A certain smash seller for Presley, taken from the soundtrack of the film that is a documentary of Elvis at work. It is Elvis in contemporary mood, working into titles like "Patch It Up," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," etc. An opulent orchestra backs him, together with the Imperials Quartet and the Sweet Inspiration.

- Billboard, 1970.

Bonus Reviews!

Returning to the more familiar haunts of Nashville in 1970, Elvis & Co. recorded three-dozen tracks, the best of which are on a par with the Memphis recordings from the preceding year. From these, two albums emerged, both flawed, both excellent. That's the Way It Is, purporting to be the soundtrack from the documentary of the same name, contains eight of those sides, with Elvis at his most delicious ease. The live recordings are negligible and sink the album's basic level except for Elvis's magnificent "I Just Can't Help Believin'." * * * *

- Neal Umphred, The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.

Presley, thirty-five at the time, shoulders these burdens with maturity and awareness of the world as a complicated place: In "Twenty Days and Twenty Nights," he talks of how much he misses the wife he has abandoned but recognizes without a trace of self-pity how difficult it would be to return to her. The delicacy of "Mary in the Morning" (still cited by his daughter Lisa Marie as one of her favorites) and "Just Pretend" is a long way from the bombast he would bring to subsequent hits such as "The Wonder of You." Departing from his usual strategy, Col. Thomas Parker allowed his charge to record covers, mostly recent hits for other people, such as "You've Lost That Loving Feeling," "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and B.J. Thomas' "I Just Can't Help Believin'." They all work, since no matter who did the original, Presley is a better singer.

That's the Way It Is was rereleased in 2000 as a three-disc set, with extra tracks from the original sessions, plus the live Vegas show and its rehearsal included in their entirety. The rehearsal is playful, including a medley of the Beatles' "Get Back" combined with his own "Little Sister," but Presley's live performance had descended into self-parody by this point -- it sounds as if he kisses every woman in the front row during "Hound Dog" -- which only points out how beautifully shaded his studio work had become. This was the blueprint for an Elvis we could have grown old with. * * * *

- Tom Nawrocki, Rolling Stone, 6/26/03.

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