Let's Be Friends

surely there were nine songs on the original album?

Yes, unfortunately they have omitted "Let's Forget About The Stars". Hopefully this is a misprint because the last version available of that song I thought was a poor remaster. If they are playing around with the tracklisting, I really hope "Mama" is the original and not the Double Features version.

What on earth is the point of this? Absolutely none aparently.Back to the bad old days...Other than COH, which obviously itslf is a film song, some absolutely miserable film songs and 2 of the worst cuts from the otherwise glorious American sessions Hope COH appears on next year's remix album...

Why did they not use the long fersion of ´Mama´?? The running time is now, almost 20 minutes.....you dont even have time to push the START button on your cd player and sit down to listen....CRAP!

I agree. If they are releasing the original album, then at least give us it as it originally was.

Since this has been updated, I think I have lost a dollar and found 50c. It's great to know the last song IS included, but a downer about Mama. I guess I'll just have to listen to my "Elvis Latino!" CD again.

This is news? lol looking forward to the great 75 soundboards but this ,umm not so much !lol

The great news is that there is obviously a market for these ex Camden/Pickwick releases. The song selection is diverse as on all in the series and of course all sales will bring RIAA certification that much nearer so, should make for an interesting year in 2007. If you miserable lot who love to complain about this product don't like it, then give it a miss!

Pointless release that again will flood the Elvis bins and confuse the average consumer. For die hards only that have to have every release so BMG can turn a slight profit. It costs them next to nothing to release a CD like this. I'm afraid Elvis' record company's once right on direction is now in a state of chaos. Sad.

Dear Elvisfans, This message contains great news from BMG and RCA, real inside information. I'm an BMG-employee and I already can inform you that we're coming up with a re-issue of all the albums Elvis has ever made. Fantastic news, isn't it? All the albums! Maybe we'll even try to upgrade the sound, come with a nice booklet, a picture disc, or a cheaper price. Maybe we'll try to rip you off with a remix of My Hapiness. People, let's forget about the stars?? Let's forget about the bucks!

Hey Jerome are you for real in your posting and what you said..is BMG/RCA re-issuing ALL of Elvis entire catalog with upgraded sound and all, I mean..this is what myself have been wishing for..can't say for anybody else on here. Just exactly when is this supposed to start? I also hope they'll be cheaper than the FTD's. This has been toooo long over due..Elvis made RCA what it is and put them on the map, So the man deserves this with his catalog being treated with respect.

Hes not serios,rca isnt that smart, and these releases are junk,unless you just collect cd's for the sake of collecting them!

One thing I will say about the first two, Flaming Star and Almost In Love, is that they had great sound. They also had some great songs, Little Less Conversation, Rubberneckin' and others.

PJones, "Mama" on the Double Features IS the original. The same verse was spliced twice to make it sound longer on LBF. This technique was used before with "Blue River" when originally released on the "Double Trouble" Soundtrack.

"Let's Be Friends" on cd. Yipeeeeeeee!! Thanks, Sony/BMG.

I think it is a good idea that the Camden albums are being released on CD. It is much better than yet another mindless COMPILATION album. There should be a law against compilation albums! This is like the Capitol albums series with The Beatles. Capitol has released the American versions of The Beatles original albums. The problem is that the CD release has to be the EXACT same version as the original. If you change it, then it is NOT the original and is yet another new compilation album. These types of releases preserve the musical history and legacy. That is why they are important. Also, the Camden Christmas package from 1970 is Elvis' best-selling album ever according to the RIAA. So the Camden albums are more important than they are given credit for. Anything is better than another compilation. Anything. Putting the Camden albums on CD is a good idea that will please the purists and those who want to maintain the musical legacy of Elvis, and not invent some phony new image for Elvis. The Camden albums were budget releases but they were part of the recorded musical legacy of Elvis. It is like the Capitol albums with The Beatles. That legacy is worth preserving. In my opinion, it is these endless compilations that are absolutely worthless and junk.

What do you think the Camdens were at the time of their release??? Compliation albums of throw-away songs for the most part that RCA or Elvis didnt feel were good enough to release when they were first recorded. They were simply released on a budget lable to make a buck. To compare them with the Bealtes Capitol albums is a stretch dont you think? The Beatles only released 'real' studio albums in their career.

You got that correct,its one of the reasons elvis music is so often overlooked and not as respected as artists such as the beatles!

I personally don't thing Elvis himself had any say in the matter as far as these Camden releases go. Obviously he was aware of them since they were released in his life time. I also do agree they were compilations of sorts..But since they were released during Elvis's life time they aren't (in my opinion) just another piece of junk compilation, if it wasn't for that..then you could probably consider it another piece of junk compilation. In fact, Elvis probably didn't even care for these releases. I will say in closing, RCA did get pretty ridiculous alot of times with Elvis's record releases..even when he was still alive. Some of the hair brain idea's they would come up with never made any sense to me, take for instance the song "Ain't that loving you baby" was recorded in '58 but wasn't released as a single till '64 as a b-side to "Ask Me" which was recorded in January of '64. Also coupling singles that would have a song on one side from a movie and the other side being a non movie song such as "I feel so bad" b/w "Wild in the country"..stuff like that I never understood. And to go along also with this..for anyone who has the album "Elvis" (also known as "The Fool") album on CD (the '93) reissue, the liner notes talk about the fact if "Burning Love" b/w "It's a matter of time" & "Always on my mind" b/w "Separate Ways" would have been included on that album it could have secured the sales of it, instead..those songs ended up on budget releases..as well as being released as singles. So in the end, if RCA would have done things differently with Elvis's catalog like they should have..we wouldn't have all this botched stuff and Elvis sales could have been better than what they were on some things.

I will be very pleased to get this album. ANd any other original album for that matter.

I dont consider Camdens original albums. Sorry I just dont. They were just compilations on a budget label. A real album would be Love Letters From Elvis. There were some Camdens that were OK like the first few, as value for a buck goes, but I cringe when great songs like Burning Love & Separate Ways were the titles of cheapo albums whose song selections made no sense at all. Those 2 songs should have been on a legit 70's studio album. Maybe his music would have been taken more seriously in the 70's then. The Camdens cheapen the whoile damn period and belong only on 70's vinyl with the Colonel's legacy. I certainly dont want to try & get someone into ELvis while listening to Mama, Do The Vega, etc.

Thanks E.J.F. , but I do know that already. It is not original to this album though, which you also addressed. As a purist collector I think that this CD should represent the original album and not change the songs for Politically Correct versions. I agree with jerryNodak about "Let's Be Friends" and also "Let's Forget About The Stars", I was really not too happy about the last version with the piano solo pushed right in the background, I hope it's more in line with the original. I partially agree with Steve V, but I'm glad this CD is out because some of these tracks were only available on the "Double Feature" series and judging by the last Camden releases, might have great sound clarity.

A release like this would be more welcome among the fans if it came between updated original albums. The bad timing from BMG continues to puzzle me. Someone must really really really like compilations up there, new or old.. (I wonder who?) The release itself however contains a quite sympathetic tracklist, so with better sound on it, such as DSD I´d go along with this one, not else. More info about the sound regarding the cd news on this site is highly welcome. (If it´s possible)

Who in there right ind would have put burning love and its a matter of time on a album such as sings hits from his movies vol.2 that was just stupid,and at least they did the burning love cd which is way better than these silly compilations, and just because it was released diring his lifetime, doesnt mean i need it or want it,just another mistake in marketing of elvis music,again they put a song like burning love on a goofy album full of movie leftovers! boggles the mind huh!

I think one or two of the Camden releases, like this one, served a purpose in that they were used as a 'mopping' up exercise to put out poorer material that just was not good enough to feature on any other LP. Being priced in the 'budget' catagory made these releases fairly attractive and good value. However, as im sure we all agree on, to put out the likes of Separate Ways, Always on my mind and Burinig Love on this label defied belief!! I don't have a need for this or any of the other proposed Camden releases as the tracks are else where. I have the original LP's. I am sure there are a few who will take this up - good luck to you and enjoy!

I'll be buying this one. Why? It was the first Elvis record I ever heard, back in 1978, on my uncle's cassette player. It got me hooked all them years ago so I've a lot to thank this album for.

I'll have this one too. Those Camden releases were starters for me back in the seventies, so it's both for the nostalgic of it and to please myself as a collector.

Bring 'em on. I want them all. Thanks, Sony/BMG.

a must have item!-i got the previous cds;flaming star usa import and was very happy..lets be friends is a must..love mama.

When I was a kid all I could afford was camden lps release them all; they take me back to being a young kid listening to ELVIS on my stereo I thought he looked and sounded like he did on this lp and i bet a few other people did so release this and them all and make me happy

Steve V: You don't consider this a real album? What was it, a pizza pie? I agree it was a hodgepodge, but your example of the "Love Letters.." album from the main RCA label is a poor one, for it too, like "Now" and others, were mop-up, milk-what's-in-the-can exercises. Even his first album, "Elvis Presley" was very much assembled from a what they had on hand. Let's not think too hard about it: it is the "record business" and the notion that the Beatles were all that more purposeful is over-rated, in my view. For a time, perhaps, but overall, Elvis' body of work should rank with any other legendary act, when taken as the sum total of each decade he worked in. In fact, the '60s rock elevation of the album as an art form gets a bit rich for me. It's all pop music, and nothing all that heavy, pretensions aside. Millioins shelled out for Elvis' albums, of various merit, and in the end, for the most part, the entertainment was delivered. I agree that some Camdens are more cringe-worthy than others. "Let's Be Friends" (including the pedestrian but well-sung "Let's Forget About the Stars") is one of the better ones, along with "Almost In My Love," in my view.

Greg - No sorry I just dont consider the Camdens as 'real' albums in the sense that the songs were recorded as an album release. They were filler releases on a budget label that the record company released in between regular releases. I do agree that the first few like Lets Be Firends were actually better than some of Elvis' 'real' albums like Elvis Now & Fool. Those were thrown together albums also with songs spanning years. It would have been nice to maybe release the Camdens in a boxset for collectors but as individual releases, I see no merit in them since all the songs have been on CD before in releases that made more sense. A song like Mama belongs to Girls Girls Girls and it should stay on a soundtrack release.

Oh the drama,the ones who like these releases like them for most oart becuase of some memory of buying them when they were first released,thats fine but dont act like they add anything to the already confusing catalog,why do people want to make up there on rules when it comes to having too many compilations,your either for it or not1let them flood the market,who cares,if you like these buy them if you dont dont buy them,but there nothing to be excited about either way!

Sure, in the big scheme of things, when the US has had one horrific school shooting after anohter and one bit of bad news out of Baghdad after another, yeah, what the difference does it make? This is all just light banter and pure escapism for Elvis fans. The Camdens don't pollute the catalog, in my view, at the same caliber as "Love, Elvis," "Rock," "Inspirational," "Christmas Peace," and so on. Call me a historican in mentality, but at this point, I'm comfortable with what was released during his lifetime. The "cutting up" of the catalog has truly reached new heights in recent years. I hardly see how reissuing albums (budget or otherwise) that came out 35-some odd years ago really changes much. It's all gravy at this point.

Hi Vims. You can also find it on Double Features (with oddly enough four features) under "Live A Little, Love A Little" and "Charro!" etc in 1995.

You can find it on ebay! i see it on there all da time, theres also a import version, if u can find it still and want it, let know,i know a guy who would have the import version which has same songs!

ELVIS73: These Camden albums take awhile to show up in the superstores like WalMart, but they'll have it eventually. Patience, patience. Personally, I ordered mine from amazon.com.

Although these albums were "budget albums", I always thought the album covers were much better in design and artwork than several of Elvis "official" albums of that same period. I'm happy to see them back in stores and I look forward to "C'mon Everybody" on CD.

looking foward to finaly getting this classic album on an official cd and a rca special products release,makes it a collector item and worth owning!,i managed to pre-order from a,azone usa site mand was happy to be able to order it-the only negative thing is the fact it wont any liner notes on the cd cover(like the previous flaming star and almost in love releases)i do own the rare usa album9vinyl0and always wanted on cd since cds were released..it will better than nothing,shame 'mam' is not the complete version.