A Date with Elvis

:"This article is about the Elvis Presley compilation. For The Cramps' album of the same name, see A Date with Elvis."Infobox Album |
Name = A Date with Elvis
Type = compilation
Artist = Elvis Presley


Released = July 24, 1959
Recorded = June 1954-April 1957
Genre = Rock
Length = 22:58
Label = RCA LPM 2011
Producer =
Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:09ftxqr5ldse link]
Last album ="For LP Fans Only"
(1959)
This album = "A Date with Elvis"
(1959)
Next album ="Elvis' Gold Records - Volume 2"
(1959)

"A Date with Elvis" is the eighth album by Elvis Presley, issued on RCA Records, LPM 2011, in July 1959. From an August, 1956, recording session at 20th Century Fox Stage One and two from Radio Recorders in Hollywood, and multiple sessions at Sun Studio, it is a compilation of previously issued material, reaching #32 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart.

Content

After Presley's induction into the army on March 24, 1958, RCA and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, were faced with the prospect of keeping his name before the public for two years with no possibility of live performances, no movies, and with few unissued marketable recordings in the vault. A recording session was arranged for two days in June, which yielded enough items for five more single sides, singles being the commercial focus for rock and roll in the 1950s. Four of those tracks would be issued on 45s in 1958 and 1959 during his absence while doing military service.

Presley, however, also did well in the albums market, all but one of his previous seven LPs charting no lower than #3, and RCA wished to continue promoting albums by Presley given his sales record. Much of Presley's material had not been released on LP, and for this album RCA collected material previously unavailable on album. Like its predecessor "For LP Fans Only", this album featured tracks that had been issued on Sun Records with limited release, and were almost impossible to locate beyond certain parts of the south. The remaining five tracks derived from three different EPs issued in 1956 and 1957.

Even by the standards of the late 1950s and early 1960s, where long-playing albums often ran to only about 35 minutes, this was a very short album at twenty-three minutes, and as such became the lowest charting Presley LP of the decade. RCA would squeeze one more album in 1959 out of previously issued material, the second singles collection, but it too would be a lower seller by previous standard. Presley would return from overseas in 1960 to commence proper recording again.

A different version of the album, duplicating six tracks from the American release, but expanding the track list to a healthy fourteen, was issued in Australia on vinyl in September 1959. Compact disc versions of the album by RCA have been done in several worldwide releases since 1989. Audiophile CD recordings are available on import in the United States, including the version from Japan in 2005.

Collective Personnel

* Elvis Presley – vocal, guitar, bass
* Scotty Moore – guitar
* Dudley Brooks - piano
* Mike Stoller - piano, backing vocals
* Bill Black – bass
* D.J. Fontana - drums
* Johnny Bernero – drums
* The Jordanaires - backing vocals

Track listing

"Chart positions for LPs and EPs from Billboard Top Pop Albums chart; peak position for EPA 4114 from EP chart commenced October 1957; positions for singles from Billboard Country & Western chart"

ide One

ide Two