Review – ELVIS DOUBLE FEATURES: VIVA LAS VEGAS/ROUSTABOUT [The Elvis Beat newsletter]

/ TY

I was 18 when I wrote this review back in 1993 for The Elvis Beat #5, my official Elvis Presley Fan Club newsletter.

Elvis Double Features: Viva Las Vegas/Roustabout (RCA), recorded by Elvis Presley, July 1963 (Viva Las Vegas) and February & March 1964 (Roustabout), Radio Recorders Studio (Hollywood). Released: 1993 (CD).

Elvis Double Features: Viva Las Vegas/Roustabout is the best of the four Elvis Double Features CDs released so far and the only one of those fans should consider purchasing unless they are planning to have every Elvis song on CD in their collection.

The strength of this album is due to the Viva Las Vegas tracks. This movie was the best of Elvis’ “formula” movies. Despite what critics seem to think, Elvis did make about a dozen movies did not fit the “Elvis formula.”

Most of the Viva Las Vegas songs are not the corny ones that comprise many of his other 1960s soundtracks. Best of all on the album is the title song itself, “Viva Las Vegas,” which is one of his all-time best movie songs.

Also of note is “C’mon Everybody” and Elvis’ version of “What’d I Say.” The album also features two duets with Ann-Margret, Elvis’ co-star in the film, which are mediocre in quality.

Roustabout contains several average songs, which means they are above-average compared to most other Elvis movie songs, and the surprisingly good song “Hard Knocks” that had previously only appeared on the original album.

Songs:

  1. “Viva Las Vegas”
  2. “If You Think I Don’t Need You”
  3. “I Need Somebody To Lean On”
  4. “You’re The Boss” (with Ann-Margret)
  5. “What’d I Say”
  6. “Do The Vega”
  7. “C’mon Everybody”
  8. “The Lady Loves Me” (with Ann-Margret)
  9. “Night Life”
  10. “Today, Tomorrow And Forever”
  11. “The Yellow Rose Of Texas/The Eyes Of Texas”
  12. “Santa Lucia”
  13. “Roustabout”
  14. “Little Egypt”
  15. “Poison Ivy League”
  16. “Hard Knocks”
  17. “It’s A Wonderful World”
  18. “Big Love, Big Heartache”
  19. “One Track Heart”
  20. “It’s Carnival Time”
  21. “Carny Town”
  22. “There’s A Brand New Day On The Horizon”
  23. “Wheels On My Heels”

Rating: 5 out of 10