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March 21 1961
(+ means you need both    ~ means same material    °° means stereo or binaural    ° means mono)
(SFS = Short False Start | FS = False Start | LFS or BD (Breakdown) = Long False Start | PB (Playback) or Complete = Complete Take)

Radio Recorders Studio B - Hollywood, California
Soundtrack Session for Paramount's Blue Hawaii
Paramount Producer : Joseph Lilley
Engineer : Thorne Nogar
(1.00pm - 11.50pm)

Musicians:   Backup Vocals:
Guitar: Hank Garland The Jordanaires: Gordon Stoker; Neal Matthews; Hoyt Hawkins; Ray
Guitar: Scotty Moore Walker
Guitar: Hilmer J 'Tiny' Timbrell The Surfers: Pat Sylva; Bernie Ching; Clay Naluai; Al Naluai
Bass: Bob Moore  
Drums: D.J. Fontana  
Drums: Hal Blaine  
Drums: Bernie Mattinson  
Piano / Celeste: Dudley Brooks (not listed)  
Piano: Floyd Cramer (3.00pm - 6.00pm)  
Saxophone: Homer 'Boots' Randolph (3.00pm - 6.00pm)  
Ukulele: Bernie Lewis  
Ukulele: Fred Tavares  
Steel Guitar: Alvino Rey  

Hawaiian Sunset
M2PB 2994
AO March 21 1961 (Tue: 2.00pm - 3.15pm)
Take 1 Complete 2:46   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°~Tape°°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°°
~Blue Hawaii Box°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 1 (FTD)°°
Take 2 Complete 3:06   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+Tape°°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°°
~Blue Hawaii Box° (count-in)+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 1 (FTD)°°
Take 3 Complete 3:02   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°~Close Up 2°°+Tape°°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Vol. 1
(TCB-LP)°°~Blue Hawaii Box°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 1 (FTD)°° (edit)
Take 4 Complete 2:40 (used for spliced master) The Making Of Blue Hawaii 1 (FTD)°°
Take 5 FS 0:15   The Making Of Blue Hawaii 1 (FTD)°°
Take 6 FS 0:21   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 1 (FTD)°° (count-in)
Take 7 Complete 2:38 (used for spliced master) The Making Of Blue Hawaii 1 (FTD)°°
         
Spliced M 2:30 Spliced from takes 4 & 7 Complete Elvis Presley Masters 7 (Sony)°°~Elvis In Hawaii (Franklin Mint
Complete Masters Collection 21)°°~Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°~(24 Bit)°°~Blue
Hawaii (BMG '97)°°~The Comp Movie Masters 60-62 1 (MRS)°°~The
Making Of Blue Hawaii 1 (FTD)°°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 1 (FTD)°°
(track 21)

Aloha Oe (section 2)
BO March 21 1961 (Tue: 4.15pm - 4.35pm)
Take 1 Complete 1:18   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+Close Up 2°°+Tape°°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Vol. 1
(TCB-LP)°°~Blue Hawaii Box°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 2 Complete 1:00   Tape°°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°°~Blue Hawaii - The
Expanded Alternate Album (MRS)°°~Blue Hawaii Box°+The Making Of
Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 3 Complete 1:00   Tape°°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°°~Blue Hawaii - The
Expanded Alternate Album (MRS)°°~Blue Hawaii Box°+The Making Of
Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 4 FS 0:13   Tape°°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°°~Blue Hawaii - The
Expanded Alternate Album (MRS)°°~Blue Hawaii Box°+The Making Of
Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 5 Complete 0:58 (ending used for spliced master) Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°~Blue Hawaii - The Expanded Alternate Album
(MRS)°° (spliced with ending of Take 7)+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2
(FTD)°° (complete)
Take 6 Complete 1:31   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+Tape°°~Blue Hawaii - The Expanded Alternate
Album (MRS)°° (listed Take 5)~Blue Hawaii Sessions Vol 1 (TCB-LP)°°
~Blue Hawaii Box° (count-in)+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 7 Complete 0:56 (used for spliced master) Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°~Blue Hawaii - The Expanded Alternate Album
(MRS)°° (ending spliced with Take 5)+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2
(FTD)°° (complete)
         
Spliced (M) 0:47 Spliced from takes 7 & 5
(used for composite master)
Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°~(24 Bit)°°~(BMG '97)°°~Blue Hawaii - Expanded
Alternate Album (MRS)°°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°° (part of
composite master)

Ku-U-I-Po
M2PB 2991
CO March 21 1961 (Tue: 5.20pm - 5.55pm)
Take 1 Complete 2:45   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°~A Legendary Performer Vol. 8°+Tape°~Blue Hawaii
Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°~Blue Hawaii Box° (extra dialogue)+The
Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 2 LFS 1:31   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+Tape°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°
~Blue Hawaii Box° (extra dialogue)+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 3     (not announced by mistake)  
Take 4 FS 0:12   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°~Tape°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°
~Blue Hawaii Box°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 5 Complete 2:34   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°~Tape°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°
~Blue Hawaii Box°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 6 FS 0:30   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+Close Up 2°°~Tape°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Vol. 1
(TCB-LP)°~Blue Hawaii Box° (count-in)+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2
(FTD)°°
Take 7 Complete 2:31   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°~Close Up 2°°~Tape°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Vol. 1
(TCB-LP)°~Blue Hawaii Box°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 8 LFS 1:11   Tape°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°~Blue Hawaii Box°
~Blue Hawaii - The Expanded Alternate Album (MRS)°+The Making Of
Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 9 M 2:20 (2:25 with count-in)
Comp. Elvis Presley Masters 7 (Sony)°°~Elvis In Hawaii (Franklin Mint
Comp. Masters Collection 21)°°~Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°~(24 Bit)°°~Blue
Hawaii (BMG '97)°°~The Making Of Blue Hawaii 1 (FTD)°°~The Comp.
Movie Masters 60-62 1 (MRS)°° (master only)
+Tape°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°~Blue Hawaii Box°
~Blue Hawaii - The Expanded Alternate Album (MRS)°+The Making Of
Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°° (count-in)

No More
DO March 21 1961 (Tue: 6.10pm - 10.00pm)
Take 1 FS
0:37   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°~Tape°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°
~Blue Hawaii Box°~Blue Hawaii - The Expanded Alternate Album (MRS)°
+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 2 LFS 1:32   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+Tape°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°
~Blue Hawaii Box° (extra dialogue)+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 3 LFS 1:37   Tape°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°~Blue Hawaii Box°
~Blue Hawaii - The Expanded Alternate Album (MRS)°~The Comp Movie
Masters 60-62 4 (MRS)°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 4 LFS 1:56   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+Tape°~In My Way (LP)°~Blue Hawaii Sessions
Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°~Blue Hawaii Box° (count-in)+The Making Of Blue
Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 5 LFS 0:45   Blue Hawaii (BMG '97)°° (dialogue at end only)+Tape°~Blue Hawaii
Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°~Blue Hawaii Box°+The Making Of Blue
Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 6     (not announced by mistake)  
Take 7 Complete 2:35   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°~Blue Hawaii (BMG '97)°°~Tape°~Blue Hawaii
Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°~Blue Hawaii Box°+The Making Of Blue
Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 8 Complete 2:39   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+Tape°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Vol. 1 (TCB-LP)°~Blue
Hawaii Box° (extra dialogue)+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 9 Complete 2:35   Elvis For Everyone (FTD)°°~Tape°~A Legendary Performer Volume 5°
~Blue Hawaii Sess. Vol. 1 (TCB-LP)°~Blue Hawaii - The Expanded Alt.
Album (MRS)°~The Comp Movie Masters 60-62 4 (MRS)°~Blue Hawaii
Box°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 10 LFS 2:29   The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 11 Complete 2:33   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°° (count-in)~Close Up 2°°+The Making Of Blue
Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 12 FS 0:23   The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 13 (M) 2:29 (used for composite master) The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°

No More (insert ending)
DO1 March 21 1961 (Tue: 10.00pm - 10.30pm)
Take 14 LFS 0:54 (take numbering continued) The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 15 Complete 0:42   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°° (with dialogue from before Take 16)+The Making Of
Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 16 (M) 0:48 (used for composite master) The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°

No More (composite)
M2PB 2987
   
Spliced M 2:22 Composite of Take 13
& insert ending - Take 16
Complete Elvis Presley Masters 7 (Sony)°°~Elvis In Hawaii (Franklin Mint
Complete Masters Collection 21)°°~Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°~(24 Bit)°° ~Blue
Hawaii (BMG '97)°°~The Complete Movie Masters 60-62 1 (MRS)°°~The
Making Of Blue Hawaii 1 (FTD)°°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°

Slicin' Sand
M2PB 2993
EO March 21 1961 (Tue: 10.50pm - 11.50pm)
Take 1 LFS
0:49 "Ciao Ciao, Bambina"
Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 2 FS 0:24   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 3 Complete 1:45   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 4 Complete 1:44   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°° (count-in)+Blue Hawaii (BMG '97)°° (with one-liner
from Take 10)+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 5 FS 0:25   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 6 LFS 1:29   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+Close Up 2°° (extra dialogue)+The Making Of Blue
Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 7 Complete 1:39   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°~Close Up 2°°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 8 LFS 1:16   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°° (with one-liner from Take 10)+The Making Of Blue
Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 9 Complete 1:50   The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 10 Complete 1:29 "I Had A Dream" Elvis For Everyone (FTD)°°~The Comp Movie Masters 60-62 4 (MRS)°°
+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 11 LFS 1:45 "Ciao Ciao, Bambina" The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 12 LFS 1:25   The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 13 FS 0:27   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 14 Complete 1:31   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 15 FS 1:16 "There's Always Me" Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+Tape°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°
~Blue Hawaii Box°~Blue Hawaii - The Expanded Alternate Album (MRS)°
(extra dialogue)+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 16 FS 0:18   Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°+Tape°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°
~Blue Hawaii Box°~Blue Hawaii - The Expanded Alternate Album (MRS)°
(extra dialogue)+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 17 Complete 1:42   Tape°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°~Blue Hawaii Box°
~Blue Hawaii - The Expanded Alternate Album (MRS)°~The Complete
Movie Masters 60-62 4 (MRS)°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°°
Take 18 FS 0:12   Tape°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°~Blue Hawaii Box°
~Blue Hawaii - The Expanded Alternate Album (MRS)°
Take 19 M 1:34 (1:40 with count-in) Complete Elvis Presley Masters 7 (Sony)°°~Elvis In Hawaii (Franklin Mint
Complete Masters Collection 21)°°~Blue Hawaii (FTD)°°~(24 Bit)°° ~Blue
Hawaii (BMG '97)°°~The Complete Movie Masters 60-62 1 (MRS)°°~The
Making Of Blue Hawaii 1 (FTD)°°+The Making Of Blue Hawaii 2 (FTD)°° (master only)
+Tape°~Blue Hawaii Sessions Volume 1 (TCB-LP)°~Blue Hawaii Box°
~Blue Hawaii - The Expanded Alternate Album (MRS)° (count-in)

Notes

Apart from being slightly edited, the most complete release of these sessions can be found on Follow That Dream's book and 4xCD set The Making Of Blue Hawaii, where everything RCA have, has been restored, remixed and remastered from the original 3-track tapes.

When the master takes were cut from the stereo session tapes, so were some of the take slates and count-in's, which is why some of the remixed masters appear without the take slates and count-in on The Making Of Blue Hawaii. They all remained intact on the mono session tapes.

'Hawaiian Sunset' is spliced from the first 1 minute, 53 seconds of Take 4 (from start to "blossoms in her lover's arms once more...") and the rest of Take 7 ("Too soon the sunrise, will wake her from her sleep" to end).

'Aloha Oe' (section 2) is spliced from the first 34 seconds of Take 7 (from start to "until we meet...") and the ending of Take 5 ("...a-gain, till we meet again...").

Elvis can be heard singing a few lines of 'I Had A Dream' before Take 4 of 'Slicin' Sand' on the 1997 collectors edition of Blue Hawaii - This is actually edited in from before Take 10. The same one-liner can be found edited in after Take 8 on FTD's extended soundtrack of Blue Hawaii.

On FTD's extended soundtrack of Blue Hawaii all outtakes and masters have had the left and right channels corrected as opposed to other releases of this material, where they were reversed (i.e. Japanese 24 Bit, BMG '97 Collectors Edition, Today, Tomorrow And Forever and Close Up).

Bootleg sources for this session are the 4 TCB LP's Blue Hawaii / The Complete Session (TCB 21-23-3-61) and the Laurel 3-LP Blue Hawaii Box (BPM 501-A). The latter is not as complete and seems to be slightly noise reduced and compressed. The TCB LP's have more noise and some pitch problems (>4% too fast), but it is the most complete collection and even has some takes in stereo. Not listed as source is the Venus set Mele Mai Ka Lani Mai! as it is only put together from different other sources.

Although not listed as a source, the Memphis Recording Service release Blue Hawaii - The Expanded Alternate Album contains the usual masters in stereo but with the count-in (mostly in mono) edited in before the masters.

The song 'I'm Yours' was submitted for the wedding-scene (scene 251) in the movie but rejected at the pre-selection stage. It was later recorded for RCA on June 26 1961.

In March of 2007, Sony decided to go through all of Elvis' masters. They retransferred everything and remastered all tracks including repairing as many clicks, pops, bad edits and dropouts as they could. They have used these newly mastered recordings on their new releases since 2007 including budget soundtracks, Legacy releases, the 30 disc Complete Elvis Presley Masters collection and the Franklin Mint package.

Thanks to Josee Brus and Henk Muller for help with identifying the one-liners sung during these sessions.

Session Logs
Recording Information
Blue Hawaii
Blue Hawaii
Recording Information
March 21-23 1961
March 21-23 1961 - Thanks to David English
Tape Legends
March 21 1961
Tape Legend - March 21 1961

Studio Manager's Report
March 21 1961
Studio Orchestra Manager's Daily Report - March 21 1961
Musical Breakdown
Blue Hawaii
Musical Breakdown - Blue Hawaii
Joseph Lilley's Notes
March 21 1961
Joseph Lilley's Notes - March 21 1961 - Thanks to David English

Acetate
Hawaiian Sunset
Hawaiian Sunset
Acetate
Aloha Oe
Aloha Oe
Acetate
Ku-U-I-Po
Ku-U-I-Po

Acetate
No More
No More
Acetate
Slicin' Sand
Slicin' Sand
Demo Acetates
Blue Hawaii
I'm Yours


Music Sheets
Music Sheet
Hawaiian Sunset
Hawaiian Sunset (Thanks to Christopher Brown)
Music Sheet
Aloha Oe
Aloha Oe (Thanks to Christopher Brown)
Music Sheet
Ku-U-I-Po
Ku-U-I-Po (Thanks to Christopher Brown)

Music Sheet
No More
No More
Music Sheet
Slicin' Sand
Slicin' Sand (Thanks to Christopher Brown)
 

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