Elvis Presley in the '60s: 1962

1. Something Blue

2. Gonna Get Back Home Somehow

3. (Such An) Easy Question

4. Fountain Of Love

5. Just For Old Time Sake

6. You'll Be Gone

7. I Feel That I've Known You Forever

8. Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello

9. Suspicion

10. She's Not You

By the March 18-19 session everything' getting slick and suave (more suave!). The confidence bleeds from the tracks. Elvis is in the full flower of manhood and he knows it. His band is the best band money can buy and they know it too. But I'm not arguing. Not everything is top notch, but the highs are really high. 'Something blue' can melt the hardest of hearts, the piano 'fountains' make the track. 'Gonna get back home somehow' is a monumental sound, every nook and cranny filled with a big arrangement, it lifts off the ground. 'You'll be gone' is mock drama, a Spanish tinge. I don't know how Elvis pulls that stuff off, but it's delicious. 

You can tell by the dates that most Elvis sessions are all-night affairs and halfway through they usually start to really cook. This time they pull off two of his best '60s singles - 'Just tell her Jim said hello' (featherlight country confectionery) and 'Suspicion' - again with the condensed TV movie screenplay fit into two and a half irresistible minutes of drama. 'Suspicion!' That piano bassline! 'Why torture me?' Oh Elvis, because we love to hear you tortured.

Parts of this session were combined with highlights of the two 1961 single sessions and released on 'Pot luck'. I haven't heard it, but it should be good. Still, you need it all!

Fine, so 1962 brought us a couple of movies as well.
'Return to sender' (from 'Girls! Girls! Girls!') is diggable, but the title track from that movie is wretched trumped up excitement.

'King of the whole wide world' (from 'Kid Galahad') is totally unremarkable.