After "Viva Las Vegas" / "What'd I Say" had been released in April 1964, RCA issued another four songs from the movie on an extended player in May. Because Billboard had cancelled the accordant chart due to the vanishing popularity of this format, the ep was listed on the singles chart "Hot 100". It entered the hitparade on July 4, 1964 at number 92, but with sales of just 150,000 copies it was gone after a single week. In Great Britain extended players still sold well and "Viva Las Vegas" peaked at number 3. Worldwide RCA Victor was able to retail 500,000 units, which translates to 75 million paid streams of the complete record or 300 million individual tracks. Even though "Viva Las Vegas" would become the king's most successful motion picture, the soundtrack was his worst selling ep since "Christmas With Elvis" in 1958.

The cover was designed with a promo photo for "Viva Las Vegas", the backside of the sleeve promoted the soundtrack eps of "Jailhouse Rock" (1957), "King Creole" (1958), "Follow That Dream" (1962) and "Kid Galahad" (1962) as well as the soundtrack album of "Loving You" (1957).

The extended player is not available on the streaming platforms, but the songs can be found on the CAMDEN albums "C'mon Everybody" (1971) and "I Got Lucky" (1971).

The soundtrack was recorded between July 9th and 11th 1963 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California. The sessions were produced by George Stoll and engineered by Dave Weichman. For this recording project MGM booked an unusual number of musicians. Scotty Moore, Hilmer J. Timbrell and Billy Strange played guitar, on drums were D.J. Fontana, Murrey Harman and Frank Carlson. Hal Rees, Roy Hart, Larry Bunker, Frank Flynn and Michael Syla were booked as percussionists, the piano was shared by Floyd Cramer, Dudley Brooks and Calvin Jacson. Homer Randolph and Qilliam Green played saxophone, Oliver Mitchell and James Zito played trumpet and Herb Taylor and Randall Miller played tromones. It's almost strange that Bob Moore was the only bassist. The harmony vocals were provided by The Jordanaires (Gordon Stoker, Hoyt Hawkins, Neal Matthews and Ray Walker). Ann-Margret and Elvis recorded the duets "The Lady Loves Me", "You're The Boss" and "Today, Tomorrow And Forever". On August 28, 1963 Ann-Margret also recorded "My Rival" and "Appreciation" at the MGM Soundstage in Hollywood/California. On August 30, 1963 Elvis taped a cover version of the Ray Charles hit "What'd I Say" at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California. On September 13th he also recorded a medley of "Yellow Rose Of Texas" and "The Eyes Of Texas" at the same place.

Even though there were enough songs to fill an album, it was decided to release just six of them on a single and an extended player. "Santa Lucia" was issued in 1965 on the album "Elvis For Everyone!", "Do The Vega", "Night Life" and "Yellow Rose Of Texas" / "The Eyes Of Texas" were included on the budget lp "SINGER Presents Elvis Singing "Flaming Star" & Others" in 1968. The duets were released on "A Legendary Performer - Volume 4" (1983), "Collector's Gold" (1990) and "Today, Tomorrow And Forever" (2002).

In 2003 "Viva Las Vegas" was one of the first soundtracks that were released as a special collector's edition by Follow That Dream Records. To read the review just tap HERE.

The song by Red West and Joey Cooper sounds like a typical movie tune of its time. However, the brass section adds a nice touch. Elvis recorded "If You Think I Don't Need You" on July 9, 1963 within 13 takes. In 1971 it was included on the CAMDEN album "I Got Lucky".

This ballad ended up on the same record. It is reminiscent of the saloon songs by Frank Sinatra and certainly wouldn't have been out of place on a regular studio album. Elvis obviously recognized the quality of the composition and invested twenty takes on July 10, 1963. Today "I Need Somebody To Lean On" is often overlooked, but the song by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman is one of the king's best movie tunes.

Unfortunately this is not the rock'n'roll classic by Eddie Cochran, but a regular movie song written by Joy Byers. Elvis recorded it on July 9, 1963 within five takes. In 1971 CAMDEN made "C'mon Everybody" the title of a budget album.

Bill Giant, Bernie Baum and Florence Kaye turned Franz Liszt's "Liebestraum" into "Today, Tomorrow And Forever". On July 11, 1963 Elvis and Ann-Margret recorded two duet takes, the musicians produced four instrumental takes afterwards. Because the producer simply continued the counting these tracks are archived as takes 3 to 6. In the end Elvis didn't add his voice to the music tracks, but recorded six takes together with the band. CAMDEN released the master on "C'mon Everybody" in 1971.