''Speedway'' is the seventeenth

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' ...

by American singer and musician

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 ...

, 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 A ...

mono Mono may refer to: Common meanings * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono * Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single Music Performers * Mono (Japanes ...

and

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 ...

, LPM/LSP 3989, on June 25, 1968. It serves as the soundtrack album for the 1968 film '' Speedway'' starring Presley.

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 m ...

s took place at

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 (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

studios in

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Picture ...

, on June 20 and 21, 1967. It peaked at number 82 on the ''Billboard'' 200. ''Speedway'' took over the new low for chart position and album sales by Presley, selling fewer than 100,000 copies, and jeopardizing his recording career.Jorgensen, Ernst. ''Elvis Presley A Life in Music: The Complete Recording Sessions''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998. Much to his relief, it killed the soundtrack formula, this being the final Presley dramatic

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 ...

to have a full soundtrack album. His last five movies of the decade — ''

Stay Away, Joe ''Stay Away, Joe'' is a 1968 American comedy western film with musical interludes, set in modern times and starring Elvis Presley, Burgess Meredith, Katy Jurado and Joan Blondell. Directed by Peter Tewksbury, the film is based on the 1953 satir ...

'', '' 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. 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

Content

Eight tracks for ''Speedway'' were recorded at the sessions, with "Suppose", the only song that held interest for Elvis, dropped from the movie. 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. "There Ain't Nothing Like A Song," rejected from the soundtrack for ''

Spinout Spinout or Spin Out may refer to: * Corporate spin-off, also known as a spin-out, a type of corporate action where a company turns a portion of itself into a separate business *Spinout (driving), failure when braking Entertainment * ''Spinout (fi ...

'', was one of two songs that feature the

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

of Nancy Sinatra, here in duet with Presley. 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. 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. 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

Personnel

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vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

* The Jordanaires −

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

* Charlie McCoy −

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

* Tony Terran −

Boots Randolph Homer Louis "Boots" Randolph III (June 3, 1927 – July 3, 2007) was an American musician best known for his 1963 saxophone hit "Yakety Sax" (which became Benny Hill's signature tune). Randolph was a major part of the " Nashville sound" for most ...

−

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

* Pete Drake −

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can ...

Tiny Timbrell Hilmer J. "Tiny" Timbrell (January 15, 1917 – May 7, 1992) was a Canadian-born session guitarist. Timbrell was born in Canada but moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue his career in music. For a time, he sold guitars at Fife & Nichols, a ...

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lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the fe ...

* Chip Young −

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

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 ...

— rhythm guitar on "Western Union," "Suppose," and "Goin' Home" * Jerry Kennedy – lead guitar on "Western Union" * Tommy Tedesco − lead guitar on "He's Your Uncle, Not Your Dad" and "Let Yourself Go" * Larry Muhoberac −

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

* Charlie Hodge − piano (on "Suppose") *

Bob Moore Bob Loyce Moore (November 30, 1932 – September 22, 2021) was an American session musician, orchestra leader, and double bassist who was a member of the Nashville A-Team during the 1950s and 1960s. He performed on over 17,000 documented recor ...

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double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

* D. J. Fontana −

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

Buddy Harman Murrey Mizell "Buddy" Harman, Jr. (December 23, 1928 – August 21, 2008) was an American country music session musician. Career Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Harman played drums on over 18,000 sessions for artists such as Elvis Presley, Jerry ...

− drums June 26 session: * Nancy Sinatra − vocals *

Roy Caton Roy Vernon Caton (January 28, 1927 – July 29, 2010) was an American trumpet player and session musician. Biography Caton was born to Vernon and Eleanor Reed Caton in Frackville, Pennsylvania. At the age of seven, he received a cornet from a fa ...

− trumpet * Virgil Evans − trumpet * Oliver Mitchell − trumpet * Dick Hyde −

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

Billy Strange William Everett Strange (September 29, 1930 – February 22, 2012) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and an actor. He was a session musician with the famed Wrecking Crew, and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and ...

− electric guitar *Donald Owens − electric guitar *

Donnie Lanier Don Lanier (July 13, 1936 – July 23, 2014) was an American songwriter and composer. He composed and wrote dozens of songs for artists including Ray Charles, Dean Martin, The Everly Brothers and Hank Snow. His latest contributions as a songwri ...

− electric guitar * Al Casey − electric guitar * Larry Knechtel − piano * Don Randi − piano * Chuck Berghofer − bass * Hal Blaine − drums

Charts

References

External links

*
LPM-3989 Speedway (monaural) Guide
part o
The Elvis Presley Record Research DatabaseLSP-3989 Speedway (stereo) Guide
part o
The Elvis Presley Record Research Database
{{Authority control 1968 soundtrack albums Elvis Presley soundtracks RCA Records soundtracks Musical film soundtracks Action film soundtracks