A Date with Elvis

A Date with Elvis
Compilation album by Elvis Presley
Released July 24, 1959 (1959-07-24)
Recorded June 1954-April 1957
Genre Rock
Length 22:58
Label RCA Victor
Elvis Presley chronology
For LP Fans Only
(1959)		 A Date with Elvis
(1959)		 Elvis' Gold Records - Volume 2
(1959)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]

A Date with Elvis is the eighth album by Elvis Presley, issued on RCA Victor Records (LPM 2011) in July 1959. It is a compilation of previously unreleased material from an August 1956 recording session at 20th Century Fox Stage One, two from Radio Recorders in Hollywood, and multiple sessions at Sun Studio. The album reached #32 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart. It is currently out of print.

Contents

Content

After Presley's induction into the army on March 24, 1958, RCA and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, were faced with the prospect of keeping his name before the public for two years with no possibility of live performances, no movies, and with few unissued marketable recordings in the vault. A recording session was arranged for two days in June, which yielded enough items for five more single sides, singles being the commercial focus for rock and roll in the 1950s. Four of those tracks would be issued on 45s in 1958 and 1959 during his absence while doing military service.

Presley, however, also did well in the albums market, all but one of his previous seven LPs charting no lower than #3, and RCA wished to continue promoting albums by Presley given his sales record. Much of Presley's material had not been released on LP, and for this album RCA collected material previously unavailable on album. Like its predecessor For LP Fans Only, this album featured tracks that had been issued on Sun Records with limited release, and were almost impossible to locate beyond certain parts of the south. The remaining five tracks derived from three different EPs issued in 1956 and 1957.

Even by the standards of the late 1950s and early 1960s, where long-playing albums often ran to only about 35 minutes, this was a very short album at twenty-three minutes, and as such became the lowest charting Presley LP of the decade. RCA would squeeze one more album in 1959 out of previously issued material, the second singles collection, but it too would be a lower seller by previous standard. Presley would return from overseas in 1960 to commence proper recording again. this album also folds out to be a calendar for the year 1960.

A different version of the album, duplicating six tracks from the American release, but expanding the track list to a healthy fourteen, was issued in Australia on vinyl in September 1959. Compact Disc versions of the album by RCA have been done in several worldwide releases since 1989. Audiophile CD recordings are available on import in the United States, including the version from Japan in 2005.

Collective personnel

Track listing

Chart positions for LPs and EPs from Billboard Top Pop Albums chart; peak position for EPA 4114 from EP chart commenced October 1957; positions for singles from Billboard Country & Western chart

Side one

Track Recorded Original EP Issue Catalogue Release Date Chart Peak Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 7/5/54 Sun 209b 7/19/54 Blue Moon of Kentucky Bill Monroe 2:02
2. 4/30/57 Jailhouse Rock EPA 4114 10/57 Young And Beautiful Aaron Schroeder and Abner Silver 2:02
3. 4/30/57 Jailhouse Rock EPA 4114 10/57 R&B #14 (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller 1:51
4. 11?12/54 Sun 215 12/28/54 Milkcow Blues Boogie Kokomo Arnold 2:38
5. 2/5/55 Sun 217 4/10/55 C&W #5 Baby Let's Play House Arthur Gunter 2:15

Side two

Track Recorded Original EP Issue Catalogue Release Date Chart Peak Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 9/10/54 Sun 210 9/25/54 Good Rockin' Tonight Roy Brown 2:12
2. 1/19/57 Just For You EPA 4041 4/57 #16 Is It So Strange Faron Young 2:28
3. 8/24/56 Love Me Tender EPA 4006 11/56 We're Gonna Move Vera Matson and Elvis Presley 2:30
4. 4/30/57 Jailhouse Rock EPA 4114 10/57 I Want To Be Free Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller 2:12
5. 7/11/55 Sun 223b 8/6/55 C&W #1 I Forgot to Remember to Forget Stan Kesler and Charlie Feathers 2:28

Australian track listing

Side one

Track Recorded Original LP Issue Catalogue Release Date Chart Peak Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 7/54 Sun 209b 7/19/54 Blue Moon of Kentucky Bill Monroe 2:02
2. 11?12/54 Sun 215 12/28/54 Milkcow Blues Boogie Kokomo Arnold 2:38
3. 2/5/55 Sun 217 4/10/55 C&W #5 Baby Let's Play House Arthur Gunter 2:15
4. 9/54 Sun 217b 3/5/55 I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine Mack David 2:27
5. 1/31/56 Elvis Presley LPM 1254 3/23/56 Tutti Frutti Dorothy LaBostrie and Richard Penniman 1:58
6. 1/31/56 Elvis Presley LPM 1254 3/23/56 I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You) Howard Biggs and Joe Thomas 2:01
7. 1/10/56 Elvis Presley LPM 1254 3/23/56 I Got A Woman Ray Charles and Renald Richard 2:23

Side two

Track Recorded Original LP/EP Issue Catalogue Release Date Chart Peak Song Title Writer(s) Time
1. 9/54 Sun 210 9/25/54 Good Rockin' Tonight Roy Brown 2:12
2. 1/19/57 Just For You EPA 4041 4/57 #16 Is It So Strange Faron Young 2:28
3. 8/24/56 Love Me Tender EPA 4006 11/56 #22 We're Gonna Move Vera Matson and Elvis Presley 2:30
4. 8/19/54 Elvis Presley LPM 1254 3/23/56 #55 Blue Moon Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart 2:31
5. 9/54 Elvis Presley LPM 1254 3/23/56 Just Because Sydney Robin, Bob Shelton, Joe Shelton 2:32
6. 1/30/56 Elvis Presley LPM 1254 3/23/56 One-Sided Love Affair Bill Campbell 2:09
7. 9/4/56 Love Me Tender EPA 4006 11/56 Let Me Vera Matson and Elvis Presley 2:08

References

  1. ^ Eder, Bruce. A Date with Elvis at Allmusic

External links