The final Presley album of 1966 was released in October and once again was nothing but a soundtrack. On the 29th of the month "Spinout" entered the "Top LPs Chart", stayed for 32 weeks and peaked at number 18. In its initial sales period the long player sold 300,000 copies and therefore performed much stronger than the previous ones. But the audience soon lost interest and so the global sales stagnated at 2.25 million units. Today this would equal 337.5 million streams for the complete album or 3.38 billion individual tracks. On Spotify "Spinout" accumulates 12.5 million streams.

Because Elvis had gained weight in 1965 and it was all too visible on the promo picures, his manager and RCA had agreed to use older photos for the record sleeves. But now the king had slimed down somewhat and so current pics were used again. Besides the movie tunes "Spinout" also included three bonus songs. Therefore the album was brought to a running time of 29:23 minutes. Because the word "Spinout" was not common outside of the USA, the movie and the album were also sold as "California Holiday".

To push the sales, RCA Victor included a special photo card on the first edition of the long player. All other pressings were delivered without the bonus.

On the streaming platforms "Spinout" 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 2004 Follow That Dream Records released a collector's edition of "Spinout", that also included several outtakes. You can read the review by tapping HERE.

The recordings were done on February 16th and 17th, 1966 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California. The sessions were produced by George Stoll, the engineering was done by Dave Wichman. Elvis was accompanied by Scotty Moore (guitar), D.J. Fontana (drums), Tommy Tedesco (guitar), Hilmer J. Timbrell (guitar), Bob Moore (bass), Murrey Harmann (drums), Floyd Cramer (piano and organ), Homer Randolph (saxophone) and Charlie Hodge (piano on "Beach Shack"). The harmonies were provided by The Jordanaires (Gordon Stoker, Ray Walker, Hoyt Hawkings and Neal Matthews).

The album starts with a song, that is somewhat reminiscent of the good old rock'n'roll, but also includes (by the mid-sixties of the past century) modern instruments like an organ and a harder played electric guitar. The singer repeats the advice of his father: Whenever you see a beautiful woman, stop, look and listen or you'll get in trouble. The song is ok for a movie, but it certainly wouldn't have made it on any of Elvis' regular albums. It didn't even make it on the "Girl Happy" soundtrack, because it had already been suggested to the king, but was refused. His publisher gave it to Rick Nelson (1964) and Bill Haley (1965) and finally once more to Elvis Presley. And so he recorded seven takes of "Stop, Look And Listen" on February 16, 1966. The master is basically the seventh attempt, but with the drum-intro of take 6.

Once again we get an uptempo popsong, that certainly doesn't belong to the bad movie tunes, but it isn't a highlight either. The singer ascertaines, that women are the root of all evil, but he loves them nevertheless. Elvis recorded "Adam And Evil" on February 17, 1966 within 20 takes. By the way, the song was written by Fred Wise and Randy Starr.

The ballad was also the b-side of the single "Spinout" and reached number 41 on the "Hot 100". In Great Britain the song by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett even made it to number 18 of the charts. Elvis needed five takes to record the track on February 17, 1966. On July 14th further instruments were recorded at the MGM Soundstage in Hollywood/California. This session was produced by George Stoll and engineered by Aaron Rochin and Lyle Burbridge. To me "All That I Am" is solid easy listening.

This uptempo song was written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman. They didn't even get close to "A Mess Of Blues", "Little Sister" or "Viva Las Vegas", but it could have been a lot worse. According to the singer his secret of success with women is always to suggest to say "yes", but never to do it. For quite a while "Never Say Yes" was supposed to be the title of the movie, but finally the flick was named "Spinout". On February 17, 1966 Elvis recorded six takes of the song, the master was spliced of take 6 and the ending of take 5.

Anno 1910 Victor Herbert & His Orchestra performed the operetta "When Sweet Sixteen" for the first time. The stage play included a song named "To A Wild Rose", which was released by Herbert on a record the same year. Half a century later Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett turned the ballad into "Am I Ready" and Elvis recorded it on February 16, 1966 within seven takes. To me "Am I Ready" is one of the highlights of this album. CAMDEN used the track in 1972 on the album "Burning Love And Hits From His Movies".

This somewhat empty-headed song was written by Bill Giant, Bernie Baum and Florence Kaye. The singer wants to convince a lady to follow him into his beach shack and...well...have a beach shag. On February 16, 1966 Elvis recorded four takes of the tune.

The second side of the longplayer starts with the title song of the movie, which had been released previously by RCA Victor on a single, coupled with "All That I Am". It didn't become a hit and never made it past number 40 of the Billboard Charts. The writers, Sid Wayne, Ben Wisman and Dolores Fuller, compare a releationship to a car race and advice to spin out (escape). The king recorded "Spinout" on February 17, 1966 and needed five takes to archive a satisfactory result. To give the by now outdated movie tunes a modern touch, once again an organ (one of the hot instruments of the 1960s) was added.

Here the singer compares the many ladies in the world to a buffet, in Sweden called "Smorgasbord". From today's point of view this perspective might be a tad on the chauvinist side, but in general it's a nice, happy popsong. It was written b Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennet, on February 16, 1966 Elvis recorded "Smorgasbord" within seven takes.

At the end of the movie Mike (Elvis) anticipates "The Terminator" and promises "I'll Be Back". It's certainly one of the better movie tunes, Elvis recorded it it on February 17, 1966 in a single take. "I'll Be Back" was written by Sid Wayne and Ben Wiseman.

Because nine songs were not enough to fill an album, RCA Victor extended it with three bonus songs. The first of them was recorded on May 25, 1966 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. Bob Dylan's "Tomorrow Is A Long Time" had originally been released by Ian & Silvia, but Elvis was obviously inspired by the version of Odetta Holmes on the album "Odetta Sings Dylan". To me this track is the highlight of the album and it's a pity, that nobody had the idea to release it on a single. However, when Bob Dylan was asked what his favorite cover version of his songs was, he named this very recording.

With this song Elvis covered a tune from his youth. Jesse Stone's "Down In The Alley" had been released by The Clovers in 1953, when Mr. Presley was 18 years old. On Mai 25, 1966 the king recorded nine takes of the song and one can hear how much fun he had. In the song the narrator makes no secret of what he wants from his girl, something that never happened in the well-behaved movie tunes. "Down In The Alley" was also played live, even though it was just once. The king presented the song on August 19, 1974 on the opening night of his "Elvis Summer Festival" at the Las Vegas Hilton.

The album closes with a ballad written by Kuiokalani Lee. The first release was in 1965 by Don Ho, later it was also recorded by Andy Williams and Lee himself. The rhythm track of Elvis' version was recorded on June 10, 1966, the vocal track followed two days later. The master is a combination of take 1 (rhythm track) and take 3 (vocal track). Between 1972 and 1976 "I'll Remember You" was also featured in many concerts of the king. One of these live versions was released on the double album "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" (1973).