Pot Luck (Elvis Presley album)

Content

The songwriting duo Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, already responsible for Elvis Presley’s number-one hit "Surrender" and the double-sided smash "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame" backed with "Little Sister," dominate this album. Two of their tracks here, "Kiss Me Quick" and "Suspicion," were later released as a single in April 1964, reaching the Top 40 after Terry Stafford, a vocalist who closely mimicked Presley’s style, scored a hit with his own cover of "Suspicion." The remaining songs came from familiar Presley writers like Don Robertson, Otis Blackwell, and Paul Evans. Blackwell’s "(Such an) Easy Question" was issued as a single in June 1965, climbing to number one on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and number eleven on the Hot 100, at a time when Presley was largely focused on film and soundtrack projects.

Presley himself contributed the concept and title for "That's Someone You Never Forget," co-written with Red West, and the song may have been a tribute to his late mother, Gladys Presley. It later appeared as the B-side to "Long Legged Girl (With the Short Dress On)" in May 1967, reaching number ninety-two on the Hot 100. Another track from these sessions, "You'll Be Gone," was written by Presley and West alongside fellow "Memphis Mafia" member Charlie Hodge, and was used as the B-side to "Do the Clam." The song "Steppin' Out of Line" was originally recorded for the Blue Hawaii soundtrack but left unused.

Like its predecessors from 1960 and 1961, Elvis Is Back! and Something For Everybody, Pot Luck easily landed in the top ten of the album charts. However, all three were far outsold by the soundtrack albums G.I. Blues and Blue Hawaii, a trend that persisted through the mid-1960s. The soundtracks benefited from the promotional power of the films themselves, and Colonel Tom Parker broke with standard industry practice by refusing to include hit singles on Presley’s albums, a move that likely would have boosted sales. As a result, Presley shifted his focus to movie work and did not release another non-soundtrack, non-gospel studio album for seven years, until From Elvis in Memphis.

Reissues

The original 12-track album first appeared on CD in 1988 via RCA. A later CD reissue on July 13, 1999, rearranged the track order and added five bonus tracks: two sides of a single, one B-side, and two songs from the 1965 compilation Elvis for Everyone (LSP 3450). The three single sides came from the same March 18 and 19, 1962 sessions that produced the rest of the album. One single had both sides written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, while "You'll Be Gone" was released as a B-side in 1965. Because Elvis for Everyone gathered material recorded over ten years, RCA chose not to reissue it as a standalone album, instead adding its songs as bonus tracks to other releases. All bonus tracks were cut at Studio B in Nashville. In 2007, the Follow That Dream label issued Pot Luck as a deluxe two-disc set, pairing the original album with many alternate takes from the original recording sessions.