As a bonus we get a compilation of material, recorded during different rehearsal sessions for the "Elvis Summer Festival 1970". In 2020 Sony's collector's label "Follow That Dream Records" released all available rehearsal recordings on a boxed set called "That's The Way It Is - 50th Anniversary Edition".

The song was written in 1926 by Silvano Ramos. Because Elvis hadn't a clue about the Spanish language, he simply sings phonetically what he remembers. The song is taken at a rediculous speed. It's not a serious performance, just some musicians having fun. For fans like me, it's fascinating to hear.

This one goes in the same direction, but unfortunately Elvis is far away from the microphone and can only be heared in the background. After "Ghost Riders In The Sky" the king imitates an opera singer and intones "Surrender".

Elvis and his band improvise a minute and twenty seconds of "Cotton Fields". It's a song they all grew up with, so it's more or less known to everyone and the group has fun fooling around with the track.

Once again Elvis sings just the bits and pieces he remembers of the Scottish traditional from the 16th century. He often alters the tempo and it's quite interesting to hear the interaction between the singer and his band.

The next few numbers demonstrate, that Elvis and his musicians rehearsed much more songs then they actually performed on stage. That's the secret, how he was able to pull stuff like "Such A Night", "Young And Beautiful" or "Return To Sender" out of the head.

In contrast to many others of his classics, "I Was The One" was sung during the midnight show on August 12, 1970.

The classic works quite well and it's a pity, that Elvis never included "Money Honey" in his concerts of the 1970s.

Even though the performance is somewhat rocky, it fits the king well.

The country tune works as well in 1970 as it had worked in 1961, when Elvis performed it live on stage. Once again I think it's a bit sad, that he never included it in his live shows again. Especially in the final years he could have updated his show with material like this without having to rehearse all that much.

This one had also been sung live in 1961. In December 1976 Elvis would return to "Such A Night" twice.

During the closing show of his previous Vegas stint the king had performed "It's Now Or Never". In the following years he would include his biggest hit a few times, but it took him until 1974, before he presented the tune on a regular basis.

This one had been a regular feature of his first string of shows at the International Hotel. The rehearsal also sounds quite good and Elvis' lyric changes are entertaining. However, when "What'd I Say" found its way back into the show in 1975, it was just a part of the band introductions and the singer would simply mumble along to the performance of James Burton.

The Beatles' hit was also presented during his so called comeback engagement. Maybe Elvis tried it out, because it recently was released on his album "On Stage - February 1970". However, he doens't take "Yesterday" too seriously and wouldn't present it on stage.

The combination of The Beatles' recent hit "Get Back" and Elvis' own sales giant "Little Sister" works very well. During the "Elvis Summer Festival 1970" it was presented just once, but from 1971 to 1973 it would become a more or less regular feature of the show.

Elvis and his guys are fooling around with Joe South's country classic, it's anything but a serious rehearsal. It's simply about having some fun.

In contrast to the previous track, this one might have been considered for the show. It's a good rendition and I would have loved to hear a live version of "I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water".

The same applies here. It would have been great to hear Elvis sing a blues like this on stage.

By now Elvis had moved the rehearsals to Las Vegas and the harmony singers were on board, too. However, it's not a serious take. Once again the king and his crew are more or less fooling around.

Once again it's more about having fun then about rehearsing a song. Elvis just sings a bit of the tune, his band obviously doesn't know it.

The final track was recorded during a stage rehearsal, which included the band, the harmony singers and the orchestra. This one obviously was considered to be a part of the show, because the performance features a worked-out arrangement and everybody knows what to do. It really sounds great. If I remember correctly, Elvis just presented "O Happy Day" on stage a single time.