You’ll Never Walk Alone

Ahh - this was one of the first Elvis-tapes I got back when I was just a little boy. I'm not a religious person and was not back then either, but I was too young to know what the songs were about, and I could only afford the "Nice Price" tapes. My first "full price" tape was "This Is Elvis" that I got a christmas gift... I'm sure gonna get this one, just for the memories! :)

Yes, It's short by today's standards. But you can't judge it by those standards because it's not of today. It's from yesterday. Anyway one of the things I don't like about today is the fact that CDs go on and on and on. It's as if they must be filled with 80 minutes of music just because the CD can hold it. "Mission Creep" my good friend, Gregory Nolan, calls it. I can't listen to any one cd for that long. Not even Elvis. I love the short running time of these Camden CDs. I can listen for 20-25 minutes and then move on to something else. I love the music on this CD. I'm in the U.S. and pay absolutely no attention to soccer here or in Europe. Why do you associate "You'll Never Walk Alone" more with soccer than religion? Please explain.

"You'll Never Walk Alone" is the anthem song of Liverpool FC. It's what the fans sing before their team play. And just like Kees I too associate this song with soccer (or football as we call it over here), actually I played Elvis' version on my broadcast the day Liverpool won the finals this summer. :)

Good back in 1970, silly by today's standards. If BMG wants to release original albums, then release the original studio albums, not the damn Camdens.

I bought this for the singles collected here: We Call on Him/You'll Never Walk Alone and the Who Am I? tracks. I was happy to get those. I would like to say that the sound is hissy as if it weren't really remastered at all but taken from the Camden album master. But that's okay. I can forgive the hiss to get these tracks. I wish they'd do a 2 on 1 cd for the "C'mon Everybody" and "I Got Lucky" cds. They should skip the "Burning Love" and "Separate Ways" albums altogether because they were awful.

Steve V, I don't think reissuing albums that were released in Elvis' lifetime and in most case were the debut of these songs is "silly" - not anymore than "Love, Elvis" or the "genre," Christmas, gospel, or hit recompiles were. Now those get my anger up but the Camdens? Sure, why not? I agree that these Camdens are mostly nostalgic releases for those old enough (and I'd say "lucky enough") to remember them. But since all of Elvis' original albums have at one point been available on CD (and still can be tracked down if you missed them) just what's so wrong about reissuing albums that were issued in his lifetime onto CD? The CD market is caving in anyway, why not placate older fans? And I agree with Jerry (thanks for the kind words!) that people get over-excited about running lengths. These are budget releases that I've seen for as little as $5.99! C'mon folks! Were people who bought 45 rpm single records instead of Long-Play albums morons for buying "short-running" time releases? If that compactness was all I cared about, I'd buy and keep only the decade boxsets and be done with most other reissues on RCA or FTD of albums like "Elvis Presley," "Elvis," "Loving You," "From Elvis In Memphis," etc. As it is, a pop album to this day is said to be no better from an artistic standpoint after about 45 minutes (as in the old vinyl days) or 55 minutes on CD, tops. Anything after that is just excess. On one hand, it's great when a CD is filled to the rim, but in this case, why water down the original set-up? I have space : you make 'em, BMG, and I'll buy 'em. :) Besides, don't most of us have his material many times over? This is an opportunity to have these on CD with the original covers and original order. Ron Baker, I'm not the first to say it but "Separate Ways" (Camden LP) was hardly "awful," although I agree that "Burning Love" was totally an artistic and commericial misfire and even a final turning point / insult. Even then, as I think Jerry will agree, at this point, that record is now part of history and even that original set-up has its charm for the nostalgic set. I won't, howver, look forward to seeing that in stores again. The '80s Canadian CD is still relatively easy to find. As for "You'll Never Walk Alone," as someone with zero nostalgia for this release as I never had it back then, I do like to see the original album out there and I've warmed to this running order of songs. They've wisely returned the original cover to the CD, as the previous CD for some reason put a '50s shot on there, which was true to many of the songs if not the original album. This CD is quite handsome as to the artwork, right down to the way the title runs along the clear plastic spine in a vertical fashion, as well as how the disc itself looks. For those who care about the original albums, without reservation, I say get yourself a copy!

Greg & Jerry - I understand your affection for these albums, really I do. But for me , they never seemed to be 'real' albums to begin with , even in the 70's. They were a way to get songs that were never on LP before and I bought a few (but not all - like Burning Love - ugh!). So if you want them, great, I guess BMG is doing you a favor. But for songs I already have on CD I dont see the need for myself. Instead of giving BMG my money for these (and other) releases, I'd rather save & upgrade my Sun 209. Now, thats nostalgic to me. Yes I am that old.

Personally, I agree with Steve V that these releases are meaningless by todays standards. If nostalgia is your driving force in purchasing these releases, then make your own copies for pennies. After the disappointing Let's Be Friends, I realized that there really is nothing special in these Camden CD's save for the artwork. Covers though, can be easily replicated and most computers have the ability to burn discs. Unfortunately, in my view the Elvis market has been deluged with Cd's such as Hitstory, Elvis By The Presleys, Love Elvis the genre collections and now with the influx of 50's music through third party companies, these Camden releases water the mix even more. I like RonBaker's idea however, of perhaps a double disc or even a special edition set through FTD containing all the major Camden releases complete with out-takes and artwork.

I'm sure that part of the reason these Camden albums are being released and/or re-released is to boost Elvis' RIAA certifications. Putting them on FTD will do nothing in that regard.

And I'm sure it's nothing to do with RIAA certification.

My apologies for not mentioning the obvious. Of course they were released with the idea of making money. By making money (aka sales) chances are good Elvis' RIAA certifications will increase. One goes with the other.

You asked, "Is it special?" Come on now, ALL of Elvis' gospel is special. No one could put the feeling into a gospel song the way he did. I could put this CD on autoreverse and let it play on and on and on. "You'll Never Walk Alone" in particular is my alltime fave Elvis gospel song. It would be fine with me if they put it on every release from now on, whether it be for certification or not. It's a message Elvis believed in; that's why he fought to sing gospel on the Ed Sullivan show and persuaded RCA to let him do a gospel album. Rather than toss this one off as a soccer homage, let's honor it for what it truly is, nine gospel songs spanning the career of the best gospel singer that ever lived who sang them with such sincerity and ferver that whet the appetite to hear more of his gospel music. One can only imagine what those post concert all night gospel sings were like in his presence...

So the drip, drip release of these Camden CD's is partially to increase RIAA certifications? Flaming Star, Let's Be Friends, Almost In Love are already Platinum. You'll Never Walk Alone is 3XPlatinum, so to get to the next step they would each have to sell an extra million copies. Amazing considering 30#1's is already 4XPlatinum and 2nd To None achieved Platinum in just a few short years. If it was the idea of (the German and Japanese) BMGSony, to go for this American only award, wouldn't it simply be better to go for releases like C'Mon Everybody and I Got Lucky, which currently only stand at Gold? They only need another 500,000 to reach Platinum status, a much easier goal than the 1,000,000 for the others. It's too simplistic to say they are going after RIAA awards, because BMGSony will be the first to tell you that the premise in obtaining these awards is not based on accuracy. I'm sure they are happy when they do get them, but as approximately two thirds of Elvis' music is currently sold overseas, it doesn't give a true depiction as the Garth Brooks comparison illustrates.

Steve V and Paul, I hear where you're coming from, but you forget that just about all of the act of being an Elvis "fan" is an exercise in nostalgia. Kick cans all you want about whether Camdens should have been released in the '70s but there were indeed released in his lifetime (this is a fact) and many fans used them as a gateway to his music. As "Mystery Train" recently pointed out about Camden releases' history on the FECC forum: "In conjunction with the NBC-TV Special, RCA released "Singer Presents Elvis Singing Flaming Star," which was advertised on the special and sold exclusively in Singer Sewing Centers. Singer was a sponsor of the special. "Singer Presents Elvis Singing Flaming Star" contained unreleased material plus the title song, "Flaming Star," which was on a deleted extended play, EPC-128. This LP was slightly re-titled and re-released as the first CAMDEN. The second CAMDEN was "Let's Be Friends," which contained all unreleased material. "Almost In Love" contained singles that had not been on LP, except for "Long Legged Girl (With The Short Dress On), which had been on the then deleted "Double Trouble" LP. What followed initially were CAMDEN LPs with material that was currently unavailable in the RCA catalogue. The EPAs had all been deleted by 1968, so subsequent CAMDENS included material from the following EPAs: "Follow That Dream," "Kid Galahad," Viva Las Vegas" and "Easy Come, Easy Go." Also, "Elvis' Christmas Album" had been deleted and the Christmas and Gospel songs from that album were re-released on two Camdens, back in original MONO and not the atrocious FAKE STEREO that had befell "Elvis' Christmas Album" in the '60s, before it was deleted from the catalog. The pattern of using songs not yet on LP or from deleted LPs continued through "Hits From His Movies, Vol. I." The last two CAMDENS, "Burning Love and Hits From His Movies, Vol. II" and "Separate Ways" departed from the policy of using then unavailable songs and included some songs that were then in the catalogue on then available LPs, [i]e.g.,[/i] "Old Shep," "Sentimental Me" etc. Why this policy changed with the last two CAMDENS, I don't know.... At the time, they served a purpose: They gave the fans songs, which were then unavailable on LP at a decent price. They were cheap affairs, but successful as such...." ************* Despite CD boxsets like "The King of Rock'n' Roll" that technically obliterated the need for the original '50s albums by smart design and making full use of the "compactness" of the then new format, many of us have looked on fondly and collected the '99 and '05 reissues of the first three albums - as well as the FTD "Special Edition" versions! The same pull of the original releases is at work here and you'll find few saying they only care about he decade boxsets now... Paul, you talk about burning your own copy but I'd like to see anyone make a disc (the disc itself especially) look as official and real as these ones, for $5.99 no less. It's not that I haven't thought about making a longer version, with alternates of the original songs, for my own usage, but I welcome a real issue. (Incidentaly, as a Canadian fan reminded me, this title was indeed issued on CD in the late '80s with limited reach...) Just what does it mean to be "meaningful" when it comes to CD's? Some folks pretty much can get there decade boxes and a few select CDs and go home but for some of us, we pine for new ways to remember our fondness for this music, and often that means in the original setting. I fail to see what the big deal is about that. After all, the CD as a medium is sadly fading (just as the LP before it) as downloaders dispense with "hard-copies" and album covers anyway. In that sense, we're all "dinosaurs," sadly. Steve V., I also like old Sun Records (although I was born closer to the '68 comeback!) and would love to have an old Sun 45. That's part of the reason I fell for the controversial "Memphis Recording Service, Volume 1" set that so many seem to love to beat up on... The 2006 Camden album reissues: "Misson accomplished." :) Happy New Year, friends!

I keep complaining about these re-issues that don't seem to bring much to the story but I keep buying them as I can't help it... It reminds me of the good times I had... These albums were the only ones I could afford to buy as a kid so... Nostalgia that's what it's all about and they know it.

Greg, I freely admit that I do not have the willpower to write as lengthy an essay to counter your argument, but I will attempt to read between the lines and try to give my opinion, humble as it may be. There have been wonderful leaps in technology. one computer manufacturer uses a system called LightScribe, where the laser used in recording the disc also acts as an etcher creating wonderful copies burnt into the front albeit in monotone. If your serious about printing then this costs about $80, not a bad investment for a DVD recorder as well. There are also discs now with the covers permanently adhered to the cover resulting in just putting the disc in the printer. With new printers, the quality is outstanding and can be comparable to professional copies. Yes, seems a lot of hassle for a $6 release, but one can put the correct versions on these and other releases and the process is very simple; once you have the gear you could make many different variations. But be that as it may, when I am listening to the CD, I can't see it anyway, why do I care if it is as good as the original? Incidentally, the CD on these Camden releases are as basic as it gets. With "Let's Be Friends" for example, the SonyBMG and FBI warning are white on a pale yellow background and barely visible. You mention nostalgia, for which I have had many debates with you in the past. Most recently with "Let's Be Friends", I was bent out of shape by "Mama" and "Let's Forget About The Stars", for which you don't have a problem. After all, I can easily get these on foreign deleted Cd's like the Argentinian "Latino!" or Australian "U.S Male" can't I? We also had an issue over the 2000, "Moody Blue" release and having called it a travesty, you brought me to task saying an argument could be made that it was now chronologically correct for omitting "Let Me Be There" and merging it with "Elvis Presley Blvd". I want them to be as they were, not modernized by deleting tracks or cover changes, I haven't forgotten in being a fan at all. "Mission Accomplished?", that's a personal opinion, which I heard something similar mentioned in 2003 about a certain war. I'm glad your satisfied and I'm sure others like JerryNodak are also happy, great! But I think people can also be dissatisfied and still proudly call themselves "fans". Gee, I guess I did manage to ramble on!

Paul, I respect where you're coming from in that criticism is generally productive, and for the record, no, I used "Mission Accomplished" probably not even in jest but in the sense of the phrase that existed long before Mr. Bush took office. :) You sound quite accomplished with personal CD making and I think it's probably far beyond that which most fans would want to bother, and I say that as someone who has made some CD-R compilations before as well as transcribing rare vinyl to CD... You're right: this release is slightly flawed. I just see it as mostly capturing the original release. As it is, the original release, as fond of it as I have been, was hardly "from the Gods" so minor changes mostly roll off my shoulders. I had forgotten our "Moody Blue" debate and frankly I've made similiar arguments before about, say, the "Promised Land" reissue / remix project of 2000, which merged two albums and tossed off one track that in terms of chronology didn't belong to begin with. When I got the CD, however, I recall criticising it for this very thing and then having someone remind me that it was an attempt to make the CD completely about the *sesssions*... So it's all about what side of the bed you wake up on and I'm as much a perfectionist as you clearly are...but not always. :) I guess I take my Elvis collecting seriously as you do and what our hero always presented 100% accurately in terms of history or what have you, but other times I take the stand that's it's all gravy, we all have this music in multiple forms and it's all just for fun. But keep on with your valuable criticism! Best wishes...

Thanks for the kind words Greg, much appreciated. We both want what's best, but approach from different sides.

I watched the dvds Vol 1&2 He Touched He which has Elvis singing all Gospel Songs.This is an awesome set of dvs but the only thing being most of the songs are sung half. elvis sounds awesome and it is the best I've seen so far. It also shows you how he puts so much soul and love in his voice while singing gospel.A must for all Elvis fans.beautiful! An Elvis most people would be quite surprised to see and believe. By the way,I would love to buy this if it has all the songs on the list. I really get goose bumps hearing him sing gospel!

Wrong choice again, guys at BMG-DK. This is a not-well-selling CD of our King and we'd rather have SONY/BMG work on better-selling, new, innovative CDs that they could bring to the General Public like for Valentine's Day sales next year, they could bring out a Valentine Elvis CD with his fab love songs from the movies that sold millions (do we have to remind you: Can't help fall in love, Puppet on a string, Wooden heart, Lonely man and 200 more). But You'll never walk alone will only sell 50,000 copies while the above would sell 250,000 copies even to those hardcore fans that already have those songs for years. On FTD the BMG company should give us more Double Album re-releases and NEW ones, only is they ADD "outtakes" of studio sessions of those songs as well. That'll sell 450,000 copies to the hardcore fans, no doubt. And then BMG could eliminate those single old CDs from the Elvis Catalogue and have them replaced by the new ones (first on FTD label and then for General Public - try it out Ernst & Roger !) Elvis hardcore fans comments are warmly welcomed. Guys, tell us if you dig these ideas ?

Anton: Not a well selling cd?? I suggest you log on to elvis.com. Then click on the gold/platinum records link and check the RIAA certifications list for "You'll Never Walk Alone." I think you'll be surprised. While you're there please review the entire list closely. I think you'll find it very "educational."

Great cover art. I know this album a long time, but never have owned it. I'm not going to buy it now, because I have the songs already on CD. But I have no problem with re-releasing this.