One of Elvis' worst poorly repackaged

In June of 1970 Elvis embarked on a marathon recording session that resulted in more than 30 cuts. Two extremely fine albums-"That's the Way it is" and "Elvis Country"-came out of that session and then there was this, which pretty much scraped up the dregs. If Elvis had not had to meet RCA's excessive contractual demands for product, it's almost certain that he would not have allowed this to be released.

For the most part Presley is in pretty fine form vocally but most of the material on here is treacly pop poorly suited to his style. The cut "Life" is a stiff and perverse attempt to define the Universe and is downright laughable. Tracks like "This is Our Dance" and "I'll Never Know" are shameless pandering and Elvis can't find a home in either. "Only Believe" is perhaps his most uninspired gospel track and "If I Were You" is almost Elvis movie bad. "If I were you I know that I'd love me". That's an actual lyric. And the random nature of the tracks undercuts any coherence this might have as an album.

The good stuff is scarce but effective. The remake of "Love Letters" is darker and more aggressive than his 1966 recording with Elvis' voice at its most hoarse and featuring some wild uncontrolled melisma. "Got My Mojo Working" is high on spirit, though Felton Jarvis' horn overdubs dampen the otherwise excellent experience. "Cindy Cindy" is nothing great but it does rock a little unlike almost anything else on this album (except for the last two cuts rock, country and blues are nowhere to be found). And while "Heart of Rome" is piffle Elvis has fun with it.

[store] has done nothing to make the rerelease more palatable. There's no backcover. The liner notes are flimsy (six paragraphs) and still list Preston Foster as the composer of "Mojo" not Muddy Waters. Finally, the entire CD is only about 33 minutes long. There is plenty of time for bonus tracks. Elvis released three singles "Rags to Riches", the beautiful "I'm Leavin" and "It's Only Love" and a b-side "The Sound of Your Cry" that have never been issued on a LP in 1971 and this might have been an ideal place to put them. BMG didn't think so. All that's here is the poor original album and nothing more. <>Mark this for hardcore fans only and pick up "Elvis Country" and the expanded "That's the Way it is" which give a much better idea of where Elvis was at artistically circa 1970.

Still Necessary Due to Incomplete Reissues

I can't say I quite agree with either of the previous reviewers of this album, which does indeed offer the "leftovers" of Elvis' justly legendary June 1970 Nashville sessions but is still well worth hearing for the most part. After the Sun recordings and his 1969 American Studios sessions, the King's 1970 stay in Nashville probably qualifies as the most important and productive stretch of time he ever spent in a studio. The five-day burst of music-making resulted in three LPs (THAT'S THE WAY IT IS, ELVIS COUNTRY and LOVE LETTERS FROM ELVIS) as well as several of Elvis' greatest seventies singles. It's no surprise that TTWII, as the first album to come out of these dates, featured the strongest material, nor that EC, by virtue of its concept, was a far more solid and coherent package than LOVE LETTERS; but enough good stuff remained to make this album a worthwhile release at the time, and RCA's decision to delete the CD version and divide most (though maddeningly not quite all) of its contents between the WALK A MILE IN MY SHOES box set and the expanded reissues of TTWII and EC means that it's still worth seeking out for hardcore fans of the King's seventies work.

The Nashville dates showcased Elvis in an incredibly broad musical context, attacking everything from the schmaltziest of pop ballads to some of his hardest latterday rockers, and while the quality of the songs themselves varies greatly the performances are, for the most part, outstanding. Elvis never sounded better, and his band (most notably lead guitarists James Burton and Chip Young) crafted consistently strong soundscapes which are every bit as essential to the success of these tracks as the singer's delivery. Whether jamming out on the extended coupling of "Keep Your Hands Off of It" and "Got My Mojo Workin'" (one of the strongest things to come out of these sessions and mysteriously left off the earlier albums), gently swaying through a pretty and underrated ballad like "If I Were You" or stretching drama to the breaking point on the silly but appealing "Love Letters," Elvis and company manage to make all of this material more than listenable, even if the results don't add up to one of the King's greatest LPs.

With two of its tracks (the lackluster gospel outing "Only Believe" and the lighthearted, countryish "This Is Our Dance") currently unavailable elsewhere, LOVE LETTERS is still a necessary purchase for completists; but more to the point, it's hardly a disaster even in purely musical terms. Sure, it's the last and least of the packages in which these sessions were disseminated - and, interestingly enough, the only one composed entirely of material from them - but such was the strength of the results Elvis and Company achieved in those few days in Nashville that even the leftovers have a fair bit of flavor.

Undiscovered gem

Just like most of 70 Elvis' albums. Cindy cindy, If I were you, and Heart of Rome are my favorite ones. Got my Mojo Working is a good See See Rider-type of rocker. lol

What a chapter in an already incredible year for Elvis

This cd starts out with a wonderful 1970 remake of "Love Letters". What's great about the new version is it's distinction from the old, giving us two unique renditions that don't sound repetitious. The orchestration is lush and dreamy while Elvis' voice has that rough sound characteristic of 1968-1970. After that, a plaintive up-tempo ballad called "When I'm Over You" followed by the very mellow, soft horn driven "If I Were You". Then Elvis gives us "Got My Mojo Working". This is slammin'. This is fast blues with piercing horns that will wake you up, get your foot tappin, or maybe get yo' mojo workin'. Following "Mojo" is an INCREDIBLE SONG CALLED "HEART OF ROME". Roy Orbison eat your heart out, this song takes Elvis' range on a joyride and Elvis is quite up to the job. This is not a rock song, it's more a bolero-flavored powerhouse of a man enjoying making music. Another knock-down bluesy number is "Cindy Cindy", performed originally by Rick Nelson. Elvis tears it up, and the musicians earn their keep as usual. The guitar is funky, the horns soar, and the beat is pumping. The album ends with a song called "Life" that poetically takes you from the first stirrings of life in the universe to reflections of the concept of "sin". Don't overlook this cd, it's essential. The title of the cd doesn't do justice to the content. Buy this one, you'll love it.