On June 5, 1962 RCA Victor released "Pot Luck With Elvis", which was quite astonishing because the soundtrack album "Blue Hawaii" was still in the top 20 of Billboards "Top LPs Chart". The new longplayer entered the hitparade on July 14th, had a run of 31 weeks and peaked at number 4. In West-Germany (at the time the country was devided) "Pot Luck With Elvis" reached number 7 of the charts and in Great Britain it even became a number one hit. In its initial sales period the album sold 300,000 units, in total RCA Victor was able to retail 2.75 million copies. This translates to 412.5 million paid streams of the complete album or 4.13 billion paid streams of individual tracks. The comparably low sales obviously were homemade, because a lot of fans had to decide to buy either "Blue Hawaii" or "Pot Luck With Elvis". Nowadays one can stream every album one wants to hear, but in the days of physical media the fan had to buy a product and often just had money to purchase one at a time. Speaking about streaming: On Spotify "Pot Luck With Elvis" was requested 26 million times.

The front cover showed the king with open-necked shirt and piled up, undyed hair, the backside of the sleeve was used to promote the four latest albums of Elvis as well as the soundtrack ep to "Follow That Dream". If you compare the covers of the album and the aforementioned extended player, it's easy to see that both photos were made on the same occasion.

On the streaming platforms "Pot Luck With Elvis" was re-released on December 21, 2022. I cannot say if any further remastering has been done since the album was issued in 2016 as part of the set "The Album Collection". 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.

In contrast to "Elvis Is Back" (1960) and "Something For Everybody" (1961) the new longplayer wasn't produced in one go. It's a compilation of recordings Elvis made in 1961 and 1962 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. All these sessions were produced by Steve Sholes and engineered by Bill Porter. The only exception was "Steppin' Out Of Line". This track had been recorded for the movie "Blue Hawaii" at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California under the supervision of Joseph Lilley. The guitarists of the different sessions were Scotty Moore, Hank Garland, Neal Matthews, Jerry Kennedy, Harold Bradley and Grady Martin. The drums were shared by D.J. Fontana and Murrey Harman, Bob Moore was on bass and Floyd Cramer played piano and organ. Occasionally Gordon Stoker also played piano and accordion. Saxophone and vibraphone were played by Homer Randolph. The harmony vocals were provided by The Jordanaires (Gordon Stoker, Hoyt Hawkins, Neal Matthews and Ray Walker) as well as Millie Kirkham. In total "Pot Luck With Elvis" has a running time of 28:11 minutes.

In 2007 Follow That Dream Records released a collector's edition of the longplayer. For a review, just tap HERE.

Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman had written "Kiss Me Quick" for The Flamingos, who rejected the song. Mort Shuman once said, that "Kiss Me Quick" was his worst song and he wondered why Elvis recorded it. In contrast to the writer I like the song very much. It's fluffy, dancable radio-popmusic. The people at RCA thought similarly and released it on singles in serveral countries. In Great Britain "Kiss Me Quick" / "Something Blue" peaked at number 14, in West-Germany "Kiss Me Quick" / "Night Rider" made it to number 3 of the charts. In Belgium, Norway and Denmark "Kiss Me Quick" became a top 5 hit. In the US it took RCA until 1965 to release the track on a single, but by now the music taste had changed, the song stagnated at number 34 of the "Hot 100" and sold just 500,000 copies. By the way: "Kiss Me Quick" was recorded on June 25, 1961. The 12th take became the master.

With this ballad the singer begs his ex-girlfriend to take him back. Elvis performs the song with much emotion and in a very believable way. He recorded "Just For Old Times Sake" on March 18, 1962 within 5 takes. In 1969 NBC/Universal considered the composition of Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennet for "Change Of Habit", but finally decided to record a new, contemporary soundtrack.

According to Mort Shuman, who wrote the song together with Doc Pomus, "Gonna Get Back Home Somehow" was influenced by Hank Williams' "Ramblin' Man". Elvis recorded the fast popsong on March 18, 1962 and approved the 7th attempt for release. He performed the tune with a touch of blues in his voice, which I like very much.

The singer asks a girl if she was in love with him and regards it an easy question. On March 18, 1962 five takes were enough to record the felicitous popsong by Otis Blackwell and Winfield Scott. In 1965 Allied Artists used "(Such An) Easy Question" in the movie "Tickle Me", which lead RCA Victor to release the track on a single. Even though the song was available for 3 years at the time, the record made it up to number 11 on the "Hot 100" and even became a number 1 hit on the "Easy Listening Chart". Worldwide the single sold a million copies, which translates to 150 million paid streams.

The name fits well, because this is the only song that wasn't recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. Besides that there is some minor distortion audible. Elvis taped "Steppin' Out Of Line" on March 22, 1961 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California for the movie "Blue Hawaii". He recorded 19 takes and selected the 17th one for release. Because the song was neither used in the movie, nor on the soundtrack album it was decided to put it on "Pot Luck With Elvis". Colonel Parker hated to file away a recording, because it had costed money to make and wasn't able to earn anything back if it stayed in the vaults. His client either thought in a similar way or simply didn't care, because otherwise he wouldn't have approved the release.

This ballad is the most complex production on "Pot Luck With Elvis". On June 26, 1961 Elvis recorded six takes of the song, two workpart-takes as well as six takes of his harmony voice and the spoken part. The master was a splice of take 6 and workpart-take 2 as well as take 5 (spoken part) and take 6 (harmony vocal). Elvis promises eternal love and does it in dazzling romantic style. The song itself is very good, which isn't a surprise, because it was written by Don Robertson. "I'm Yours" was also used for the movie "Tickle Me" and re-released by RCA Victor on a single, too. The 45 also peaked at number 11 on the "Hot 100", became a number one hit on the "Easy Listening Chart" and sold a million copies (which translates to 150 million paid streams). The version in the movie and on the single neither featured the harmony vocal, nor the spoken part. It's not clear if this was done on purpose or by mistake.

To me "Something Blue" is the highlight of the album. The singer has to witness his loved one marrying someone else and alludes in several variations to the saying "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue". Elvis performs extremely well, his sadness and disappointment are almost tangible. "Something Blue" was written by Paul Evans and Al Byron. On March 18, 1962 the king needed seven takes to record this beauty. .

Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman wrote this popsong in Mediterranean sytle, in which the narrator voices his jealousy to his girlfriend. On March 19, 1962 Elvis recorded five takes and three workpart-takes, the master is a splice of take 5 and workpart-take 3. Two years after the release of "Pot Luck With Elvis" Terry Stafford covered the song and scored a top 5 hit. RCA Victor tried to jump on the bandwagon and released the king's version, too. At the time the strategy didn't work out at all, but in 1976 Elvis' recording was released on a single in Great Britain and peaked at number 9 of the UK Charts.

Elvis recorded the song on March 19, 1962 within five takes. To me this is one of the highlights of this album, because the king almost seems to loose himself in his performance. "I Feel That I've Known You Forever" was written by Doc Pomus and Alan Jeffreys. This song was also used in "Tickle Me" and was re-released by RCA Victor, even though this time just on the soundtrack ep. It is said that just the music of take 5 was used and Elvis recorded a new vocal track on October 6, 1964 at the Paramount Sound Stage.

This one was also used for "Tickle Me" and therefore re-released by RCA Victor on the accordant soundtrack. The king recorded "Night Rider" on October 15, 1961 and approved take 3 for release. Later he revoked his decision, recorded the song again on March 18, 1962 and selected the 5th attempt as master. Finally he made up his mind once more and went for the first version.  The writers are Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman. It's a good, uptempo popsong.

This great piece of easy listening was written by Bill Giant and Jeff Lewis and recorded by Elvis on March 18, 1962 within 10 takes. Today "Fountain Of Love" is often overlooked, but to me it's 2:13 minutes of pure relaxation.

Because Elvis came up with the title, he is credited as one of the authors. However, nevertheless the song was written by Red West. It can be regarded a love song, but in fact the king was commemorating his mother. Elvis sings with a lot of emotion and it's obvious, that the song means something to him. He taped "That's Someone You'll Never Forget" on July 25, 1961 and needed eight takes to get it right. Surprisingly RCA Victor re-released the track in 1967 on the b-side of "Long Legged Girl (With The Short Dress On)".