Jailhouse Rock/Love Me Tender Vinyl LP Record

This 1997 compilation includes the soundtracks to the movies "Love Me Tender" (1956) and "Jailhouse Rock" (1957), and features four previously-unreleased tracks. A complete soundtrack album was never previously released for either movie. At the time of the movies' release, the songs were released on various EPs and singles; they were also collected on such compilation albums as A DATE WITH ELVIS.

The characters Elvis portrayed on film often inhabited walks of life far removed from his own. 1957's JAILHOUSE ROCK was one of the few movies that found him playing exactly what he was (no, not an ex-con): a gifted young singer whose talent was as natural as it was undeniable. And, in contrast to most Elvis movie soundtracks, the songs adhere closely to the core of what Elvis' music was all about. Backed by Sun Records stalwarts Scotty Moore and Bill Black, among others, Elvis sang the bejeezus out a batch of soon-to-be classics, mostly written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.

Whether he was spitting out the party-in-the-penitentiary lyrics to the title song or gently caressing the melody of gorgeous ballads like "Young And Beautiful," Elvis gave his all on JAILHOUSE ROCK. It would be one of the last times he would be able to make as deep an emotional connection with his film material. (He was in nearly as fine form on 1956's LOVE ME TENDER, whose principal songs, including the classic title ballad, have been added to the JAILHOUSE ROCK reissue.) All the more reason to savor this serendipitous marriage of commerce and art.

Recorded at MGM Studios, Culver City, California; Radio Recorders and Twentieth Century Fox, Stage 1, Hollywood, California between August 1956 and September 1957.

Personnel: Elvis Presley (vocals, guitar); Scotty Moore, Vito Mumolo (guitar); Luther Rountree (banjo); Dom Frontiere, Carl Fontina (accordion); Dudley Brooks, Mike Stoller (piano); Bill Black, Myer Rubin (bass); D.J. Fontana, Richard Cornell (drums); Rad Robinson, Jon Dodson, Charles Prescott, The Jordanaires (background vocals).

Compilation producers: Ernst Mikael Jorgensen, Roger Semon.Entertainment Weekly (10/12/01, p.40) - Ranked #65 in EW's "100 Best Movie Soundtracks" - "...There'll be no damning faint praise when it comes to the Leiber & Stoller songbook..."