ELVIS PRESLEY Heartbreak Hotel (Extremely Rare 1956 UK one-sided demonstration metal based methyl cellulose lacquer for the King's debut 78rpm single on His Master's Voice in Britain. Presley signed with RCA on November 21, 1955, arriving on the scene while the label was still licenced to EMI - Thus, between May 1956 & January 1958, 15 hit singles were released by Elvis in the UK on the pale blue HMV Pop label. The first hit 'Heartbreak Hotel', was initially sent to HMV producer Wally Ridley for consideration. He was said to be sceptical & later admitted he didn't understand more than a couple of its words, but decided to release it anyway. The stuffy 1950's British press took an instant dislike to the track, but all that was about to change, as 'Heartbreak Hotel' quickly stormed the charts & became Elvis' first gold hit in America reaching number 1, soon to peak at number 2 in the UK. This collector's acetate has a custom black on white factory label one side with 'Demonstration Record Not For Sale' print, as well as the 'Mills Music - Mills House - London WC3' address & a circular 'Emidisc... EMI Sales & Service Ltd' stamp on the back. The playing side is annotated on the label with the artist name, song title & catalogue detail. Very few of these would have been produced, usually as a means for the sound engineer to test the sonics before the finished article, & even fewer are said to be left in existence - in hindsight, it's amusing to think for such a monumental Rock N Roll hit that there would have been slight trepidation for the song at this early stage, but RCA did not want to lose out, having signed Elvis from Sun Records for the then-astronomical sum of $35,000! Complete with the original British red & white die-cut company sleeve, the acetate remains in Very Good condition. There are multiple hairlines & scuff marks to be expected but these are all light in nature & the disc plays through with no jumps or sticks. The label writing is clear & this would surely stand proud as a major showpiece in any serious Elvis collection POP182) more...
Currently Unavailable - You can request the next copy of this item

ELVIS PRESLEY Rock-A-Hula Baby / Soldier Boy Sessions (Extremely rare 80s double sided 10" metal based methyl cellulose lacquer Acetate featuring a seven minute collection of Takes One to Five of 'Rock-A-Hula Baby' in Mono with a copy of the original studio reel reference sheet from 23/03/61 for the recording made at Radio Recorders in Hollywood for Paramount Pictures for the film soundtrack. The second side has a selection of Stereo takes of 'Soldier Boy', also recorded in 1962, froma tape supplied by Joan Deary. Joan was the RCA executive put in charge of looking after Elvis' back catalogue, so it is quite possible that these recordings date to 1983/4 when she first started to catalogue the enormous collection of tapes that she discovered at Gracelands. Whether these were part of the remastering process or simply to put together the 'Golden Collection' release of 1985, we don't know. The acetate has 'CTS Custom Cutting' hand annotated labels & a similar outer sleeve. An incredibly rare artifact indeed!) more...
Currently Unavailable - You can request the next copy of this item

ELVIS PRESLEY Suspicious Minds (Very rare original 1969 UK 1-sided 7" metal based methyl cellulose lacquer acetate with handwritten studio label, containing the 'no reprise' version of the single. How many of these have survived is unknown, but surely only a small handful remain in circulation and very rarely do they come up for sale. Of course, the way acetates were manufactured made them susceptible to wear, however this copy remains in superb condition, displaying only a handful oflight scuffs - a real treasure for the die-hard Elvis collector!) more...
Currently Unavailable - You can request the next copy of this item