Mr. Las Vegas! Review

07/13/2005 7:54 AM, AMG


Wayne Newton has spent the better part of five decades playing to sold-out houses in the Nevada desert, so it comes as no surprise that the state's most famous town feels compelled to honor one of its most recognizable icons with a compilation worthy of his nickname. Part of EMI's Las Vegas Centennial Celebration series -- the liner notes include a letter from the mayor -- Mr. Las Vegas! compiles 19 of the immaculately coiffed crooner's most beloved studio hits, as well as two bonus live tracks from a 1964 show at the Crescendo in Hollywood. Capitol Records classics like "Danke Schoën," "Volare (Nel Blu Di Pinto Di Blu)," "Strangers in the Night," and "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover" may have suffered under the stampede of "Beatlemania," but Newton had a knack for injecting them with the same kind of youthful pizzazz that his mentor, Bobby Darin, gave to songs like "Mack the Knife" -- covered here by Newton -- and "Beyond the Sea." While the world is in no danger of running out of Wayne Newton collections, Mr. Las Vegas! is an attractively packaged, efficiently detailed, and solidly built jackpot of "Sin City" song. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide