Elvis Presley
A new album featuring Elvis Presley songs inspired by the Cirque du Soleil Viva Elvis show in Las Vegas is set to be released in November, this year. The album, Viva Elvis will feature some of Elvis’ biggest hits, including “Suspicious Minds” and Blue Suede Shoes” in an all-new, “postmodern” context. Adam Block, the Senior Vice President of Legacy Recordings, which will release the album, has suggested that Viva Elvis offers “a tantalizing musical experience”, noting that the album is “so creative and so contemporary” that it will appear to both new and old fans of the King. The album will feature Elvis’ own vocals, put to new backing tracks that will incorporate rockabilly, hip-hop and garage rock, as well as other diverse musical styles.
However, while fans are eagerly awaiting the forthcoming Viva Elvis album, the Cirque du Soleil show which the record has stemmed from, hasn’t proven a huge hit with Elvis aficionados. A recent review on the Bloomberg website gave the Las Vegas show just one star out of five, suggesting the performance “gets smothered in sentimental hooey and flabbergasting kitsch”. While we tipped Viva Elvis as a potential hit with fans in our article, What Happened to Elvis Presley’s Casino??, we also noted that Presley fans in Las Vegas have been yearning for a large style Elvis attraction – such as a casino resort. Given that a 2010 Presley revival is currently underway there wouldn’t be a better time to begin work on a new, and hopefully successful, Elvis tribute in Sin City.
