With "Elvis For Everyone!" RCA Victor released the first Presley album in three years that wasn't neither a soundtrack, nor a compilation of hits. On August 20, 1965 the record entered the "Top LPs Chart", stayed for 27 weeks and peaked at number 10. In Great Britain the album was released with a different cover and the Stereo version included a remake of "Wild In The Country". This edition was more successful and made it to number 8 of the UK Charts. In it's initial sales period "Elvis For Everyone!" sold 200,000 copies, in total the record went over the sales counters three million times. According to the RIAA this figure translates to 450 million paid streams of the complete album or 4.5 billion paid streams of individual tracks. Commercially "Elvis For Everyone!" was on a par with the king's studio albums of the early 1960s and did better than the recent "Girl Happy" soundtrack. With more than 12 million Streams on Spotify the album still is more popular than "Girl Happy" (5 million streams), but it's not nearly as popular as other longplayers that sold in comparable numbers.

The cover shows a promo shot for the movie "Girls! Girls! Girls!" (1962), photoshopped (there was no Photoshop in 1965, but everybody knows what I mean) behind a sales counter. The backside presented all Presley albums that had earned over a million USD.

On the streaming platforms "Elvis For Everyone!" is presented the way it 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.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Elvis at RCA Victor the label originally had planned a special album of newly recorded material. Because neither the singer, nor his manager showed any interest in such a project, it was agreed to compile a long player of unreleased songs from the vaults. RCA suggested two track lists to Elvis of which the singer chose one. By doing so he approved the release of many songs that he had rejected before. The result had a running time of 23:58 minutes.

In 2014 Follow That Dream Records released a collector's edition of "Elvis For Everyone!". The double disc featured the tracks of the original album, the songs of the rejected suggestion and unreleased outtakes. For a review tap HERE.

On February 1, 1958 Elvis recorded ten takes of the Hank Williams classic at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California. In 1965 the king was up to date again, because the previous year MGM had released a biopic about the singer. Originally it was even considered to have Elvis playing Williams, but finally the job went to George Hamilton. I like the king's version of "Your Cheatin' Heart" very much, because it's obvious that he liked country music a lot. In early 1977 RCA released the track again on "Welcome To My World".

Some fans knew the recording from the ep "Elvis By Request", which had been released in February 1961. On August 8, 1960 the king had recorded 26 takes at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California and finally chosen the 20th attempt for release. Originally the song was included in the western "Flaming Star" (1960), but when the test audience started to laugh it was decided to cut "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears" from the movie. The song was written by Fred Wise, Bend Weisman and Jack Lloyd. The narrator remembers his lost love and Elvis performs the sad ballad in a heartfelt and believable way.

In May 1963 the king recorded some songs at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee for a new album and several singles. But because the soundtracks sold better than the studio albums and there were enough hits for another "Golden Records" compilation it was decided to cancel the album. "Finders Keepers Loosers Weepers" was recorded on May 26th within three takes. The uptempo popsong by Dorie and Ollie Jones is a good one and the melody stays with you.

The ballad was penned by Fred Wise and Ben Wisman and was known from the motion picture "Wild In The Country" (1961). Elvis recorded it on November 7, 1960 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California and needed eight takes to archive a satisfactory master. The singer cannot promise his girl eternal love and doesn't expect it of her, too. Elvis is just accompanied by a guitar and performs this sad, slow song very well. CAMDEN also used the recording on the budget album "Separate Ways" (1972).

The song is from the musical "Nights", which premiered in 1939. Elvis recorded "Tomorrow Night" on September 10, 1954 at SUN Records in Memphis/Tennessee. To modernize the track Steve Sholes added a guitar overdub and harmony vocals by The Anita Kerr Singers on March 18, 1965. The recording was also slowed down a bit to match the pitch of Elvis' voice to its current sound. The result is nothing but stunning.

On May 27, 1963 Elvis recorded Chuck Berry's "Memphis Tennessee" and planned to have it released on a single, coupled with "Witchcraft". But somehow he came to the conclusion that he could do better and decided to record the song a second time. RCA Victor released "Bossa Nova Baby" instead and Elvis tried again on January 12, 1964. He taped six takes and would have released it on a single if he hadn't played his version to Johnny Rivers, who covered it note by note and scored a number 2 hit with "Memphis Tennessee". Therefore Elvis' version stayed in the vaults. In the song the narrator asks the operator (back in those days the devices couldn't connect themselves, but an operator had to do the work manually) to connect him to Marie. At first she appears to be his girlfriend and her mother doesn't agree to the relationship, but later it is revealed that Marie is the daughter of the singer and her mother is his ex-wife. This twist is great and musically "Memphis Tennessee" also has a lot to offer. Without doubt this is one of the king's greatest recordings of the 1960s.

Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett wrote the song about a man, who is so much in love that he cannot say goodbye to his girl for the evening. I would say it's nice, fluffy teenage popmusic with a southern touch, which is executed very well. At the time Elvis thought it was too lightweight and decided to leave it in the vaults. However, when material was needed to fill the album he changed his mind. "For The Millionth And The Last Time" was recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee on October 15, 1961 within 12 takes.

This is another slow, sad ballad from "Wild In The Country" (1961), which is sung just accompanied by a guitar. Once again Elvis performs it in a very believable way and sounds nothing but great. CAMDEN also unsed it in 1972 on the budget compilation "Separate Ways". The king recorded the song by Fred Wise and Ben Weisman on November 7, 1960 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California and needed just three takes to get it right.

With this children's song Elvis wants the kids to know, that not every advice is a good one and not every advisor has good intentions. The song was written by Bill Giant, Bernie Baum and Florence Kay and plays with the double meaning of the word "sound". Elvis recorded it on July 2, 1961 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee for the movie "Follow That Dream". Take 6 became the master. At the time the king didn't like the song and kept it off the soundtrack ep. Four years later, when he wanted to release an album without having to work, he approved the track.

The lyrics of this traditional were written in 1850 by Teodoro Cottrau, the first recording was by Enrico Caruso in 1916. Elvis wasn't a tenor singer, his style was popmusic and he hadn't any clue of the Italian language. Nevertheless his performance sounds great, at least for a German like me, who also doesn't know anything about this tongue. The king recorded "Santa Lucia" on July 10, 1963 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California for "Viva Las Vegas" and needed three takes to archive a satisfactory result. CAMDEN used the track on their budget album "Burning Love And Hits From His Movies" (1972).

The singer tells his (presumably) unfaithful girlsfriend that he will finally leave her, after he had warned her serveral times. Elvis sounds very emotional, almost fragile. I like this ballad very much and to me it's somewhat of a mystery why it was left at the vaults for so long. The king had recorded this song by Don Robertson on October 15, 1961 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. He worked hard on the ballad and recorded 18 takes before the result met his idea. In 1972 CAMDEN re-released "I Met Her Today" on the budget album "Separate Ways".

Elvis had recorded eight takes of "When It Rains It Really Pours" at SUN Records in Memphis/Tennessee in November 1955 and selected the fifth attempt for release. Because the singer moved to RCA Victor a few weeks later the track stayed in the vaults. In February 1957 Elvis recorded another eight takes of "When It Rains It Really Pours", this time at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California. Once again the recording was filed away. When RCA checked the vaults for unreleased material, they found the tapes and the king approved the 8th take to be used on "Elvis For Everyone!". The SUN recording was thought to be lost, but was found in 1982 and released on "A Legendary Performer - Volume 4" two years later. The original version is by SUN Records' Billy "The Kid" Emerson, who recorded it in 1954 as "When It Rains, It Pours". To make a long story short: It's a great track!