Best Soundtrack/Worst Soundtrack

[Raised on Rock]

New Thread

Don?t know if this has been asked on this forum before, cause im new on it but, anyway, here it goes again:

Which one do you think is Elvis best soundtrack album, there?s the common idea that they all suck, some of them does for sure, but some not.

I?ll try to be a little more objetive on this one, is not so much about which one is your favourite soundtrack referring on personal taste, not about the one bring you nice memories or whatever, this more about which ones do you think are the best musicaly on that category.

So for me the best are:

1.- King Creole. This is such a classic album, great song writing, Elvis sounds amaizing, here is were he starts to show that he was much more than a great rock and roll singer, somthing that would be proven on his next album ELvis is Back.
2.- GI Blues. Even if I dont like this film to much... the songs are not that great on their own, but they are in their context. It is a great and glossy production, this album was nominated for a grammy award as best motion picture soundtrack in 1960 if you don?t know.
3.- Blue Hawaii. Same opinion as on GI I BLues, those are almost as twins, nominated for a grammy to next year. How could thing changed so fast? from grammy nominated soundtracks to "Theres no room for rumba in a sports car" in just two years? thats exploitation.
4.- Loving You. Not sure if we can list it cause is not a complete album, side B are non soudtrack songs, but its is a classic rock and roll era album any way, not as good as Jailhouse rock could have been as a soundtrak album if released as Long Play instead of an Extended Play.
5.- Roastabout. Not my cup of tea; to soft pop for me, but I said this wasn?t about personal taste, so I have to list it as a great soundtrack album, perfectly round, no need of extra songs, no single released, songwriting isgreat acording to the context of the film. The Roastabout version released on second to none should have been released as a SIngle even if not used in the film. This album was still cool along the new generation of the 60's it pulled The Beach Boys out of the No1 spot, repleaced by the Beatles 65' on the no1 anyway.

I think Viva Las Vegas could have been a great album with some extra songs from the 63' Nashville sessions to complete the space like in the Loving You album. The Release of that soundtrack as an EP was foolish.

The most awfull Elvis soundtrack:

5.- It Happenned at the World?s Fair. With the exception of "They Remind me to much of you" and a few other songs, it is quite boring to hear as boring as the movie I wil say. This is such a shame, ELvis was on top form fisically and vocaly, what a waste of talent both as acting potential of the guy as his musical talent.
4.- Double Trouble. "It WOnt be Long" thats song is cool, a bonus song any way, but the rest is really crapy, "Long Legged Girl" is not a good song, it sounds good in contrast with the load of crap.
3.- "Harum Scarum". Not much to say, this is when the two good songs among 10 bad pieces became standard.
2.- "Fun in Acapulco". Let me say something, Im from MExico Ok?, and this album is a double insult, first and insult to Elvis musical talent, second and insult to what Mexican music is.
1.- "Paradise Hawaiian Style" ...let?s just say, please, dont say that Elvis was laughin during this sessions cause he was having fun, its was just that this was the point of absurd.



And If you ask me about my personal taste, haha, I will say a like Speedway, what a freak isnt it?

Have a good one!

[JerryNodak]

Best:

1. Blue Hawaii

2. Fun In Acapulco

3. Girl Happy

4. Harum Scarum

5. Spinout

Worst:

1. Loving You(I dislike this album with a passion.)

2. Paradise, Hawaiian Style

3. Love Me Tender

4. Speedway

5. Easy Come, Easy Go

[EnigmaticSun]

I'm sorry that I'm not from Mexico, but I love Fun In Acapulco! There are many songs that I like in the movie and the soundtrack - Elvis had a great voice for these latin flavoured songs. Of course it's just my tiny, little and humble opinion!

I also like Blue Hawaii. It contains classics like 'can't help falling in love', 'blue hawaii' and 'no more' - I like this soundtrack very much.

Of course Paradise, Hawaiian Style isn't as great as Blue Hawaii. I like the songs 'A Dog's Life' and 'this is my heaven' though. Even Harum Scarum has some nice songs - 'wisdom of the ages' is really cool and I also like 'animal instinct' - Elvis even sounds a tad muslim and / or arabic on these songs, now that's something special!

Elvis just won't sound bad in my opinion; not even if he himself felt bad about the work he had to do!

[Wendy56]

I don't think all soundtracks were bad. I like many Elvis' songs from those sixties movies. Must of the songs were obviously related to the story of each film, and if you listen to them outside context you may not like and appreciate these songs.

Favorite soundtracks... well, King Creole has beautiful songs, for example As Long As I Have You ( :P ) and Young Dreams... Actually I haven't a favorite soundtrack, but I guess G.I Blues, Blue Hawaii, Viva Las Vegas and Fun In Acapulco (besides so many others :lol: ) are really nice.

And... I can't say there's a very terrible soundtrack because I don't believe in that. I didn't like a few songs from Frankie & Johnny, but, that's all.

What you mean when you say "Fun In Acapulco was an insult to Elvis and to Mexico"? I love all songs... maybe Elvis didn't make the best version of Guadalajara but he really did his best. What about Bossa Nova Baby (and that Elvis dance! :blush: ) The culture... well, people that made this film maybe (?) didn't search a bit more of information about Mexico, but at least the movie is enjoyable. :hmm: Elsa C?rdenas was cool in that one!

That's my opinion, I hope this to be useful. ;)

[Raised on Rock]

He He this is getting good...

First of all anybody has an opinion, and everybody deserves respect for their opinion. Its cool for me that some people enjoy "Fun in Acapulco" both movie and soundtrack, the reason because I dislike it, mmm... well I think is a typical Hollywood ignorant Stereotype of another country, plus from my point of view is a cheap production with a cheese soundtrack, they at least they should have bothered to shot it on location (Well I say that cause it woud have been great to have Elvis around here for a while back then) Apart from BOssanova Baby and Guadalajara... the song are crapy admit it, I mean Im not putting down Elvis for that, other soudtracks around that time are good, and the 63' nashville sessions where great, but FUn IN AcaPulco? naaa... yes is not the most awfull album in history, but I don?s think Elvis felt proud of that one

Anyway, Gi BLues is also the typical stereotype of the US: "the ARMY is something so nice, just happy people there having fun serving unkle sam, yes sir!" In the Book "Private Elvis" (schroeder-hentschel-knorr), there it says that Elvis dislike GI Blues when he first read the script because of that, he thought it was unreal, and insulting to the people in the army, he didn?t wanted to doit at first, later he told it was a good movie because of the high production.GI BLues is high production, Fun In Acapulco is low production. Even the cover of the Album, any picture with Elvis and a god dam acapulco beach on the back could have been better?.

Guadalajara is a Mexican song in a passable version, Elvis voice range is good enought to sing it if not his spanish hahaha... i like it, Bossanova is not mexican is Brazilian music, but Bossanova was popular around here back then, its good. But the song called "Mexico" sorry lads every time a hear that intro is vomitive for me if that word makes sense hahaha... sounds like a song for the sancho and pancho cartoons and no, those cartoons have anything to do with Mexican culture. I consider "Its imposible" more close to the music of my country, and of course "Alla en el rancho grande" where the Hell did ELvis hear that song and learn it.

Girls Girls Girls is a much better beach movie, needles to say Blue Hawaii, but, Fun In Acapulco movie and soundtrack, is never as bad as "Paradais Hawaiian Style" (yes there are two songs that are ok i Know, but can you say that an album is a good album when just two or three songs are good and the rest are fillers?) i

Im not puttin down Elvis, he was the first one to get mad when he found himself traped in those movies. But if his fans wouldn?t be so condecendent maybe the nightmare would have stoped sooner. You got to be honest with the people that you love, that?s the diference between love and careless love.

Little Love a Little had good songs and its a good movie, I like the songs on Wild In The Country specialy the solo versions and is a great movie... Funny, those movies never made the amounts of money that ah "Fun in Acapulco" did.

[Wendy56]

"Fun in Acapulco" movie is a typical Hollywood ignorant Stereotype of another country, plus from my point of view is a cheap production with a cheese soundtrack, they at least they should have bothered to shot it on location...

I'm not an "Elvis expert" :P , but I knew that The king wasn't able to come to Mexico because C. Parker didn't have "papers" to cross the U.S.A; he was his manager and the guy that controlled almost (?) everything, so... That's one thing, and another: the bad publicity that was created around Elvis here in Mexico, (I guess people were afraid of something bad could happen to Elvis, so you know...)

Elvis' movies were accused of being stupid, but let's think about (and Susan Doll says in one of her books... I agree with her) no-one lost money. It was because audience accepted these movies. I knew also that Elvis didn't like to play the kind of roles he had to play... even himself joked about it. Elvis wanted a real challenge but... I think Elvis movies have ther own charm.

Fun In Acapulco, it's maybe (?) a typical stereotype movie. Hollywood has this articular way to make his films. This was not the first or the last time.

Guadalajara is a Mexican song in a passable version, Elvis voice range is good enought to sing it if not his spanish hahaha... i like it, Bossanova is not mexican is Brazilian music, but Bossanova was popular around here back then, its good. But the song called "Mexico" . I consider "Its imposible" more close to the music of my country, and of course "Alla en el rancho grande" where the Hell did ELvis hear that song and learn it.

Well, Elvis' voice can't be compared with any other. "Guadalajara" is nice, okay, The king couldn't sing in spanish... but, just enjoy. I was surprised the very fist time I heard this version. I don't understand what he says there. I'm honest... But I love Elvis trying to sing this difficult song. ;) And about "It's Imposible", well, I think you refer to the fact that the spanish (original?) version of this song is very famous here in Mexico. Maybe that's why you said this one is "closer to our culture". "All? en el rancho grande" was a rehearsal and Elvis was having fun. He was a fan of Tito Guizar... Remember the movie named like this song? Elvis copied the way Tito G. used to hold his guitar... And about Bossa Nova Baby, it's not a mexican song, didn't even have the mexican style, but is fun.

Talking about G.I Blues, I knew that Elvis didn't want to do it because he just didn't want to use that uniform again, he wanted to experiment with other roles... leave the Army behind. Of cure, productors took advantage of the "army-mania" (or something like it) and made this movie. This is a cute film anyway, I liked that too. Live A Little, Love a Little movie and sountrack were great! Songs are really nice.

You're right, "everybody got a different opinion and deserves respect" So, I wanted to add some comments. :P

[EnigmaticSun]

Just where did those people shoot the movie Fun In Acapulco, then..? I guess the main line in this movie is Latin flavoured & enjoyable music and pictures. Of course, it's just my opinion.

I do like the song 'Mexico-ho - mexico-ho, they've got muchas, muchachas, amigo's...' - Elvis voice sounds rich and delicate. It's a bit of a carefree production. I also like the songs El Toro, Vino Dinero & Amor, Marguerita, I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here, You Can't Say No In Acapulco, The Bullfighter Was A Lady, Bossa Nova Baby, Guadalajara.. Of course, Elvis' Spanish articulation sounds a tad North-American, but his voice carries the song (Guadalajara) rather well. Most of the songs on the album and / or movie have got a delicate feeling and I like the warm baritone of Elvis.

Of course, this movie isn't as serious and 'deep' as Wild In The Country is, for example.. But the thing I like about the movie is that it's entertaining without an incredible amount of violence - it was a carefree and enjoyable production that people were craving for in 1963 and they still do, I guess. People sometimes need to escape out of the harsh reality of everyday life and seek to be free of worry for a little while, at least.

[Raised on Rock]

"Its Imposible" is a song writen by Armando Manzanero (mexican song writer), later on the lyrics where rewriten in english, don?t know where I read it, but actually Elvis knew the original record in spanish and he said he love it, but he prefered to record the song in English cause, well clear reasons.

Im not on the side of those who said all Elvis movies are stupid, only a few ones are hahaha, and they are very stupid for sure, and Elvis was the first one to admit it and he hated that situation. But of course some if they are just fun easy going movies they are pretty good in that context, and some other like Wild In THe Country or King Creole are let?s say more on the artistic side and they are good.

But in not on the side of those who use the "non ELvis movie lost money" argument. Im sorry but I dont take it, they didn?t lost money, but many were a waste of Elvis talent. I love Elvis as a man, and I don?t like to see the people I love being F@$$* up by some greedy bastards.

Is not just about the posibility of having better Elvis movies, or some more great records, is about the fact that Elvis, a guy with his talent and with the good human qualities that he had wasn?t a happy man.

You may blame the Col. and other people, but I blame it to on the adulation of the fans.

[EnigmaticSun]

I guess that you're right - Elvis was capable of much more than just 'boy meets girl in sunny resort, boy loses girl, girl forgets boy, girl remembers boy and they live happily ever after'. I really like Elvis' movies with a more serious side to it, like King Creole, Love Me Tender, Wild In The Country...

On the other hand, no matter how much you blame this or that, it is not going to change anything.

[Wendy56]

"Im not on the side of those who said all Elvis movies are stupid, only a few ones are hahaha, and they are very stupid for sure, and Elvis was the first one to admit it and he hated that situation... But in not on the side of those who use the 'non ELvis movie lost money' argument. Im sorry but I dont take it, they didn?t lost money, but many were a waste of Elvis talent. I love Elvis as a man... You may blame the Col. and other people, but I blame it to on the adulation of the fans..."

That's what I knew about the song... ("It's imposible") I like the spanish version also!. Anyway, I say you should see the best side of this situation. We're not gonna have more Elvis' movies so let's just try to take it easy. Of cure, I think (too) King Creole, Wild In The Coutry, and others are good films... deep, like you said. I love them! I guess we all love Elvis and I really mean it. He maybe (?) wasn't a happy man because of his movies (or different reasons) and... I'm so sorry for it, but I can't do nothing; I can't help, right? :( I agree with you: Elvis deserved more.

[Sonny]

I guess we all have to accept the given facts here: our man did his best at what he did, even if he disliked some things he did.
Don't we all try to do that in normal life?

Okay, some of the movies might look cheap nowadays, but in the days they were made the money spent on creating them was a lot. And (more important to everyone involved) the box office did very well for those movies, for a very long time. Maybe Elvis made a couple too many, that could be true...

But don't we see this same repeating things for too long in the seventies? Yes, Elvis should've stopped touring a long time before he did, sadly enough.

And taking it even further back: he almost did the same very thing in the fifties... Because of the fact his career was just starting and things developed the way they did, he stopped his touring to start his movies and try to take his career to a higher level.

And did it work, bad movies or no bad movies, too much concerts or not?
Yes!!!

All of these things make him the man we love so much, right?

Sonny

[elvis1970nl]

Better late then never, here are my picks :

Best :

Fun in Acapulco
Blue Hawaii
Harum Scarum

Worst:

Love me tender
Speedway
Girl Happy

[rick]

I think that although they were filled with less than stellar material, most Elvis soundtracks had a song or two to redeem matters.
For example, Speedway isn't consistent but Let Yourself Go is a ripper and Your Time Hasn't Come Yet an above-average `cute' song.
Favourites:
All 50s
Viva Las Vegas.
Stay Away Joe, Live a Little and Change of Habit won't qualify as soundtracks but song-for-song they were okay
rick


Poorest
PHS
Harum Scarum
and I personally don't like Fun In Acapulco (with the exception of Bossa Nova Baby)

[Jungleroom76]

Thought I would put in my two cents here... :hmm:

MY MOST FAVORITE SOUNDTRACKS:
* KING CREOLE
* FUN IN ACAPULCO
* SPINOUT
* PARADISE, HAWAIIAN STYLE
* CLAMBAKE (I can't explain this one....just have always had a fondness for this soundtrack!)


MY LEAST FAVORITE SOUNDTRACKS:
* IT HAPPENED AT THE WORLD'S FAIR
* GIRLS! GIRLS! GIRLS!

There are so many other soundtracks that are "middle of the road" for me....such as DOUBLE TROUBLE, FRANKIE & JOHNNY, BLUE HAWAII, G.I. BLUES and HARUM SCARUM...I like some of the songs on them, but not enough to list them in my "Most Favorite" category!! Does this make me wishy-washy??? :blink:

TCB!
Mike

[Memphisgurl]

what about clambake? i mean ugh

[KPM]

I liked Spinout
Roustabout
GI Blues
King Creole
I liked less
Clambake
It Happened At worlds Fair'
Double Trouble

[renapap05]

Best Soundtrack: (y)
King Creole
Change of Habit
Speedway
Fun in Acapulco
GI Blues
Viva Las Vegas
Stay Away Joe

Worst Soundtrack: (n)
Harum Scarum
Loving You
Girls!Girls!Girls!
Paradise,Hawaiian Style

[moody-blues67]

I like: Paradise hawaiian style.
Girls,Girls,Girls.
Blue Hawaii.
Roustabout.
Kissin cousins.

Dont like: Double Trouble.
Clambake.
Gi Blues.
Frankie and Johnny.

The bonus songs on Double Trouble are good,(especially Blue river)
On Clambake the songs A House that has everything and
The Girl i never loved is good (y):)

[ForeverTheKing]

Best soundtracks: http://www.sushirock.org/kaoani/antennine-azzurri/01.gif

- King Creole
- Viva Las Vegas
- Harum Scarum
- Blue Hawaii

Worst soundtrack: http://www.sushirock.org/kaoani/bigodini/07.gif

- Kissin' Cousins
- Paradise Hawaiian Style
- Frankie and Johnny

The others are not BEST but really OK to me! http://www.sushirock.org/kaoani/cagnolini/12.gif

[easyrider]

Best
BLUE HAWAII
FUN IN ACAPULCO
KID GALAHAD
GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS
VIVA LAS VEGAS
HARUM SCARUM
STAY AWAY JOE
CHARRO
CHANGE OF HABIT

Worst
GIRL HAPPY
SPINOUT
FRANKIE AND JOHNNY
G.I. BLUES
WORLD'S FAIR