The Kissin' Cousins soundtrack LP was issued in April 1964, a month after the film was released. The Viva Las Vegas EP was issued May 13, 1964, a week before the film was released. My guess is RCA didn't want to release another soundtrack LP a month apart. 3-5 months apart was the norm. In late 1961, RCA's Bill Bullock had proposed issuing the soundtracks for Follow That Dream and Kid Galahad as a "double feature" LP sometime in 1962. This never came to fruition and both soundtracks were issued as 45rpm EP's. RCA only issued two Presley LP's that year, Pot Luck and Girls! Girls! Girls!.
Viva Las Vegas is a good soundtrack and I especially like the expanded CD version. Fun movie and love Ann-Margret. Since were talking about the Viva Las Vegas film and the soundtrack EP, I thought I’d do a quick ask and see if anyone has a copy of the Viva Las Vegas EP they want to sell. I have the cover, so just need the record. PM me and thanks.
A scheduling logjam may indeed have been the reason. But that begs the question of why didn't they release the Kissin' Cousins soundtrack in March when the film itself was released, as was the norm? Fun in Acapulco came out in November, so a March release would have given them a four-month gap between releases, which was plenty. If the KC soundtrack came out in March, they could have released VLV in June, and still had plenty of time to release Roustabout later in the year. A three-album year was not unusual for Elvis. Elvis worked so far ahead that they knew what they had in the pipeline and could have scheduled accordingly.
Too bad Elvis never did a mash-up of Viva Las Vegas and Steely Dan's Show Biz Kids. Missed opportunities.
Roustabout Year of release: 1964 Studio: Paramount Director: John Rich Plot: Elvis plays Charlie Rogers, a struggling singer with a chip on his shoulder, who takes a job as a roustabout with a carnival, while his motorcycle is being fixed following an accident. The carnival owner soon recognises his musical talent and gives him an entertainment position. He soon attracts big crowds. Songs: Roustabout (theme) Poison Ivy League Wheels on my Heels It's a Wonderful World It's Carnival Time Carnival Town One Track Heart Hard Knocks Little Egypt Big Love, Big Heartache There's a Brand New Day On The Horizon Trailer:
Director John Rich, besides helming a handful of films, was a prolific TV director and won Emmys for The Dick Van Dyke Show and All In The Family and did everything from Gilligan's Island to Newhart. A lot of great TV but maybe not so much with films.
Isn't the story that Elvis was doing a Jackie Wilson homage on RTS? I've even read that Jackie was there, but kinda doubt that.
Roustabout was the first movie where Elvis started sounding like Mickey Mouse. His voice was thin and tinny and it continued for awhile. Was it bad recordings (We've all heard about the Girl Happy speed up) or did his voice really change that much? The way he sounds in this movie it's really hard to believe anybody was coming to see him. I loved this soundtrack as a kid, but now while I still like the songs, Elvis' voice just annoys me
I always heard it as he was banned from Mexico because they heard the "Shoeshine " lie but with Mexican replacing Negro.
More or less. According to this article, fabricated racist quotations from Elvis were printed in a tabloid in 1959, supposedly as revenge by a local politician after Elvis refused to perform at a private party he threw. There was also some rioting at the premiere of King Creole in Mexico City, and these things sparked a backlash.
I think it was about the time of "Roustabout" that Ray Davies of the Kinks submitted some songs for Elvis to sing for that particular movie. He had an "in" in the sense that he shared the same music publishing company as Elvis, so that there would be no problem recording Ray's songs, but his songs weren't used, which was a bit of a shame.
Actually, it was Spinout in 1966. Ray wrote a song called "Never Say Yes" (apparently, they approached different songwriters with "write to order" requests for specific song titles that would emphasize plot points in the movie). Ray's song was rejected in favor of the submission by Pomus and Shuman. I can see why, too. Pomus and Shuman wrote a song about being carefree and not tied down to one woman. Ray's song has more of a suspicious, "don't trust anyone" feeling which reflects his unique sensibility but probably isn't quite what the filmmakers wanted. It is a shame though, as it would have been fascinating to hear Elvis do a Ray Davies song. It's interesting that there are some lyrical similarities in the two songs, which makes me suspect they gave specific instructions to the songwriters about what they were looking for, beyond just the title: Ray: Kiss the girls and tell them that you'll love 'em and you'll never let 'em go Pomus/Shuman: Tell 'em that you love them so/You hate to leave but you gotta go Ray: I got everything I ever need/Guess I'll always love this life I lead Pomus/Shuman: That's the kind of life for me/Being free like I want to be
Roustabout (1964) The movie is entertaining but does not have half of the fun on "Viva Las Vegas". Still, Elvis looks good on his (honda) motorbike and acts decently next to the always shinny Barbara Stanwick. The scenery is also nice, very colorful. The plot is so-so: I keep wondering how and why Elvis' character goes from selfish to nice-man so abruptly. The soundtrack is fun too although way too short. (BTW, the "Roustabout" front cover has remained my all time favorite cover art design for an Elvis soundtrack for the last 20 years.) The "recently" discovered I'M A ROUSTABOUT would have fitted well with, perhaps, two more bonus tracks (LONG LONELY HIGHWAY and MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, maybe.) TOP#15 (1956 / 1964) ----------------------------------- 15. Kissin' cousins (1964) 14. It happened at the world's fair (1963) 13. Fun in Acapulco (1963) 12. Wild in the Country (1961) 11. Roustabout (1964) 10. G.I. Blues (1960) 9. Love Me Tender (1956) 8. Girls, girls, girls (1962) 7. Kid Galahad (1962) 6. Blue Hawaii (1961) 5. Loving you (1957) 4. Follow that Dream (1962) 3. King Creole (1958) 2. Jailhouse Rock (1957) 1. Flaming star (1960)
Roustabout was another decent film, and a solid soundtrack. And Barbara Stanwyck is back reprising her Loving You role!
That's generally how I feel. Roustabout is not in the top tier Elvis films but I have always enjoyed watching it.