Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley's music was hopelessly out of date by the time he made Easy Come, Easy Go, his 23rd film: a breezy but fairly dire 1967 movie in which he played a frogman hunting for sunken treasure. He wasn't getting access to the best songs anymore, and the film wasn't going to do anything for anyone's career (though it did give work to such movie veterans as Elsa Lanchester and Frank McHugh). Yet, when he gets into the right groove, even on a less-than-great song such as the title track, or "You Gotta Stop," or even "Sing You Children," he was charismatic enough to carry the material and make it worth hearing. The outtake version of "The Love Machine," with more prominent lead guitar (courtesy of Scotty Moore) and a hotter, more upfront brass section, and "Sing You Children," with a more stripped-down arrangement, are both worthwhile additions to the soundtrack. This album is eminently listenable if one ignores "Yoga Is as Yoga Does," which occupies a place near the bottom of Presley's song output on anyone's list. Speedway, his 27th movie, made a year later and co-starring Nancy Sinatra, was even more out-of-date in its time. A formulaic, romantic, action film involving auto-racing had worked well for Elvis in Viva Las Vegas, but it didn't jell in this picture, made five years later. Maybe the problem was that the movie (and, increasingly, Elvis Presley) had about zero relevancy to audiences and events in 1968, or that Nancy Sinatra was no Ann-Margret in the looks department. Maybe there wasn't even a good title tune on hand -- alone among the soundtrack's offerings, "Let Yourself Go" presents a shadow of what Presley could do with a song, and it wasn't enough to carry what amounted to almost a throwaway affair, little more than bonus tracks to the accompanying Easy Come, Easy Go songs. That is ironic since Speedway was the last Elvis Presley movie to yield a complete soundtrack album. Within six months of its release, Presley would embark on his artistic and commercial comeback by way of the renowned NBC special, and his musical and screen careers would divide permanently. The remastered sound on this collection is an improvement over earlier CD editions, and the notes include very full music stats and credits. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide