With "Something For Everybody" Elvis returned to secular music. The album was released in June 1961 and RCA Victor was able to retail 250,000 units during the initial sales period. On July 10th the record entered Billboard's "Top LPs Chart", where it stayed for 25 weeks and peaked at number 1. In 1999 the RIAA honored the domestic sales with a Gold Award. In Great Britain "Something For Everybody" reached number 2 of the charts, worldwide 3 million units were sold. Translated to the present this amount of physical sales matches 450 million paid streams of the complete album or 4.5 billion paid streams of individual tracks. In the summer of 1961 it looked as if "Something For Everybody" outsold "His Hand In Mine" by far, in total the gospel album would sell half a million copies more, because gospel music appealed to a broader audience. However, the latest album of the king was another hit by any means. Today it's popularity has sagged a lot since "Something For Everybody" accumulates just a tad over 12 million streams.

The sleeve was designed with publicity photos for Elvis' current movie "Wild In The Country" and the song "I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell" was especially highlighted, because it was from the film. The backside of the cover advertised the ep "Elvis By Request" and the single "I Feel So Bad" / "Wild In The Country". To promote the motion picture a little further, the backside of the record sleeve was shown, which emphasized the title song.

On the streaming platforms "Something For Everybody" was re-released on November 24, 2022. I don't know if further remastering was done since it appeared on the boxed set "The Album Collection" in 2016. For this project all tracks were scanned with high-resolution equipment and remastered. Therefore the album can be presented with the golden Hi-Res emblem. The better sound of these versions is owed exclusively to the new mastering (the elimination of interfering noise). Because first one cannot turn an analogue recording into a high resolution recording just by scanning the tape with hd equipment and second even an old cd with 16 bit/44.1 kHz exceeds the auditory sense of a human being.

The album was recorded on March 12, 1961 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. The sessions were produced by Steve Sholes and engineered by Bill Porter. Elvis' band consisted of Scotty Moore (guitar), D.J. Fontana (drums), Hand Garland (guitar), Bob Moore (bass), Murrey Harman (drums), Floyd Cramer (piano and Wurlitzer-piano) and Homer Randolph (saxophone). On the song "Judy" Elvis played rhythm guitar, which was mixed in the background. The harmony vocals were provided by The Jordanaires (Gordon Stoker, Hoyt Hawkins, Neal Matthews and Ray Walker) as well as Millie Kirkham. During the session the group also recorded "I Feel So Bad", but to promote the movie "Wild In The Country" the album featured "I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell" instead. The latter one was taped during the soundtrack sessions at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California on November 7 and 8, 1960. In total "Something For Everybody" has a running time of 26:01 minutes.

In 2006 Follow That Dream Records released a collector's edition of "Something For Everybody", which also included several outtakes. To read a review just tap HERE.

The a-side of the album contains ballads, the b-side is dedicated to the faster tunes. The first track is "There's Always Me" by Don Robertson. The narrator promises his loved one to be always there, even though she has a different partner isn't in love with him at all. Elvis selected the 10th take for release, and it's really a great one. His voice sounds marvellous and one really believes his love, his pain and his hope, that his feelings will be answered someday. In 1967 RCA Victor released "There's Always Me" on a single, but failed to meet the taste of the audience. This was no wonder, because in the meantime The Beatles had conquered the country and changed the style of music.

The singer is courting the girl of his dreams with a bluesy undertone and nice interludes by Milly Kirkham. Elvis needed four takes to record the song by Norman Blagman and Fred Wise. I like "Give Me The Right" very much.

Fred Rose and Zeb Turner wrote "It's A Sin" for Eddy Arnold, who scored a number one hit on the country & western charts with it in 1947. Elvis later attended a concert of Arnold in Memphis, during which the star also performed "It's A Sin". The Jordanaires were part of the show, too, and it is said that the young Mr. Presley told Gordon Stoker, that one day he would make it big and wanted to be accompanied by the gourp. Just two years later his dream had come true and he worked with The Jordanaires. Of course they were also present during this session and participated in the recording of "It's A Sin". By the way: Take 4 became the master.

Elvis needed just two attempts to record a perfect version of this lovely ballad. RCA Victor released the track on a single in several European countries, in Italy the king even scored a number one hit with "Sentimental Me". There are many versions of this song around, for example there's a German one named "Mondscheinmelodie" (translated it would be "Moonlight Melody"), which was performed by Peter Alexander. The original recording was released in 1950 by The Ames Brothers, the writers are Jimmy Cassin and Jim Morehead.

The singer decides not to think about his ex girlfriend, but obviously doesn't meet his decision. "Starting Today" is another beautiful ballad by Don Robertson and it's almost a miracle that Elvis was able to create such a great performance within just three takes.

In contrast to the previous song, this one is about the beginning of a love. It's a very sparse arrangement, basically the song is carried by Elvis, the harmony vocals of The Jordanaires and the guitar playing by Hand Garland. Elvis needed five takes to tape the song by Murray Wizell and Edward Lisbona. "Gently" ends the first side of the album. So we now move on the the faster tunes.

When Elvis visited Sam Philips in 1960, his former mentor gave him a copy of his latest production. The song was written by Charlie Rich and sung by Carl Mann. Commercially the 45 didn't do anything, but the king liked the song very much and wanted to record it. Because "I'm Coming Home" was added to the agenda at the very last minute, there were no written lyrics or notes. The group simply copied what they heared on the record, but did it in an excellent way.

The composition by Aron Schroeder and Wally Gold isn't as great as "I'm Coming Home", but it's still a very good song. The narrator explains, that he doesn't want to be anywhere else than in the arms of his loved one and does it in a somewhat monotonous shuffle rhythm. Elvis' performance is brillant and the additions of The Jordanaires are great as well. Elvis and his crew just needed two takes to get it right.

The singer is in love and therefore willing to take the blame for all shortcomings of the couple. Especially the Wurlitzer-piano, played by Floyd Cramer, makes the song special. "Put The Blame On Me" was written by Kathleen Twomey, Fred Wise and Norman Blagman and recorded by Elvis within five takes. In 1965 Allied Artists used the song in the movie "Tickle Me" and RCA Victor re-released it on the accordant soundtrack ep.

Elvis needed eight takes to tape the song about a person, who wants to convince his ex girlfriend (Judy) to give up her new boyfriend and return to him. For me, "Judy" is a perfect popsong. The melody stays with you and the king performs it very well. Much better than Teddy Rendell, who was also the writer of the tune. RCA Victor re-released "Judy" in 1967 on the b-side of "There's Always Me". Two years later Elvis rehearsed the tune for his stage comeback in Las Vegas, but finally didn't use the song in his concerts.

This is also one of the highlights of this album. The original was released in 1958 by Bobby Darin, the writer of "I Want You With Me" is Woody Harris. Elvis presents the uptempo popsong with a touch of blues, which I like very much. The song obviously wasn't a challenge for the group, because they taped it within two attempts.

The album ends with a song by Fred Wise and Ben Weisman. Because there was no separate soundtrack for "Wild In The Country", Colonel Parker and Elvis used this album to feature one of the tracks and promote the picture. On November 8, 1960 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California the king recorded 18 takes of "I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell" and decided to release take 13. The song itself is quite good, but the audio quality is comparably low. In 1972 CAMDEN re-released the song on the budget album "Separate Ways".