Review by Keith Flynn
For their sixty-sixth release FTD have brought out an extended soundtrack issue of Elvis’ twenty-third movie - Easy Come, Easy Go, containing the original six track EP, bonus tracks, and outtakes from the recording sessions for the movie.
The packaging of the FTD set is nice, and the notes well presented and interesting.
Taking a closer look ...
‘Easy Come, Easy Go’
The only takes released are Takes 9 and 10. Take 9 was the master, but Elvis thought they could do better.
Take 10 is fun listening, as it goes to the very end before it falls apart, although Elvis comments afterwards that he thought the take before was better!
‘The Love Machine’
The originally planned master was to be a composite of Take 11 (DOVC-11) and Take 4 of a repaired ending (D1OVC-04), but this idea was dropped in favour of continuing recording the song again from Take 12 onwards the following day. The repaired ending takes (D1OVC) do not exist on tape, although an acetate exists of the originally considered composite master. Along with the eventual record master (Take 12), on here we get Takes 1 to 5, along with Take 11 from the first day of recording. We also get Takes 13 and 14 from the next day’s recordings, of which Take 14 became the movie version of the song, as heard in the film.
Take 3 was first released on the Today, Tomorrow And Forever box-set, and Take 11, along with the ‘Keep Your Hands Off Of Her’ one-liner (sung to the tune of ‘Leave My Woman Alone’) from before Take 5 were on the Double Features set.
‘Yoga Is As Yoga Does’
Along with the master (Take 12), takes 5 and 6, which are a long false start and a complete take appear here. The Venus bootleg Hard Knocks contains unreleased takes 1 to 4, not featured on here.
‘You Gotta Stop’
The rhythm track for ‘You Gotta Stop’ (Take 5) was recorded on September 29 and Elvis recorded his vocals to the backing track, of which the master vocal is Take 1, on September 30 1966. On here we get Take 1 of the rhythm track, although it is wrongly listed as being Take 6 on the cover!
‘Sing You Children’
Originally entitled ‘Sing You Sinners’, but changed supposedly at Elvis’ request, here we get takes 1, 18 and 19.
Take 1 has an enjoyable rehearsal feel to it, although Elvis seems to be a little unsure of the lyrics.
By Take 18 the tempo had increased to match that of the master - “Give me the key” asked Elvis at the start. It soon falls apart, but the following take is close to the master - although Elvis loses steam towards the end. “If we do one more, I think we’ve got it” Elvis noted. Take 22 was the final master.
‘I’ll Take Love’
After Take 1 breaks down before Elvis even starts singing, Elvis notes that “It’s too slow”. After two false starts, Take 2a was almost sucessful but Elvis’ voice cracked near the end. “We got off on it” Elvis commented as the band continued to a slow bluesy ending.
On Take 2b Elvis had better control of his vocal with the take being very close to the final master. Take 4 was used for the master, but Elvis continued to Take 8 before trying out an additional “pickup” ending. The final master was a composite of Take 4 and “pickup” ending Take 3.
‘She’s A Machine’
The record master was Take 15, but here we also get takes 5, 6, 7, 10 and 13.
The song would eventually be dropped from the movie when someone realised that the “She’s a pot-taking” lyrics were deemed inappropriate, which was a shame, as it was one of the better songs from the session.
After the short false start of Take 5 and Elvis tripping up on the lyrics on Take 6, Paramount’s Joseph Lilley helped explain the melody to him. “That’s bad phrasing, that’s bad news!”, Elvis replied.
Take 7 was complete, though it seemed more like a rough run-through. By Take 10 though, the rhythm arrangement was punchier, while Charlie McCoy wailed nicely on harmonica and Elvis adopting a suitably ‘threatening’ vocal.
Take 13 featured the same arrangement and Elvis’ sense of enjoyment was captured perfectly as he sang, “She’ll make you blow your mind before you count 1, 2, 3.” It was a fine take and was saved as the “movie master”, even though Elvis clipped the lyrics near the end.
Interestingly, Take 13 was actually dubbed down to a backing track by removing Elvis’ original vocals, and he recorded new vocals the next day using slightly altered lyrics. After recording eleven takes of the “remake”, both Takes 10 and 11 were considered for use in the movie, though Take 10 was favoured more by Paramount than Take 11. Ironically though, the song was eventually dropped completely from the movie and not used at all.
Note: Although the session tapes are missing for the “remake” of ‘She’s A Machine’, both Takes 10 and 11 do exist on acetate and could have been used on here.
‘Leave My Woman Alone’
This would have been a perfect number for Elvis, but for some reason the lead vocal was never recorded. On here we get the rhythm track master (HOC Take 5), and there has been some suggestion that Elvis was present during the recording of the backing track, and joined in on the backing-vocals. Indeed, there are a few seconds of talk that could be Elvis’ voice. At the Viva Las Vegas session it did make sense that Elvis wanted to be part of the recording of ‘The Climb’ where the great George McFadden provided the lead vocal, but here there was no reason for Elvis not to sing a lead vocal straight away. Or, if not, why did he not make his presence more felt?
The original EP was released in March 1967, but did not even chart. It was also Elvis’ last ever EP released during his lifetime in any major territory. Essentially, by the time it was released, the EP format had become redundant.
Overall Verdict: Although not the best material Elvis recorded, FTD have brought out an enjoyable release with unreleased outtakes and better sounding masters than we’ve had previously.
