Category Archives: music

This is one of those records released by RCA while Elvis was in the army. It makes for a surprisingly cohesive listen despite essentially being a collection of previously released songs thrown together to keep Presley in the thoughts of teenagers during the 1959 Christmas record-buying season. The package comes complete with many photos (some blurry) of Elvis doing army stuff and a reprint of a phony aw-shucks telegram supposedly from The King Himself to Colonel Tom Parker urging the Colonel to “get a message to the fans” thanking them for their loyalty and whatnot.

The back of the LP’s sleeve features a 1960 calendar all ready to be tacked up on the wall and stared at endlessly–which one of the previous owners of my copy apparently did judging from the tiny reinforcement holes made in addition to the one that the manufacturer provided. Also, this album has one of the absolute best titles ever (one so cool that it was recycled at least once). The title is even cooler when you realize that the “date” doesn’t refer to the kind of thing that we all sit around fantasizing about while staring at our Elvis calendars, but to the only one circled on the calendar, March 24, 1960—the day Elvis was supposed to be released from the army. (He received his honorable discharge two weeks earlier.)