www.elvis-presley.website

The ultimate site about the king of the analogue age

 

On July 14, 1964 RCA Victor issued a single of "Such A Night" and "Never Ending". On the 25th of the month "Such A Night" entered Billboard's "Hot 100" at number 82, had a run of eight weeks and peaked at number 16. In Great Britain and The Netherlands the single made it in the top 20, in Norway, Belgium, Ireland and Australia the track even hit the top 10. Worldwide the record sold 1.3 million units, which equals 195 million paid streams. Commercially the 45 was a huge success, considering the facts that "Such A Night" was available on the album "Elvis Is Back!" since 1960 and "Never Ending" was gathering dust in the vaults for more than a year. With more than 18 million streams "Such A Night" remains a popular Presley track on Spotify. One cannot say the same about "Never Ending" since it generated not even 600,000 streams.

The cover was designed with the same photo that had graced the sleeve of "Love Me Tender" / "Any Way You Want Me" back in 1956. To justify the re-release of "Such A Night" the label billed the single as "vacation special" and claimed the release was due to "popular demand". Maybe the popular Colonel Parker demanded the release when he saw Conway Twitty's cover version climbing up the charts.

The single is not available on the streaming platforms. "Such A Night" can be heared on the album "Elvis Is Back!" (1960) and "Never Ending" was released by RCA Victor as a bonus song on the soundtrack of "Double Trouble" (1967).

 

Such A Night

Elvis was a huge fan of Clyde McPhatter and so he recorded his r&b hit "Such A Night" on April 4, 1960. The 5th take became the master. In 1976 the takes 2 and 3 of "Such A Night" were issued on the album "A Legendary Performer - Volume 2". Elvis didn't stray all that much from McPhatter's performance, but his (Elvis') version sounds more relaxed and the balance between a suggestive undertone and humorous exaggeration worked out better.

Never Ending

Elvis had recorded "Never Ending" on May 26, 1963 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee within 3 takes. The nice, uptempo popsong was written by Buddy Kaye and Phil Springer.

 

Verdict

In contrast to "Kiss Me Quick" / "Suspicion" this time the king was able to jump on the bandwagon of another artist's success and to sell over a million additional records without having to do anything. The songs themselves are very good.

 (C) RCA Records