''Viva Elvis'' is the soundtrack remix album of the
Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...
show ''
Viva Elvis
''Viva Elvis'' was the seventh resident Cirque du Soleil show on the Las Vegas Strip. It resided at the Aria Resort & Casino and premiered on February 19, 2010. The show closed on August 31, 2012. Cirque du Soleil partnered with Elvis Presley En ...
'', which focuses on the life and music of American singer and musician
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
. The album, though initially produced as a soundtrack to the show, does not include all of the songs featured in the show. The CD tracks are rearranged and extended versions of songs heard in the show, and in fact the album includes two instrumental versions of the songs "
Memories
Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...
" and "
You'll Never Walk Alone
"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''Carousel''. In the second act of the musical, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and enco ...
", neither of which is in the Cirque du Soleil show.
This album marks the third official posthumous album by Elvis Presley created from scratch, whereas previous albums were compilations of previously released or unreleased studio material recorded well before his death. The two prior albums were the urban country-influenced 1981 ''Guitar Man'' record and the 2008 '' Christmas Duets'' CD. Similar to Cirque du Soleil's soundtrack to the Beatles-themed ''
Love
Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of meanings is that the love o ...
'', "Viva Elvis" contains samples from throughout the entire span of Elvis Presley's career, including interview clips, home recordings, studio
outtakes
An outtake is a portion of a work (usually a film or music recording) that is removed in the editing process and not included in the work's final, publicly released version. In the digital era, significant outtakes have been appended to CD and D ...
and snippets of dialogue from Elvis's feature films.
Unlike ''Love'', however, ''Viva Elvis'' features new backing instrumentation on each track in an attempt to modernize the arrangements.Allmusic.com review of the album /ref> This has met with a mixed critical response, with some reviewers praising the production quality and others opining that Elvis's music is best left untampered with.
Track listing
Bonus tracks
In each country, a bonus version of "Love Me Tender" was included, featuring a local singer in place of the singer from the Cirque du Soleil show.
*Finland -
Anna Puu
Anna Puu (born Anna Puustjärvi; February 3, 1982) is a Finnish singer-songwriter. She placed second in Finland's '' Idols'' 2008 competition.Lisa Lois
*France -
Amel Bent
Amel Bent Bachir ( ar, آمال بنت بشير; born 21 June 1985) is a French R&B and pop singer who gained fame after reaching the semi-finals of season 2 of French TV singing competition ''Nouvelle Star''. She is best-selling artist to come ...
*Spain -
Russian Red
Lourdes Hernández González, known professionally as Russian Red, is a Spanish indie and folk singer-songwriter.
Known by many as the "Spanish Feist", in reference to the Canadian singer-songwriter who inspires her in many of her attitude ...
*America and Wal-Mart Exclusive in United States -
Thalía
Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda (; born 26 August 1971), known mononymously as Thalía, is a Mexican singer and actress. Referred to as the " Queen of Latin Pop", she is considered one of the most successful and influential Mexican artists. Havi ...
*Australia -
Jessica Mauboy
Jessica Hilda Mauboy (born 4 August 1989) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. Born and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory, she rose to fame in 2006 on the fourth season of ''Australian Idol'', where she was runner-up and subseq ...
*Belgium -
Dani Klein
Danielle Schoovaerts (born 1 January 1953), known professionally as Dani Klein, is a Belgian singer, songwriter, band leader and producer, and consistently the center and driving force of the band Vaya Con Dios (1986-1996, 2004-2014 and 2022-).
...
Aurea
Aurea, golden in Latin, may refer to:
* Aurea (car), a former Italian automobile manufactured in Turin from 1921 to 1930
* Aurea (singer) (born 1987), Portuguese singer
* Aurea Alexandrina, a kind of opiate or antidote
* Áurea, a municipality ...
*Japan -
Miho Fukuhara
is a Japanese pop singer who made an independent label debut in 2006, releasing a single titled "The Roots" and mini-album titled ''Step Out''. In early 2008, she made her major-label debut under Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Her single, "Cha ...
Personnel
*Vocals - Elvis Presley
*Guest singers - Dea Norberg ("Love Me Tender"), Jennlee Shallow ("King Creole"), Sherry St-Germain ("Can't Help Falling In Love"), Stacie Tabb ("Suspicious Minds")
*Drums - Ben Clement
*Bass - Patrick Levergne
*Electric guitars - JS "The Flash" Chouinard, Mike Plant, Steve Nadeau, Martin Bachand, Paul Deslauriers, Erich van Tourneau
*Acoustic guitars - Olivier Goulet, Erich van Tourneau
*Piano and keyboards: Erich van Tourneau
*Harmonica - Guy Belanger
*Scratch - DJ Pocket
*Brass section - Jean-Francois Thibeault (T-Bone), Brune Dumont (Sax), David Perrico (Trumpet), Jean-Francois Gagnon (Flugel)
Production
*Producer and arranger: Eric van Tourneau
*Assistant producer and assistant arranger: Hugo "Wedge Montecristo" Bombardier
*Executive producers: Steve Berkowitz, Adam Block, Stephanie Mongeau, Jacques Methe, Stephane Bergevin, Gary Hovey and
Priscilla Presley
Priscilla Ann Presley ( Wagner, changed by adoption to Beaulieu; born May 24, 1945) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the former wife of American singer Elvis Presley, as well as co-founder and former chairwoman of Elvis Presley ...
Chart performance
Certifications and sales
See also
*
Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...
*
Viva Elvis
''Viva Elvis'' was the seventh resident Cirque du Soleil show on the Las Vegas Strip. It resided at the Aria Resort & Casino and premiered on February 19, 2010. The show closed on August 31, 2012. Cirque du Soleil partnered with Elvis Presley En ...