The first Presley album of 1970 was a budget release by CAMDEN. It hit the stores in April and entered Billboard's "Top LPs Chart" on May 9th. "Let's Be Friends" stayed for eleven weeks, but never charted any higher than number 105. This was caused by the low price. To avoid "bought" chart successes by price dumping, Billboard calculated the charts by using the value in USD. With sales of 400,000 "Let's Be Friends" certainly would have made it into the top 20, if it had been a full price release. However, the RIAA calculated their awards by sold units and so the album was certified Gold (1999) and Platinum (2004). In the UK the charts were also calculated by sold units and therefore "Let's Be Friends" made it to number 12. In continental Europe the long player was quite popular, too. In total RCA Victor / CAMDEN was able to sell 2 million units, which translates to 300 million paid streams. Today the situation is much different. On Spotify this album barely made 6 million friends.

Elvis' look on the cover was already known from the single "Suspicious Minds" / "You'll Think Of Me", because CAMDEN used a picture of the same session. The photos had been made in October of the previous year to promote the MGM movie "The Trouble With Girls (And How To Get Into It)". The backside of the sleeve was made up with a photo from the rehearsals for the tv special "SINGER presents Elvis". Of course it also featured an advertising for the king's previous CAMDEN release "Elvis Sings Flaming Star & Others".

On the streaming platforms "Let's Be Friends" is presented the way it was issued in 2016 as part of the set "The Album Collection". As bonus tracks the digital version also includes "Dainty Little Moonbeams", "Girls! Girls! Girls" (Finale), "Plantation Rock", "Let Us Pray" and "Who Am I". For this project all tracks were scanned with high-resolution equipment and remastered. Therefore the album can be presented with the golden Hi-Res emblem. The better sound of these versions is owed exclusively to the new mastering (the elimination of interfering noise). Because first one cannot turn an analogue recording into a high resolution recording just by scanning the tape with hd equipment and second even an old cd with 16 bit/44.1 kHz exceeds the auditory sense of a human being.

After the success of "Elvis Sings Flaming Star" CAMDEN made a deal with Elvis for another four budget albums, which were to be released between Easter 1970 and Easter 1971. It was also agreed upon an option to issue another two albums in 1971. The king received a non-refundable advance payment of $300,000, which was to be settled with the actual sales of these releases. By using our very rough factor of 15 to translate the payment to the present, we can estimate that Elvis would have received 4.5 million USD today. The deal was a win-win situation. The label could release albums without having to collect new songs, rent studios or hire staff and the king was paid without having to do anything. "Let's Be Friends" was filled with movie tunes that had not been released on records yet and two leftovers from the previous year's sessions in Memphis. In total the album contained ten tracks and had a running time of 21:23 minutes.

The album starts with the title song of the movie "Stay Away, Joe". It was written by Ben Weisman and Sid Wayne, on October 1, 1967 Elvis recorded 19 takes of the tune at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee and selected his 17th attempt as the master. For a possible record release the band also recorded a rhythm track. They needed two takes and an unknown number of insert-takes. After the music track was edited, Elvis added his vocals. Musically "Stay Away, Joe" fits the theme of the movie, but it's certainly no highlight.

This ballad was written by Stand Kesler and recorded by Elvis on February 20, 1969 at American Sound Studio in Memphis/Tennessee. He needed nine takes for this sentimental country song, strings and harmony voices were added on March 25th. In the song the narrator claims not to care if the love of his lady is real, as long as she lets him believe it is. Compared to the tracks on "From Elvis In Memphis" (1969) and "From Memphis To Vegas / From Vegas To Memphis" (1969) this song is a tad on the weak side, but it's still worth listening to and therefore it's a good solution to release it on a budget album like this.

The title song of this long player was recorded on March 5, 1969 at Decca Universal Studio in Hollywood/California. The king put three takes on tape as well as several workpart-takes of the ending of the song. The master was spliced of take 3 and an unknown workpart-take. "Let's Be Friends" was recorded for the Universal picture "Change Of Habit", but finally wasn't used. Dr. John Carpenter (Elvis) was supposed to sing the ballad to an autistic girl, therefore the lyrics seem a little strange if one doesn't know the background. The song was written by Chris Arnold, David Martin and Geoff Morrow and can be regarded as a mediocre movie tune.

Here we have another movie song, that wasn't used. "Let's Forget About The Stars" was written by A.L. Owens for the western "Charro!" and recorded on October 15, 1968 at the Samuel Goldwyn Studios in Hollywood/California. The band put the rhythm track on tape within two takes, Elvis needed five attempts to add his voice to the playback. The singer begs his loved one, to listen to her heart and ignore the astrology. It's a really nice ballad and it would have been a pity to leave it in the vaults.

In the movie "Girls! Girls! Girls!" (1962) the ballad was sung by The Amigos. For a possible record release Elvis had also produced a version of this song, but finally it was decided to do without this track of 58 seconds. And so CAMDEN used the short song by Charles O' Curran and Dudley Brooks to fill this budget album. The song is somewhat kitschy, but there are certainly worse movie tunes than "Mama".

This song was written and recorded by Bobby Darin in 1959. Elvis followed him on January 22, 1969 at American Sound Studio in Memphis/Tennessee. He recorded six takes and selected the thrid attempt for post-production and release. Chips Moman, the producer of the session, added harmony vocals (January 24th), strings (May 5th) as well as horns and additional harmony vocals (May 6th). Just like "If I'm A Fool (For Loving You)" this one also was too weak for the release on "From Elvis In Memphis" or "From Memphis To Vegas / From Vegas To Memphis", but certainly too good to be left in the vaults.

In this ballad the singer regrets that he and his loved one never got together. Elvis sings with a lot of emotion and sells this short song in a believable way. Buddy Kaye and Ben Weisman had written "Almost" in 1967, but the king recorded it a year later for the MGM movie "The Trouble With Girls (And How To Get Into It)". On October 23, 1968 at United Recorders in Hollywood/California he needed 31 takes to do so, later strings (May 7, 1969) and horns (May 8, 1969) were added.

Half a year after the movie had premiered in the US, the fans were able to buy the title song. The singer advises certain people to reconsider their behaviour patterns, in compliance to the movie the lyrics play with the double meaning of the word "habit". Elvis recorded "Change Of Habit" on March 5, 1969 at Decca Universal Studio in Hollywood/California within six takes. Today the song is often overlooked by fans and critics, but to me it's one of the king's best movie tunes.

The album ends with another track from "Change Of Habit". It was also recorded at Decca Universal Studio in Hollywood/California, but this time on March 6, 1969. Elvis needed seven takes to reach a satisfactory result. The song was written by Ben Weisman and Buddy Kaye and can be compared to the many mediocre movie ballads of the mid-sixties.