Double Trouble is the fifteenth soundtrack album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released by RCA Victor in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 3787, in June 1967. It is the soundtrack to the 1967 film of the same name starring Presley. Recording sessions took place at Radio Recorders and at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in Hollywood, California, on June 28, 29, and 30, 1966. It peaked at number 47 on the Billboard 200.
Background After his enthusiasm for his gospel album How Great Thou Art made in the previous month in Nashville, the soundtrack returned Presley to the records for movies.Jorgensen, op. cit., p. 222.
Content Presley had usually insisted on working in the comfortable environment of a regular recording studio, and had avoided the large movie studio sound stages, but MGM executives with an eye on budgets insisted on moving the soundtrack recordings after the first night to just such a sound stage.Jorgensen, Ernst. Elvis Presley A Life in Music: The Complete Recording Sessions. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998; p. 221. A frustrated Elvis dutifully went along, but the final straw was having to sing "Old MacDonald", Presley storming out of the session in a huff after finishing a very short master recording of "Long Legged Girl (with the Short Dress On)". That song would be issued as a single in late April, prior to the film's premiere, and would peak at an anemic number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Nine songs were recorded for the film, coming in at a brief 17:11 and far too short for a normal LP. To bring up the running time, three tracks recorded at the "lost album" sessions of May 1963, were added to push the album over the twenty-minute mark.Jorgensen, op. cit., p. 179. Two had already been issued as b-sides to singles, "Never Ending", the flipside to a four-year-old album track "Such a Night", and "Blue River" on the back of an eight-year-old vault track, "Tell Me Why".Jorgensen, op. cit., p. 75. "It Won't Be Long" was recorded for the film but was not used.
Reissues In 1994, RCA reissued the Double Trouble and Spinout soundtrack albums on a "Double Feature" CD. Double Trouble was reissued in 2004 on the Follow That Dream label in a special edition that contained the original album tracks along with a selection of alternate takes.Sources:
Track listing Original release
Follow That Dream reissue Tracks 1−12 are the original album tracks.
Personnel Elvis Presley − vocals The Jordanaires − backing vocals Richard Noel − trombone Boots Randolph − saxophone Pete Drake − pedal steel guitar Scotty Moore − electric guitar Tiny Timbrell − acoustic guitar Mike Deasy − electric guitar ("City by Night") Charlie McCoy − harmonica Floyd Cramer − piano Bob Moore − double bass Jerry Scheff − bass guitar ("City by Night") D. J. Fontana − drums Buddy Harman − drums Butch Parker − saxophone ("City by Night") Mike Henderson − saxophone ("City by Night") Toxey Sewell − drums ("City by Night")
Charts Album YearChartPosition1967Billboard Pop Albums47
References
External links
LPM-3787 Double Trouble Guide part of The Elvis Presley Record Research Database LSP-3787 Double Trouble Guide part of The Elvis Presley Record Research Database