Elvis by Request: Flaming Star and 3 Other Great Songs is an EP by American singer Elvis Presley, containing two songs from the motion picture Flaming Star[1] ("Flaming Star" and "Summer Kisses Winter Tears", the latter cut from the final print)[2] and two of his earlier hits on the reverse side.
Recording and releases
Recording sessions took place on August 8 and October 7, 1960, at Radio Recorders in Hollywood. Initially, four songs were composed for the movie, but "Britches" and "Summer Kisses Winter Tears" were dropped.[3] The soundtrack music in the film consists of only two songs, "Flaming Star" and "A Cane and a High Starched Collar." An early version of "Flaming Star," using the film's working title "Black Star," was recorded by Presley and later released in the 1990s. The significantly darker lyrics of the "Black Star" version were seen by some commentators as part of the reference of David Bowie's Blackstar.[4] Both Presley and Bowie share the same birthday (January 8).
The song "Flaming Star" would be the title track of Elvis Sings Flaming Star, available at first only through select retail stores featuring products by the Singer sewing machine company as a promotional tie-in with Presley's 1968 Christmas television special, which Singer had sponsored. This album would begin the series of Presley budget releases on the RCA Camden subsidiary label.
Elvis by Request is the only Presley EP to play at 33⅓ rpm. All of his other EPs were 45 rpm.[5]
^Guralnick, Peter; Jorgensen, Ernst (1999). Elvis Day by Day. Ballantine Books. ISBN9780345420893. Spurred by radio broadcast of a bootleg recording of the songs from the movie, RCA creates an aptly named "request" EP Both Elvis and the Colonel feel the soundtrack material is unsuitable for record release but swallow a healthy dose of reality agreeing to put out the two best songs
^Eder, Mike (September 1, 2013). Elvis Music FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the King's Recorded Works. Backbeat Books / Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 126. ISBN978-1-61713-580-4. Retrieved December 31, 2016. ... tracks recorded off the screen, Elvis was persuaded to allow "Flaming Star" and a ballad cut from the final print, "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears," to be released ...
^ abGuralnick, Ernst Jorgensen ; foreword by Peter (2001). Elvis Presley: A Life in Music—The Complete Recording Sessions (1st ed.). New York: Griffin. pp. 137, 414. ISBN978-0312263157.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)