The soundtrack of the United Artists release "Clambake" hit the stores on October 23, 1967. Starting on December 2nd Billboard listed the album for 14 weeks on their "Top LPs Chart" where it peaked at number 40. In its initial sales period "Clambake" was retailed 200,000 times, in total the album sold 2 million copies. According to the RIAA this amount of physical sales translates to 300 million paid streams of the complete album or 3 billion paid streams of individual tracks. Compared to "Double Trouble" the sales figures had improved, but they still were a third below long players like "Elvis For Everyone!" (1965) or "Elvis Presley" (1956). On Spotify "Clambake" (19 million) is more successful than "Elvis For Everyone!" (12 million), but both numbers are a joke compared to the requests for "Elvis Presley" (250 million).

The front cover showed a promotion photo for the accordant movie, the pictures on the backside had been made two years earlier in connection with "Paradise, Hawaiian Style". Because the king's wedding in May was still a popular topic amongst the fans Colonel Parker and RCA Victor tried to push the sales by including a "specially autographed" bonus photo of Elvis and Priscilla.

On the streaming platforms "Clambake"" 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.

The sessions for the soundtrack took place at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee and began on February 21, 1967. Elvis wasn't interested in recording at all and simply didn't show up on the next day. Therefore the musicians recorded music tracks, to which the king finally added his voice on February 23rd. The musicians in question were Scotty Moore (guitar), D.J. Fontana (drums), Chip Young (guitar), Charlie McCoy (guitar and harmonica), Bob Moore (bass), Murrey Harman (drums), Floyd Cramer (piano), Hoyt Hawkins (piano), Pete Drake (steel guitar) and Norman Ray (saxophone). The harmony vocals were provided by The Jordanaires (Gordon Stoker, Neal Matthews, Hoyt Hawkins and Ray Walker) as well as Millie Kirkham. The sessions were produced by Jeffrey Alexander and Felton Jarvis, the engineering was done by James Malloy. Because the movie didn't include enough songs to fill the album, additional sessions were scheduled on September 10th and 11th. They were produced by Felton Jarvis and engineered by James Malloy. The band consisted of Scotty Moore (guitar), D.J. Fontana (drums), Jerry "Reed" Hubbard (guitar), Harold Bradley (guitar), Chip Young (guitar), Bob Moore (bass), Murrey Harman (drums), Floyd Cramer (piano), Hoyt Hawkins (organ), Charlie McCoy (organ, guitar and harmonica), Homer Randolph (saxophone) and Pete Drake (steel guitar). Once again the harmony vocals were provided by The Jordanaires and Millie Kirkham. In total the movie tunes and the bonus songs brought the album to a length of 29:36 minutes.

In 2006 Follow That Dream Records released a collector's edition of "Clambake", which also included several outtakes. For a review tap HERE.

Strangely though the soundtrack album starts with a bonus song. It was recorded on September 10, 1967. Elvis taped 12 takes of the song by Jerry Reed, who added his concise guitar play on the same day. The narrator chronicles his career as a musician and the king's enthusiasm for this song is obvious. In January 1968 RCA Victor also released "Guitar Man" on a single, the track was used again in 1972 on CAMDEN's budget album "Elvis Sings Hits From His Movies - Volume 1". For his tv special "SINGER presents Elvis" the king recorded a separate version of this song, which was featured on the long player "Elvis" in 1968.

Now we hear the title song of the movie and even though it was recorded at the same studio with more or less the same personnel the sound is dull, Elvis' voice is too much in the fore and the king doesn't sound even half as motivated as on the first track of this album. "Clambake" is based on a song called "Shortnin' Bread" from the 1920s and was adjusted by Ben Weisman and Sid Wayne. The rhythm track was recorded on February 22, 1967, the vocal track was taped the following day. Elvis produced 12 takes and approved the 10th attempt for release.

In the movie Scott (Elvis) and Tom (Will Hutchins) switch their identities and sing about their attitude regarding wealth. Ray Walker, the bass singer of The Joranaires, sings the part of Will Hutchins and sounds rough on purpose to double for the actor in a more believable way. The music track was recorded on February 22nd, the vocals followed a day later. On March 6th several vocal repairs and instert takes were produced at Annex Studio (previously known as Radio Recorders) in Hollywood/California. It's not known which bits and pieces were used to create the master. By the way: "Who Needs Money" was written by Randy Starr.

While the first two movie songs on this album are mediocre affairs, this one is really good. The soft bossa nova was written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett and can be summed up with "Money doesn't make you happy". Elvis performs the ballad very well.

Unfortunately I cannot say anything positive about this one. In the movie Scott (Elvis) notices a discouraged girl on a slide - no doubt she needs confidence and it has to be given to her with a song. The unmotivated and clumsy performance of the king is topped off by an embarrassing bunch of adults, that tries to imitate a children's choir. Allegedly "Confidence" was written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennet, but it's a plain copy of "High Hopes". Maybe that was the reason, CAMDEN included the track on their budget album "Elvis Sings Hits From His Movies - Volume 1" (1972). The music was recorded on February 22nd, the king's vocals followed the next day. On March 6th a vocal repair was recorded at Annex Studio, on September 19th June Page, Priscilla Hubbard, Dolores Edgin and Millie Kirkham faked the children's voices.

With "Hey Hey Hey" it doesn't get any better, because now the king sings about the varnish used to harden the surface of a speedboat! The song by Joy Byers was recorded on February 22nd and 23rd within 13 takes. Elvis needed that amount of attempts, because he had problems to pronounce the word "blako-oxy-tonic-phosphate" (the name of the varnish). 

The ballad was written by Cindy Walker and Eddy Arnold, who also was the first to release "You Don't Know Me". On February 21, 1967 Elvis recorded twenty takes of the song, but the final attempt was only used for the movie. On September 11th the king taped two more performances, the record master was a splice of the first attempt and the final bars of the second one. Elvis performs "You Don't Know Me" very well and it's one of the best songs of the album. It's certainly a relief after two stinkers in a row. RCA Victor released the song on the flipside of "Big Boss Man" in 1967, five years later CAMDEN used it on their budget album "Elvis Sings Hits From His Movies - Volume 1".

This ballad by Randy Starr is one of the king's best movie songs, but often overlooked today. On February 21, 1967 Elvis recorded eleven takes and selected the 9th attempt for release. In the song the singer loves a woman, but doesn't reveal it. The king puts a lot of emotion in his performance and manages to sound romantic and sad at the same time.

This bluesy tune was also written and recorded for "Clambake", but not used by United Artists. RCA Victor put it on the record anyway and simply labeled it as "bonus song". To me it's somewhat of a mystery why the song by Ben Weisman and Sid Wayne was rejected by the studio, because it's one of the best songs on the album. Elvis also performs it with much more zest than "Confidence" or "Hey Hey Hey".

The song was written by Al Smith and Luther Dixon and released by Jimmy Reed in 1960. Elvis recorded his version on September 10, 1967 within eleven takes. The narrator confronts his boss and tells him that he slave-drives him by letting him work all around the clock. The king sounds quite aressive and performs the r&b styled number extremely well. For his television special "SINGER presents Elvis" he re-recorded "Big Boss Man" and also performed it during his concerts from 1974 to 1977. In 1972 CAMDEN used the studio recording on the budget album "Elvis Sings Hits From His Movies - Volume 1".

The singer mourns his lost love and does it in form of a country ballad. On September 10, 1967 Elvis recorded 13 takes, but wasn't able to reach a satisfactory result. So he taped five takes more on the following day. The final attempt was selected for release and enhanced with a harmony vocal. The result is a tad on the kitschy side, but I like it nevertheless.

On September 10, 1967 Elvis recorded 10 takes of "Just Call Me Lonesome", but in the end he thought his first attempt was the best one. The lovely country ballad was written by Rex Martin and recorded for the first time in 1953 by Eddy Arnold.