To coincide with the the Easter business and to promote the forthcoming gospel album RCA Victor released "Bosom Of Abraham" / "He Touched Me" on February 29, 1972. With global sales of just 100,000 units the single didn't chart anywhere. According to the RIAA this number translates to 1.5 million paid streams. Commercially the Easter single matched the disastrous Christmas release.

Of course this single is not available on the streaming platforms, but both tracks can be found on the album "He Touched Me" (1972). 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, "Bosom Of Abraham" accumulates 1.6 million streams, "He Touched Me" clocks in at 4.5 million. So one might say the tracks have gained some popularity.

Just like the photo on the sleeve of the previous single, the picture was shot during the "Elvis Summer Festival 1971" in Las Vegas. Of course RCA Victor didn't forget to mention the soon to be released album.

The first recording of this traditional was by The Heavenly Gospel Singers in 1937. On June 9, 1971 Elvis recorded seven takes and approved the 6th attempt for release. To me this is one of the highlights of the album, because the king becomes a part of The Imperials and obviously has fun. We have to remember, that his original plan wasn't to be a solo artist, but a member of a gospel group.

The hymn was written by William "Bill" Gaither, who also was the first to record it. Elvis more or less copied the version by The Imperials, who were providing the harmony vocals at this recording session. I like the king's performance, which was recorded on May 18, 1971 within four takes, very much. He sings with a lot of emotion and blends wonderfully with The Imperials.