You'll Never Walk Alone is a compilation album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released in 1971 by RCA Records on the RCA Camden budget label. The album contains primarily previously released gospel recordings by Presley dating back as far as 1957, plus two unissued tracks. The album reached number 69 on the Billboard 200 chart[3] and number 20 on the UK Singles Chart.[4]
| You'll Never Walk Alone | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | March 22, 1971 | |||
| Recorded | January 12, 1957 – March 6, 1969 | |||
| Genre | Gospel | |||
| Length | 29:13 | |||
| Label | RCA Camden | |||
| Elvis Presley chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| MusicHound |  [2] |
In the mid-1970s, RCA Records leased the rights to reissue certain recordings by Presley and other RCA Victor artists on the Camden label to the budget reissue label Pickwick Records. You'll Never Walk Alone was reissued by Pickwick with its original RCA cover art. Following Presley's unexpected death in August, 1977, demand for his recordings skyrocketed and RCA soon reclaimed the rights to their Camden/Pickwick recordings. You'll Never Walk Alone was first reissued on compact disc in 1987 on the RCA Camden label. RCA reissued the album on CD a second time in 2006 along with most of Elvis' other RCA Camden budget albums. The album was certified Gold on March 27, 1992, Platinum on July 15, 1999, and 3× Platinum on January 6, 2004, by the Recording Industry Association of America.[5]
Content
editThe single "You'll Never Walk Alone", an adaptation of the Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers standard, was a minor hit for him in the late 1960s. Although technically a secular show tune, Elvis and RCA treated it as a religious song, as reflected in the original 1967 single and the fact it was often included on compilations of Presley's religious music, such as this album.
Two previously unissued recordings are included: "Let Us Pray" from the soundtrack of Presley's 1969 film, Change of Habit and "Who Am I?", a leftover from the early-1969 recording sessions that produced his album From Elvis in Memphis. The title track, and its original single flipside, "We Call on Him", made their vinyl album debut with this release.
The album is a companion to the RCA Camden reissued version of Elvis' Christmas Album, as it contains the four gospel recordings from the original 1957 release of that album, which were omitted from the 1970 RCA Camden reissue. The four gospel songs were first issued in 1957 as an RCA Victor EP titled "Peace in the Valley".
Although there would be further RCA Camden Presley collections, this was the final release that featured previously unreleased tracks. RCA would later release several unissued recordings in its Elvis: A Legendary Performer series beginning in 1974, followed by sporadic releases of previously unreleased recordings in the decades after his death.
The track listing below shows the songs as they appeared on the second CD reissue of this album in 2006. The original 1971 LP omitted "Swing Down Sweet Chariot," taken from the 1960 album His Hand in Mine, though this track was included on UK releases of the album. This was due to U.S. RCA-Camden Presley releases at the time being generally formatted to have 9 tracks: 5 on Side 1 but only 4 songs on Side 2, this leaving no room for "Swing Low".
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Recording date | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "You'll Never Walk Alone" | Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers | September 11, 1967 | 2:45 |
| 2. | "Who Am I?" (previously unreleased) | Rusty Goodman | February 22, 1969 | 3:20 |
| 3. | "Let Us Pray" (from Change of Habit, previously unreleased) | Buddy Kaye and Ben Weisman | March 5 & 6, 1969 | 3:01 |
| 4. | "(There'll Be) Peace in the Valley" | Thomas A. Dorsey | January 13, 1957 | 3:23 |
| 5. | "We Call on Him" | Fred Karger, Sid Wayne, and Ben Weisman | September 10 & 11, 1967 | 2:33 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Recording date | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "I Believe" | Ervin Drake, Irvin Graham, Jimmy Shirl, and Al Stillman | January 12, 1957 | 2:06 |
| 2. | "It Is No Secret (What God Can Do)" | Stuart Hamblen | January 19, 1957 | 3:55 |
| 3. | "Sing You Children" (from Easy Come, Easy Go) | Fred Burch and Gerald Nelson | September 28, 1966 | 2:14 |
| 4. | "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" | Thomas A. Dorsey | January 13, 1957 | 3:17 |
| 5. | "Swing Down Sweet Chariot" (UK edition only) | Traditional | October 31, 1960 | 2:34 |
References
edit- ^ You'll Never Walk Alone at AllMusic
- ^ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 892. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
- ^ "You'll Never Walk Alone Awards". Allmusic. Rovi Corp. 2013. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
- ^ "Elvis Presley". Official Charts. 17 May 1956. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
- ^ "Searchable database". RIAA. Recording Industry Association of America. 2013. Retrieved May 28, 2013. Note: Enter search for "You'll Never Walk Alone"
External links
edit- You'll Never Walk Alone at Discogs (list of releases)
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