In February 1961 RCA Victor released an extended player named "Elvis By Request". Because of the declining popularity of the format, Billboard had deleted their "Best Selling EPs Chart" and therefore listed the record on the "Hot 100". With "Flaming Star" as the leading track it entered the singles chart on April 17th, had a run of seven weeks and peaked at number 14. Worldwide "Elvis By Request" sold a million copies, which equals 150 million paid streams of the complete record. Compared to the final two volumes of the "Pure Gold" series this was a big step up and proved the theory, that Elvis still could sell extended players if they were filled with attractive and fresh material.

The front cover showed a promo picture for Elvis' latest movie "Flaming Star" and also emphasized the fact, that the title song was featured on this record. The backside was mainly used to advertise other Presley records.

The ep cannot be found on the streaming platforms, because the songs are available on the albums "Elvis' Golden Records - Volume 3" (1963), "Elvis For Everyone!" (1965) and "Elvis Sings Flaming Star & Others" (1968).

Originally RCA Victor didn't plan a soundtrack release for "Flaming Star". But when several radio stations began to play illegal recordings of the title song, they thought it might be a good idea to meet the demand by giving it an official release. To raise the desirability they added the unreleased song "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears" and the mega hits "Are You Lonesome Tonight" and "It's Now Or Never". As a technical innovation this ep was to be played at 33 1/3 rpm instead of the usual 45 rpm.

On  August 8, 1960 Elvis taped "Black Star", the title song of his latest movie, at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California. After 13 takes he also produced 5 insert-takes, the master was a splice of the takes 13 and 5. Unfortunately 20th Century Fox re-named the western to "Flaming Star", so Sid Wayne and Sherman Edwards had to adjust their song and Elvis had to record it again. He did so on October 7th and needed 6 takes to archive a satisfactory result.

On August 8, 1960 the king had recorded 26 takes at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California and finally chosen the 20th attempt for release. Originally the song was included in the western "Flaming Star" (1960), but when the test audience started to laugh it was decided to cut "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears" from the movie. The song was written by Fred Wise, Bend Weisman and Jack Lloyd. The narrator remembers his lost love and Elvis performs the sad ballad in a heartfelt and believable way.

The song was written by Roy Turk and Lou Handman, the first recording was by Ned Jakobs in 1927. Elvis recorded his version on April 3, 1960 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee, the master is a splice of the takes 5 and 2. I like this ballad very much, the king performs it very well and his voice sounds nothing but marvellous. The single "Are You Lonesome Tonight" / "I Gotta Know" was issued in November 1960, peaked at number 1 of the "Hot 100" and sold six million copies. RCA later also released the track on the long player "Elvis' Golden Records - Volume 3" (1963) and the boxed set "Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits - Volume 1" (1970). Live performances can be heared on "From Memphis To Vegas / From Vegas To Memphis" (1969), "A Legendary Performer" (1974) and "Elvis In Concert" (1977).

In 1898 the Neapolitan singer and musician Eduardo Di Capua wrote "O Sole Mio" ("My Sun") and used the lyrics of the poet Giovanni Capurro. Even though the song became very popular, both parties died without any assets. At the time there were no royalties for writers and so the men sold the song for 25 lira to the publishing company of Ferdinando Bideri. Many years later the heirs of Emanuele Alfredo Mazzucci sued the publisher for royalties, because he had written down the notes of "O Sole Mio". Since they won the lawsuit they receive a whopping 250,000 USD per year. The first known recording of "O Sole Mio" was made in 1901 by Francisco Daddi. Eleven years later Elisabeth Spencer released an English version named "Your Own Dear Kiss". Elvis got to know the song in form of another English edition called "There's No Tomorrow". He wanted to record it, but because the melody by now was in public domain, Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold wrote new lyrics and legally created a new song, that could be published on its own. Elvis recorded it on April 3, 1960 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee. The master is a splice of the takes 4 and 2, on April 5th piano and percussion was added. The single "It's Now Or Never" / "A Mess Of Blues" sold 28 million units and became the best selling single of the decade. RCA re-released "It's Now Or Never" on the albums "Elvis' Golden Records - Volume 3" (1963) and "A Legendary Performer - Volume 2" (1976) and the boxed set "Worldwide 50 Gold Records - Volume 1" (1970). A live version can be found on "Elvis In Concert" (1977).