With his television special, the accordant soundtrack album and the single "If I Can Dream" Elvis had returned to the spotlight. Now he quickly needed a new, contemporary album and another strong single to keep the momentum. So he booked the American Sound Studios in Memphis and used the studio's own, hip band. He started to record on January 13th, but had to cancel the remainder of the sessions on the following day due to a bad cold. He couldn't control his voice properly and missed too many notes. The work started again on March 20th and continued for another three days. Afterwards the king and his family went on holiday in Aspen/Colorado. Between February 17th and 22nd another string of sessions followed. Meanwhile RCA released the single "Memories" / "Charro!", a song from his recent tv special and the title track of his new feature film. But with a peak position of number 35 and sales of 300,000 units the success was just moderate.
On February 26th Elvis visited the construction site of the soon to be opened International Hotel, where he was about to perform in the summer. Of course the press was also on hand and especially for the media a fake-contract was signed. On March 5th the singer started to work on a movie called "Change Of Habit". It was a part of the contract with NBC/Universal, which also included the recent television special. Before the production was finalized on April 29th, the king signed the real contract with Kirk Kerkorian. In addition to the agreements from December 1968, the management of the International Hotel guaranteed free accommodation any time Presley and Parker liked. Besides that, the entertainment resort got an option for another engagement.
National General rolled out "Charro!" on March 13th, but on the demestic market the western movie barely earned its costs back. Twelfe days later RCA issued the gospel single "How Great Thou Art" / "His Hand In Mine". With sales of just 25,000 units it bombed in grand style. However, the budget album "Elvis Sings FLAMING STAR & Others" did much better. For a non-refundable royalty-prepayment of 35,000 USD Elvis and his manager had agreed to re-release the promotional item "SINGER Presents Elvis Singing FLAMING STAR & Others" under a slightly different name through RCA's own cheap line CAMDEN. Because Billboard calculated the chart positions on the turnover in USD, the cheapy didn't move past number 96. But in its initial sales period it moved 500,000 copies and therefore sold better than many of Elvis' recent soundtrack albums.
In April RCA shipped "In The Ghetto" / "Any Day Now". The first two songs from the sessions in Memphis were received very well. On the spot the single sold more than 1.5 million units and peaked at number 3. It was Elvis' first real hit since 1965! Two months later the label followed with "Clean Up Your Own Backyard" / "The Fair Is Moving On". The combination of a tune from the king's forthcoming movie "The Trouble With Girls (And How To Get Into It)" and another song from the Memphis session was not nearly as popular. It moved just 300,000 copies and stalled at number 35. On the other side, the figures of "From Elvis In Memphis" were solid and the album went up to number 13 of the lp charts.
On July 10th the king and the committee of The Graceland Christian Church agreed, that the singer could use their private road to leave and enter his property against a monthly fee of 10 USD. Therefore he could avoid to use his own gateway, when he didn't want to be seen by his fans.
During the same month Elvis and Charlie started to compile songs, which could be used during the forthcoming live shows. Because they were just offered 500 USD per week, Scotty Moore and DJ Fontana turned the king down. The Jordanaires were not offered much more, so they also refused to accompany Elvis on stage. So he called James Burton and asked him to assemble a band. Finally the group consisted of John Wilkinson (rhythm guitar), Larry Muhoberac (piano), Ronnie Tutt (drums) and Jerry Scheff (bass). For the harmony vocals The Sweet Inspirations and The Imperials were hired. Fun fact: They all got better offers than Scotty, DJ and The Jordanaires. Of course the hotel's own orchestra, conducted by Bobby Morris, would also be on stage with Elvis. Charlie Hodge was going to act as some kind of stage manager and would also do harmony vocals. Bill Belew, who previously had designed the king's outfits for the tv show "SINGER presents Elvis" was asked to create karate-styled suits with high collars. The singer liked them so much, that he also ordered casual outfits from him. Together with his longer hair and the stylish mutton chops they defined the king's new image.
Rehearsals began on July 18th at RCA Studio C in Hollywood/California, six days later the group moved to Vegas. Finally the curtain went up on July 31st, afterwards Elvis met the press. The show was a major success, the audience flocked to Vegas to see the king and the press was full of praize.
Just like the management of the mega resort recognized a golden goose when they saw one, Colonel Parker smelled business opportunities from a great distance. Even though Elvis (along with Barbra Streisand) currently was the highest paid star in Vegas, the Colonel managed to raise the fee by a solid quarter. For 125,000 USD per week the king agreed to do two engagements of four weeks each per year and tie himself to the International until 1973. With his signature he ensured to stay an income millionaire for the next four years. The workload also was low. Of course he had to do two shows per night without a day off, but he just had to be on stage at 9:00 pm and 1:00 am for 45 minutes each. So he had to work for 90 minutes each day, interrupted by a break of three hours.
On August 14th Colonel Parker made a deal with the organizers of The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. Elvis would appear on the program from February 27th to March 1 for a payment of 150,000 USD.
To avoid additional work and cash-in on the success of the Vegas shows, it was agreed with RCA to record all 11 concerts between August 21st and 26th and to release a live album. But first RCA issued the single "Suspicious Minds" / "You'll Think Of Me". During its initial sales period the fans picked up 1.2 million copies and therefore provided Elvis with his first number one hit since 1962!
While the king himself had no business activities until January 1970, MGM finally rolled out "The Trouble With Girls (And How To Get Into It)". Just like the previous Presley flicks, the movie didn't do too well at the box office. In October RCA released a double album called "From Memphis To Vegas / From Vegas To Memphis". The first longplayer reassembled a Vegas show, the second one featured tracks, Elvis had taped at the American Sound Studio in Memphis. In its initial sales period the set moved 300,000 units and peaked at number 13 of the Billboard Charts.
On November 10th Universal put "Change Of Habit" in the cinemas. On Variety's weekly movie chart it reached number 17 and was the best performing Presley movie since "Speedway" in 1968. RCA tried to capitalize on the movie and released the single "Rubberneckin'" / "Don't Cry Daddy". It sold 1.2 million copies, but mostly due to the b-side, which charted at number 6 of the charts.
The success of "Elvis Sings FLAMING STAR & Others" enabled Colonel Parker to make a deal with RCA about four more budget albums. Three CAMDEN releases were planned for 1970, another one for 1971. Elvis was to receive his standard rate of royalties, but the label had to carry out a non-refundable prepayment of 300,000 USD. For the king this was a great agreement, because the budget albums were filled with leftovers from the vaults and/or recordings, that had not been available on longplayers before. To make it short: Elvis was paid without having to do anything.
Commercially 1969 was a very good year for Elvis. The movies had made him 1,096,000 USD, from the sales of his records he received 794,000 USD. The concert performances added another 401,000 USD and the previous year's tv special paid off with 150,000 USD. There was no doubt: Elvis was back!