In October 1964, four weeks before Paramount's "Roustabout" was rolled out nationwide, RCA Victor released the accordant soundtrack album. It entered the "Top LPs Chart" on November 14th, was listed for 27 weeks and peaked at number one. In its initial sales period RCA Victor retailed 450,000 copies, worldwide the longplayer sold 3.75 million copies. Translated to the present the amount of physical sales equals 562.5 million paid streams of the compleate album or 5.63 billion paid streams of individual tracks. The RIAA honored the domestic sales with a Gold Award in 1988. With the exception of the greatest hits album "Elvis' Golden Records - Volume 3" this soundtrack was the king's most successful longplayer since 1962. However, the album could not maintain its popularity. On Spotify it was streamed less than 4 million times. For instance, the album "Elvis", which sold in comparable physical units, accumulates 250 million streams.

Elvis poses in a similar way like he had done for the cover of the "Loving You" album. In both cases he wanted to emphasize the rebellious character he was portraying in the movie. But it wasn't 1957 anymore and instead of looking like a mean rocker he gives the impression of an office clerk on a bad day. But in general the artwork is nicely done, with four additional promo photos on the backside.

On the streaming platforms the album is available as released in 2016 on "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.

The soundtrack was recorded on March 2nd and 3rd 1964 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California. The sessions were produced by Joseph Lilley and engineered by Dave Weichman. Elvis' band consisted of Scotty Moore (guitar), D.J. Fontana (drums), Hilmer J. Timbrell (guitar), Billy Strange (guitar), Barney Kessel (guitar, on March 2nd only), Bob Moore (bass), Hal Blaine (drums), Murray Harman (drums), Floyd Cramer (piano) and Homer Randolph (saxophone). The harmony vocals were provided by The Jordanaires (Gordon Stoker, Hoyt Hawkins, Neal Matthews and Ray Walker). Even though the soundtrack only has a running time of 20:05 minutes, RCA Victor didn't add any bonus tracks. Compared to "Kissin' Cousins" or "It Happened At The World's Fair" the audio mix is much better here.

In 2017 Follow That Dream records released a collector's edition of "Roustabout". For a review tap HERE.

The album begins with a song by Bill Giant, Bernie Baum and Florence Kay. It was ordered after Hal B. Wallis suddenly had raised concerns regarding the lyrics of "I'm A Roustabout", the original title song of the movie. It had been written by Otis Blackwell and Winfield Scott and was thought to be lost, some people even claimed, that Elvis had never recorded the track at all. In fact he had done so on March 3, 1964 within six takes. The final proof was delivered by Winfield Scott himself, who offered an acetate to Sony/BMG almost 30 years after the session. The recording finally was released in 2003 on the compilation album "2nd To None". The music track for the new title song was recorded on May 29, 1964. The personnel was more or less the same, albeit Bob Moore, D.J. Fontana, Hal Blaine and Floyd Cramer were substituted by Ray Siegel, Bernie Mattinson and Dudley Brooks. Because The Jordanaires also were not available, The Mello Men (Thurl Ravenscroft, Bill Lee, Bill Cole and Max Smith) were booked instead. Elvis added his voice on May 14, 1964. The master is an edit of the takes 11 (music track) and 17 (vocal track). In the song the narrator describes himself as an unsteady character, who roams from town to town, but hopes to find his place someday. "Roustabout" is a nice popsong, much better than many other songs by Giant/Baum/Kaye.

For "Roustabout" Elvis covered The Coaster's "Little Egypt". The group had released the track in 1961, the writers are Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, with whom the king had worked closely in the 1950s. On March 2, 1964 he recorded 15 takes and approved the final one for release. Nevertheless he taped six more on the following day, but stayed with his decision. However, the movie version was a splice of the takes 15 and 21 and was enhanced with further instruments. In the song the narrator visits a show of a female dancer named Little Egypt, captures her heart and later produces 7 (!) children with her. The lyrics offer the typical humor of Leiber and Stoller (the description of Mrs. Egypt's show is quite entertaining) and the melody is nice, too. Compared to The Coaster's version Elvis' performance is smoother, it has a better flow. The king re-recorded the song in 1968 for his tv special "SINGER presents Elvis". For me "Little Egypt" is the highlight of the album.

Once more we get a typical movie tune, again written by Bill Giant, Bernie Baum and Florence Kaye. The lyrics make fun of rich students, who buy their university degree and make a career in daddy's company. In the movie the song is performed for exactly this type of people and so the scene ends with a brawl. The song offers a nice melody and funny lyrics. On March 2, 1964 Elvis needed seven takes to record "Poison Ivy League".

The singer bewails his life full of privation. A few years earlier "Hard Knocks" might have become a rock'n'roll song, in 1964 it was nothing but a fast pop tune. Nevertheless it's a good song and Elvis performs it well. He did so on March 2, 1964 within 11 takes. The writer of "Hard Knocks" is Joy Byers.

This happy-go-lucky-tune was written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett. It's quite bland and doesn't stay with you at all. It's somewhat of a mystery why Elvis needed 13 attempts to record a track like this. He did so on March 2, 1964.

This catchy ballad was written by Dolores Fuller, Les Morris and Sonny Hendrix and can be considered a highlight of this album. The king taped it on March 3, 1964 within 17 takes.

Here we have another song by Bill Giant, Bernie Baum and Florence Kaye. This time the trio delivered a nice, but also bland uptempo tune. Elvis needed five takes to record "One Track Heart" on March 3, 1964.

Charlie (Elvis) sings the song to convince the people to buy tickets for the show, but I doubt that it would work in real life. For me "It's Carnival Time" is the worst song of the album. The king himself also didn't seem to be too interested in the tune by Ben Weisman and Sid Wayne, because he had the musicians record an instrumental track and added his voice later. The master is a splice of the takes 2 (rhythm track) and 9 (vocal track). Both parts were recorded on March 3, 1964.

The intention is the same, but this time the idea might work out better. The melody is catchy and the lyrics describe the show acts in a humorous way. "Carny Town" was written by Fred Wise and Randy Starr and recorded by Elvis on March 3, 1964 within nine takes.

The finale of the movie was written by Joy Byers and is based on a traditional named "Snake Pit". On March 3, 1964 the king needed five attempts to deliver a releasable performance. For me "There's A Brand New Day On The Horizon" belogs to the highlights of this album, because it's a real "earworm".

The album closes with an uptempo popsong by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett. It was recorded on March 3, 1964 within seven takes. When Elvis requested The Jordanaires on the track, Jeseph Lilley asked him, where the voices should come from, because in the movie he would sing the song while riding a motorbike. The king's answer was right on the spot: From the same damn place the music is coming from!