The latest single "If I Can Dream" / "Edge Of
Reality" promoted the forthcoming tv special
"SINGER presents Elvis" as well as the
current motion picture
"Live A Little, Love A Little". It
was released on November 5, 1968 and entered the
"Hot 100" on the 30th of the month. Domestically
it sold over a million copies which made it stay
on the chart for 13 weeks and peak at number 12.
The RIAA honored the sales in 1992 with a Gold
Award. In the rest of the world "If I Can Dream"
also was quite popular, just the Australians
preferred "Edge Of Reality" and made it a top10
hit. Worldwide the single sold two million
units, which translates to 300 million paid
streams. Even though these figures still were
far away from his glory days, "If I Can Dream" /
"Edge Of Reality" proved, that Elvis still could
sell records if he chose the right songs.
On the streaming platforms this single is not
available. However, "If I Can Dream" is included
on the album "Elvis" (1968) and "Edge Of
Reality" can be found on the long player "Almost
In Love" (1970). 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, "If I Can Dream"
accumulates 118 million streams. 111 million of
them can be allocated to the original recording,
17 million are owned by the remake, which
features The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. "Edge
Of Reality" is almost forgotten and clocks in at
just 1.6 million streams.
On the cover the king looks modern, but with
the longer sideburns and his coiffure also
somewhat reminiscent of the past. It was Elvis
2.0. Of course the sleeve also promoted "Live A
Little, Love A Little", even though it wasn't
shown globally and had already left some of the
domestic cinemas.
If I Can Dream
W. Earl Brown's dream of a better world was the
finale of the tv special "SINGER presents
Elvis". The king sounds unfamiliar rough and
very emotional. In a certain way he
(unintentionally) copied Tony Bruno, whom he had
seen several times in Vegas in the months before
he made the recording. This was done on June 23,
1968 within five takes. RCA Victor also released
"If I Can Dream" on the albums "Elvis" (1968)
and "A Legendary Performer - Volume 2" (1976) as
well as on the boxed set "Worldwide 50 Gold
Award Hits - Volume 1" (1970).
Edge Of Reality
Elvis recorded "Edge Of Reality" on March 7,
1968 at Western Recorders in
Hollywood/California. He needed eight takes to
archive a satisfactory result. The song itelf is
more than a tad on the psychedelic side and is
anything but an average movie tune. It was
written by Bill Giant, Bernie Baum and Florence
Kaye, who had delivered a truckload thereof in
the past few years. Because there was no
soundtrack album to "Live A Little, Love A
Little", CAMDEN used the track on their budget
album "Almost In Love" (1970).
Verdict
It needed a television special to
attrackt attention again, but the king
surely proved that he was able to deliver.
With a new style of performing, a modern
arrangement and sociocritical undertones
Elvis slowly opened up the market for his
music once more.
(C) RCA Records