FTD's special edition of "Clambake" was released in 2006. It's a 7" digipak, housing a compact disc and a booklet with background information, pictures, etc. The audio restauration and the mix of the outtakes was done by Lene Reidel, who obviously put some artificial echo on the outtakes. It doesn't meet my taste. Another thing I don't like is the insistence on compact discs and vinyl. When Follow That Dream Records started out, streaming of music was nowhere in sight. But just because the label's focus is on an artist of the past, the company as such shouldn't stick there.

As usual I am only dealing with the material not issued on the original album. If you are interested in RCA Victor's classic release, just tap HERE.

This is the master Elvis recorded and selected on February 21, 1967. For the release on the "Clambake" album the king discard this version and recorded "You Don't Know Me" again. The performance we get to hear with this track is arranged in a more sparse style. It's certainly not bad, but the re-recording is better.

Accompanied by a guitar and in bluesy style Elvis sings "look for the brightest lights in town, that's where you find me hangin' round".

Because the king sang to a previously recorded music track, the band and the harmony singers always sound the same. In general the take works well, but at the end Elvis gets out of step and has to laugh.

We hear some studio talk, a laughing Elvis and an organist, who rehearses the intro. The first try is taken at a slower tempo. After half a minute the king has to laugh and the take is canceled. The second attempt is a complete performance, but Elvis obviously has problems with the timing.

The ballad is performed a tad slower. Once again Elvis has troubles with the timing and has to figure out how to handle the song.

In general the take works well, but then the word "blako-oxy-tonic-phosphate" appears and Elvis gets tangled up. He turns it into a joke and everybody laughs. On take number 5 he doesn't even get to the killer-word. When he has to sing about the sandpaper he mixes it up with the verse about the hammer and sings "hampaper" instead. With take 6 finally a complete performance is archived.

The king and the harmony singers rehearse the finale of the song. Elvis also sings a few bars of "Down In The Alley". Take number 4 dies after a few seconds, the next try works well. Just the finale still sounds somewhat stagnant.

On the first take Elvis has to laugh during the first verse, therefore the recording is stopped. On take number 5 Elvis emphasizes some words different to the master and his timing is not always correct. Therefore he sounds much livelier than on the master.

The king rehearses the chorus, the musicians try out their parts. The 4th take fails right at the start, the next walkthrough is cut off by the producer because Elvis and the band jumped at the wrong key. Take number 6 already sounds close to the master.

On take 7 Elvis jokes a bit an continues the line "and anyone could tell..." with "...you can go to hell". The 10th attempt is performed seriously, but here and there the timing causes the king some trouble.

In general this version is very close to the master, albeit Elvis performs it with more zest. Therefore I prefer this one to the released track.

Elvis puts a little too much energy in the line "we got a magic potion that will help us win" and stumbles upon the word "blako-oxy-tonic-phosphate" a few seconds later. He turns the killer word into "blako-what-the fuck" and cancels the take with a heartfelt "goddamn". On the 8th walkthrough the king sings the "magic potion" line the usual way, but mumbles through "blako-oxy-tonic-phosphate".

The album ends with the bluesy line of "Clambake". Elvis obviously is in good mood and goofs around a bit.