Speedway (soundtrack)

Speedway is the seventeenth soundtrack album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released by RCA Victor in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 3989, in mid 1968. It serves as the soundtrack album for the 1968 film Speedway starring Presley. Recording sessions took place at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in Hollywood, California, on June 20 and 21, 1967. It peaked at number 82 on the Billboard 200.[2]

Speedway
Soundtrack album by
Elvis Presley
Released1968
RecordedMay 1963, June-September 1967, January 1968
GenreRock, pop
Length28:26
LabelRCA Victor
ProducerJeff Alexander
Elvis Presley chronology
Elvis' Gold Records Volume 4
(1968)		 Speedway
(1968)		 Elvis Sings Flaming Star
(1968)
Singles from Speedway
  1. "Your Time Hasn't Come Yet Baby / Let Yourself Go"
    Released: June 25, 1968
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

Speedway took over the new low for chart position and album sales by Presley, shifting units numbered in five figures, jeopardizing his recording career.[3]:262 Much to his relief, it killed the soundtrack formula, this being the final Presley dramatic feature film to have a full soundtrack album. His last five movies of the decade — Stay Away, Joe, Live A Little, Love A Little, Charro!, The Trouble with Girls, and Change of Habit — concentrated on Presley the actor, not Presley the singer, with minimal song requirements.[3]:239, 243, 260, 261, 279 It is also the last Presley album to be released in both stereo and mono editions as mono was being phased out by the industry, thus making the rare mono pressing of Speedway (LPM-3989) a sought-after item among collectors[4]

Background

By June 1967, while Presley was toiling at the sessions for this soundtrack, the recent release of the magnum opus by The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, had the music industry in thrall. The Velvet Underground & Nico would build its influence through the decades, and Surrealistic Pillow by Jefferson Airplane, the debut album by The Doors, and I Never Loved A Man the Way I Love You by Aretha Franklin were all top-selling albums.[5] The Monterey Pop Festival had taken place just the past weekend some 300 miles up the California coast from where Presley was working. He was probably aware of some of the changes being wrought in popular music around him, but in his own increasingly isolated world he was most aware that there were more soundtrack songs to record.[3]:228

Content

Eight tracks for Speedway were recorded at the sessions, with "Suppose", the only song that held interest for Elvis, dropped from the movie.[3]:229–230 Two tracks were pulled for a single, "Your Time Hasn't Come Yet Baby" with "Let Yourself Go" on its flipside, and both sides made the lower reaches of the Billboard Hot 100 (respectively numbers 72 and 71) but bombed sales-wise.[3]:244 "There Ain't Nothing Like A Song," rejected from the soundtrack for Spinout, was one of two songs that feature the lead vocals of Nancy Sinatra, here in duet with Presley.[3]:228 All her vocals, and her "Your Groovy Self," the only time a track without Elvis featured on any of his releases, were recorded at a separate session on June 26, produced by Lee Hazlewood.[6] Three leftover tracks, including one from the May 1963 "lost album" sessions, were unearthed to round out the album.

Reissues

Three songs from this album appear on Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II (1995): the two sides of the single and the title track.[7] In 2016 Speedway was reissued on the Follow That Dream label in a special 2-disc edition that contained the original album tracks along with numerous alternate takes.

Track listing
Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording dateLength
1."Speedway"Mel Glazer and Stephen SchlaksJune 20, 19672:10
2."There Ain't Nothing Like A Song" (duet with Nancy Sinatra)Joy Byers and Bob JohnstonJune 20, 19672:06
3."Your Time Hasn't Come Yet, Baby"Joel Hirschhorn, Al KashaJune 20, 19671:49
4."Who Are You (Who Am I?)"Ben Weisman and Sid WayneJune 20, 19672:32
5."He's Your Uncle, Not Your Dad"Ben Weisman and Sid WayneJune 21, 19672:25
6."Let Yourself Go"Joy ByersJune 21, 19672:56
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Recording dateLength
1."Your Groovy Self" (solo by Nancy Sinatra)Lee HazlewoodJune 26, 19672:54
2."Five Sleepy Heads" (bonus track)Roy C. Bennett and Sid TepperJune 20, 19671:29
3."Western Union" (bonus track)Roy C. Bennett and Sid TepperMay 27, 19632:10
4."Mine" (bonus track)Roy C. Bennett and Sid TepperSeptember 10, 19672:36
5."Goin' Home" (bonus track)Joy ByersJanuary 15, 19682:23
6."Suppose" (bonus track)Sylvia Dee and George GoehringJune 20, 19672:01

Personnel

Charts
Chart (1968) Peak
position
Billboard Pop Albums 82
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References
  1. Allmusic review
  2. "Elvis Presley (awards)". Allmusic. Rovi Corp. 2013. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  3. Jorgensen, Ernst. Elvis Presley A Life in Music: The Complete Recording Sessions. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.
  4. Megocollector website
  5. Miller, Jim, editor. The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll, second edition. New York: Random House, 1980; pp. 254, 274, 284.
  6. Elvis Presley sessionography
  7. Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II at AllMusic
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