As for Elvis “leaning” this hard into a themed soundtrack concept instead of a straight rock and roll record... Did he really have much of a choice? That’s where I get hung up on the wording of the question. Whether Elvis liked the Hawaiian and romantic material or not, this was still a movie soundtrack. The studio wanted songs that fit the movie. The label wanted an album they could sell alongside it. And Colonel Tom Parker was very much steering the overall direction of Elvis’ career. So I don’t really look at *Blue Hawaii* as Elvis sitting down and deciding, “I think I’ll move away from rock and roll and make a heavily themed Hawaiian record.” This was the job. And once *Blue Hawaii* became a massive success, that formula became even harder to escape. Put Elvis in an exotic location. Give him a romantic storyline. Fill the movie with songs. Release the soundtrack. Repeat. And repeat. And repeat. That’s one reason the ’68 Comeback Special feels so important to me. I wasn’t around for Elvis at his peak — hell, for all I know I may have been a product of the ’68 Comeback Special. 😂 — but that period always feels like the point where Elvis finally started pushing back against the machinery around him and reconnecting with the music he actually wanted to make. And suddenly you could see the guy underneath the movie-star machinery again.