Girl Happy

Review – ELVIS DOUBLE FEATURES: HARUM SCARUM/GIRL HAPPY [The Elvis Beat newsletter]

/ TY

I was 18 when I wrote this review back in 1993 for The Elvis Beat #5, my official Elvis Presley Fan Club newsletter.

Elvis Double Features: Harum Scarum/Girl Happy (RCA), recorded by Elvis Presley, June-July 1964 (Girl Happy), Radio Recorders Studio (Hollywood), and February 1965 (Harum Scarum), RCA Studios (Nashville). Released: 1993 (CD).

Elvis Double Features: Harum Scarum/Girl Happy is definitely the worst of the four Elvis Double Features CDs released so far . Of the 22 songs, there is only one that is above-average, “So Close, Yet So Far,” which is featured on the Harum Scarum portion and whose title could also sum up the songs from that movie.

Despite the excellent backing music on Harum Scarum, the lyrics of the songs are so awful that the efforts are wasted.

Girl Happy contains only typical movie songs, with the highlights being the title song itself and “Puppet On A String.”

The Elvis Double Features series does have some redeeming values for collectors.

Each of the songs sounds great, in  the sense that in most cases the sound is very clear, on a level comparable to ELVIS: The King Of Rock ‘n’ Roll – The Complete 50s Masters.

Each CD also comes with a nice booklet containing a brief history of his film career, information about the two movies featured on the CD as well as data on the recording sessions for the soundtracks. Several photos from the films, other miscellaneous information, and a complete listing of Elvis’ 33 films round out each booklet.

So, despite the mediocre material, the Elvis Double Features series is well-produced so far.

RCA plans to release the remainder of Elvis’ 1960s film music in this format, but let us hope that this is not their top priority when so many other excellent and certainly more deserving Elvis songs are awaiting CD release.

Songs:

  1. “Harem Holiday”
  2. “My Desert Serenade”
  3. “Go East Young Man”
  4. “Mirage”
  5. “Kismet”
  6. “Shake That Tambourine”
  7. “Hey Little Girl”
  8. “Golden Coins”
  9. “So Close, Yet So Far”
  10. “Animal Instinct”
  11. “Wisdom Of The Ages”
  12. “Girl Happy”
  13. “Spring Fever”
  14. “Fort Lauderdale Chamber Of Commerce”
  15. “Startin’ Tonight”
  16. “Wolf Call”
  17. “Do Not Disturb”
  18. “Cross My Heart And Hope To Die”
  19. “The Meanest Girl In Town”
  20. “Do The Clam”
  21. “Puppet On A String”
  22. “I’ve Got To Find My Baby”

Rating: 3.5 out of 10