Girl Happy - Elvis Presley FTD Soundtrack CD. Girl Happy is a standard CD, presented in a 7' format cover (like a single or EP) with original back and front cover art, 3 panel Gatefold sleeve, 8 page booklet with photos and memorabilia, original album with original album EQ and with both previously released and previously unreleased outtakes. A must have CD for all fans and collectors.
The CD is again presented in a beautifully printed deluxe gatefold sleeve looking very much like the original LP. The packaging, in a '45 rpm' size concept, is delightful and fits perfectly next to your Elvis 45rpms. The pictures include some rare movie stills and Cinema lobby cards. If you examine the promotional pictures you can see that Elvis looks a bit sullen (in 1964 that's not surprising!) and this time the lobby cards are not reprinted as clearly as they could be. Someone needs to proof read the English too since it says, on page 6, 'The performance was not scene' instead of 'was not seen'!
The audio mix on all the tracks has been spatially opened up to create a really wide stereo mix and it truly is 'Living Stereo' as the logo infers.
This allows all the musicians to shine as well as giving The Jordanaires & back up vocals a better role since they are now separated further from Elvis' vocal track. The sound now has the real punch, clarity and bassier feel of the original 45rpm vinyl singles. Yes, my house was rockin' while I 'Did The Clam'!
The improved audio quality also lets you delve a little deeper into the songs. If you listen to the five over-dubbed tracks for instance, it is now more obvious that Elvis was not in the studio with the band as he sounds distant and there is no band interaction. On 'Do The Clam' there is that very noticeable 15 seconds (from 2.05) when the right hand channel is missing from the backing track. This fault is even audible on the original mono single so I wonder if the backing tape was a splice of 2 different versions or did the studio engineer just make a mistake?
The spliced Master version of the track 'Girl Happy' was sped up 8% for the movie release, to give it a faster beat, and it is a treat to hear it in this new quality for the first time.
While not the greatest Elvis movie nor an important soundtrack there are some outtakes here that are really worth owning, especially in this new quality.
Read our Girl Happy CD Review
Girl Happy - Elvis Presley FTD Soundtrack CD
Girl Happy Spring Fever Fort Lauderdale Chamber Of Commerce - Startin' Tonight Wolf Call Do Not Disturb Cross My Heart And Hope To Die The Meanest Girl In Town Do The Clam Puppet On A String I've Got To Find My Baby You'll Be Gone Puppet On A String (takes 5,6,7) The Meanest Girl In Town (takes 7,8,9) Spring Fever (take 4) Do Not Disturb (takes 24,25,26,27) Cross My Heart And Hope To Die (take 4) Girl Happy (takes 1,2,3,4) Puppet On A String (take 10) Spring Fever (takes 18,19,21) The Meanest Girl In Town (take 11) - Do Not Disturb (take 35) Cross My Heart And Hope To Die (take 9,10,11) Girl Happy (take 13 and take 4 of ending)
Compilation produced by Ernst Mikael Jψrgensen & Roger Semon, Mastered by Lene Reidel at Tocano, Original engineer: Dave Weichman, Recorded June 10-12, 1964 at Radio Recorders, Hollywood
Musicians: Scotty Moore: Guitar, Tiny Timbrell: Guitar, Tommy Tedesco: Guitar, Bob Moore: Bass, D.J.Fontana: Drums, Buddy Harman: Drums, Frank Carlson: Drums, Floyd Cramer: Piano, Boots Randolph: Sax, The Jordanaires: Vocals, The Jubilee Four ('Do The Clam' & 'Wolf Call'): Vocals, The Carole Lombard Trio ('Do The Clam'): Vocals
Track 12: Recorded March 19, 1962 at RCA's studio B, Nashville. Musicians at session: Scotty Moore: Guitar, Harold Bradley: Guitar, Grady Martin: Guitar and Vibes, Bob Moore: Bass, D.J. Fontana: Drums, Buddy Harman: Drums, Floyd Cramer: Piano, Boots Randolph: Sax and Vibes, Millie Kirkham: Vocals, The Jordanaires: Vocals Original engineer: Bill Porter. Original A&R: Steve Sholes.
- Follow That Dream CD and Book Reviews
