Verdict
The songs are very different, but both are performed extremely well. Today they belong to the lesser known tracks of the king's catalogue, but that doesn't lessen their greatness.
(C) RCA Victor
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The next single of the king was issued on March 10, 1959. Thirteen days later "A Fool Such As I" appeared at number 64 on Billboard's "Hot 100". The song had a run of 15 weeks and peaked at number 2. "I Need Your Love Tonight", the supposed a-side, entered the chart on March 30th, stayed for 13 weeks and made it to number 4. The RIAA honored the domestic sales with Gold (1983) and Platinum (1992). In Great Britain "A Fool Such As I" became a number one hit and when BMG re-released the track on compact disc 46 years later, it still entered the top 30 of the UK Charts. In Australia Elvis also scored a number one hit, in many European countries "A Fool Such As I" became a top 30 hit. Worldwide RCA Victor was able to retail 4.5 million copies, which equals 675 million paid streams. On the list of the best selling single releases of the 1950s "I Need Your Love Tonight" / "A Fool Such As I" is ranked at number 19. Despite the commercial success, the trio of Elvis Presley, Thomas Andrew Parker and RCA Victor repeated their mistake of the previous single. Once again they coupled two very strong songs and therefore impeded a number one hit.
The single is not available on the streaming platforms, but both tracks can be found on the album "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong - Elvis' Gold Records Volume 2" (1959). In 2016 the complete Presley catalogue was restored and remastered by Vic Anesini for a boxed set of 60 compact discs called "The Album Collection". Sony Music Entertainment provides the streaming platforms with the same versions of the individual tracks, albeit in 24 bit/90 khz flac. That means, if the platform of your choice supports high resolution audio, you can enjoy the songs in the same quality Sony used to scan and master them. On Spotify, which has a market share of approximately 30% and is the only platform that publishes streaming figures, "I Need Your Love Tonight" accumulates 4 million streams, "A Fool Such As I" clocks in at 21 million. So the supposed b-side remains the more popular track.
The front of the record sleeve once again was designed with a promo photo for MGM's "Jailhouse Rock". The backside of the first edition advertised the new extended player "Elvis Sails". Later the space was used to promote several extended players and singles.
I Need Your Love Tonight
The rocker was written by Sid Wayne and Bix Reichner and recorded by Elvis on June 10, 1958 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. The king needed 18 attempts to produce a releasable performance. The song itself is a typical piece of teenage music with simple lyrics, but lots of drive. The kids were supposed to dance, not to think. A year after the release on this single the track was included on the album "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong - Elvis' Gold Records Volume 2" (1959), a decade later it was re-issued on the boxed set "The Other Sides - Worldwide Gold Award Hits Volume 2" (1971).
A Fool Such As IThe singer asseverates his love to a lady, who unforortunately just left him. The composition by Bill Trader was originally recorded by Hank Snow in 1952, Elvis followed him on June 10, 1958 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. Take 9 was finally approved for release. "A Fool Such As I" is much more conservative than "I Need Your Love Tonight" and so it was also played by radio stations, that igored rock'n'roll music. Elvis himself also seemed to like the song, because he used it live on stage in 1961 and also rehearsed it for his "Summer Festival" in 1970. But as far as I know he never performed it live at the time. The studio recording was re-released by RCA on the albums "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong - Elvis' Gold Records Volume 2" (1959) and "A Legendary Performer - Volume 1" (1974) as well as on the boxed set "Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits - Volume 1" (1970).
The songs are very different, but both are performed extremely well. Today they belong to the lesser known tracks of the king's catalogue, but that doesn't lessen their greatness.
(C) RCA Victor