In March 1977 RCA started to ship a new album of the king. "Welcome To My World" entered the "Top LPs Chart" on April 16th, had a run of 11 weeks and peaked at number 44. On the 23rd of the month the longplayer was also listed on the "Hot Country LPs Chart". Here it stayed for 39 weeks and reached number 4. After Elvis' death "Welcome To My World" enjoyed a short chart-comeback. It re-entered the hitparade on September 17th, stayed for three weeks and peaked at number 71. Nevertheless the sales boost was enough to pass the mark of 500,000 units, which was honored with a Gold Award by the RIAA. In early 1983 the status was updated to Platinum. Worldwide the album sold 3.5 million copies, which equals 525 million paid streams of the complete album or 5.3 billion paid streams of individual tracks. Even though "Welcome To My World" was basically a compilation of already released country songs, it sold far better than Elvis' current albums with new material.

Surprisingly RCA put some effort in the design of the cover. Instead of the by now usual live photo the sleeve featured a painting, that was based on a photo from August 1970.

Because all the songs were taken from other albums (and the at the time unreleased recording of "I Can't Stop Loving You" is available on the boxed set "A Prince From Another Planet"), Sony Music Entertainment doesn't release "Welcome To My World" via the streaming platforms.

This compilation album was nothing but an act of desperation. Originally Elvis had been supposed to produce 24 new masters in February 1976, but unfortunately the sessions had produced just 50% of the planned output. The tracks had been released on the album "From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee" and on the single "Moody Blue" / "She Thinks I Still Care". Another session had been scheduled for October, but this time the king had produced just four masters. In January 1977 it became even worse, because now Elvis didn't bother to show up at all. Because the king was successful on the country charts, everybody thought, an album with this kind of music might appeal to the fans. And so Felton Jarvis used songs from the longplayers "Elvis For Everyone!" (1965), "From Elvis In Memphis" (1969), "On Stage" (1970), "Elvis Country - I'm 10,000 Years Old" (1971), "Elvis Now (1972)", "Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden" (1972) and "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" (1973). "I Can't Stop Loving You" was taken from the unreleased afternoon performance at Madison Square Garden (the album featured the evening show). All tracks were remixed by Felton Jarvis, the compilation has a running time of 27:32 minutes. For RCA "Welcome To My World" was a lucrative project, because Elvis had sold the rights to royalties for all his recordings made until 1972 to the label. The tracks taken from the "Aloha" soundtrack aside, RCA didn't have to pay the artist.

The album starts with one of the songs from the "Aloha" album. In 1963 Jim Reeves had scored a number 2 hit on the "Country & Western Charts" with "Welcome To My World", the authors are Ray Winkler and John Hathcock. Here and there the king sounds a little insecure, in general he uses the song to have fun with the audience.

The singer feels lonely and wants to convince a lady to spend the night with him. Just like on the album "Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas" the king's voice sounds somewhat weary, but it fits the song quite well. Elvis recorded "Help Me Make It Through The Night" on May 17, 1971 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. Even though the song had been performed a few weeks earlier in Vegas on a regular basis, the singer taped 16 takes without being able to produce a satisfactory result. In the end Felton Jarvis had to edit parts of the 11th and 16th attempt to create a master take. On June 22nd he overdubbed strings. The song was written by Kris Kristofferson, who also recorded it in 1969.

In 1970, when this track was released on the album "On Stage", most people were familiar with the version by Engelbert Humperdinck, who had scored a top5 hit with "Release Me" in 1967. Elvis performed the song much faster and focused on the rhythm as well as the interaction with the harmony singers. He obviously liked the song, because he kept it in his show until his final concert. The performance on this album was taped during the midnight show on February 18, 1970. Additional harmony vocals were recorded on March 31st. The song was first released by its writer, Eddie Miller. However, the cover versions by Jimmy Heap & His Melody Master With Perk Whilliams (#5), Ray Price (#6) and Kitty Wells (#8) were much more successful.

The song was written by Don Robertson and Howard Barnes and recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1953. The narrator dosn't want to know anything about the past of his loved one, knowing, that she had many affairs. Elvis recorded "I Really Don't Want To Know" on June 7, 1970 within four takes. Strings were added on June 30th, harmony vocals followed on October 1st. The king's performance is very emotional. He's obviously in love, but also hurt and angry. On May 30, 1977 Elvis included "I Really Don't Want To Know" in his stage show, albeit just in a shortened form. A live recording can be heared on the double album "Elvis In Concert" (1977). The studio recording featured here was taken from "Elvis Country - I'm 10,000 Years Old".

This is another live recording, this time taken from "Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden". "For The Good Times" was written and released by Kris Kristofferson in 1970. The king performs it very well and it's obvious that he likes this kind of music.

Now we switch back to the album "Elvis Country". The king recorded the country ballad on June 7, 1970 within three takes. The master-take is a splice of take 3 and a workpart take of the finale. On September 21st and October 1st harmony vocals were added, strings followed on October 27th. For some unknown reason this album features take 3 without the workpart-take, but including the overdubs. Elvis delivers a great performance of this sad ballad, it's a true highlight. "Make The World Go Away" was written by Hank Cochran and recorded in 1963 by Ray Price.

The song was written and performed by John Hartford, who won a Grammy with it in 1968. The version by Glen Campbell was also awarded by The Academy Of Recording Arts And Sciences. "Gentle On My Mind" was a very popular song and covered by Aretha Franklin, Dean Martin, Johnny Cash, REM and many others. Elvis did so on January 14, 1969. Six days later he re-recorded major parts of his vocals and also added the harmony voice. Later brass (March 18th), strings (March 19th), other instruments (March 20th) and backup voices (March 25th) were overdubbed. The result was known from the longplayer "From Elvis In Memphis".

This Hank Williams classic is taken from the double album "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite". Elvis doesn't must sing the song, he virtually lives it. Nothing but great!

 On February 1, 1958 the king recorded ten takes of the song at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California, seven years later it was released on the album "Elvis For Everytone!". Maybe Felton Javis selected this tune because it was also written and originally performed by Hank Williams. The sound differs quite a bit, because it's a mono recording.

The final track of the compilation is an unreleased performance. It was taped during the afternoon show on June 10, 1972 at Madison Square Garden in New York City/New York. Nevertheless it wasn't a sensation, because other live versions can be found on "From Memphis To Vegas / From Vegas To Memphis" (1969), "Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden" (1972), "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" (1973) and "Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis" (1974).