Of course RCA Victor offered a soundtrack album, when MGM released "That's The Way It Is" in November 1970. On the 26th of the month the record entered the "Hot Country LPs Chart", stayed for 17 weeks and peaked at number 8. On December 12th Billboard also started to list "That's The Way It Is" on the "Top LPs Chart", were it had a run of 23 weeks and peaked at number 21. In its initial sales period RCA Victor retailed 500,000 copies, Elvis was honored with a Gold Award in 1973. The RIAA updated the status to Platinum in 2017. In Asia and Europe "That's The Way It Is" was very popular, too. In Great Britain in reached number 8 on the charts, in total the album sold 3.5 million units. Translated to the present this would be 525 million paid streams of the complete album or 5.25 billion paid streams of individual tracks. The commercial success was astonishing. In August RCA Victor had released a boxed set of greatest hits, the budget label CAMDEN issed an album in October and another one in November. And of course MGM was showing the movie. It appeared that finally the Elvis-Mania of the 1950s had returned. Even nowadays "That's The Way It Is" remains a popular item. On Spotify it accumulates 278 million streams, split between the original version (119 million) and the DeLuxe Edition (159 million).

The cover was designed with a great b/w photo of the king on stage, further concert pictures were shown on the backside. Of course RCA Victor didn't forget to mention the motion picture.

On the streaming platforms "That's The Way It Is" is available as released on "The Album Collection" in 2016. Therefore the studio versions of "I've Lost You" and "Patch It Up" are added as bonus tracks. 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.

Even though the movie documents the "Elvis Summer Festival 1970" at the International Hotel in Las Vegas/Nevada and shows the king during rehearsals and concerts, the album features the studio recordings of the new songs. With a running time of 47:00 minutes "That's The Way It Is" is one of the longest albums of the king.

The sessions were held between June 4th and 8th 1970 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. They were produced by Felton Jarvis and engineered by Al Pachucki. Elvis' band consisted of James Burton (guitar), Chip Young (guitar), Charlie Hodge (guitar), Jerry Carrigan (drums), David Briggs (piano), Norbert Putnam (bass) and Charlie McCoy (organ, harmonic, vibraphone and marimbaphone). The live recordings were made between August 10th and 13th 1970 at the Showroom Internationale of the International Hotel in Las Vegas/Nevada. Here the king was accompanied by James Burton (guitar), Charlie Hodge (guitar & harmony vocals), John Wilkinson (guitar), Jerry Scheff (bass), Ronnie Tutt (drums) and Glen D. Hardin (piano) as well as The Joe Guercio Orchestra. The harmony vocals were provided by The Sweet Inspirations (Myrna Smith, Silvia Shemwell, Estelle Brown and Ann Williams), The Imperials (Armond Morales, Terry Blackwood, Jimmie Murray, Roger Wiles and Joe Moscheo) and Millie Kirkham.

In 2008 Sony Music Entertainment's own collector's label Follow That Dream Records released a special edition of "That's The Way It Is". Besides the tracks of the original album it also included bonus songs and outtakes. For a review of this collector's edition just tap HERE.

The album starts with a live recording from August 11, 1970 (dinner show). "I Just Can't Help Believin'" was written by Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, who was also the first to record it in 1968. I like the ballad very much, even though Elvis messes up the lyrics and obviously wants to sing something else than Charlie Hodge, who did the harmony vocal. In Europe RCA released "I Just Can't Help Believin'" on a single, which became a top 10 hit in Great Britain as well as the Netherlands and sold 600,000 units.

Here we have another ballad, this time the narrator has left his wife and now realizes his mistake. Elvis performs the song with much emotion and in an absolute believable way. "Twenty Days And Twenty Nights" was written by Ben Weisman and Clive Westlake (whose daughter Julia later became a tv host in Germany) and recorded by Elvis on June 6, 1970. The 9th attempt was approved for release and enhanced with harmony vocals (July 22nd) and strings/horns (July 30th). Besides that the recording was shortened of half a minute.

This song was released in 1969 by Jackie Lomax, the writers are Dave Most and Clive Westlake. The singer is caught in a web, woven around his heart. In other words: He's in love. Elvis' voice sounds just great here and the song itself is a very good one, too. The king taped it on June 5, 1970 within three takes. His producer Felton Jarvis later added harmony vocals (June 22nd), horns (July 20th) and strings (July 22nd).

The rocker had been released before on the b-side of "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me", but the album features a live recording. To me the performance from August 12, 1970 (dinner show) is much better than the one taped at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. The song is taken at a faster pace and performed with much more drive and energy. Especially the drumming is excellent. "Patch It Up" was written by Eddy Rabbit and Rory Bourke.

With this ballad the singer worships the beauty of his beloved Mary. The melody is great and Elvis sings very well, but to me the song is somewhat too long. A minute less wouldn't have hurt. "Mary In The Morning" was written by Johnny Cymbal and Michael Rashkow and recorded on June 5, 1970. Take 5 became the groundwork of the master. On July 20th strings and horns were added, on October 1st harmony vocals followed.

In 1966 Dusty Springfiled scored a top 5 hit with this song, which later was covered countless times. The original is called "Io Che Non Vivo (Senza Te)" and was written by Vito Pallavicini, Jody Miller and Pono Donaggio. The latter one was the first to record it and enjoyed a number 1 on the Italian charts with the song. Elvis wasn't as successful, his cover version stagnated at number 11 on the "Hot 100". RCA Victor later also released the track on the boxed set "The Other Sides - Worldwide Gold Award Hits Volume 2" (1971). The king recorded "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" on June 6, 1970 and needed just three takes to get it right. On July 30th Felton Jarvis added strings and horns.

This performance is one of the highlights of this album. Elvis doesn't just sing the song, he literally lives it. Two years later another version was released on "Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden", but it doesn't even come close to this one. I'd say, that the ultimate performance of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" was taped on Augst 12, 1970 (midnight show). When the king chose to record the song, it wasn't new or unknown. The Righteous Brothers had scored a huge hit with it in the 1960s and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" became a signiture song for them. By the way, it was written by Cynthia Weil, Barry Mann and Phil Spector.

"I've Lost You" is in the same vein as "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling". Once again the love is gone and the partners just function in their roles as spouses and parents, but have no romantic feelings for each other anymore. The song had been released by Elvis on a single in June, but it had been a studio recording while this album offeres a live version. Just like with "Patch It Up", I prefer the concert performance (taped during the dinner show on August 11, 1970). It's played a tad faster and has a better flow. The first release of "I've Lost You" had been by Ian Matthews & Southern Comfort, the writers are Ken Howard and Alan Blaikeley.

Elvis recorded "Just Pretend" on June 6, 1970, the post production was done on June 9th (additional instruments), June 22nd (harmony vocals) and June 30th (strings and horns). The king needed three takes to nail the track by Dough Flett and Guy Fletcher. It's a great song and a stunning performance.

In contrast to the previous songs this one describs the beginning of a love. The popsong with a touch of latin was written by Winfield Scott and recorded on June 5, 1970. Elvis selected the 9th attempt for release and had it enhanced with harmony vocals (June 22nd) and strings as well as horns (July 20th). Besides that the performance was shortened a bit.

The composers are Paul Evans and Paul Parnes, the king taped it on June 7, 1970 within 11 takes. Felton Jarvis later added further instruments (June 9th), harmony vocals (June 22nd) as well as strings and horns (June 30th). Obviously the arranger of the horns had listened very closely to The Beatles' "Penny Lane". The popsong in easy listening style describes the beginning of a love and was released in July 1970 on the b-side of "I've Lost You". Later RCA Victor also issued the track on the boxed set "The Other Sides - Worldwide Gold Award Hits Volume 2".

While Paul Simon had the homage to his wife (after she had discovered her first gray hair, Simon jokingly called her "silver girl") performed by Art Garfunkel in a quiet and fragile style, Elvis turned the song into a mini-opera with choir, orchestra and his own vocal powers. He would perform it more or less regularly in his concerts, right up to the final one on June 26, 1977. This recording also features applause, but it was simply edited at the end of a studio recording. It was made on June 5, 1970, the 9th attempt was selected for release. On June 9th further instruments were added, backup vocals followed on June 22nd. On June 23rd Elvis recorded harmony vocals and several vocal repairs. Strings and horns were added on June 30th. The production was finalized on October 1st with the addition of further backup vocals and the applause. The result of all this sounds nothing but stunning.