Elvis Duet Album In The Making

Thanks for the warning!

That is good news. I am in favour of it.

good news ! first I ll beleive it when I see it . second : you can rely on Sony to mess up the whole project...just see what's not happening with VE.

I hope some good true rock artists appear like Bruce, Fogerty, Clapton, etc. and not a bunch of country females. Done with care , this could be as big as the Sinatra Duets album of the 90's.

LOL Lex! I'm afraid I agree---this is more a warning than good news. Nevertheless, I am hopeful and even trying to be optimistic, at least until I see who the artists involved are going to be (hopefully we got all the singers I don't care for out of the way on that X-Mas CD)

As far as I am concerned Elvis only did duets for movies (e.g. with Ann Margret, Nacy Sinatra, etc), 'live' (e.g. with Frank Sinatra, Sherril Nielson) & 'informally' (e.g. Million Dollar Quartet). The rest is just someone playing with digital audio. Not really duets! The artists will never meet, one of them is gone... I'd like to hear it but, is it Elvis's music? How was Elvis involved? He never did any of those duets! They are just using his voice to make more money out of him. And us fans will just accept it because it gives us something 'new'...

I'm with you Marty ! But for those who are in favour : enjoy ! Always El.

I think i will definitely pass on this one Christmas Duet Album was enough for me.

Oh God, not again...

A lot of folks sure send mixed signals on this site. One of the most consistent things you see posted is will Elvis ever be in the charts again, have a top 10 hit again, etc? Well if that's how most of you feel why would you be opposed to a project like this? I think I can honestly say that without some form of modernization Elvis will never have a hit again. The songs are too old & dated and have been recycled a billion times. Anything that gets positive press or updates the sound cannot be all that bad. Geez, you always have the originals to play. Let this happen and lets see if it is a major hit or a major bust. The Christmas Duets wasn't great but it got Elvis on the radio again and sold well. It also updated the non-duet songs very nicely. I'm more curious to hear this than another boring soundboard or 12 takes of a song from the Jungle Room.

Marty, Elvis never did duets just because of the simple fact that he was not allowed to by the Colonel. He could not even record the songs he wanted too when it was not in the catalogue of his publishing company. The only duet that made it onto an Elvis record was with Nancy Sinatra. It took years after Elvis's death until the Ann Margret duets appeared. Having said that I really like his film duets! For instance Moonlight Swim, Happy Ending and Spring Fever. I really like the movie version of Spring Fever (with Shelley Fabares) a lot more than the released version on the LP. If I was in the position of picking artists for this new duets album I would ask for Tom Jones, Dolly Parton (yes!) and especially The Brian Setzer Orchestra. Anybody else!?

This isn't a new concept for a release from a deceased artist by any means. Nat King Cole and his daughter had a huge hit as did some duets by Jim Reeves. I think what makes this hard to digest is the fact that most of us on here are so familiar with his catalogue that it makes it difficult to imagine a solo vocal being re-worked as a duet. This idea was scrapped by RCA in the early 80's. I even believe that Larry Gatlin and his brothers laid down thier vocals for a duet on "Help Me" - which could've been a hit considering that the remixed versions of "Guitar Man" and "Loving Arms" became country hits. Don't know why this project never saw the light of day. As far as a new duets release, I hope they don't use such well-know songs as "Jailhouse Rock" or something of the magnitude. To make it work they should select lesser known songs that are written with lyrics that are not dated and isolate his vocal track and add new istrumentation as well as the duet voice. Think of Carrie Underwod and Elvis singing "I'll Never Know" from the Love Letters album or Cliff Richard doing the harmony on "Spanish Eyes." As far as rockers, how about Chris Daughtry on "Patch It Up" ? Seriously, who knows what could work. I do know I R E A L L Y like the new U2 sounding guitar on "Suspicious Minds" from Viva Elvis. This could be promising if done right....

not only "if done right" Orion ; but also : if done with the right promotion & respect for Elvis & his fans unlike VE which is turning to a bad joke . Aside from my pesimistic conclusions ; I am dreaming of a duet between Elvis & Cher on "burning Love".

Emiel, I agree with you, Parker never wanted Elvis to share the spotlight with anyone and that was the main reason Elvis almost never did any duets. The new 'duets' could be really nice, maybe become hits and I might even like them, but that's not the point. I am just stating a fact. Elvis didn't do these duets and the whole overdubbing process was against Elvis's principal when working in the studio. He wanted to record live and as a rule that's what he did (with some exceptions). In this respect I do not consider the new duets as Elvis's music. They will sound the way the producer wants (hopefully with respect to Elvis's original) and not the way Elvis might have wanted. As to who could be on them, well I think it will be best to use some of the older generation musicians and limit it to those that have already stated they are fans. Like Bruce Springsteen for example, not some new pop stars that would just want to be in the spotlight...

My choice would be a duet album with Buble - All those classic power house ballads that Elvis put an amazing vocal to with the new punch and vocals of Buble's music would be interesting!

As Marty rightly stated Elvis was not involved. It would have been quite intesting IF Elvis did record more duets, but he did not. For whatever reasons. A duet is a result of interaction, which is not the case here. It is an addition. Hence I don't feel any urge to buy this and leave it to those who like it.

Marty - not to sound crass, but it's obvious that Elvis wasn't involved in the process of the upcoming album. lol That's not what I'm trying to discuss. Actually, I don't believe that any of the artists that were on the hugely succesful Frank Sinatra duets from the 80's were in the studio with Ol' Blue Eyes. Back to my point.. I'm trying to illustrate that if done properly, and by that I mean choosing the right song and artist, this could be an enjoyable and successful project for reaching a new audience of potential Elvis fans and giving us older fans something "newish". I enjoyed two-three of the duets on the Christmas CD from a couple of years ago, and I was also one of the few that enjoyed the duet with Celine Dion on "If I Can Dream" from the American Idol special. So, with those few examples, I feel it can and might work. It even worked on a CD called "Forever Cool" by Dean Martin from 2007. My favorite track was a vocal from a song recorded nearly 60 years ago that was redone with Paris Bennett called "Baby-O." It wasn't a well-known song or a hit and therefore new to my ears which mad it sound “new”. That’s why I like my proposed duet on "I'll Never Know" with Carrie Underwood. Maybe even Christina Agulara (sp) with Elvis on "Like A Baby." You should hear her version on an Etta James song from the soundtrack of "Burlesque." She can sing the blues. It has to be someone who is vocally up to the challenge of harmonizing and taking the lead vocal when necessary. That really limits your choices in my opinion. I'm a huge Springsteen fan, but can't see him singing harmony with Elvis - to me the harmony solidifies the duet process - that way it’s not just a track where they trade off verses. I do agree that it shouldn't be filled with the likes of current singers like Lilly Allen, Gaga, or Justin Bieber just to cash in. They did that on the Dean CD by putting Robbie Williams and Joss Stone - two bad choices. I sincerely hope some serious thought is put into this project - no more Anne Murray’s or Olivia Newton-John’s.

Orion, just to put it to rest. We can argue forever but we have no say in how it will be done. Others will decide and most likely money will rule as usual. We can only hope the new sound and the chosen artists show some respect to the originals and the legacy of the King... PS I've heard the Dean Martin duets and I prefer the originals and Sinatra's duets were nothing memorable either...

Please : don't !!! If you want to bring out more Duets with Elvis CDs, then think of all the songs with his movie-co-stars like Ann-Margret (TT&F !!!) and Nancy or Donna Douglas, the girls in Spring Fever, songs from F&J....Great stuff that hasn't been marketed yet in that way. However, if BMG does insist, then let there be Dolly Parton, still-sexy Tina, Dionne Warwick, Connie Francis a.o. great stars from the 60s + 70s do a duet with him on those X-mas songs from his Wonderful World of Christmas.....Only if really necessary. But I could think of a hundred other priorities for fans (his loyal buying customers around the globe).

Wow what a disaster that would be KKK. The movie duets? They were horrible. It wasn't even Donna Douglas singing by the way. I am glad they were not on the original soundtracks. At least the Col had the good sense not to do that! The best of them were with Ann-Margret and they are just ok. She was certainly not the female Elvis to my ears. No, the duets must be with established & credible performers, maybe they should all be Rock n Roll Hall of Famers. That would be a nice theme. The hall of famers paying homage to the King, singing duets with him. Sort of like the JLL album.

Only JLL is still around so he can approve and more importantly participate in his duets...

Orion is correct with regard to the Frank Sinatra duets CDs, none of the vocals were recorded together. Because of Sinatra's failing health, he went into the studio with a trio and recorded the songs very quickly, mostly in one take. They were recorded as if they were to be solo performances and the other voices and orchestrations was added later. The album was created at the mixing stage. Albums can still have a very together sound even when produced in this way. The Cliff and The Shadows album from last year was recorded on opposite sides of the world. The basic tracks were recorded in England, Hank added his guitar and vocals in Australia and Cliff dubbed on his vocals in America. Regardless of these distances, it still sounds like a band playing live. Regarding Elvis not being around to sanction the release of a duets album, obviously that would never be possible. But we do have to consider that Elvis was not around to sanction the release of any of the post-1977 releases. Would we want to have been without the silver and gold box sets, the "Essential Elvis" series, the out-takes and live shows FTD have released and too many other releases to mention? As for the still unreleased movie duets, where co-stars dubbed vocal parts on for the films, I think that their release would be interesting but only as bonus tracks on the FTD soundtrack CDs. I do not think that they are strong enough to be placed on mainstream releases.

I think this album will be much bigger than Viva Elvis. Reason? The other artists that are on it will be plugging it as well as related Elvis sites. It will get attention in the press, they will liken it to the Sinatra duets album & such. If the correct artists are selected and the correct songs, this will be huge.