Customer Reviews

Girl Happy

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Girl Happy is a soundtrack that holds a lot of delightful background information apart from its overall pleasant listening experience.
The background information comes to us through the CD package booklet and lets us in incidents like the 36 takes of "Do Not Disturb" that had to be covered in order to have the final acceptable level. During a segment of that track's takes we hear the sound engineer say to Elvis that they already have a partial demo that is ok. Elvis, immediately responds that ok is not acceptable therefore more takes need to be reckoned with. On another incident, during the recording of "Spring Fever" we hear the sound engineer convey to Elvis that the specific song needs to come across with a happier, (no pun intended here due to the album title) feeling. The comment continues and the sound engineer says that maybe his mind is somewhere else.
Overall, the album presents a list of songs that are somewhat indifferent and even the most electrifying performance by Elvis does not attach any merit to them.
But do hold on, because there are some excellent pieces as well like the tender "Puppet On A String" the sensual "Do Not Disturb" the grooviest in terms of lyrics and music "Girl Happy" and the best of them all "Spring Fever".
A very large omission remains the cover of "Spring Fever" between Elvis and Shelley, with boy - girl respectively vocal backgrounds, which is the highlight of the film. Let's hope for a latter surfacing of this cover on a future CD project.
The song "Girl Happy" is further presented in its original slow tempo version which is equally if not more effective than the speeded track that appeared on the original album.
A must have for every collector.

As a big Elvis fan I hate to see his lesser material like this GIRL HAPPY soundtrack promoted the way many reviews do, because that just hurts Elvis's image. GIRL HAPPY is one of his so-so films, but actually would have been quite enjoyable except for the lame songs he was forced to sing for it. In fact, in Susan Doll's interesting book Films of Elvis Presley, she relates that as "Girl Happy" was in production, Elvis complained about the "mediocre pop tunes" that filled this and so many of his movies by the mid-1960s. The director suggested that Elvis take acting classes to improve his chances in Hollywood, but alas, Elvis never followed through on that. However, even though the overall soundtrack to "Girl Happy" is less than memorable, there ARE a couple of decent songs here, namely, "Puppet On a String" and "Wolf Call." Some of his best movie music can be found on the CDs King Creole (1958 Film), Loving You, Blue Hawaii, Jailhouse Rock/Love Me Tender, The Essential Elvis: The First Movies, and Viva Las Vegas [Soundtrack], while a pretty good 2-CD set of songs spanning his entire movie career is Elvis at the Movies.

It was fun music back in 1965 and it's still fun music today. That's all it was ever meant to be. The music promoted the movies. The movies promoted the music. Both Elvis and the "Colonel" became
very rich. I very much enjoyed this album back in the day and still do today. Glad they're finally getting around to releasing some of these soundtracks singlely with much improved sound.

This is the soundtrack to a 1965 Elvis movie. It's not a particularly good soundtrack. The single from the album was "Do the Clam", which is arguably the worst song Elvis ever released as a single. The best song from the movie is "Puppet on a String", which was eventually released as a single "by popular demand" after it started receiving a lot of radio airplay. None of the other songs are very good, although some of them kind of fun in a goofy way. The original album featured one "bonus song" that was not from the movie, "You'll Be Gone", which has the distinction of being the only song that Elvis legitimately helped to write. This CD adds several more bonus tracks, which are all alternate takes of songs from the movie. There are multiple alternate takes of "Puppet on a String", "The Meanest Girl in Town", "Girl Happy", "Cross My Heart and Hope To Die", "Spring Fever" and "Do Not Disturb". Elvis had a lot of trouble recording "Do Not Disturb", which took 36 takes to complete. He got so frustrated that he went home right afterwards, leaving the band to record the backing tracks to the rest of the songs without him (he recorded his vocals a few days later). So, there are no alternate takes of these five songs. One of the fun parts of the alternate takes is hearing the comments Elvis makes in between the songs. Not the best Elvis album, but Elvis fans should get a kick out of it.

There are a number of commonly held misconceptions about Elvis Presley's film career: Elvis couldn't act, his movies were all throwaways, and the soundtracks were populated entirely with substandard material. But key films in the King's catalog show that he could indeed act, if called upon, there are several high-quality dramatic and musical films in Elvis' oeuvre, alongside many good lightweight romantic musical comedies, and his soundtracks are laced with hits and terrific albums sides. To measure the highpoints of Elvis' soundtrack catalog by virtue of the low points (of which there are admittedly many) is to miss out on a valuable dimension of Presley's musical career.

1965's Girl Happy was Elvis' seventeenth film, the second of three with the word "Girls" in the title, and the first of three featuring co-star Shelley Fabares. Though the beach party plot was nothing new, Elvis generated some sweet chemistry with Fabares, and seemed more interested in the soundtrack than he had on the previous Roustabout. The soundtrack was recorded in Hollywood with the usual mix of West Coast studio players (including guitarists Tiny Timbrell and Tommy Tedesco), Nashville transplants Floyd Cramer and Boots Randolph, and longtime Elvis associates Scotty Moore and the Jordanaires. The songs were penned by the usual crew of Sid Tepper, Roy C. Bennett, Sid Wayne, Ben Weisman, and the trio of Florence Kaye, Bernie Baum and Bill Giant. Unlike Elvis' previous outing nowever, the lightweight songs are quite surprisingly memorable.

The film opens with Doc Pomus and Norman Meade's exuberant title theme, and even the throwaway lyrics of "Startin' Tonight" can't dim it's rock `n' roll energy. Elvis and the Jordanaires just about run out of breath on Joy Byers' "The Meanest Girl in Town" with Boots Randolph adding a wailing sax solo. The calypso "Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce" is cleverly written, the ballad "Do Not Disturb" gives Elvis a chance to do some romancing, and "Puppet on a String" is sweet and tender. The film's performance centerpiece, "Wolf Call," is just as much fun on CD as it was in the fictional club scene, and makes you wish that Gary Crosby had really been in Elvis' band!

"Do the Clam," one of the album's two hits (the other was "Puppet on a String"), will have you dancing the sensation that didn't quite sweep the nation, and the CD includes the original soundtrack bonus, "You'll Be Gone." Recorded in 1961 the latter song is one of Elvis' few co-writes, and was tacked onto the album despite not having been used in the film. Sony's reissue features a four-panel booklet and no liner notes discussing the music or its making. The 24-minute running time suggests that the earlier import two-fer or Follow That Dream's collector's edition might be more compelling to Elvis diehards. Still, the budget price and remastered sound make this reissue very attractive. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

While many Elvis movies have mediocre if not pathetic soundtracks, this one is actually very entertaining. The title track and "Spring Fever" are upbeat and fun, while "Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce" provides us with some great comedic commentary on the mindset in spring vacation spots. "Do Not Disturb" is a softer song that, along with "Puppet on a String," likely had all the Elvis fans swooning in the theater. "Cross My Heart and Hope to Die" is a fantastic apology song that more men should probably commit to memory. The worst song on the soundtrack is "Do the Clam," which is really just the background to a cast dance number within the film. It's catchy, but lacking in any real merit or purpose outside of the scene it accompanies. Perhaps the most overlooked song included on the soundtrack is "You'll Be Gone," a song co-written by Elvis Presley and one of the mere two total he composed. The Spanish guitar in this song is a lovely addition. It's unlike any other Elvis song I've heard, and a nice bonus track ("You'll Be Gone" was not in the film itself). Overall "Girl Happy" is one of Elvis's better soundtracks, made all the better when you've seen the film it goes with.

Once again Elvis doesn't dissappoint his fans. If you are a fan of Girl Happy you will be a fan of this Cd. It is fantastic.

APPROACH ELVIS MOVIE SOUNDTRACKS CAREFULLY.

IF YOU WANT TO BUY SONGS FROM THIS MOVIE, I SUGGEST LISTENING TO EACH TRACK ON AMAZON AND BUYING THEM ONE BY ONE. DON'T GET BURNED WITH THE FILLER MATERIAL THAT RCA GAVE ELVIS FORCED TO RECORD.

PROBLEM WITH ELVIS SOUNDTRACKS (NOT ELVIS HIMSELF) IS THE MATERIAL HE WAS GIVEN, AND THE SONGS WERE WRITTEN FOR THE SITUATION IN THE FILM, AND NOT INTENED TO BE MORE THAN THAT.

THE 2 GREAT SONGS ON THIS SOUNDTRACK ARE GIRL HAPPY & PUPPET ON A STRING. THE REST ARE FUN SONGS AND WORK WELL IN THE MOVIE, BUT TO LISTEN TO THE SOUNDTRACK AS IF ALL THE SONGS WERE HITS, IS NOT FOR MOST MUSIC LISTENERS, ONLY HARDCORE ELVIS FANS.



I WOULD APPROACH ALL OF THE SOUNDTRACKS THIS WAY.

How do you review an album with songs such as "Do the Clam," "Wolf Call," and "Do Not Disturb?" Well, a sense of humor helps! Actually, this album deserves 2.5 stars, not three, but Amazon forces its reviewers to round up or down a star, and all things being Elvis, we give the higher score. If nothing else, the first three tracks -- "Girl Happy," "Spring Fever," and the goofy "Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce" (YOU try rhyming "courts" with "thoughts!") -- are fun film throwaways and still rate a cut-above what was to come later that year, the truly awful HARUM SCARUM soundtrack! The understated "Puppet on a String" is the lone classic to be found here; "The Meanest Girl in Town," "Startin' Tonight," and "I've Got to Find My Baby" are so generic they barely warrant the term "filler."

As usual, BMG muffs the original album art, but it's nice to finally have a clutch of these Elvis soundtrack albums available as individual spinners.

In the mid sixties,smack in the middle of the british invasion
and the folk music boom(not to mention the motown explosion)
one Elvis Presley gave this offering to music buyers of the
world.On the whole,as a pop album,its more than listenable.
Elvis had not yet fallen into the habit of throwing his songs
away,so even the silliest of these tunes are given a respectable
college try.The standouts are "Puppet On A String","You'll Be
Gone" and "Do Not Disturb".