In May 1968, a month before MGM started "Speedway", RCA Victor released the accordant soundtrack album. It entered Billboard's "Top LPs Chart" on July 6th, had a run of 13 weeks and peaked at number 82. Worldwide the album sold a million units, which translates to 150 million paid streams of the complete record or 1.5 billion paid streams of individual tracks. Thereby "Speedway" replaced "Double Trouble" as the king's worst selling album. In contrast to some other albums, which sold badly in their physical form, "Speedway" wasn't able to gain popularity amongst the fans. On Spotify it wasn't able to accumulate more than 3.7 million streams.

The cover was designed with scenes from the movie, the solo performance of Nacy Sinatra was mentioned in big, red letters. The first edition also included a special bonus photo. Unfortunately it was an old one, made to promote "Girls! Girls! Girls!" in 1962 and therefore looking quite old fashioned in 1968.

On the streaming platforms "Speedway" is available as released on "The Album Collection" in 2016. 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 soundtrack was recorded on June 20th and 21st 1967 at the MGM Soundstage in Hollywood/California. The sessions were produced by Jeffrey Alexander and engineered by Lyle Burbridge and Aaron Rochin. Elvis' band consisted of Chip Young (guitar), Hilmer J. Timbrell (guitar), Tommy tedesco (guitar, on June 21st only), Murrey Harman (drums), D.J. Fontana (drums), Larry Muhoberac (piano), Charlie Hodge (piano on "Suppose"), Pete Drake (steel guitar), Homer Randolph (saxophone) and Charlie McCoy (trumpet). The harmony vocals were provided by The Jordanaires (Gordon Stoker, Hoyt Hawkins, Neal Matthews and Ray Walker). The vast soundstage caused some hiss and echo, the typical "soundtrack mix" didn't improve the situation at all. Nacy Sinatra recorded "Your Groovy Self" and her part of "There Ain't Nothing Like A Song" on June 26, 1967 at United Recorders in Hollywood/California. The session was produced by Jeffrey Aleander and Lee Hazelwood and engineered by Eddie Bracket. Billy Strange was contracted as arranger and guitar player. The other musicians were Donnie Lanier (guitar), Donald Owens (guitar), Al Casey (guitar), Chuck Berghofer (bass), Don Randi (piano), Larry Knechtal (piano), Hal Blaine (drums), Roy Caton (trumpet), Virgil Evans (trumpet), Oliver Mitchell (trumpet) and Dick Hyde (trombone). Because the soundtrack was too short to fill an album, RCA Victor added five bonus tracks. By doing so the long player was brought to a running time of 28:26 minutes.

In 2016 Follow That Dream Records released a collector's edition of "Speedway", which includes outtakes and different mixes. For a review just tap HERE.

The album starts with the title song of the movie. It's a fast popsong, describing the atmosphere of a car race. The tune by Melvin Jacob Glazer and Stephen David Schlaks is not bad, but also doesn't give a lasting impression. Elvis recorded "Speedway" on June 20, 1967 and needed 4 takes to get it right.

Joy Byers and Bob Johnston had supplied the song for "Spinout", but at the time the king had rejected it. By now the quality of the songs was obviously so low, that "There Ain't Nothing Like A Song" suddenly became one of the best suggestions. In the movie this tune is the finale, I don't like this hectic song too well. Elvis taped the track on June 20, 1967 within six takes, Nacy Sinatra added her (few) lines six days later.

A little girl admires Steve (Elvis) and wants to marry him. With this song he explains, that her time for things like that hasn't come yet. The lyrics are cute and the melody stays with you. Originally the song was called "My Time Hasn't Come Yet, Baby" and was supposed to be sung to a somewhat older girl. But then the script was changed and Joel Hirschhorn and Al Kasha turned their tune into a children's song. Elvis recorded it on June 20, 1967 within six takes. In June 1968 RCA Victor released "Your Time Hasn't Come Yet, Baby" on a single.

This is a typical movie ballad, this time in lounge music style. The bland song was written by Sid Wayne and Ben Weisman and recorded by Elvis on June 20, 1967. The 6th take was selected for release. By the way: This is the king's only ballad, that features a saxophone solo.

Because of their outrageous tax declaration Steve (Elvis) and his manager Kenny (Bill Bixby) are forced to visit the revenue office. While they are waiting they perform this song. The lyrics are an ironic ode to tax morality, the melody is full of cliches of American patriotism. The funny song was written by Sid Wayne and Ben Weisman. On June 21, 1967 the king needed seven takes to record "He's Your Uncle, Not Your Dad".

In unusual candor the singer asks the lady to let herself go and succumb to him. The musical level is also far above the standard movie tunes, I'd even say "Let Yourself Go" could have also been a candidate for a regular studio album. RCA Victor put the track on the b-side of "Your Time Hasn't Come Yet, Baby". Even though it never made it past number 71 of Billboard's "Hot 100", the king seemed to like the song and re-recorded it for his television special "SINGER presents Elvis" (1968).

Because of the declining sales Elvis and Colonel Parker now accepted a solo performance by another artist on a Presley album. "Your Groovy Self" was written by Lee Hazlewood and even though it's far from being a hit, it sounds much more contemporary than the stuff Elvis' publishers had to offer.

Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennet based their song on the "Wiegenlied" by Johannes Brahms. It was written for a scene, in which Steve (Elvis) puts five children to bed. Because MGM cut this particular scene from the movie, RCA Victor labeled the track as "bonus song". The king recorded "Five Sleepy Heads" on June 20, 1967 within three takes.

Now the sound quality improves, because this and the following tracks  were recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. "Western Union" was a leftover from May 27, 1963, when Elvis taped the song by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett within four takes. The tune is reminiscent of "Return To Sender". Once again the singer had a quarrel with his girlfriend and apologizes with a written note - this time transferred by Western Union.

This ballad was also written by Tepper/Bennett, this time for the movie "Paradise, Hawaiian Style". At the time it was rejected (even though "Mine" had been the highlight of the soundtrack), but Elvis recorded it on September 10, 1967 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. Because no satisfactory performance emerged, the king's vocals were removed from the 21st take and Elvis re-recorded his part later. "Mine" is a beautiful song, that easily could have been used on a regular studio album, too.

The same applies here, even though Elvis himself didn't like the song. It was recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee for the movie "Stay Away, Joe" on January 15, 1968. Maybe because of his dislike for the tune the king needed 30 takes to get it right.

The album ends with this beautiful ballad by Silvia Dee and George Goehring. Originally Elvis had taped the song at home and given the recording to Felton Jarvis for post-production. But then he decided to re-record "Suppose" in a professional environment and recorded seven takes of this love song on June 20, 1967 at the MGM Soundstage in Hollywood/California.