The album features 15 Elvis performances from the 'stand-up' and 'sit-down' shows filmed for the '68 broadcast, plus three original studio recordings to represent songs that appear in the new special. Presley (left) and Joan Blondell in October 1967, featured on a publicity portrait for Stay Away, Joe. A meeting was arranged during which Parker assured that the team would have full creative control but stressed that the publishing rights must be under Presley's name. The special was shown in the United Kingdom on 31 December 1969 on BBC2 under the title The Fabulous Elvis.

It will also showcase rare footage and interviews with Pricilla Presley and Steve Binder, the director of the original special, plus a special appearance from Lisa Marie Presley. The Ottawa Journal praised Presley while noting that he delivered a calmer stage presence compared to that of his early days.

The Los Angeles Times deemed Presley's performance "anticlimactic" in comparison to other rock-and-roll acts of the time. The special's first single to be released was "If I Can Dream" by RCA Victor (47–9670) in October 1968.

The really memorable section of the show was the ‘sit down’ element, that had Elvis on stage dressed in black leather, guitar in hand, with guitarist Scotty Moore and drummer D. Looking impossibly sexy with an urgent raw edge to his voice only hinted at during his formative years, the boy who dared to rock during the dawn of that genre has matured into a man in complete control once more. The '68 Comeback Special should have been a new starting point in Elvis' career; it seems history will show it as the beginning of the end.A review by the Newspaper Enterprise Association published in the El Paso Herald-Post held that the special showcased a renewed and "more mature" Presley.