Unlike most other 1960s soundtrack there is no subjective decision to make whether the Viva Las Vegas masters should be remastered from 3-Track for release or not, simply because there were no (final) original stereo masters produced for Viva Las Vegas in the first place. It is not an easy task because of dry sound and irrational use of the 3 tracks available. How a mix should be done is usually too subjective to even argue about, but perhaps not in this case. The title song with its intense arrangements has all the instruments on one channel, the vocals on another and the only backup vocals on the third. 

'Do The Vega', 'Santa Lucia', 'Yellow Rose Of Texas' / 'The Eyes Of Texas' and 'Viva Las Vegas' (Takes 2 - 7) were recorded with backup vocals only on the third, "empty" channel, whereas 'I Need Somebody To Lean On' has an accoustic guitar on the third channel.

No effort at creating a stereo or even mono image can improve this situation and it is considered necessary to keep the instruments on one stereo channel, the vocals centered, and the backup vocals on the other 2-Track stereo channel. This will leave an almost empty right channel, and a certain amount of leakage from the instrumental channel may be necessary. It is exactly this approach has been taken on the 2003 FTD Viva Las Vegas extended soundtrack, which is an ambitious attempt at remastering the entire Viva Las Vegas soundtrack. 

M.G.M. soundtracks were recorded dry and the typical 60s approach would be to apply dynamic processing for record release, especially utilizing dynamic compression and only light reverb of the vocal channel. Using just a little compression and hardly any reverb makes this modern attempt a success overall and so much better than previous efforts. The result does not sound alien beside the original Girl Happy LP masters, which were recorded in the same manner as Viva Las Vegas and also by George Stoll and Dave Wiechman.

Sadly, the amplitude level has been pushed up about 3-4 dB over the 0 dB limit on the FTD Viva Las Vegas extended soundtrack and this detracts from what otherwise would have been an excellent release all the way. The title song 'Viva Las Vegas' (master) is for instance, first clipped from amplitude overload and then limited to -3 dB, just to make sure that all reasons for the initial compromise were eliminated as well - and leaving us with "the worst of both worlds". Having said that, it is a relief to find that some similar major mistakes of the previously released outtakes have been rectified with this release. Most noteably, 'Viva Las Vegas' Take 1 which sounded corrupt on Silver Screen Stereo due to poor reverb and amplitude raise above the limit, now sounds fantastic and even has the dynamic range intact. 

'The Climb' has lead vocals by George McFadden of The Jubillee Four and backing vocals by Elvis and The Jordanaires.
Take 9 of 'The Climb' is listed as being on FTD's extended soundtrack of Viva Las Vegas but it's actually takes 1, 4, 5 and 9.

There is too much digital echo (by any standard) on the Double Features version of 'Do The Vega' and 'Yellow Rose Of Texas' / 'The Eyes Of Texas' and too much noise reduction (by any standard) on the Double Features version of 'I Need Somebody To Lean On'.

The movie version of 'I Need Somebody To Lean On' has a prominent saxophone throughout, that is not present on the record version and is compiled as such:
0:00-1:18 = 2402-1 (2005-20 with added reverb on vocals) and overdubbed saxophone (2561-2 & 2545-1)
1:19-3:14 = 2403-1 (2005-20 with upfront vocals) and overdubbed saxophone (2561-2 & 2545-1)

The 1st movie version of 'Viva Las Vegas' has an extra instrumental intro, and the 2nd movie version has overdubbed bongos throughout.

For the movie version of 'Yellow Rose Of Texas' / 'The Eyes Of Texas the following lines were edited out of the master (in bold)

Oh The yellow rose of Texas is the only gal I love
Her eyes are even bluer than Texas skies above
Her heart's as big as Texas and wherever I may go
I’ll remember her forever because I love her so

There are so many roses that bloom along the way
But heart's in Amarillo and that's where I will stay
By the yellow rose of Texas so I better get her fast
'Cause I know I was her first love and I wanna be her last

The yellow rose of Texas is the only gal I love
Her eyes are even bluer than Texas skies above
Her heart's as big as Texas and wherever I may go
I’ll remember her forever because I love her so

solo

The eyes of Texas are upon you, all the live long day
The eyes of Texas are upon you, you cannot get away
Do not think you can escape it, at night or early in the morn'
The eyes of Texas are upon you 'till Gabriel blows his horn

The eyes of Texas are upon you, all the live long day
The eyes of Texas are upon you, you cannot get away
Do not think you can escape it, at night or early in the morn'
The eyes of Texas are upon you 'till Gabriel blows his horn

The eyes of Texas are upon you, all the live long day
The eyes of Texas are upon you, you cannot get away
Do not think you can escape it, at night or early in the morn'
The eyes of Texas are upon you 'till Gabriel blows his horn

The eyes of Texas are upon you, all the live long day
The eyes of Texas are upon you, you cannot get away
Do not think you can escape it, at night or early in the morn'
The eyes of Texas are upon you 'till Gabriel blows his horn

(Early Fade)

All timings in the 'Musical Breakdown' below are taken from the DVD release of the movie.

What should have been the definitive release of these sessions on Follow That Dream's limited edition The Viva Las Vegas Sessions 3xCD set, sadly wasn't the case. Although everything has been restored, remixed and remastered from scratch, some outakes are missing dialogue and take slates which were present on previous releases, and where takes were presented with dry vocals on previous releases, they now contain added reverb, as does the complete set.

In March of 2007, Sony decided to go through all of Elvis' masters. They retransferred everything and remastered all tracks including repairing as many clicks, pops, bad edits and dropouts as they could. They have used these newly mastered recordings on their new releases since 2007 including budget soundtracks, Legacy releases, the 30 disc Complete Elvis Presley Masters collection and the Franklin Mint package.

Thanks to Gary Bressler for acetate scans and audio.