Viva Elvis - The Album

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Should prove to be the most exciting Elvis album release for many years. The sound is amazing and there will be two single releases from it. A worldwide No.1.

Buy this one for sure. Listened to suspicious minds on YouTube. I think it sounds FANTASTIC! Very refeshing and rock n roll modern in one, complements. Let's make this one a golden one, at least. Goin' to see the show in april next year, can't wait.

dont care for it

No thank you. Rubbish!

I've pre ordered this one as I saw the show last week in Las Vegas. Utterly stunning performance. I was a bit dubious going in but ended up enjoying it immensely. Its a real celebration of Elvis. Its just a pity that this CD is incomplete and has only a fraction of the show's music.

I listened to the complete cd today! Yes, I know. The portuguese cd with the portuguese duet. Our fan club (www.cofebs.com) was invited by Sony Music to listen to the cd. Great cd! Perfect to play on the radios, discos, etc. Perfect for the new generation. My favourite songs are the fastest ones. Memories and You'll Never walk Alone are instrumentals. Burning Love is too heavy. My favourite one is King Creole. Can't Help Falling in Love sounds like gospel.

I had the very good fortune to see this show in Las Vegas TWICE on the 16th & 20th of this month and I was completely blown away by the whole production, it was FANTASTIC, the sound and sets were just out of this world. I really can't find the words to praise this enough. Too many highlights to mention here. Yes it is a shame that the powers that be have decided to only release 12 or so tracks out of so many but I guess we will get to hear them all eventually on CD. A real shame that the supposed Suspicious Minds single release has been so mismanaged.

Let me begin with giving this release 4 stars out of 5. For those purists out there who only can appreciate the original recordings of Elvis, my advise would be: forget about this release. For those who have a broader musical view…, there might be something in it for you. The CD really needs a few spins before you get used to the songs. But you always have to remember that this CD is only meant as a souvenir for those who have witnessed the Viva Elvis show of Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. That it also is released worldwide is only a bonus. Do not see it as a commercial release because the music and arrangements were written to complement the visuals on that particular stage. That is why all the music on this CD work in that framework and may not have that same effect when it is played on your hifi. Let me give my opinion after listening to it for a while. “Blue Suede Shoes” sounds like U2 on their Shake Rattle and Hum CD with that harmonica sound up front. “That’s All Right” resembles a lot of Iggy Pop’s ‘Lust for Life’. “King Creole” would fit a group routine in ‘So you think you can dance’. And “Bossa Nova Baby” is fit for a single release. This is for me the best commercial song on the album. It got me on my feet with that Drum and Bass! This is perfect for the Saturday-night disco with all the youngsters. The only disaster (to my ears) is “Burning Love”… What were they thinking? It is just one big orgy of drums and the melody is completely vanished. I rather prefer the more punchy version of BL from the FTD –Too much monkey business. (Felton Jarvis did a great job without ruining the context of the song). Skip this one! The CD also features two great slow tunes. “Can’t help falling in love” starts as a duet. In the middle the song is transformed into a gospel hymn, with the ‘ooohhh yeahhh’ which they used from “Love Me”. A choir joins in and it shows once again that Elvis’s voice was so very much suited to sing Gospel. The last song of the CD is “Love me tender”. On my dutch version of the CD it is sung with Lisa Lois, and it is just perfect! Would I recommend it: yes, but everything is a matter of taste. And taste is personal.

Until the novelty wears off this witty and technically astute remix album will seem like a breath of fresh air. It will, however, become dated very quickly and will be remembered in an historic context as a brief piece of fun. The sounds, style and feel that Elvis found for his early classics were the characteristics that marked him out as a great musician. They are inaudible here due to extensive sampling and overdubbing. 'Love Me Tender' as a country duet is too twee for words and the refrain from 'In My Way' in the coda sounds misplaced. 'Can't Help Falling in Love' is also given a country re-working and is too contrived. I think my bottom line with this CD is this: some of the tracks are energetic and playful, and sample-spotting can be fun for the listener. But there's not a single song on 'Viva Elvis' that is remotely as good as the original release. That being the case, in five years time my expectation is we'll be thinking that this CD seemed ok in 2010 but, really, it was a bit unnecessary. Worse, by making Elvis's songs more complex it betrays the simplicity that was one of the core ingredients of his best music.

It actually took a second listen to get used to it. Now I actually like the album. So do my kids and I've played it at least twice a day since I got it. There are so many details in there and it is a fun listen. We all have the originals if we need to listen to them. This is something different and may not go over as a future classic. I can see that the chart actions are not that remarkable, still I find the album to be a nice variation over Elvis' music. It's technically very well done imo! Viva Elvis!

Just want to point out that in contrary to what Jamie says in his review that ("Can't Help Falling in Love' is also given a country re-working..."), the song to my ears is definately a Gospel re-working. Think of "The Circle of Life" from Disney's "The Lion King". So forget about the word 'Country music referring to Can't Help Falling in Love from 'Viva Elvis'.

Having read some of the opinions in relation to this album, I wasn't going to buy but I did. So I started listening to it but thinking I was going to be disappointed. All that negativity went away very quickly and this is why, I have probably listened to King Creole half a dozen times in my life as it never took my fancy. That changed today when I heard this version of King Creole on this album, it's quite good, in fact it's fantastic. Bossa Nova Baby is another gem and I was going to say it's the highlight on the album however for me King Creole is just in front. I should get around to rating the other songs, listening to them again would be a good start but I can't stop playing these 2 songs. They are worth the price of the CD alone and if they were the only tracks on the album I'd gladly pay triple the amount.