Even though the accordant movie had already premiered in March 1964, RCA Victor didn't release "Kissin' Cousins" before April 2nd. With 300,000 sales the album was listed on Billboard's "Top LPs Chart" for 30 weeks and peaked at number six. In 1992 the RIAA honored the US sales with a Gold Award. In Germany "Kissin' Cousins" didn't chart any higher than number 22, but in the UK the album made it up to number 5 of the lp charts. Worldwide the soundtrack sold 3 million copies, which equals 450 million paid streams. Even though "Kissin' Cousins" was a commercial success, neither RCA Victor nor Colonel Parker couldn't help to realize a slight descent of sales since 1962. Nowadays "Kissin' Cousins" belongs to the least streamed Presley albums on Spotify. Over the years it barely found 3.5 million listeners.

RCA Victor designed the sleeve with promo photos for "Kissin' Cousins", on the backside Elvis is also shown as Jodie Tantum, wearing a blonde wig. To emphasize on Elvis' dual role the front cover was changed after the first edition of the album. All reprints featured a "family picture" of the Tatums that included the king as Josh and Jodie.

On the streaming platforms the album is available as released on February 28, 2019. I don't know if any further mixing or mastering has been done since 2016, when the core of the Presley albums was re-worked for "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.

Because the production of the movie and the soundtrack for "Viva Las Vegas" had gone way over budget, the procedure was changed. Now the musical director selected the songs and produced accordant rhythm tracks. All Elvis had to do was adding his voice. The music was recorded on September 29th and 30th, 1963 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. The sessions were produced by Gene Nelson and Fred Karger, the engineering was done by Bill Porter. The band consisted of Scotty Moore (guitar), D.J. Fontana (drums), Thomas Martin (guitar), Jerry Kennedy (guitar & banjo), Harold Bradley (guitar & banjo), Bill Justis (saxophne), Cecil Brower (fiddle), Bob Moore (bass), Murrey Harmann (drums), Floyed Cramer (piano) and Homer Randolph (saxophone & jug). The harmony voices were provided by The Jordanaires (Gordon Stoker, Hoyt Hawkins, Neal Matthews and Ray Walker) as well as Winnifred Brest, Millie Kirkham and Dolores Edgin. Elvis added his voice on October 10, 1963 at the MGM Soundstage in Hollywood/California. This session was also produced by Gene Nelson and Fred Karger, Fred Mulculpin acted as sound engineer.

For the soundtrack of "It Happened At The World's Fair" MGM had insisted on brutal separation (Elvis' voice had to be on one track, the whole band on another and the harmony voices on the third) and no ambience. Now the sonic horror was taken to another level by bringing the king's voice too much to the fore. Besides that the recording on MGM's vast sound stage caused a constant hiss. Because the soundtrack itself was quite short, RCA Victor added two bonus tracks. In total the album has a running time of 26:15 minutes.

In 2017 Follow That Dream Records released a collector's edition of "Kissin' Cousins". Besides the tracks of the original album this release also included unedited master takes, outtakes and the pre-produced music tracks. For a review just tap HERE.

This is not the song from the previously released single but another tune of the same title, which is played on the opening credits. It's not as snappy as "Kissin' Cousins", but certainly ok. It was written by Bill Giant, Bernie Baum and Florence Kay. On September 29, 1963 the music was recorded within two takes, Elvis needed four attempts to get it right.

Lenore Rosenblatt and Victor D. Millrose wrote "Smokey Mounain Boy", which is slightly reminiscent to "The Colonel Bogey March". In the movie it's sung by Josh Morgan as he leads the regiment to the Tatum property. Once again the song is acceptable for a movie scene like this, but not much more. The rhythm track was recorded on September 30, 1963 within four takes. Elvis needed three takes for his vocal overdub.

This is another one from Giant/Baum/Kaye. Josh is praizing the beauties of the Smokey Mountains while lying in the hay with two girls. The song is not really bad, but it's not a good one either. The master is a combination of the third attempts of both sessions.

Once again a song penned by Bill Giant, Bernie Baum and Florence Kaye. This time the rhythm track was recorded on September 29, 1963 within five takes. Elvis finished the tune off in two takes. Even though "One Boy Two Little Girls" is mediocre at best, RCA Victor released it on the b-side of "Kissin' Cousins" in Germany.

While Josh is kissing Azalea he wants her to confirm his progress in this field with this song. The tune is as stupid as the movie scene and once again written by Giant/Baum/Kaye. Elvis needed seven takes to record the song, the musicians taped it in four attempts.

You'll never guess who wrote that song: The infamous trio of Giant/Baum/Kaye! This time it's a ballad and they based it on a melody called "Shenandoah". The music track was recorded in two takes on September 29, 1963. Elvis was even faster and nailed the song on the first try. In 1972 RCA's own budget label CAMDEN used the track on the album "Burning Love And Hits From His Movies". In contrast to the logic of the movie Elvis sings without Tennessee slang, even though the ballad is supposed to be sung by Jodie. However, I guess the king was aware that this would have ruined the song completely and it also would have been the first time anybody cared for the logic of a Presley flick.

Besides "Kissin' Cousins" this is the only decent song of this soundtrack. A real solid ballad by Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus and Louis Alan De-Jesus. On September 30, 1963 the band needed five attempts to record the music, Elvis accomplished the task within three takes.

This song lampoons the southerners. It includes fiddles, a banjo, a jug, musicians that play somewhat coarse on purpose and a singer with an overdone accent. It all sounds somewhat strange on record, but in the movie the scene is slightly entertaining. On September 30, 1963 the musicians recorded seven takes of the song by Dolores Fuller and Lee Morris. The vocal track is a splice of the takes 2 and 4 (pickup take).

If you enjoy your life, you just need one. That's the result of this mediocre movie tune by Sid Tepper And Roy C. Bennett. The rhythm track was recorded on September 29, 1963 within three takes, Elvis needed seven attempts to deliver a satisfactory vocal overdub.

This is the finale of the movie and sung by Jodie and Josh. Therefore Elvis recorded two versions of the song. One in his normal voice (as Josh) and another one in overdone southern idiom (as Jodie). The vocals were edited of take 2 (Josh version) and take 1 (Jodie version). The musicians had recorded their part on September 30, 1963 in three takes. "Kissin' Cousins" was written by Fred Wise and Randy Starr, to me it's a good and funny movie tune. In January 1964 RCA Victor released it on a single, which scored the king another top 20 hit. Six year later it was also included on the boxed set "Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits - Volume 1".

To get the album above the mark of 25 minutes RCA Victor included two bonus songs. They had been recorded a year before for an album project, which was finally scrapped due to a third installment of the "Golden Records" series and the soundtrack of "Fun In Acapulco". On May 26, 1963 Elvis recorded ten takes of "Echoes Of Love" at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. The song was written by Bob Roberts and Paddy McMains and is one of the few highlights of this album.

This one was penned by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman and recorded by Elvis on May 27, 1963 within two takes. The singer was left by his lady and now has to walk the streets of life alone. The melody is quite happy and typical for popsongs of this period. But the lyrics are unusually dark, because the narrator even threatens his ex to commit suicide. To me this is the best track of the album. In 1965 Allied Artists used the song for the movie "Tickle Me", RCA Victor released it on a single. For whatever reason they selected the first take.