LOS ANGELES, June 12 (Reuters) - The king is back. Elvis
Presley, who has battled the Beatles for the most No. 1 hits on
the UK charts, is poised to grab the crown with a new version
of an obscure tune that barely charted when it first came out
34 years ago, RCA officials said on Wednesday.
A dance remix of "A Little Less Conversation," which
Presley performed in his 1968 film "Live a Little, Love a Lot,"
has been drawing brisk sales and heavy radio airplay in Britain
since it was released there as a single on Monday.
The recording is expected to top the British singles charts
next week, breaking the long-running tie between Presley and
the Beatles for the most No. 1 hits in the United Kingdom,
which currently stands at 17 apiece, an RCA spokesman said.
The original version of the song reached No. 69 on the U.S.
singles charts in 1968 and failed to chart at all in Britain.
But the record books will contain an asterisk, as the new
recording takes some liberties with the song as it was
originally performed by the King of Rock 'n' Roll.
The updated version of "A Little Less Conversation" adds a
minute-long electronic introduction, surrounds Presley's vocals
with new rhythms and beats and extends the song with dance
loops and techno tracks.
"If you hear the first minute of the song, you would have
no idea that it's Elvis. It sounds like a techno song," said
RCA general manager Richard Sanders. "And when you hear his
voice kick in, it's like, 'Oh, my, that's Elvis!"
Sanders said it marks the first contemporary remix of
Presley's music allowed by RCA, a unit of Bertelsmann AG's
<BTGGga.D> BMG. RCA owns rights to the original master
recordings of Presley's entire catalog, a spokesman said.
The six-minute-plus recording is the work of popular
Amsterdam-based DJ and producer JXL. He was licensed by RCA and
Elvis Presley Enterprises to remix the song for the soundtrack
to Nike's $90 million worldwide ad campaign tied to the World
Cup soccer tournament.
The full-length remix, a three-minute version edited for
radio and the original version of the song are all contained on
the single, which is due for release in the United States on
June 25.
The original song also appeared last year on the soundtrack
to the hit movie "Ocean's Eleven," which starred George Clooney
and Brad Pitt.
Presley is likely to return to the charts again this fall
when RCA releases a one-CD collection of 30 of his No. 1 hits
to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his death. That album,
titled "ELV1S 30 # 1 Hits" is due out Sept. 24 in the U.S.
He died on Aug. 16, 1977, in Memphis, Tenn., at age 44.
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