The second budget album of 1970 was released in October. On November 21st "Almost In Love" entered Billboard's "Top LPs Chart", had a run of 18 weeks and peaked at number 65. 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. Conversely the RIAA counted the sold units and honored the domestic sales with a Platinum Award in 2004. Worldwide CAMDEN was able to retail 2 million copies of "Almost In Love", which equals 300 million paid streams of the complete album or 3 billion paid streams of individual tracks. In the present the album accumulates 29 million streams on Spotify.

Even though the album featured just studio recordings, CAMDEN used a concert photo from January or February 1970. The backside of the cover advertised the two previous budget albums as well as the forthcoming "Elvis' Christmas Album".

On the streaming platforms "Almost In Love" 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 "Dominick", "Signs Of The Zodiac" and the re-recording of "Swing Down Sweet Chariot". 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.

The album could also have been named "For LP Fans Only - Volume 2". Just like RCA had done back in 1959, the budget label simply compiled some songs, that had not been available on a longplayer before. The only exception was "Long Legged Girl (With The Short Dress On)", which also had been included on the soundtrack album "Double Trouble". CAMDEN used the track, because the lp had been deleted by RCA due to its lack of sales.  That's the way it was in the days of physical sound carriers. At some point it became uneconomic to produce and distribute further units and the product vanished from the market. In total "Almost In Love" has a running time of 25:44 minutes.

The music track was recorded on March 7, 1968 at Western Recorders in Hollywood/California, four days later the king added his vocals. The master finally was combined of the takes 4 (music track) and 3 (vocal track). The ballad was written by Randy Starr, who based it on Luiz Bonfa's "Moonlight In Rio". To me "Almost In Love" is some kind of elevator music (aka lounge music), which was a fab of the time. It's certainly not bad and also well performed, but it just doesn't stay with you. The song was first released in 1968 to promote the movie "Live A Little, Love A Little", but "Almost In Love" / "A Little Less Conversation" didn't even manage to sell more than half a million copies.

The singer tells us about the hardships of his search for the girl with the long legs and the short frock. The rocking melody and the edgy electric guitar were supposed to sound modern, but still "Long Legged Girl (With The Short Dress On)" never leaves the level of a mediocre movie tune. Elvis recorded the song on June 29, 1966 at the MGM Soundstage. The fifth take became the master. The single "Long Legged Girl (With The Short Dress On)" / "That's Someone You'll Never Forget" was issued in April 1967 and barely sold half a million copies. The album "Double Trouble", which also featured the song, sold 1.6 million units and was the king's lowest selling longplayer so far.

This was another song from MGM's "Live A Little, Love A Little". Elvis recorded "Edge Of Reality" on March 7, 1968 at Western Recorders in Hollywood/California. He needed eight takes to archive a satisfactory result. The song itelf is more than a tad on the psychedelic side and is anything but an average movie tune. It was written by Bill Giant, Bernie Baum and Florence Kaye, who had delivered a truckload thereof in the past few years. In late 1968 "Edge Of Reality" was released on the b-side of "If I Can Dream", which sold two million units and started Elvis' long overdue commercial comeback.

Here the singer remembers his first love and the changes that this event brought into his life. It was written by Shirl Milete and also recorded by Elvis at American Sound Studio in Memphis/Tennessee. The ryhthm track was taped on January 16, 1969, the king's vocals followed five days later. Further additions were horns (March 18th), strings (March 19th) and harmony vocals (March 25th). The song certainly isn't made for the radio, one has to sit down and really listen to it. It took me several years to like it, maybe it has something to do with my own experiences. "My Little Friend" is the most recent song on the album, it was released in early 1970 on the b-side of "Kentucky Rain". With sales of 1.7 million copies the 45 was a moderate success.

Elvis recorded the song March 7, 1968 at Western Recorders in Hollywood/California for the movie "Live A Little, Love A Little". Take 16 was chosen to be the master, for unknown reasons CAMDEN used take 10 on the album "Almost In Love". The rhythm of "A Little Less Conversation" is funky and the lyrics are quite frank. I like the song very much. In 2002 a tv commercial for NIKE featured a remix/remake by Tom Holkenborg which was released by BMG and entered the UK Charts at number 1. Within a few weeks "Elvis vs JXL: A Little Less Conversation" made it to the top of the charts in 19 other countries and opened up a complete new audience for the king.

The song was written by Bunny Warren, a nom de plume of Ben Weisman. Elvis recorded "Rubberneckin'" within two takes on January 20, 1969 at American Sound Studio in Memphis/Tennessee. Between January 22nd and 24th Chips Moman added harmony vocals, on March 19th horns were recorded. Even though it wasn't intended to be a movie song, somehow it ended up in Universal's "Change Of Habit". Even though "Rubberneckin'" was supposed to be the a-side, it was "Don't Cry Daddy" that got all the airplay and peaked at number 6 of the Billboard Charts. In total the original single sold 3 million copies. 33 years later "Rubberneckin'" earned some fame, too, when Paul Oakenfold's remix made it in the top 10 of Australia and several European countries.

This song, written by Mac Davis and Billy Strange, is one of the king's best movie tunes and certainly wouldn't have been out of place on a regular studio album. It was recorded on October 23, 1968 at United Recorders in Hollywood/California within ten takes. The postproduction was done on May 8, 1969 at RCA Studio A in Nashville/Tennessee. Even though the song was great, the audience was fed up with Elvis' movies and soundtracks. "The Trouble With Girls (And How To Get Into It)" wasn't successful and the single "Clean Up Your Own Backyard" / "The Fair Is Moving On" didn't sell more than a million units.

In early 1968 this track was the b-side of "Stay Away", but while the main song stalled at number 67 of the "Hot 100", the supposed bonus track peaked at number 28. With sales of a million copies the 45 can be called a moderate success. "US Male" was written by Jerry Reed, who was also the first to release it. The narrator talks to his rival and threatens him with a diversity of hardship if he doesn't stop paying attention to his wife. Elvis mimes the over-confident Southener with audible joy, performs the talking-blues in heavy accent and even moves the birthplace of the narrator from Georgia to Mississippi to match his own biography. Just like the track on the a-side, "US Male" was recorded on January 16, 1968 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. The king had Mr. Reed flown in to perform his guitar overdubs. On the same day he also overdubed "Stay Away" and needed three takes to get it right.

The title song of Elvis' third and final western movie was also written by Strange/Davis. The orchestra arrangement was done by the great Hugo Montenegro. "Charro!" was recorded on October 15, 1968 at the Samuel Goldwyn Studio in Hollywood/California. The musicians needed five attempts for the rhythm track, Elvis vocal-part was spliced of the takes 5 and 9. The orchestra was overdubbed in various steps between November 25th and 27th. In February 1969 RCA Victor put "Charro!" on the flipside of "Memory". This one also wasn't able to sell more than a million units.

Here we have another title song of a movie, but this time it hadn't been released on record in any form before. "Stay Away, Joe" was written by Ben Weisman and Sid Wayne, it was recorded on October 1, 1967 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. Elvis taped 19 takes and selected the 17th attempt for release. For a planned record version the band produced two takes and an unknown number of insert-takes. After the music track was finished Elvis added his voice. "Stay Away, Joe" fits the theme of the movie, but it's certainly not a highlight. With the release on this album CAMDEN made two mistakes. First they were supposed to put "Stay Away" on the longplayer, because "Stay Away, Joe" already had been released on the previous budget record "Let's Be Friends". Second they didn't use the record master, but the movie master. When "Almost In Love" got a re-print in 1973, the mistake was corrected and the album featured the ballad "Stay Away".