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Tracklisting & More Information
The rarity & legendary collectability of the early Elvis Sun singles is well known and needs no further explanation here.
What you really need to know is how you can be sure it's for real & what sort of condition it is in.
Let's start with the identifying marks:
This 7" was pressed in Memphis by Plastic Products as part of a batch run of probably as little as five hundred. The way to tell this is by evidence of three locating circular pressing lugs that can be seen and felt under the label. All Elvis Sun singles that were pressed in Memphis have these marks, which were impressions from the master stamper alignment lugs.
If a single needed to be pressed in greater quantities when it became a local or national hit, then the pressings were sent away to other plants, normally the big ones in Los Angeles. These copies do not have the three impressions under the label but are still original Sun issues.
So, without the impressions under the label, it might be an original. With the impressions under the label, it IS an original.
The labels themselves remain in lovely condition, even though they were not the best printed labels in the world. All the text is still clear & sharp with very little wear evident. There is no writing or any evidence of historical sticker marks to be seen. The matrices are hand scratched into the run off area.
The vinyl remains in astonishing condition, free from any but the lightest paper scuff and completely free of any scratches.
The final clincher to the certainty of this being an original Sun single and not a counterfeit or seventies re-issue is the presence of the famous 'Sun Hiss' when listening.
What is 'Sun Hiss' I hear you ask ?
You have to think 1955 here, nearly sixty years ago. The Memphis plant was then normally issuing singles in 10" 78RPM Shellac, but had just started to introduce the new fangled 7" vinyl discs that were beginning to become popular. They did this for their new singer, Elvis, and this was his fourth single for them, recorded in February 1955.
So far so good, as they re-tooled some presses to cater for the new 7" format, but this was not then seen as the format of the future. So, although the presses were re-tooled for the 7" format, the cutting lathes were left at the 78RPM stylus width.
The vinyl that they used was not the sort of quality and purity that we have come to expect today, in fact Sun used the poorest quality vinyl and were pressed with a groove width designed to handle the thicker 78RPM stylus, as compared to the thinner ‘Microgroove’ needle that was introduced with the LP format. Thus, if you play this on modern equipment, with a smaller stylus radius, you get a degree of surface noise that has become known as the 'Sun Hiss'. The re-presses and counterfeits, being cut with a modern cutting lathe, do not have this tell tale characteristic surface noise.
So, there you have it. Without doubt an Elvis Sun original from 1955, pressed in Memphis as part of a batch of five hundred or less at Plastic Products on Chelsea Avenue. Visually, you won't find better. It looks to have been played very sparingly and has been treated with kid gloves for nearly sixty years.
Sonically, it will not represent what you would expect from a modern pressing, as the plant was still geared up for their main product, the 78. Then again, that's how you can tell it's the real deal.
A piece of History. Elvis' fourth Sun single, pressed in Memphis itself, in 'as good as it gets' condition.
How much better can it get ?
7" RECORD
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