On time for the Pentecost holidays RCA Victor released the relegious single "Only Believe" / "Life" on April 27, 1971. On May 15th the recorded entered the "Hot 100" at number 87, had a run of seven weeks and peaked at numbr 53. On the "Easy Listening Chart" the 45 could also be found for seven weeks, but here it reached number 8. Outside of the USA the single was more or less ignored by the public, worldwide it sold 500,000 copies. According to the RIAA this amount of physical sales equals 75 million paid streams. Elvis' sales once again had reached the disastrous level of 1967/68. In the present the tracks are as unpopular as back in the 1970s. On Spotify "Life" generated just 1.2 million streams, "Only Believe" found a million listeners.

Because Elvis didn't sit for promo shots anymore RCA Victor was limited to use concert pictures. This time they used one from his Vegas stint in early 1970. The front cover advertised the CAMDEN budget release "You'll Never Walk Alone", the back promoted the forthcoming album "Love Letters From Elvis".

The single is not available on the streaming platforms, but both tracks can be heared on the album "Love Letters From Elvis" (1971).

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.

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.