWriter(s)Recording date Length
1. "Guitar Man" (bonus song)Jerry ReedSeptember 10, 1967 2:30
2. "Clambake"  Ben Weisman and Sid WayneFebruary 22, 1967 2:36
3. "Who Needs Money"  Randy StarrFebruary 22, 1967 3:15
4. "A House That Has Everything"  Roy C. Bennett and Sid TepperFebruary 21, 1967 2:14
5. "Confidence"  Roy C. Bennett and Sid TepperFebruary 22, 1967 2:33
6. "Hey, Hey, Hey"  Joy ByersFebruary 22, 1967 2:30
Side two
No. TitleWriter(s)Recording date Length
1. "You Don't Know Me"  Cindy Walker and Eddy ArnoldSeptember 11, 1967 2:27
2. "The Girl I Never Loved"  Randy StarrFebruary 21, 1967 1:52
3. "How Can You Lose What You Never Had" (bonus track)Ben Weisman and Sid WayneFebruary 21, 1967 2:27
4. "Big Boss Man" (bonus track)Luther Dixon and Al SmithSeptember 10, 1967 2:50
5. "Singing Tree" (bonus track)A.L. Owens and A.C. SolbergSeptember 11, 1967 2:17
6. "Just Call Me Lonesome" (bonus track)Rex GriffinSeptember 10, 1967 2:05

2006 Follow That Dream reissue

Original album
No. Title Length
1. "Guitar Man" (bonus track) 2:19
2. "Clambake"   2:35
3. "Who Needs Money?"   3:15
4. "A House That Has Everything"   2:13
5. "Confidence"   2:32
6. "Hey, Hey, Hey"   2:29
7. "You Don't Know Me"   2:29
8. "The Girl I Never Loved"   1:51
9. "How Can You Lose What You Never Had" (bonus track) 2:26
10. "Big Boss Man" (bonus track) 2:51
11. "Singing Tree" (bonus track) 2:17
12. "Just Call Me Lonesome" (bonus track) 2:06
Additional movie masters
No. Title Length
13. "You Don't Know Me" (film version - take 20) 2:19
14. "Clambake" (reprise - take 4) 0:21
Outtakes
No. Title Length
15. "Clambake" (take 3B) 2:42
16. "How Can You Lose What You Never Had" (takes 1 & 2) 4:16
17. "You Don't Know Me" (film version - take 3) 2:42
18. "Hey, Hey, Hey" (takes 3, 5 & 6) 5:05
19. "The Girl I Never Loved" (takes 4 & 5) 3:33
20. "Clambake" (takes 1 & 5) 3:26
21. "A House That Has Everything" (takes 4, 5 & 6) 4:00
22. "You Don't Know Me" (film version - takes 7 & 10) 3:15
23. "How Can You Lose What You Never Had" (take 3) 2:37
24. "Hey, Hey, Hey" (takes 7 & 8) 4:13
25. "Clambake" (reprise - takes 1, 2 & 3) 2:48
Total length:
 1:10:40

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1967 Billboard Pop Albums 40

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ "Clambake". Allmusic. Rovi Corp. 2013. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  3. ↑ Jorgensen, Ernst. Elvis Presley A Life in Music: The Complete Recording Sessions. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998; p. 225.
  4. ↑ Jorgensen, op. cit., p. 226.
  5. ↑ Jorgensen, op. cit., p. 231.
  6. ↑ Jorgensen, op. cit., pp. 233-234.
  7. ↑ Jorgensen, op. cit., p. 418.
  8. ↑ Jorgensen, op. cit., p. 235.
  9. ↑ Jorgensen, op. cit., p. 236.
  10. ↑ Jorgensen, op. cit., p. 240.
  11. ↑ Sources:

External links

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