Blue Hawaii (soundtrack)

Blue Hawaii is the fourth soundtrack album by the American singer Elvis Presley, released on RCA Victor Records in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 2426, on October 20, 1961. It is the soundtrack to the 1961 film of the same name starring Presley. In the United States, the album spent 20 weeks at the number one slot and 39 weeks in the Top 10 on Billboard's Top Pop LPs chart. It was certified Gold on December 21, 1961, Platinum and 2× Platinum on March 27, 1992, and 3× Platinum on July 30, 2002, by the Recording Industry Association of America. On the US Top Pop Albums chart, Blue Hawaii is second only to the soundtrack of West Side Story as the most successful soundtrack album of the 1960s.

Content
RCA and Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, had initially planned a schedule of one soundtrack and one popular music release per year for Presley, in addition to the requisite four singles. To coincide with the location of the film, touches of Hawaiian music were included, from instrumentation to the traditional song "Aloha 'Oe".

The title song was taken from the 1937 Bing Crosby film Waikiki Wedding, and "Hawaiian Wedding Song" dates from a 1926 operetta.

The song "No More" is based on the melody of the Spanish song "La paloma", "Almost Always True" on the Quebecois song "Alouette", and "Can't Help Falling in Love" on the XVIIIth century French song "Plaisir d'amour".

Recording sessions took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood on March 21, 22, and 23, 1961. The songs "Can't Help Falling in Love" and "Rock-A-Hula Baby" were pulled off the album for two sides of a single released on November 21, 1961. The A-side "Can't Help Falling in Love," which became the standard closer for a Presley concert in the 1970s, went to number two on the Billboard Hot 100, while the b-side charted independently at number 23.

Reception
The Blue Hawaii soundtrack was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1961 in the category of Best Sound Track Album or Recording of Original Cast from a Motion Picture or Television.

The success of this soundtrack and its predecessor G. I. Blues, both of which sold in much greater quantity than Presley's recent studio albums of the time, Elvis Is Back! and Something for Everybody, set the pace for the rest of the decade. Parker and Presley would focus almost exclusively on film work for much of the 1960s. This formula, though initially lucrative, soon led to Presley's career becoming stagnant and his cultural relevance declining amidst a changing musical landscape.

Reissues
Blue Hawaii was reissued on compact disc in 1997 and again in 2008. The latter edition was a deluxe 2-disc release on the Follow That Dream label that featured numerous alternate takes. It also corrected the error with the 1997 issue that incorrectly reversed the stereo channels. Five songs from this album appear on the 1995 compendium soundtrack box set Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II: "Can't Help Falling in Love", "Rock-a-Hula Baby", "Blue Hawaii," "Hawaiian Wedding Song," and "Beach Boy Blues."

1997 reissue
On April 29, 1997, RCA released a remastered and expanded version for compact disc. Tracks 1-7 were the seven songs from side one of the original LP and tracks 8-14 were from side two. Tracks 15-22 are bonus tracks, all of which had been recorded during the original album sessions and were previously unreleased except for "Steppin' Out of Line" which had originally appeared on the LP Pot Luck with Elvis (1962).

Personnel
Sourced from Keith Flynn's analysis of RCA and AFM paperwork.


 * Elvis Presley – lead vocals
 * The Jordanaires – backing vocals - Acoustic guitar -ukelele
 * The Surfers – backing vocals
 * Loulie Jean Norman, Dorothy McCarty, Virginia Rees, Jackie Allen - overdubbed backing vocals on "Moonlight Swim"
 * Scotty Moore – electric guitar
 * Hank Garland – electric guitar
 * Tiny Timbrell – acoustic guitar
 * Floyd Cramer – piano
 * Dudley Brooks – piano, celeste
 * Bob Moore – double bass
 * D.J. Fontana – drums
 * Bernie Mattinson – drums, percussion
 * Hal Blaine – drums, percussion
 * Boots Randolph – saxophone
 * George Field – harmonica
 * Freddie Tavares – ukulele
 * Bernie Lewis – ukulele
 * Alvino Rey – pedal steel guitar