On March 1, 1966 RCA Victor released "Frankie And Johnny", the soundtrack album of Elvis' latest motion picture. Starting on April 23rd Billboard listed the record on their "Top LPs Chart". The 250,000 units were enough to make it stay for 19 weeks and peaking at number 20. In Great Britain the king was more successful and made it to number 11. In total "Frankie And Johnny" sold 2 million copies, which translates to 300 million paid streams of the complete album or 3 billion paid streams of individual tracks. Unfortunately these figures confirmed the negative trend, because apart from the compilation "For LP Fans Only" (1959) no Presley album to date had sold worse than this one. While the old compilation album has gained some popularity and clocks in at 142 million streams on Spotify, "Frankie And Johnny" remains a bummer and wasn't retrieved more than 2.8 million times.

Because Elvis had put on a few pounds and his manager regarded his face a bit too puffy, the art department of RCA Victor photoshopped (there was no Photoshop in 1966, but everybody knows what I'm talking about) an older head (a promo picture for the movie "Girl Happy" was used) on the singer's recent body. The work was done in a sloppy way, so the "new" head was a tad too small and therefore looked somewhat strange. On the back cover, where much smaller pictures were used, the label presented photos from "Frankie And Johnny".

Once again RCA Victor tried to push the sales by adding a bonus photo to the first edition of the album. This time it was a reproduction of an oil painting of Elvis, made by June Kelly.

On the streaming platforms "Frankie And Johnny" 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.

In 1976 the Pickwick label released a budget version of "Frankie And Johnny". To read a review of the release tap HERE. Sony Music Entertainment's own collector's label Follow That Dream Records released a classic album edition in 2003. Besides the tracks of the original release it also included several outtakes. For the review tap HERE.

The album has a running time of 26:40 minutes.

The album was recorded between May 12th and 14th, 1965 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California. On May 19th Elvis overdubbed his vocals to "Hard Luck" at the Samuel Goldwyn Studios, where the movie was made. The sessions were produced by Fred Karger, the sound engineers were Dave Wichman (Radio Recorders) and Kevin Cleary (Samuel Goldwyn Studios). Elvis' band consisted of Scotty Moore (guitar), D. J. Fontana (drums), Hilmer J. Timbrell (guitar), Charlie McCoy (guitar and harmonica), Bob Moore (bass), Murrey Harman (drums) and Larry Muhoberac (piano). The southern flair was added by George Werth (trumpet), Richard Noel (trombone), Gus Bivona (clarinet and saxophone), John Johnson (tuba) and Robert Cowin (tuba). For the harmony voices The Jordanaires (Gordon Stoker, Hoyt Hawkins, Neal Matthews and Ray Walker) as well as Millie Kirkham were booked. On "Look Out, Broadway" Eileen Wilson sang the part of Donna Douglas and Ray Walker sang the part of Harry Morgan. The song "Chesay" also featured the voice of Henry Cordin. On the movie version of "Frankie And Johnny" Sue Ann Langdon, Donna Douglas, Sherry Thober, Lyzanne Ladue Goodon, Elizabeth Harrower and Doris Bourgeous sang along.

The traditional from the 19th century was also known as "Frankie And Albert". It exists in many different versions, but they all have in common that Frankie kills her lover Johnny (or Albert) because of jealousy. In some versions she lands in jail, in others she gets executed. Alex Gottlieb, Fred Karger and Ben Weisman adapted the traditional for Elvis, who recorded it on May 14, 1965 within six takes. "Frankie And Johnny" is one of my favorite movie tunes, because it differs from the usual ones and is performed very well. In 1966 RCA Victor also released the song on a single, six years later CAMDEN used the track on the album "Elvis Sings Hits From His Movies - Volume 1".

Dave Hess based the song on the traditional "Gonna Raise A Ruckus Tonight". The first recording was made in 1923 by the Norfolk Jazz & Jubilee Quartet. On May 12, 1965 the ryhthm track was recorded, on the next day Elvis added his voice. The master was a combination of take 6 (music track) and take 1 (vocal track). The song generates a nice southern states feeling and the melody stays with you.

In the movie the song is performed at a riverboat show by Johnny and Frankie. Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennet wrote a typical vaudeville tune with a snappy melody and purposely bad puns like tulips/two lips (Johnny praises the flowers and the lips of his loved one). In contrast to most critics and fans I like the song. Elvis recorded it on May 14, 1965 and needed six takes. The singer Eileen Wilson doubled for the actress Donna Douglas, who played Frankie.

The drinking song with gypsy touch fits the movie scene very well and because this is a soundtrack album, the song has every right to be on it. Elvis recorded "Chesay" on May 14, 1965 within seven takes. The authors are Fred Karger, Ben Weisman and Sid Wayne.

Here we have the first ballad of the album. It was written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, the music track was recorded on May 13, 1965, the vocal track followed a day later. The master was created with take 6 (music track) and take 8 (vocal track). Socially not appropriate anymore the singer claims that the only raison d'etre of a woman is to find a man she can give her love to. However, musically the song is superior to most other movie ballads of this era.

Fred Wise and Randy Star wrote a characteristic musical song, that wouldn't have any right to exist on a regular studio album, but certainly is ok on a soundtrack like this. In the movie "Look Out, Broadway" is performed by Johnny (Elvis), Frankie (Donna Douglas) and Cully (Harry Morgan), but in the studio Eileen Wilson doubled for Donna Douglas and Ray Walker doubled for Harry Morgan. The trio needed 12 takes to record the song on May 14, 1965.

The second ballad on the album was written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett. It's a nice song, but not quite as good as "What Every Woman Lives For" by Pomus/Shuman. The rhythm track was recorded on May 12, 1965, the vocal track followed the next day. The musicans needed five attempts to get it right, Elvis finished the ballad off in two takes.

The medley is supposed to have been written by Bill Giant, Bernie Baum and Florence Kaye, but of course it is nothing but a combination of two traditionals that simply were re-worked to create a new song in the legal sense. "Down By The Riverside" was originally sung by slaves at the time of the civil war and was also known as "Ain't Gonna Study War No More" and "Gonna Lay Down My Burden". The first known recording was made by The Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1920. "When The Saints Go Marchin' In" became popular as a funeral march in the southern states of the USA, but its origins go back to a Belgian chant. Once again the music track was recorded on May 12, 1965 and the vocal track followed a day later. The master is a combination of take 7 (music track) and take 4 (vocal track). CAMDEN re-used the song in 1972 on the budget album "Elvis Sings Hits From His Movies - Volume 1".

Consistent with the theme of the movie the song offers brass in dixiland-style, but it still sounds like an average movie tune. It was penned by Giant/Baum/Kaye and recorded by Elvis on May 13, 1965 within seven takes.

Of course a movie like "Frankie And Johnny" needs a blues song. Ben Weisman and Sid Wayne filled the gap and wrote "Hard Luck". It cannot be compared to songs like "Reconsider Baby", but for a soundtrack album a faux blues like this is acceptable. The music was recorded on May 13, 1965 at Radio Recorders, Elvis added his vocals six days later at Samuel Goldwyn Studios. The master was combined of take 5 (music track) and take 3 (vocal track).

No wonder that RCA Victor made this song the b-side of "Frankie And Johnny". Without doubt this ballad by Joy Byers is one of the best songs of the movie and therefore a perfect promotion for the album. Elvis also must have been convinced of the quality, because on May 13, 1965 he invested 19 takes to get it right.

The album ends with a snappy uptempo tune in dixiland style. It's certainly one of the highlights of this soundtrack. Elvis recorded it on May 14, 1965 within 15 takes. "Everybody Come Aboard" was written by Bill Giant, Bernie Baum and Florence Kaye.