Legacy Recordings’ From Elvis in Nashville, focusing on The King’s storied 1970 Music City sessions, isn’t the only Elvis box set coming this year. Follow That Dream, the online-exclusive, collector-oriented Elvis label, also recently announced a massive collection: That’s the Way It Is: 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition is a new look at the live recordings which comprised part of the multimedia project That’s the Way It Is. Over 8 CDs, the box presents 128 tracks and more than 450 minutes of music culled from Presley’s complete rehearsal recordings from July and August 1970 in Hollywood, Culver City, and Las Vegas.  While initial pre-orders of the box quickly sold out, it’s once again available and is scheduled to ship on or around August 31.

That’s the Way It Is was the title of both director Denis Saunders’ documentary/concert film chronicling the ascent of the “new Elvis” and RCA’s own hybrid LP consisting of eight recent studio recordings from the aforementioned Nashville studio sessions and four live tracks derived from the same 1970 Vegas “Summer Season” as the motion picture. (It was his third engagement at The International Hotel, today the Westgate Las Vegas Hotel and Casino.) The matter-of-fact title might have disguised the fact that the contents of both projects were far from standard-issue. Admittedly, a better hint might have been the album’s cover artwork of Elvis in the kind of flamboyant white jumpsuit that defined his late period onstage attire. This wasn’t your mother’s – or at least, your older sister’s – Elvis. In 1970, the artist’s past and present collided in exuberant fashion. The performer was capable of channeling the rock-and-roll fire that exuded such danger and sensuality roughly fifteen years earlier, but had moved into a new period in which he found the bigger the emotion, the better. “Hound Dog” and “Blue Suede Shoes” still played a part in this persona, but so did “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” The role of big-voiced pop balladeer fit Elvis like a glove, and he filled much of his music in this era with equal parts heart, soul and sweat.

The That’s the Way It Is sessions have been addressed numerous times before on CD. It was expanded by RCA in late 2000 as a 3-CD set and then in 2008 by Follow That Dream. The 2000 set included the original album with additional studio performances, the complete August 12, 1970 midnight concert, and rehearsals/unreleased tracks. The 2008 2-CD FTD release concentrated on the Nashville studio sessions, presenting more than a full disc’s worth of alternate takes, rehearsals, rough mixes and more (including a couple of live performances). Another 2009 FTD title, The Wonder of You, had the full August 13, 1970 concert. Legacy Recordings’ 2014 box, boasting 8 CDs and 2 DVDs, dropped most of the studio extras (all available elsewhere; it would take a detailed diagram to outline all of the releases of material from the Nashville 1970 sessions – especially as they also were tapped for the Elvis Country and Love Letters from Elvis LPs) and featured, instead, the original album, alternate takes, single versions, and complete shows from August 10-13 as well as one disc of undated rehearsal highlights.

With everything else short of the quadraphonic mix seemingly exhausted in the CD/digital age, this edition expands upon that one disc of rehearsals to eight full CDs documenting Elvis’ sessions at MGM, RCA Studios, the Las Vegas Convention Center, and finally, the International Hotel. Numerous tracks are previously unreleased; still others are being issued for the first time in full. In addition, the set includes two hardcover coffee table books (totaling 600 pages stuffed with rare and previously unpublished photos) – one dedicated to The Rehearsals, and one to The Concerts.

That’s the Way It Is: 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition is due on August 31 from Follow That Dream.  You’ll find the track listing below (with a selected discography) plus a link to pre-order directly from Graceland.  Quantities are limited so those interested might think about placing their orders sooner rather than later.

Elvis Presley, That’s The Way It Is: 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition (Follow That Dream/RCA/Sony Music, 2020) (Graceland Official Store)

* previously unreleased
** previously released partially

Disc 1: MGM Studios, Culver City, CA – 7/14 (1-8) and 15 (9-20)/1970

1. Words **
2. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me *
3. Polk Salad Annie *
4. Bridge Over Troubled Water *
5. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me *
6. The Next Step Is Love *
7. I’ve Lost You *
8. The Next Step Is Love
9. Stagger Lee *
10. Got My Mojo Working *
11. I’ve Lost You *
12. Stranger In The Crowd *
13. The Next Step Is Love
14. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me *
15. Sweet Caroline *
16. Yesterday
17. Hey Jude *
18. I Can’t Stop Loving You
19. It’s Your Baby, You Rock It *
20. Cryin’ Time *

Tracks 1-2 released on The Way It Was: An Audiovisual Documentary – Follow That Dream/BMG, 2001
Track 16 released on That’s The Way It Is: Special Edition, RCA/BMG, 2000

Disc 2: MGM Studios, Culver City, CA – 7/15/1970

1. Ghost Riders In The Sky
2. Runaway *
3. It’s Now Or Never *
4. Peter Gunn Theme
5. Love Me
6. One Night *
7. Alla En El Rancho Grande
8. That’s All Right *
9. Twenty Days and Twenty Nights *
10. That’s All Right
11. Twenty Days and Twenty Nights *
12. Instrumental *
13. Patch It Up *
14. Cotton Fields
15. Sylvia *
16. Stranger In The Crowd *
17. How The Web Was Woven *
18. I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen *

Tracks 1 and 5 released on The Way It Was: An Audiovisual Documentary – Follow That Dream/BMG, 2001
Tracks 4, 10 & 14 released on That’s the Way It Is: Special Edition, RCA/BMG, 2000
Track 7 released on Walk a Mile in My Shoes – The Essential ’70s Masters, RCA, 1995

Disc 3: RCA Studios, Hollywood, CA – 7/24/1970

1. That’s All Right
2. I Got a Woman
3. The Wonder Of You
4. I’ve Lost You
5. The Next Step Is Love *
6. Stranger In The Crowd *
7. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ *
8. Something *
9. Don’t Cry Daddy *
10. Don’t Cry Daddy (faster version) *
11. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me *
12. Polk Salad Annie *
13. Bridge Over Troubled Water *
14. I Can’t Stop Loving You
15. Just Pretend
16. Sweet Caroline *
17. Words *
18. Suspicious Minds *

Track 3 released on That’s the Way It Is: Special Edition, RCA/BMG, 2000

Disc 4: RCA Studios, Hollywood, CA – 7/24/1970

1. I Just Can’t Help Believin’ *
2. Tomorrow Never Comes *
3. Mary In The Morning
4. Twenty Days and Twenty Nights *
5. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ *
6. I Just Can’t Help Believin’ *
7. Heart Of Rome *
8. Memories *
9. Johnny B. Goode
10. Make The World Go Away *
11. Stranger In My Own Hometown
12. I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water

Track 11 released on Walk a Mile in My Shoes – The Essential ’70s Masters, RCA, 1995
Tracks 3, 9 & 12 released on That’s the Way It Is: Special Edition, RCA/BMG, 2000

Disc 5: MGM Studios, Culver City, CA – 7/29/1970

1. Elvis Talking
2. Something *
3. Words
4. I Just Can’t Help Believin’
5. Little Sister/Get Back **
6. Get Back (ending) *
7. I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water
8. I Was The One
9. Cattle Call
10. Baby Let’s Play House
11. Don’t
12. Money Honey
13. A Fool Such As I
14. Froggy Went A-Courtin’
15. Such a Night
16. It’s Now Or Never
17. What’d I Say
18. The Lord’s Prayer *
19. My Country ‘Tis Of Thee *
20. Hava Nagila *
21. My Baby Left Me *
22. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me *
23. Stranger In The Crowd *
24. Ending talk *

Tracks 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 & 17 released on Platinum: A Life in Music, RCA, 1997
Tracks 13, 15, 16 & part of 5 released on That’s the Way It Is: Special Edition, RCA/BMG, 2000
Track 14 released on Walk a Mile in My Shoes – The Essential ’70s Masters, RCA, 1995

Disc 6: The International Hotel, Las Vegas, NV – 8/4/1970

1. Talk *
2. I’ve Lost You *
3. The Next Is Love *
4. Words
5. Cattle Call/Yodel
6. Twenty Days and Twenty Nights
7. Farther Along
8. Something
9. Santa Claus Is Back In Town
10. Don’t Cry Daddy *
11. In The Ghetto *
12. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me
13. Bridge Over Troubled Water **

Tracks 7 & 9 released on That’s the Way It Is: Special Edition, RCA/BMG, 2000

Disc 7: The International Hotel, Las Vegas, NV – 8/7/1970

1. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ *
2. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me *
3. The Next Step Is Love *
4. Twenty Days and Twenty Nights *
5. Polk Salad Annie
6. Oh Happy Day
7. I’ve Lost You *
8. Mary In The Morning **
9. Sweet Caroline *
10. Words *
11. Patch It Up *

Track 6 released on That’s the Way It Is: Special Edition, RCA/BMG, 2000

Disc 8: The International Hotel, Las Vegas, NV – 8/10/1970

1. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me (version 1)
2. I Just Can’t Help Believin’
3. Something
4. Sweet Caroline
5. Polk Salad Annie
6. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ (version 1)
7. I’ve Lost You
8. Bridge Over Troubled Water
9. Patch It Up
10. Can’t Help Falling In Love
11. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me (version 2)
12. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ (version 2)