The Camden albums
The True Worth of the Elvis Presley Camden Releases
I'd like to write an appraisal and appreciation of the Elvis Presley Camden releases, focusing particularly on the 12 albums released between 1968 and 1975. These albums are what were called 'budget' releases, giving fans quite a lot of Elvis for a little bit of money. The albums cost about $2 in the US and £1 in the UK, and represented Elvis at his most accessible and affordable. The tracks contained on the albums may not always have been Elvis at his best, but they sometimes were, and were for the most part pretty good or, at least, amiable and entertaining.
These Camden releases were the introduction to Elvis for many young fans such as myself. Was that a good thing? It depends. Some of us acquired a taste for Elvis that lasted a lifetime. At the same time there is a sense in which a cheaper, more accessible, Elvis was competing against Elvis the serious artist, with people opting for the more inexpensive albums of lesser quality over Elvis' contemporary and mainstream releases which retailed at four times the price. I can remember opting for the Camdens over Elvis' latest albums, meaning that 'Elvis Now,' 'Fool,' and 'Raised on Rock' went missing. There is also the possibility that those who were introduced to the 'lesser' Elvis of these releases failed to acquire the taste for Elvis the artist of quality in any era, outgrowing these cheap and cheerful releases to move on to other artists. That's precisely what happened with a couple of my friends.
By the end, the Camden releases became blatantly exploitative, recycling the same songs with a constant release of albums. These albums flooded the market with Elvis product and served to blunt Elvis' attempt to define a new, more mature, artistic profile for himself in the seventies. It seemed that Elvis was never going to be allowed to move on from his past, his present endeavours constantly being accompanied by his past efforts. Even worst, the past that was often being set alongside the present were the waifs and strays which didn't necessarily represent Elvis at his best.
That's a little too harsh, because there were some very decent tracks on these albums. The early Camden albums are classics of their type, and it was a type that was well worth the investment at the time. That 'of their type' description may sound like damning with faint praise, but there is a need to understand the limitations of the format if one is able to see the true qualities of the Camden albums. The appeal of the albums lay in much more than the fact that they were inexpensive; for the most part, the albums contained some incredibly catchy, memorable, and enjoyable songs. They may not have been the songs which had earned Elvis his artistic reputation, but they were the kinds of songs that secured his immense popularity. Whatever critics may say of the Elvis films, people liked them and paid good money to see them. And they enjoyed the songs contained in those soundtracks, at least for the most part. Some of those songs were better than others, and the merit of the Camdens lies in the way they unearthed some hidden gems. The weaknesses became apparent over time with the recycling of the same material and the issuing of some of the worst movie songs, detracting from stronger material on the albums.
My focus here will be on the 12 albums released between 1968 and 1975, although I will make brief comment on the albums that were issued after.
The 'budget' albums have a special place in the Elvis catalogue, with the early memories of being an Elvis fan bound up with their release. Artistically and commercially there are demerits to the constant release of these 'budget' albums, flooding the Elvis market and having the new Elvis of the seventies compete with the constant echo of his past self. The ghost of Elvis was competing with Elvis the living artist, and it was unfair competition to boot, with remnants of the past undercutting the best efforts of the present.
The origins of the Camden releases go back a long way, to just after Elvis signed with RCA Victor in October 1955. A year or so later RCA started RCA Camden as a budget label, named after its home town of Camden New Jersey. The label began with a budget series of classical music, before moving into popular music. So the idea of issuing 'budget' albums was well established by 1968, when RCA started to release Elvis albums for about $2 in the US (just less than a £1 in the UK as I remember – I have 88p written on the back of my copy of 'Separate Ways.') The Elvis budget albums filled a gap in the market. Very young fans such as myself simply couldn't afford the prices of the mainstream releases. There was, in truth, far too much Elvis product in the shops to be affordable by most pockets. I can remember feeling hopelessly overwhelmed at the time, seeing so many Elvis albums and wanting them all, but knowing the prices were simply out of my range. I would guess that my experience was the same as most other young Elvis fans. I would receive a 'proper' full priced Elvis album every special occasion, like a birthday or Christmas, or as a well-earned treat. In the main, my sights had to be set on the cheap and cheerful. And, for the most part, the Camdens were indeed 'cheerful' rather than cheerless releases. The albums contained little gems and nuggets, tracks that were hard to find elsewhere, which had been released only on b-sides, EPs or movie soundtracks, or recent recordings that had yet to be released. Many of the tracks were not easily available on other albums, even for avid collectors with deeper pockets than young fans such I possessed.
The Camden albums thus played a prominent role in the Elvis catalogue and the way in which fans accessed his music. Looked at in retrospect, the constant release of Elvis albums, both budget and full price, was plain artistic and commercial stupidity. It was utterly exploitative and short-term, undercutting the long-term strategy which secures artistic reputation whilst making the big money. Saturation is a surefire recipe for ruination.
Elvis had a record deal with RCA to release three albums a year. That didn't include the compilations and the albums in the budget series. That's a lot of albums, giving people more Elvis than their senses, let alone their pockets, could handle. There were six albums in 1970 alone. The classic albums “Elvis Country” and “That's the Way It Is” were released within four weeks of each other. The artistic and commercial possibilities of Elvis' mainstream albums were never properly exploited. Elvis was effectively competing against himself, with significant numbers of an overwhelmed public not unreasonably opting for the inexpensive options offered by the budget albums. The great risk of that strategy is to turn Elvis into a 'budget' artist, his better work playing second fiddle to his lesser work. Faced with a saturated market, budgets will always be limited.
The Camden albums have an immediacy to them that is irrestible. The albums are short and, in the main, consist of short songs. It never mattered if there was a song you didn't quite like because you knew that another one would shortly be arriving. As a listening experience it was undemanding and most enjoyable. More critically, though, the extent to which the Elvis catalogue was fragmented into pieces, to the detriment of the music, is apparent. Issuing short and sweet albums containing some catchy songs is to set an extremely low bar for an artist of Elvis' calibre. The overall impression of these albums is that, as entertaining as they are, much better could have been done with the material. There is also the sense of Elvis not being able to draw a line under his past and move on into his new identity. His work in 1969 and 1970 and his return to live performance really ought to have marked a new era, but his past just kept on being resurrected, with every last cent being extracted from 'product.'
Those critical observations aside, it remains the case that the Camden albums have a secure place in the affections of a certain generation of Elvis fans. These were the albums that many of us grew up with, giving us an accessible and attainable target for our increasingly addictive desires. These albums were our initiation into Elvis. The record sections of the big stores were packed with these .budget' albums when I was young, their low prices forever inciting thoughts of acquisition and enjoyment, with the acquisitive thoughts soon developing serious addictive and completist tendencies. With a little bit of money, we could aspire to building a nice little Elvis collection consisting mainly of Camden records. The Camdens were many people's introduction to Elvis. Those who stayed with Elvis remember the Camdens fondly. I have to say, however, that I knew more than a few people my age who also aquired one or more of the Camdens, were entertained for a while, only to move on to other artists. So I think their record in building an Elvis audience is likely mixed, for the reason that the albums themselves were a mixed bag, with some being much better than others, with song selections that were sometimes eccentric.
I shall take each Camden release in turn.
Elvis Sings Flaming Star October 1968
There is a little detail to iron out as to the dating of this album. It's origin lies in the Singer company's sponsoring of the '68 TV Special. The company issued this album as part of its promotion, it sold well, so RCA decided to share it with the public, issuing it on the Camden label in 1969.
This was one of the first two Elvis albums my brother and I were gifted by my mother back in 1973. My brother chose this one for the awesome cover of Elvis attired as a cowboy (from the movie 'Flaming Star.') It was a good choice. The album has a good contemporary feel to it, with six tracks from the previous couple of years. “Too Much Monkey Business” is an excellent cover of the Chuck Berry song. Driven by Jerry Reed's propulsive guitar picking, it belongs with the “Guitar Man” sound of 1967 and 1968, material that really ought to have been issued on a substantial studio album, but was instead broken up and spread over all manner of soundtrack albums and singles. That sound fits perfectly with some of the movie tracks issued on this album. The swamp blues of “All I Needed was the Rain” is an overlooked gem, with a contemporary sound that savours a great deal of Bobbie Gentry's “Ode to Billie Joe.” “She's a Machine” is rough and rugged as well as being short and to the point; from the movie “Easy Come, Easy Go,” it's a lively late sixties rocker - not great material, but thrilling. “Wonderful World” from the movie “Live a Little, Love a Little” also has Elvis singing in mature voice. It's a lovely waltz with a nice sentiment. And hard to obtain. There were only four songs from that movie, so there was no soundtrack album. What we have here is an album gathering up movie tracks looking for a home. The truth is that the latter Elvis movies contained just a handful of tracks, insufficient for a full album or even an EP, so many songs were going spare. The budget albums gave them a home. The sound of the material and Elvis' mature voice gives the album a consistency that is profoundly satisfying. The biggest anomaly is the inclusion of three songs from “Viva Las Vegas” in 1963. That two of these were not used in the film makes their inclusion here a real bonus. “Do the Vega” is a decent enough tune but, as a dance track from the early 1960s really doesn't fit. “Night Life” is an excellent guitar driven rocker, so good that it is mystifying as to why it was never issued in the first place and why it isn't better known and appreciated to this day. “Yellow Rose of Texas/The Eyes of Texas” belongs in the film and is totally out of place on this album, detracting from its sound. To be frank, it was out of place in "Viva Las Vegas," too. The title track, “Flaming Star” itself, also doesn't belong although, as the theme song to a dramatic non-musical western, doesn't really belong anywhere. It's a very decent song. The crowning glory of the album is the final track, the immensely raucous rocking blues of “Tiger Man.” Listening to it at the time we always knew it was a gem, laughing excitedly at the pace and power of the performance. This was great! It was recorded as part of the epic '68 TV Special but not included in the show or the album. It would have been a standout performance on the '68 Special show and album and brings the “Flaming Star” album to a breathless end.
All told, “Flaming Star” is a very entertaining album packed with some real gems. If it's short at barely twenty minutes, it's never in danger of outstaying its welcome. And “Tiger Man” at the conclusion leaves you wanting more. We used to put it straight back on to listen again. This is one of the strongest of the Camden albums, the only issue being the split between the material from the early sixties and from the later sixties. The inclusion of “Yellow Rose of Texas” and “The Eyes of Texas” is an early warning of the 'eccentric' song selections that would blight later Camden releases.
Let's Be Friends April 1970
The success of "Flaming Star" in selling over two and a half million copies indicated that there was clearly a market for Elvis budget releases and RCA went for it, issuing a follow up album containing more recent movie songs. In that respect, the budget albums follow in line of descent from the soundtrack albums, mopping up those movie tracks that didn't have a home. By the late sixties the Elvis movies tended not to have enough songs for a full album, so budget albums were a way of making them available. Plus there were movie songs from earlier films that had only been issued on EP rather than full soundtrack albums.
“Let's Be Friends” is another short album, coming in at around just twenty minutes, but is cohesive and consistent for the most part. Eight of the nine songs date from 1967-1969 and fall in the country rock and ballad genres. There are three tracks from Elvis' last film “Change of Habit,” including the powerful title track, a neglected classic. There is also the beautiful mature ballad “Let's Forget about the Stars,” recorded for but cut from the movie “Charro,” and the delicate piano ballad “Almost” from the intriguingly “The Trouble with Girls “and How to Get into It.” The title track “Let's Be Friends” is a gentle ballad cut from “Change of Habit,” a sweet understated song that is most reassuring. There are also two very solid tracks from the American Sound sessions in Memphis, “I'll Be There” and “If I'm a Fool for Loving You,” adding some real substance to the collection. Either of these tracks could easily have found a place on the “Elvis Back in Memphis” album, over, for instance, “This is the Story” or “From a Jack to a King.” The album is very solid and excellent value for money. It's also the album that those wanting some of the tracks from “Change of Habit” needed to buy. The track “Change of Habit” is worth the price of admission alone, a classic awaiting discovery. The inclusion of “Stay Away, Joe” can be justified in that it is a song from the recent film, but it has nothing in common with the music of the rest of the album and is rather distracting. It all depends on whether one is more concerned with gathering up waifs and strays or with a coherent listening experience. The inclusion of “Mama” from 1962's “Girls! Girls! Girls!” is simply baffling. Not only is it a song from another era, it really is just situation fodder for the movies and would drag any album down. It adds nothing here, and takes away a lot. I'd suggest it was also the worst thing from "Girls! Girls! Girls!" too, detracting from that film, too. It's a strong album.
Almost in Love November 1970
“Almost in Love” forms a perfect companion piece to “Let's Be Friends,” being another collection of songs from 1966-1969, most of them from the movies. Again, there are two tracks from the American Sound Sessions of 1969, the mature country ballad “My Little Friend” and the excellent soulful rocker “Rubberneckin'” which was used in the movie “Change of Habit.” In the early 2000s “Rubberneckin'” was remixed and reissued to become a global hit. The same, too, with respect to “A Little Less Conversation” (from “Live a Little, Love a Little”). These were good songs at the time but were overlooked due to the bad connotations of the movies. Even better than these, though, is the late sixties countrified soul classic “Clean Up Your Own Backyard” (from “The Trouble with Girls”). This was released as a single and really should have been a huge hit. “U.S. Male” had been a decent sized hit a couple of years earlier and really helps to beef up this collection. “Charro” is a dramatic spaghetti western type ballad. The Hugo Montenegro Orchestra on this had just had a #1 hit with Ennio Morricone's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," so this is a real curio and well worth having in your collection. “Almost in Love” a romantic ballad in sixties Sinatra style, and Elvis sings it most beautifully. “Edge of Reality” is described as a psychedelic ballad, but you probably have to see its performance in the film to understand that description. It's an unusual song, powerful and dramatic with more complex instrumentation that had been the norm for Elvis at that point. The gathering of such strong, diverse, and contemporary material makes for a very substantial album, one that stands on its own merits regardless of its value in making available hard to find tracks. It's still a valid point in favour of the Camden albums that they rounded up a lot of hard to find tracks, but at their best the albums were just simply good records. Letting the album down is “Long Legged Girl (with the short dress on)”, which was a single flop from 1966, and a rather lame attempt to “get with it.” Its weaknesses are even more apparent in the mature company of later recordings.
Elvis' Christmas Album 1970
This album deviates from the format in being a reissue of the 1957 Christmas album, with the four gospel tracks from the “Peace in the Valley” EP replaced by the 1966 single “If Every Day was like Christmas” and another track from the American Sound sessions “Mama Liked the Roses,” previously available only as the B-side to “The Wonder of You.” This album is Elvis' best selling album. In fact, shipping over 11 million copies, it is the biggest selling Christmas album of all time. It's a great album, but it always was and as a reissue of the 1957 album doesn't offer much new, other than the two additional tracks. A fine record, but one that is hard to judge as part of the Camden series. It was a place for those who didn't buy the singles to acquire "If Every Day was like Christmas" and "Mama Liked the Roses."
You'll Never Walk Alone March 1971
The four gospel songs from the “Peace in the Valley” EP that had been cut from the reissued Christmas album turn up on this budget gospel album. The title track is Elvis' towering Roy Hamilton homage from 1967, one of his all-time great vocal performances, one so good it deserved an album in its name. There is also “We Call on Him” from 1967, containing a profound message and vocal which is very much in the spirit of 1966's Grammy Award winning “How Great Thou Art.” Add the four songs from the "Peace in the Valley" EP and we are talking a high quality album. “Sing You Children” (from “Easy Come, Easy Go”) and “Let Us Pray” (from “Change of Habit”) are contemporary rock gospellers and are very catchy.
Like the Christmas album, it is difficult to evaluate this album as a budget album. Christmas songs are Christmas songs and gospel songs are gospel songs and stand and fall on their merit. Regardless of origin and price, this is a good album, with two tracks having strong claims to be among Elvis' greatest performances (the rousing title track and the solemn “Peace in the Valley.”)
C'Mon Everybody July 1971
Packed with movie material, “C'Mon Everybody” was a return to the original format of the budget album. Much of the material here had appeared only on EPs and singles but never on albums. The title track is a great rocker from “Viva Las Vegas” which had never before been released on album. In fact there are a number of very good songs on this album that had never been issued on album, making them hard to find and causing them to fall into relative obscurity – the beautiful ballad “Angel,” the amiable “A Whistling Tune,” the classical ballad “Today, Tomorrow, and Forever,” and the very excellent singles “Follow that Dream” and “King of the Whole Wide World.” Eight of the ten songs date from 1961-1963 and offer a very fine statement of the Elvis movies of those years. Two tracks date from 1966's “Easy Come, Easy Go,” including the rocking title track and “I'll Take Love.” “C'mon Everybody” was the third album in my Elvis collection, following “Flaming Star,” and I immediately noted the similarities between “I'll Take Love” and “Do the Vega.” As time passed, I would notice a recycling of songs as well as sounds. That said, “C'Mon Everybody” counts as a very good album at any price, with two or three classic tracks (and with the similar amount of film fodder being amiable enough).
All tracks from “C'Mon Everybody” are drawn from four Elvis films and had only been released on soundtrack EP's.
The problem with the nature of compilation albums is one of the subjectivity of selection, with controversies over which songs are included and which are left out. Compilations are really playlists selected by others, when in truth we prefer our own. But at the time the Camdens were released we lacked the access to all the songs that we have today and were grateful for any gems that were thrown our way. And it is also worth making the point that the movie songs were, for the most part, irrestibly catchy and appealing. Even if they had little to do with what Elvis the artist was doing at the time, they were entertaining enough in the main. Even a relative throway like “I'm not the Marrying Kind”, included on this album, was perky and entertaining enough. The albums were inexpensive, so people were not being short-changed.
On that 'inexpensiveness,' these Camden albums were popular but never appeared in the album charts owing to a policy that included only full price albums. It would be interesting to know how many more #1 albums Elvis would have had had these budget albums being included.
I Got Lucky October 1971
Released just three months after “C'Mon Everybody,” “I Got Lucky” issued the remaining EP tracks from the four movies covered by the previous album. Which makes the point that the budget albums were now doing service as the soundtrack albums of the seventies. They have something of the character of a mopping up operation, the presentation of old material in a new order generating a certain amount of interest. The title track is, for me, an undiscovered gem, a classic awaiting discovery. All the songs on the album are from the movies bar one, the old R&B number “Fools Fall in Love.” Elvis' version is fast and frenetic and very thrilling, a real highlight of the album (although, perhaps, a little too breathless, losing the effortless groove and swing on the Drifters' original). The best song on the album, however, may well be the piano jazz/blues of “I Need Somebody to Lean On,” which is something of a departure for Elvis, but which he sings beautifully and with a great deal of interpretive skill. Unfathomably, the song is immediately followed by the unfathomable “Yoga is as Yoga Does,” a song that really should have been issued, if issued at all, on a compilation of Elvis' worst songs. The budget compilers missed a trick here. Rather than persist in slipping the odd dog of a track onto these budget releases, to the detriment of each album, they should have made a point of gathering up the worst in one place and issueing them as such. I'm convinced people would have bought the album for the sheer novelty value.
Just as “Almost in Love” and “Let's Be Friends” are counterpart albums, so too are “C'Mon Everybody” and “I Got Lucky,” effectively volumes 1 and II of a similar set. It's also worth making the point that the sound on the albums is very good, proper mono and stereo.
Elvis Sings Hits From His Movies June 1972
The diplomatic thing to say about this album is that it is Elvis, so Elvis fans bought it. But in all truth this is where a decent idea done well starts to unravel; this is where we start to get lied to and exploited in the most cynical of ways. The budget albums had been popular, so some genius somewhere with dollar signs in their eyes decided to milk the interest for all it was worth. Only one of these tracks counts as a hit from the movies, the very decent “Frankie and Johnny,” unless one counts the indecent “Long Legged Girl (With the Short Dress On),” which bombed as a single release in 1966. The only hit here is the excellent “Guitar Man” (which was itself not as big a hit in the US as it ought to have been, peaking only at #43). My view of the album has never changed since I first heard it, a collection of the sublime and the ridiculous that could have been designed to put newcomers off Elvis for life. The appeal of the album for me was “Big Boss Man,” which was a track with Jerry Reed that I didn't have. (It had been wasted as a 'bonus' song on the decidedly average "Clambake" album). I disliked the album cover, which seemed awfully cheap and tacky, with Elvis in jumpsuit appearing in a star cut out in the middle of a garish pink. There were some quality tracks here, mind – the beautiful ballads “They Remind Me Too Much of You” and “You Don't Know Me,” a very entertaining stab at “Frankie and Johnny,” which was long my favourite track from the moment I first heard it here, and the excellent “Guitar Man” and “Big Boss Man.” But there were also a number of tracks which have the dubious claim of being the worst Elvis songs ever - “Confidence,” which is an excrable rehash of Sinatra's thoroughly excrable “High Hopes,” “How Would You Like to Be,” which is lowlight film fodder for children from one of Elvis' most average movies (“World's Fair”), that “Long Legged Girl” again and – no words needed - “Old MacDonald had a Farm,” a hard rocking version that puts “Helter Skelter” to shame. If we didn't know any better we could be forgiven for imagining that some sharp operator somewhere had come up with the genius idea of squeezing some dire material out on the back of some of Elvis' best hits, namely “Guitar Man.” I mean, why? Surely better material could have been found from “World's Fair,” “Clambake,” and “Double Trouble.” The suspicion is that whatever genius was behind this was the same one who came up with the “Elvis sings for grown ups and morons … sorry, children, too. album. In other words, the strategy was to cover all bases, all ages, all tastes, and spread the material as thin, far, and wide as possible. I can't think of any other reason for the song selection here. The track sequencing does seem to show signs of conscious design, but not in a benign sense, alternating between the good and the appalling. If one track makes you want to switch off, the next track makes you want to keep listening, until you finally you make it to the end and are hit with "Old MacDonald had a farm," which, having made it this far, you will endure and then switch off as you would have done had the track been placed earlier. Genius. This, frankly, is an abomination of an Elvis album, mocking the quality material through their association with dross. Worse, those who were drawn in by the eye-catching material would have heard the dross and been so thoroughly disappointed and disgusted as to never go near Elvis again.
Elvis Sings Burning Love and Hits from his Movies November 1972
So they did it again. Nothing learned, everything forgotten – for the reason those in charge of strategy were not listening. These two “Hits from his Movies” albums are so bad that they appear as sabotage. But that is to be overly rational, seeking reasons where there are none beyond exploitation and opportunism.
Elvis at this time was recording excellent material in the studio. The songs issued as singles, however, were left off the albums. Further, rather than select the best material for one strong album, RCA insisted on putting everything out over a number of albums. Elvis' artistic profile was weakened as a result, with patchy studio releases giving the impression of a struggling artist when the opposite was the truth. Things were made worse when the budget releases started to impinge on Elvis' latest recordings. An album entitled “Standing Room Only” had been scheduled to be released to coincide with “Elvis on Tour” movie, combining live and studio cuts. RCA then decided to rush out “Elvis as Recorded at Madison Square Garden,” shelving plans for “Standing Room Only.”
There is also the strong suspicion that Parker and RCA were looking to breath new life into the budget series, which offered a lot of money for precious little effort. So what did they do? They took Elvis' biggest and best hit record of recent years, “Burning Love,” and had it heading a 'budget' release! Management? You couldn't have done a better job of mismanaging Elvis' career and music than this. The Camden release made a travesty of “Burning Love.” “Burning Love and Hits from His Movies, Volume 2” is really Elvis' new single being used to sell an ill-assorted collection of movie songs. “Burning Love” heads one side and its flip side, the wonderful country ballad, “It's a Matter of Time” heads the other. The soundtrack songs bear no relation to either and no relation to what Elvis was currently doing. The songs are entertaining enough, and make a decent introduction into the bizarre diversity that is the Elvis world, with classical and operatic influences, old Mexican classics too. And a very decent ballad in “Tender Feeling,” which really ought to have been “Love Me Tender mark II.” But none of it makes the slightest bit of sense. The “Burning Love” single could have been used to spearhead a drive to establish Elvis' new musical profile. Instead, it was associated with songs like “Guadalajara” and “Santa Lucia.” Again, newcomers whose interest had been incited by the great new rocking single would have been tempted in by the budget price, and never gone near Elvis ever again. It was a waste of the interest excited by the new hit, and a waste of good material through its pairing with … interestingly diverse material that was from another day, and whose day was done.
Beyond issues of coherence, what were buyers getting here? Elvis fans would have already had the songs from G.I. Blues and Blue Hawaii for certain, so those tracks were redundant. Maybe they missed the later soundtrack albums, so “Am I Ready?” may have appealed. “Santa Lucia” from Viva Las Vegas will have been hard to come by. Does anyone need to hear “I Love Only One Girl” at all, let alone again? It's the old French tune and you really are best sticking to the way the French do it.
The album buyers got ripped off here.
Separate Ways December 1973
A month later, and the same trick is turned, only with material that is more coherent and complementary. Again RCA issued older material, mostly from the movies, with the two sides of a recent Elvis hit single, “Always on My Mind” and “Separate Ways.” It was entirely the wrong approach. In fact, the strategy is the very opposite of good marketing and management. The latest hit single should be used to generate interest in an artist's new material, not sell old and insubstantial material.
That said, I am very fond of this album. It was my very first Elvis record. I remember when we took it home to play. It was like a state occasion, and we listened in solemn silent appreciation. The songs are sweet, sad, and sentimental. They may not be the greatest Elvis songs in the catalogue, but they have a consistent, coherent sound. The songs are pretty slight, with four of the ten tracks coming in at less than two minutes. But they are very genial songs for all that and Elvis is in beautiful voice. “Always on my Mind” and “Separate Ways” are two substantial seventies ballads, Elvis at his very best. “I Met Her Today” is a lost classic from 1961 which, for some reason, was kept off the “Pot Luck” album, issued only on the grab-bag that was “Elvis for Everyone” in 1965. It's a beautiful ballad, with Elvis singing in ethereally high voice. The mysterious ballad “Is It So Strange” from 1957 may well be the best track of all, and one of Elvis' greatest ever recordings.
I loved the album from the first and still do. Part of that is emotional attachment and loyalty. You never forget your first love. But there are a number of quality songs on this record and there's a very nice mood to the entire album.
Easy Come Easy Go 1975
After a relentless release schedule there was no Camden album in 1974. Then came “Easy Come, Easy Go” in 1975. I received the album as a holiday present from my auntie. I was so excited to pay a visit and get my hands on my gift, and she was so excited watching me open up the present so excitedly. She was extremely sad and disappointed as she saw my face fall at first sight of the album. I saw the cover and immediately registered that it was the same cover as the “C'Mon Everybody” album, the photo of Elvis getting married in 1967. I thought it was the same record and so the excited expectation drained from my face. Upon further examination I saw that it was actually a different album, but the damage had been done and the moment lost. Indeed, my worst expectations were confirmed rather than confounded when I checked the tracklisting – the album contained songs that had been issued on previous budget albums. It was now apparent that tracks were being recycled and brought back in a different order, drawing unsuspecting punters in with the inexpensive price tag. It was official – the cheap and cheerful had become the cheep and cheerless, and in becoming cheerless, the cheap had become expensive. It doesn't matter how little albums such as this cost – if you already had the material, the price was too much. The strategy was the cheap and tawdry one of huge commercial gain for minimal creative effort. There was neither artistic nor commercial merit to any of it, it was merely an exercise in hitting the till while you could. To make matters worse, these Camden albums were continuous sellers, the go-to place for those with a bit of money, outselling Elvis' regular catalogue. It was artistic and indeed commercial suicide, with long term sales based on a strong artistic profile being undercut for short term sales.
This album could only have been of interest to someone who didn't have the previous budget albums. To issue this album of recycled songs makes no sense other than as a cynical and exploitative money for nothing strategy.
The U.S. Male 1975
“The U.S. Male” was the final Camden album to appear and has a claim to have been the best of the series. There are the usual anomalies, not least the front cover image of Elvis from the Aloha from Hawaii concert of two years previously (why on Earth couldn't they have used an Aloha image for the actual Aloha album?!) And, again, there is the recycling of material that had been issued on previous budget albums. But, as a stand alone album, this is a very good record indeed and contains a strong selection of songs that, for the most part, complement one another and offer a good statement of the mature Elvis. The “Burning Love”/”It's a Matter of Time” single is presented again, only this time in the context of good and appropriate material such as “U.S. Male” and a couple of tracks from the American Sound sessions of 1969, “My Little Friend” and “If I'm a Fool for Loving You.” Mature recordings from the final films are also included, “Almost in Love,” “Let's Forget about the Stars,” and “Let's Be Friends.” Tracks like “No More” and “We'll be Together” don't belong in this company and let the album down, the same with respect to “Today, Tomorrow and Forever.” They are good songs, but just don't belong here. Just a little bit of thought here could have delivered a classic. The addition of songs like “Change of Habit,” “A Little Less Conversation,” “Clean Up Your Own Backyard,” “Big Boss Man,” “Too Much Monkey Business,” “All I Needed was the Rain,” “Rubberneckin'” … would have delivered a seriously strong album. You get the idea – select material that fits together, showcase the quality, select material that enhances the special qualities of each track. Presuming that we care about artistic integrity.
It's a good album, even though it is very much a rehash of previous albums, particularly “Let's Be Friends” and “Almost in Love.”
All these Camden releases were re-released on the Pickwick label in 1975 and a new era opened. The principle was still the same, albums that cost little, were enjoyable and undemanding and had good sound. There were always people new to Elvis to be initiated in the same way the rest of us had been. By this stage I was very much the Elvis connoisseur and was suitably demanding. I shall therefore just briefly sprint through the remaining albums, for the reason that they were ephemeral to my needs and interests as an Elvis record buyer. Those who were new would have had a different experience. At the same time, the later releases are of a different quality to the first twelve Camden releases. I'll go through them briefly.
Elvis Presley volumes I and II
This was a a mail order release and consisted of records aleady released as “Separate Ways,” “Easy Come, Easy Go,” and “U.S. Male” (volume I) and “You'll Never Walk Alone,” “Hits from his Movies,” and “I Got Lucky” (volume II). There is neither rhyme nor reason to those volumes, other than to say that if people keep buying stuff companies will keep releasing it.
The Elvis Presley Collection, August 1976
This was a two album, gatefold release of “You'll Never Walk Alone” and “Hits from his Movies.”
The Elvis Presley Collection vol II June 1978
Two LPs, “Separate Ways” and “Easy Come, Easy Go,” giving fans nothing new other than a gatefold. Elvis fans are known to be addictive completists, and releases like this are just designed to keep taking fans' money in returning for nothing they don't already have.
Please Don't Stop Loving Me April 1979
This is an album that is well worth reviewing. I received it from my auntie as a holiday present, and this time I was most pleased. The album contains a lot of really good songs, although seven of them are from the “Frankie and Johnny” soundtrack (which I didn't have at the time). Five of the songs had been issued on previous budget albums - “Change of Habit,” “Clean Up Your Own Backyard,” “Rubberneckin'”, “Edge of Reality,” and “Have a Happy.” And a couple of the movie tracks have little life outside of the movie - “Come Along,” “Shout it Out,” and “Petunia the Gardener's Daughter.” But “What Every Woman Lives For,” “Please Don't Stop Loving Me,” “Beginner's Luck,” are excellent ballads and “Hard Luck” is a decent blues. I thought the album a worthwhile addition to my collection at the time.
The Elvis Collection Vol III April 1979
Which consists of the albums “Flaming Star” and “Please don't Stop Loving Me.” These are duplicate releases issuing the same songs in different formats, coupling the first album in the series with the latest. As to what the point of that is, I intend to give it as much thought as those behind the release did, which is none.
Elvis Double Dynamite vol I and II January 1980
Double Dynamite with Free Giant Poster inside.
Crazy stupid but true, there was a frenzy of thoughtless releases, as if people were hitting the till in anticipation of Elvis soon being forgotten. The approach showed little faith in Elvis and little appreciation of his worth.
Elvis the King Jan 1980
This was a worthy release, and an album I thought worthy of purchase. The big appeal of this album lay in the appearance of the four tracks recorded to accompany the 1973 Aloha from Hawaii concert, namely “Early Morning Rain,” “Ku-U-I-Po,” “Blue Hawaii,” and the “Hawaiian Wedding Song.” The importance of those first time releases was somewhat thrown away by the selection of accompanying material, tracks from the “World's Fair,” and the rocker from the movies “Baby If You'll Give Me all your Love.” The tracks from Hawaii '73 were the big draw here, but were not showcased at all by being associated with the various tracks.
Elvis and The Wonderful World of Elvis October 1980
These are two special releases which were released only at the M&S store. Other than the red labels all that can be said is that the track selection is simply a recycling of tracks already released in the budget series – the tracks could have been drawn out of a hat. Music idealists like me are probbably wasting our time and energy asking for somebody somewhere to select material according to a clear and coherent purpose. Frankly, seeing “Fools Fall in Love” alongside “Santa Lucia” alongside “Old Shep” alongside “Yellow Rose of Texas” alongside “Too Much Monkey Business” alongside “Burning Love” alongside “I Got Lucky” alongside that damned “Long Legged Girl” (again!) is somewhat disorienting. But there it is. These were budget albums for the next generation of initiates.
Return to Sender January 1981
Excellent cover, an 'Elvis Forever' poster and … a bizarre selection of songs: “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You,” “Roustabout,” “Hard Headed Woman,” “Girls Girls Girls,” “Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On,” “The Girl Of My Best Friend,” “Do The Clam,” “Once is Enough,” “Steadfast Loyal & True,” “Slowly But Surely,” “G.I. Blues.” We are really talking random playlists now. I think the merit of exercises such as this lay in unearthing buried classics. Maybe somebody somewhere really did think that “Do the Clam” is such a thing. It really isn't.
It's Now or Never August 1981
A very decent song selection, containing ten or so hit records, including several #1s. I bought the record, although I'm not sure why, other than the fact it was cheap and available. Elvis fans will have everything on there (several times over if they are anything like me.)
Heartbreak Hotel August 1981
As above, lots of Elvis rockers, attractive album cover, but pretty random. Instead of constantly debasing the catalogue, issue albums according to coherent themes and enhance the profile of the material.
Suspicious Minds April 1982
As above, but at least we were now getting good cover images of Elvis, something different to the Elvis in a jumpsuit over and again which had been the case in the seventies.
Are You Lonesome Tonight
A good cover image of young Elvis, with twelve tracks, eleven of which can be found on Elvis' 40 Greatest, nine from 1960-61, two from the 1950s (plus “Blue Hawaii.”) We are really talking Elvis compilations, which we are free to buy according to taste. There are no rareties on these.
Can't Help Falling in Love May 1983
Fourteen film songs.
Elvis Love Songs Aug 1983
A good dark cover, an album consisting of fourteen songs, most of which had been released on previous budget albums. It all depends on what you have, what you need, and what you are looking for. I bought this one for “Tender Feeling.” But, yes, “Almost in Love” and “Burning Love” are on there again, and “I Love Only One Girl.” Etc
Elvis the Legend Oct 1983
This one is worth seeking out, as part of a challenge to find one with a cover that is in good shape. It's a good picture of Elvis in a white background., the kind of background that is easily marked. It's a strange selection of songs, with six of the twelve from 1954-56, early rockers set alongside ballads like “Love Letters,” “All That I Am,” “In the Ghetto,” and “You'll Never Walk Alone.” If you like Elvis you will like this. I'm just looking for a rationale and finding none. It's just Elvis, any twelve tracks will do.
Elvis The First Ten Years
Does what it says. Nice cover, with an image of Elvis from Girl Happy.
The Rock Hits April 1986
This was the last Camden release. As an Elvis fan, I love the song selection. It contains three Little Richard covers, “Long Tall Sally,” “Rip It Up,” and “Ready Teddy,” also “Shake Rattle and Roll” and “Lawdy Miss Clawdy.” Then there's “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Teddy Bear” and “Jailhouse Rock.” “Guitar Man” and “Hi Heel Sneakers” introduce the later Elvis. It may be an attempt to recover Elvis the rocker, Elvis the vital artist, an attempt to reignite interest in what it was that made Elvis great in the first place, serving the function of introducing a new generation to Elvis, the way the Camdens had done with those first twelve releases from 1968 to 1975, only this time introducing people to the quality and the cream. By this stage, however, there was a desperate need to tidy the catalogue up and put some deep thought into new releases. It took a while, but that is what eventually happened. Many, even most, of the old compilations were rendered redundant. But they are still nice to revisit, given the extent to which so many happy memories are bound up with them. And an itch for record collecting always remains.