"Love Letters From Elvis" was released on June 1, 1971. On the 26th of the month it entered Billboard's "Top LPs Chart", stayed for 15 weeks and peaked at number 33. The album could also be found on the "Hot Country LPs Chart". Starting on July 10th it was listed for 12 weeks and reached number 12. In its initial sales period "Love Letters From Elvis" sold 300,000 units. In Great Britain the album was more successful, here it became a top 10-hit and peaked at number 7. Worldwide RCA Victor sold 1.5 million copies, which translates to 225 million paid streams of the album respectively 2.25 billion paid streams of individual songs. At the time these figures must have shocked everybody since "Love Letters From Elvis" just moved half as much units as the previously released "Elvis Country - I'm 10,000 Years Old". Up to this point of the king's career only "Speedway" had sold worse than this one. In contrast to the past, nowadays' streaming figures on Spotify almost mirror the ones of "Country". Both clock in at around 14 million.

The front cover was designed with three pictures made in the fall of 1970, the backside was made up with envelopes with the song titles on them. The running time of the original album is 32:40 minutes, the digital version runs 41 minutes.

On the streaming platforms "Love Letters From Elvis" is presented the way it was issued in 2016 as part of the set "The Album Collection". Therefore it also includes "The Sound Of Your Cry", "Where Did They Go Lord" and "Rags To Riches" as bonus songs. 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.

Between July 4th and 8th, 1970 Elvis had recroded over 30 songs at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. The majority had been released on the albums "That's The Way It Is" and "Elvis Country - I'm 10,000 Years Old" as well as on several singles. With the exception of "The Sound Of Your Cry" and "Sylvia" this new album featured the remaining tracks.

Anno 2008 Follow That Dream Records released a special edition of "Love Letters From Elvis". Besides the songs of the original release it also included bonus songs and outtakes. Tap HERE to go to the review.

Elvis had recorded this beautiful ballad in 1966, RCA Victor had already released it on a single and on the album "Elvis' Gold Records Volume 4". On this new long player we hear a re-recording made on June 7, 1970. Pianist David Briggs thought he could do better than four years before and so Elvis did him a favor and recorded another five takes. It's a nice enough perfromance, but not as good as the earlier one. On October 27, 1970 Felton Jarvis sweetened the master take by adding some strings.

Here the singer fears a breakdown if his loved one ever leaves him. The song by Shirl Milete doesn't offer too many lyrics and Elvis obviously didn't want to spend too much time on it. Even though the first take was anything but flawless he declared it a master take and moved on. Felton Jarvis tried to cover the mistakes of his boss by adding harmony vocals (October 1, 1970) and tons of strings (October 27, 1970). Even though I am fully aware of all the shortcomings I like the recording very much.

The ballad was written by Gerald Nelson and recorded by Elvis on June 8th, 1970 within nine takes. Brass and strings were added on June 30th, harmony voices followed on October 1st. The singer is a loner, but this time he's fallen in love and hopes the lady feels the same. Elvis sings very emotional and the song itself is very good, too. To me it's one of the highlights of the album.

On June 5, 1970 Elvis and his band played a little jam and Felton Jarvis recorded the major part of it. To create a master take he shortened the recording and cut out one or two cusswords. Finally he overdubbed harmony voices (June 22nd) and brass (June 30th and July 20th). The result is nothing but great, because obviously Elvis and the band enjoyed what they were doing.

The first side of the album ends with a song by Geoff Stephens, Alan Blaikly and Ken Howard. It was recorded on June 6, 1970, the master take was spliced of take 3 and take 1 (workpart). Strings and horns were added on July 20th. As the title suggests the singer is in the Italian capital and suffers because of the absence of his loved one. He does so in a melodramatic, loud voiced way. "Heart Of Rome" was also released in July 1971 on the flipside of "I'm Leavin'".

Here we have a cover version of "All Things Are Possible" by the Harmonizing Four from 1957. The original was penned by Daniel Paul Rader in 1921. The message is simple: If you believe in God, all things are possible. Even though the song isn't an elaborate one and Elvis makes several mistakes I like it very much. I don't know why, maybe it's just one of my guilty pleasures. The king recorded "Only Believe" on June 8th within four takes. Felton Jarvis added the strings on July 20th and the harmony voices on October 1st. On stage Elvis sang this song at least once, Follow That Dream Records released a soundboard recording of the king's performance on January 27, 1971 at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. To offer something for the Pentecost holidays RCA Victor released the religious track on a single in May 1971.

Les Reed and Geoff Stephens wrote this lightweight ballad, the king recorded it on June 6, 1970 and needed 11 takes to get it right. The melody is intriguing and Elvis sings very well. On June 22nd Felton Jarvis added backup vocals, on June 30th strings and brass followed. Because the result still was not saccarine enough further strings were overdubbed on October 27th.

On June 4, 1970 Elvis recorded three takes of "Cindy, Cindy". The song was written by Buddy Kaye, Ben Weisman and Dolores Fuller and was based on "Get Along Home, Cindy" by Lulu Belle & Scotty way back from 1939. On June 22nd harmony vocals were added, a brass-section followed on July 20th. Further backup voices were added on October 1st. Elvis and his boys really had fun with this one and performed it at full throttle.

This beautiful ballad was written by Fred Karger, Ben Weisman and Sid Wayne and recorded by Elvis on June 5, 1970. He needed seven attempts to do so, harmony voices were added on June 22nd and October 1st, brass was added on June 30th. To me "I'll Never Know" is a real highlight, sadly overlooked by fans and critics.

Elvis recorded this song on June 6, 1970 and selected the 9th attempt for release even though he can be heared smacking after singing "you're loosing interest". I don't know why this part wasn't edited out in post-production. However, the by now mandatory harmony vocals (June 22nd and October 1st), brass and strings (June 30th and October 27th) were added. "It Ain't No Big Thing (But It's Growing)" is a lightweight, but pleasant country ballad written by Shorty Hall, Alice Joy Merritt and Neal Merritt. It was first recorded by Charlie Louvin in 1967.

Shirl Milete wrote and recorded "Life" in 1969, Elvis taped his version on June 6, 1970 within 20 takes. On June 22nd harmony voices were added, strings and brass followed on June 30th. The post-production was finalized by adding some further strings on October 27th. The song describes the story of life (including creationism,  big bang theory and advent of the saviour!) and comes to the conclusion that life is nothing but universal, divine love. To me this song is one of the great archivements of Elvis Presley. Somehow he manages to sell this pseudo-religious new age drivel so touching and convincing, that I am willing to switch off my brain for a few minutes and simply believe him. By the way: In May 1971 RCA Victor released "Life" on the b-side of "Only Believe".