''Jailhouse Rock'' is an EP by American singer

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

, featuring songs from the movie of the same name. It was released by

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...

, with catalogue EPA 4114, on October 30, 1957.

Recording session The term studio recording means any recording made in a studio, as opposed to a live recording, which is usually made in a concert venue or a theatre, with an audience attending the performance. Studio cast recordings In the case of Broadway musi ...

s took place at

Radio Recorders Radio Recorders, Inc. was an American recording studio located in Los Angeles, California. During the 1940s and 1950s, Radio Recorders was one of the largest independent recording studios in the world. Notable musicians recorded at Radio Recorder ...

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

on April 30 and May 3, 1957, with an additional session at the

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

Soundstage in Hollywood on May 9 for " Don't Leave Me Now". It peaked at #1 on the newly inaugurated ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' EP chart where it remained at #1 for 28 weeks. The EP album was the best selling EP album of 1958 according to Billboard.

Content

Unlike '' Loving You'' (1957) but like '' Love Me Tender'' (1956), a full long-playing album

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

was not devised for ''Jailhouse Rock''. The title song " Jailhouse Rock" had already been released as a single on September 24, 1957, and went to #1 on the singles chart. The sixth soundtrack song " Treat Me Nice" was not included on the EP, a new recording from September 5 at Radio Recorders was instead placed as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

to the "Jailhouse Rock" single where it peaked at #18 on the singles chart independently. The writing and production team of

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller Lyricist Jerome Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found success as the writers of such crossover hit songs as " Hound Dog" ...

played prominent roles in the making of the soundtrack, writing four of its songs and working closely with Presley in the studio.Jorgensen, op. cit., pp. 90-92 Other than both sides of the single and " I Want to Be Free", the fourth song by the pair " (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care" became a minor

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object ...

, receiving cover versions by

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her st ...

, and

Brian Setzer Brian Robert Setzer (born April 10, 1959) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly group Stray Cats, and returned to the music scene in the early 1990s with ...

. " Don't Leave Me Now" had also appeared on the '' Loving You'' (1957) album, but in a different version from an earlier set of recording sessions. Additional original music for the film was composed by producer

Jeff Alexander Jeff Alexander (born Myer Goodhue Alexander; July 2, 1910 – December 23, 1989) was an American conductor, arranger, and composer of film, radio and television scores. Early years Born in Seattle, Washington, Alexander began performing in h ...

, and the song sung by the Hunk Houghton character, "One Day", was by Roy C. Bennett and

Sid Tepper Sid Tepper (June 25, 1918 – April 24, 2015) was an American songwriter. He is best known for his collaborations with Roy C. Bennett, which spawned several hits for Elvis Presley. Between 1945 and 1970, Tepper and Bennett published over 300 so ...

Reissues

All five songs from the EP are available on '' The King of Rock 'n' Roll: The Complete 50s Masters'' released in 1992. On April 15, 1997, RCA released a

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Oc ...

comprising versions appearing in the

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

and versions that had been commercially released on records of the songs from both ''Jailhouse Rock'' and Presley's first movie, '' Love Me Tender''. Three tracks were previously unreleased alternate takes, along with two newly mixed

stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

versions of " Love Me Tender" and "Poor Boy".

Personnel

The Blue Moon Boys The Blue Moon Boys were a rock and roll band formed by Elvis Presley, guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black. The group members were introduced by Sun Studio owner Sam Phillips in 1954, except for D.J. Fontana, who joined the group dur ...

* Elvis Presley – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric bass on "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care" *

Scotty Moore Winfield Scott Moore III (December 27, 1931 – June 28, 2016) was an American guitarist who formed The Blue Moon Boys in 1954, Elvis Presley's backing band. He was studio and touring guitarist for Presley between 1954 and 1968. Rock critic D ...

– electric guitar *

Bill Black William Patton Black Jr. (September 17, 1926 – October 21, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader who is noted as one of the pioneers of rock and roll. He played in Elvis Presley's early trio. Black later formed Bill Black's Combo. Ear ...

– double bass, electric bass *

D. J. Fontana Dominic Joseph Fontana (March 15, 1931 – June 13, 2018) was an American musician best known as the drummer for Elvis Presley for 14 years. In 1955, he was hired to play drums for Presley, which marked the beginning of a 15-year relationsh ...

– drums

The Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vo ...

* Gordon Stoker – background vocals *

Neal Matthews Neal Matthews Jr. (October 26, 1929 – April 21, 2000) was an American vocalist who achieved fame as part of The Jordanaires, one of country music's premier backup groups; most notably with Elvis Presley. Matthews played guitar, double bass, and ...

– background vocals, double bass (uncertain) * Hoyt Hawkins – background vocals * Hugh Jarrett – background vocals Additional personnel * Dudley Brooks – piano *

Mike Stoller Lyricist Jerome Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found success as the writers of such crossover hit songs as " Hound Dog" ...

– piano on "I Want to Be Free"

Track listing

Original release

1997 Compact disc reissue with bonus tracks

References

External links

* {{Authority control Elvis Presley EPs Elvis Presley soundtracks 1957 EPs Drama film soundtracks 1957 soundtrack albums RCA Records soundtracks RCA Records EPs Albums produced by Jeff Alexander Albums recorded at Radio Recorders