Elvis' Greatest Shit

Elvis' Greatest Shit is a bootleg recording of Elvis Presley, released in July 1982.[1] It assembles a number of studio recordings—including some film scores[2]—and outtakes intended to represent the worst recordings Presley made in his career.[3]

Elvis' Greatest Shit
Compilation album (bootleg) by
Elvis Presley
ReleasedJuly 1982
RecordedVarious
GenrePop
LabelRCA Victim
Dog Vomit
ProducerVarious

Contents

The disc was assembled by a bootlegger known simply as "Richard", who thought some fans were overenthusiastic to the point of deification, and wanted to show that Presley, like most other artists, could not produce exclusively critically acclaimed work throughout his lengthy career.[1] The tracks are mostly recordings from film soundtracks, along with a few outtakes of well known songs; one is an aborted take of "Can't Help Falling in Love," in which, at the breakdown of the take, Presley exclaimed, "Aw, shiiiiiiiit!".[3]

This "poor taste" concept did not merely extend to the album's contents, but continued on the cover, which contained a photo of Presley shortly after his death, lying in a coffin. The photograph was allegedly taken by Presley's cousin and subsequently sold to the National Enquirer.[4] The subtitle, "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can Be Wrong", parodied the compilation album 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong, and the packaging included a reproduction of a prescription from George Nichopolous, who was one of Presley's doctors.[1]

The album's putative record company was not RCA Victor, the record label for which Presley recorded for almost his entire career, but "Dog Vomit", while another copy had "RCA Victim" as its label,[5] and both featured a parody of Nipper, the RCA dog trademark logo, vomiting into a gramophone, with the caption of "He Makes Me Sick" underneath him.[1][6]

Most of these tracks are diegetic music from the following feature films:

Of the choice of tracks, Lee Cotten, author of several Presley books, said, "Elvis would probably have approved of the song selection. It is truly Elvis' greatest shit."[1] One critic agrees at least that five of the songs are among Presley's worst.[7] On the occasion of Presley's 75th birthday, another suggested that recording these songs should have made Presley self-destructive.[8]

Elvis himself is known to have negative options of at least two of the songs on the album. The first song was the nursery rhyme "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" for the movie Double Trouble He walked off the sound stage when he learned he would have to sing such a childish song.[9] The second song was "Dominic the Impotent Bull" from the movie Stay Away, Joe. At the end of the movie's recording session. Elvis made his record producer Felton Jarvis promise never to release the song anywhere apart from the movie. Jarvis kept his word and it was not on any record while either of the two were alive.[10] This bootleg was released after both their deaths and was the first time that the song was on any record. As a result, the song's official title was unknown to Richard. An official release only happened in 1994 in the Kissin Cousins/Clambake/Stay Away, Joe CD soundtrack compilation where the song's official title was revealed as "Dominick."

There have been four pressings of the album; the album covers vary in detail[11] as do the disks—different color, design and words, but the audio material is the same.[12] One version has a white cover, and the photo is relegated to the interior.[6] The bootleg vinyl album has since been reissued as a CD.[13] Whatever the format, "It is guaranteed that this CD probably gathers dust on collector's shelves instead of being played—the content definately [sic] makes a strong statement of the 'situation songs' that Elvis had to perform."[12]

Track listing

Other works

This album does not encompass the 1974 talking-only album by Elvis, Having Fun with Elvis on Stage—it contains no music—which "is still widely considered to be the worst record ever officially released by a major artist."[8]

"Richard" followed up Elvis' Greatest Shit with another bootleg featuring a black humoured theme—The Beatles vs. the Third Reich—containing a selection of recordings of the group's December 1962 appearance at the Star Club in Hamburg, and The Dark Side of the Moo—a compilation of rare or unreleased tracks by Pink Floyd, before exiting the bootleg industry.[1]

Footnotes
  1. See Focus on movies (1960–67) and Elvis Presley on film and television.
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References
  1. Heylin, Clinton (2003). Bootleg: The Rise & Fall of the Secret Recording History. London New York: Music Sales Group; Omnibus. pp. 145–146. ISBN 978-1-84449-151-3. elvis greatest.
  2. "Elvis' Greatest Shit, Dog Vomit Records SUXOO5". Angelfire.com. 1983. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
  3. Marcus, Greil (1999). Dead Elvis: A Chronicle of a Cultural Obsession. Harvard University Press. pp. 81–82. ISBN 978-0-674-19422-9. elvis greatest shit.
  4. Guralnick, Peter (1999). Careless Love. Boston: Tarab Editions. p. 743. ISBN 978-0-316-33297-2.
  5. https://www.discogs.com/Elvis-Presley-Elvis-Greatest-Shit/release/7424285
  6. Boyles, Ernie, Jr. "Elvis' Greatest Shit". Ernie's Import Lp Corner. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
  7. Wolfson, Eric (September 1, 2012). "The Top 5 Worst Elvis Songs of All-Time". American Wolf. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
  8. Epstein, Dan (January 8, 2010). "Elvis Presley: 75 Things You Didn't Know About The King". Hot Topic — Everything about the music. Archived from the original on September 12, 2010. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
  9. Jorgensen, Ernst. Elvis Presley A Life in Music: The Complete Recording Sessions. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998; p. 221.
  10. Jorgensen, op. cit., pp. 229, 239.
  11. Compare Cover photo at discogs.com
  12. "Elvis' Greatest Shit — first pressing and second pressing". Elvis on CD. Retrieved September 15, 2012.
  13. "Elvis Greatest Sh*t". ElvisNews.com. July 17, 2004. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
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