The extended player "Just For You" was
released on August 21, 1957. It also might have
been called "Loving You - Volume 3", because
three fourth of the songs came from the
soundtrack album. On October 7th the record
entered the "Best Selling Pop EPs Chart", had a
run of 17 weeks and peaked at number 2. For some
unknown reason Billboard also listed the
extended player on their "Pop Albums Chart",
where it reached number 16. Worldwide RCA sold
650,000 copies, which translates to 97.5 million
paid streams of the complete ep. The second
exploitation of the tracks on extended players
was a good business. The songs from the "Loving
You" album were sold twice and generated another
2.65 million sales. Today this would mean an
additional 397.5 million paid streams.
The cover photo was an alternate version of
the one, which had been used for the cover of
Elvis' second longplayer. The backside of the
sleeve promoted other extended players from RCA
Victor. Because Ricky Nelson was successful with
"Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" at the
time, the label placed an ad in Billboard
Magazine, claiming "Big Version Is By Elvis".
The ep is not available on the streaming
platforms, because the songs can be heared on
the albums "Loving You" (1957) and "A Date With
Elvis" (1959).
I Need You So
The
ballad was written by Ivory Joe Hunter, who was
also the first to record it. On February 23,
1957 Elvis taped "I Need You So" within eight
takes. It's also no highlight, but certainly
nice enough.
Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
In 1944 Lulu Bell & Scotty had recorded the song
for a movie, but it took two years until it was
released on a record. Later it was covered by
Red Foley, Tex Ritter and The Songs Of The
Pioneers. Elvis taped his version on January 19,
1957 at Radio Recorders, take number 15 became
the master. It's
a nice popsong, but it doesn't stay with you.
Blueberry Hill
On January 19, 1957 Elvis covered Fats Domino,
who had stormed the charts with "Blueberry Hill"
the previous year. But even then it was an old
song, originally recorded by The Sammy Kaye
Orchestra & Tony Ryan way back in 1940. The
music was composed by Vincent Rose, the lyrics
were written by Larry Stock and Al Lewis. Elvis
needed nine takes to record the song. He sings
it well, but not as well as Fats Domino. A live version can
be found on the album "Elvis As Recorded Live On
Stage In Memphis" (1974).
Is It So StrangeElvis taped Faron Young's "Is It So Strange" on
January 19, 1957 within 12 takes. On the same
day Steve Sholes also recorded harmony vocals,
which were added to the master take. I neither
like the song, nor Elvis' performance.
Verdict
Everybody knew, that the best songs of
the album had been used on the extended
players "Loving You - Volume 1" and "Loving
You - Volume 2". So RCA spiced this ep up
with a previously unreleased track called
"Is It So Strange", but it wasn't a
masterpiece either.
(C) RCA Victor