On March 12, 1976 RCA Victor released "For The Heart" / "Hurt". Billboard listed "For The Heart" on their "Hot Country Singles Chart", where it stayed for 13 weeks and peaked at number 45. "Hurt" was much more popular and was listed by Billboard on their "Hot 100" (#28), on the "Hot Country Singles Chart" (#6) and on the Easy Listening Chart (#7). In Malaysia Elvis was once again able to score a number 1 hit, but the golbal sales of a million copies (according to the RIAA this amount equals 150 million paid streams) were nothing to write home about. It was barely 50% of what "My Boy" (1975) had sold and not even a third of the sales of "Burning Love" (1972).

The single isn't available on the streaming platforms, but both tracks can be found on the album "From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee" (1976). 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, "For The Heart"" accumulates 1.6 million streams, "Hurt" clocks in at 16.5 million. So the power ballad stayed the by far more popular track.

The cover photo was made in June 1975, but even though Elvis' waist was retouched the singer looked overweight and a bit disheveled. Of course RCA used the sleeve to announce the long overdue album with new recordings.

The king recorded the song on February 5, 1976 (bass and harmony vocals were added on February 15th and 16th), but he wasn't the first to release "For The Heart". The tune had been issued the previous year by Teresa Brewer on an album called "Unliberated Woman". Even though Elvis sounds a bit toothless and tired, I like the song. He harmonizes very well with his background singers, it's somewhat reminiscent of the good ole' days with The Jordanaires.

Elvis recorded "Hurt" on February 5, 1976 within seven takes. Later harmony voices (February 16th) and drums (February 17th) were added. The song wasn't a new one, in 1954 Roy Hamilton had scored a top ten hit on the "R&B Best Sellers Chart" and in 1961 Timi Yuro's version even made it on the top 5 of Billboard's "Hot 100". I like the performance very much. The loved one of the narrator has a new partner and the hurt and pain is expressed in big voice and with a lot of drama. "Hurt" instantly became a regular feature of the king's live shows, one of these performances can be found on the double album "Elvis In Concert" (1977).