On January 4, 1957 RCA Victor released "Playing For Keeps" / "Too Much". Billboard started to list "Playing For Keeps" on their "Top 100" on February 2nd. It appeared nine times and peaked at number 34. The supposed b-side fared much better. "Too Much" entered the chart on January 26th at number 30, had a run of 17 weeks and became a number 2 hit. The song was also listed on the "Country & Western Chart" (#5) and the "Rhythm & Blues Chart" (#7). On the domestic market the single sold two million copies and was certified Platinum in 1992. Worldwide "Too Much" was the favorite, just the Brits preferred "Playing For Keeps" and made it a top 10 hit on the UK Charts (#6). But no matter which song was the incentive to buy, the people had to buy the same record. In total RCA Victor was able to sell 3 million copies, which equals 450 million paid streams.

The single is not available on the streaming platforms since the tracks can be found on the album "For LP Fans Only" (1959) and "Elvis' Golden Records" (1958). In 2016 the complete Presley catalogue was restored and remastered by Vic Anesini for a boxed set of 60 compact discs called "The Album Collection". Sony Music Entertainment provides the streaming platforms with the same versions of the individual tracks, albeit in 24 bit/90 khz flac. That means, if the platform of your choice supports high resolution audio, you can enjoy the songs in the same quality Sony used to scan and master them. On Spotify, which has a market share of approximately 30% and is the only platform that publishes streaming figures, "Playing For Keeps" accumulates 1.3 million streams, "Too Much" clocks in at 25 million. So the supposed b-side remains the more popular tune by far.

The picture on the sleeve was part of a series that had been shot for the cover of the album "Elvis". RCA also used photos from this session for the sleeves of the extended players "Stricktly Elvis" and "Just For You" as well as for the single "All Shook Up" / "That's When Your Heartaches Begin".

The ballad was recorded on September 1, 1956 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California. Because Elvis was not able to produce a satisfactory take, the master was spliced of takes 7 and 18. "Playing For Keeps" was written by Stanley A. Kesler. In the song, the singer swears everlasting faithfulness to his loved one. I neither like the song nor Elvis' performance of it. RCA Victor released the track on "For LP Fans Only" (1959) and the boxed set "Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits - Volume 1" (1970). 

Here the singer is knowingly taken advantage of by his girlfriend, but he cannot leave her because he loves her so much. Somehow he doesn't seem to be affected by this issue at all, because the melody is peppy and there is not even a suggestion of sadness in Elvis' voice. "Too Much" was recorded on September 2, 1956 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood/California within 12 takes. To iron out the last few mistakes the king also produced two insert-takes. In the end the master was created of take 12 and insert-take 2. "Too Much" was not an original song, but a cover version. It had been written by Lee Rosenberg and Leonard Weinman and recorded by Bernie Hardison in 1954. Elvis' performance was released on the album "Elvis' Golden Records" (1958), the extended player "A Touch Of Gold - Volume 3" (1960) and the boxed set "Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits - Volume 1" (1970).