the elvis presley gold standard 45s part 4 (1964)

Es­ti­mated reading time is 9 min­utes.

IN 1964, the Gold Stan­dard Se­ries was used by RCA to ex­pose the old Elvis to the new and younger record buyers brought to the stores by the Bea­tles and the rest of the British Invasion—which in early 1964 was ba­si­cally the Fab Four and the Dave Clark 5. Ex­actly who made the de­ci­sion is un­known, but five Presley plat­ters from the ’50s were se­lected and pro­moted as if they were new releases.

The records se­lected are in­ter­esting choices: two were RCA reis­sues of Sun records from 1954–55 (Blue Moon Of Ken­tucky and Good Rockin’ Tonight), and three #1 hits from 1956–57 (Heart­break Hotel, Hound Dog, and All Shook Up). The sleeves fea­tured re­cent photos of a healthy, hand­some Elvis and were much more at­trac­tive than the photos that adorned his most re­cent ‘new’ 45 and LP releases.

 

This is part 4 of the most com­plete discog­raphy and ac­cu­rate price guide to Elvis’ Gold Stan­dard 45s on the Internet.

 

They were ap­par­ently is­sued in June 1964 to co­in­cide with the re­lease of the first Gold Stan­dard ‘orig­inal’ single, Kiss Me Quick / Sus­pi­cion. Re­leased as 447-0639, this single in­cluded a pic­ture sleeve with a photo from the same time and de­sign iden­tical to the five other sleeves. Also, all six sleeves had the same back cover: or­ange and yellow ver­tical stripes backing a list of thirty-six Presley sin­gles then available.

Whether or not the promos got Elvis more air­play, or the pic­ture sleeves in­creased sales of his back cat­alog, is un­known and will no doubt re­main that way. But this little burst of pro­mo­tional cre­ativity did pro­vide Elvi­sion­ados with sev­eral rare items to pursue and hope­fully add to their collection.

 

Elvis_GS_0639_ps3

Elvis_GS_ps_back

The back cover for these five sleeves plus that of 447-0639 (Kiss Me Quick / Sus­pi­cion) are all the same: the first four ti­tles listed are Pres­ley’s last four cat­alog (and hit) sin­gles. The rest of the list is the Gold Stan­dard ti­tles then in print in 1964 (and the ob­ser­vant reader might no­tice that six num­bers had been deleted).

Clearing up some confusion

There is a lot of con­fu­sion about these five records and their pic­ture sleeves, and I will be com­bining both the re­search of others, the data be­fore me, and my oh so flawed memory banks. There were five new sleeves and they may not have been in­tended for pro­mo­tional use, but hun­dreds of spe­cially man­u­fac­tured white pro­mo­tional la­beled sin­gles were shipped to radio sta­tions housed in these new sleeves.

Why? To stir some in­terest in older, classic Elvis at a time when it seemed like every­thing Amer­ican was being swept aside by any­thing British! And for Elvis, this meant taking a back seat to the Bea­tles, the first se­rious chal­lenge to Pres­ley’s pre­em­i­nence in the art of selling records since his ar­rival eight years earlier.

But there is nothing about these sleeves that in­di­cates that RCA had printed them for pro­mo­tional pur­poses: they ap­pear to be stan­dard com­mer­cial sleeves pressed into ser­vice as promos after the fact. Still, many sellers and buyers con­nect these sleeves with the promo records and there is little we can do about it at this time.

That said, I am listing ONLY the promo records and the sleeves below. The ma­jority of these sleeves were shipped to whole­salers for dis­tri­b­u­tion to stores around the country. Whether RCA pressed a new batch of records at In­di­anapolis for the sleeves or simply used in­ven­tory that was on-hand is not known at this time.

 

 

Elvis_GS_0601_wlp

Each of the five white label pro­mo­tional records was man­u­fac­tured at the same pressing plant: RCA’s fa­cility in Rock­away, New Jersey. Con­se­quently, each record’s la­bels look sim­ilar to this one for 447-0601.

Assigning values to these items

The fig­ures should tell you the ap­prox­i­mate range of prices that a buyer should ex­pect to pay a knowl­edge­able seller for a record in near mint (NM) con­di­tion. Of course, you might find any record below for less or have to pay more in a com­pet­i­tive auc­tion, but you get the message.

Records in less than NM con­di­tion are worth con­sid­er­ably less than the values as­signed here! 

The values listed here are for records with la­bels and vinyl in near mint con­di­tion (NM). Records in a lower grade con­di­tion are worth con­sid­er­ably less: a record in VG con­di­tion might be worth no more than 10-20% of the listed value. 

Gold Standard picture sleeves

The five pic­ture sleeves have the same back cover as that of Kiss Me Quick / Sus­pi­cion: each lists Pres­ley’s Gold Stan­dard cat­alog to dat with 447-0639 (Kiss Me Quick) the most re­cent re­lease. Since the sleeves were ap­par­ently all man­u­fac­tured at the same time, and Kiss Me Quick was re­leased in April 1964, I am going to as­sume that the five Gold Stan­dard reis­sues were also is­sued as early as April 1964. June is the month nor­mally as­signed to their release.

Miscellaneous

I re­member seeing them for sale in Wool­worth’s in Wilkes-Barre, the six sin­gles to­gether in a spe­cial browser box. I also re­member them being hugely dis­counted at 69¢ each, al­though this may be flawed memory.

Glossy black la­bels with “RCA Victor” and Nipper on top. These are often ab­bre­vi­ated as “DOT” (dog on top).

While any pre­vious pressing of the record may have been shipped with the sleeve, it was usu­ally an In­di­anapolis pressing as that was the plant man­u­fac­turing the bulk of RCA’s sin­gles by 1964.

The press­ings listed for each title begin with a bullet (•) and end with stamper num­bers. These records are known to exist, and al­most all are from RCA’s In­di­anapolis plant. 

 

1964

 

Elvis_GS_0601_wlp

447-0601     That’s All Right / Blue Moon Of Kentucky
                      White label promo with “RCA Victor” on top                                         $ 100–200
                      Rock­away pressing with “Not For Sale” on one line.
                      Note: The value here is for the record alone! The ma­jority of the 45s of­fered for sale have ob­vi­ously been han­dled and played many times, and do not fall into the as­signed NM values above. These ob­vi­ously in­fe­rior, lesser grade sleeves still sell for $25–$50. Copies with radio sta­tion no­ta­tion written in ink or felt-tip pen are common and should be noted in any de­scrip­tion when ad­ver­tising such a record for sale.

 

 

Elvis_GS_0601_ps

447-0601     That’s All Right / Blue Moon Of Kentucky
                      • Full color pic­ture sleeve                                                                            $ 200–300
                      Note: The value here is for the pic­ture sleeve alone! This sleeve was also is­sued com­mer­cially and can be found with stan­dard black label records. The ma­jority of these pic­ture sleeves of­fered for sale have no­tice­able wear—especially on the front cover—and do not fall into the as­signed NM values above. These ob­vi­ously in­fe­rior, lesser grade sleeves still sell for $50–$150.
 

 

 

Elvis_GS_0602_wlp

447-0602     Good Rocking Tonight / I Don’t Care If The Sun Don’t Shine
                       White label promo with “RCA Victor” on top                                        100–200
                       • Rock­away pressing with “Not For Sale” on one line.
                       Note: The value here is for the record alone! The ma­jority of the 45s of­fered for sale have ob­vi­ously been han­dled and played many times, and do not fall into the as­signed NM values above. These ob­vi­ously in­fe­rior, lesser grade sleeves still sell for $25–$50. Copies with radio sta­tion no­ta­tion written in ink or felt-tip pen are common and should be noted in any de­scrip­tion when ad­ver­tising such a record for sale.

 

 

Elvis_GS_0602_ps2

447-0602     Good Rocking Tonight / I Don’t Care If The Sun Don’t Shine
                       • Full color pic­ture sleeve                                                                            $ 200–300
                      Note: The value here is for the pic­ture sleeve alone! This sleeve was also is­sued com­mer­cially and can be found with stan­dard black label records. The ma­jority of these pic­ture sleeves of­fered for sale have no­tice­able wear—especially on the front cover—and do not fall into the as­signed NM values above. These ob­vi­ously in­fe­rior, lesser grade sleeves still sell for $50–$150.

  

 

Elvis_GS_0605_wlp2

447-0605     Heart­break Hotel / I Was The One
                       White label promo with “RCA Victor” on top                                       100–200
                       • Rock­away pressing with “Not For Sale” on one line.
                        Note: The value here is for the record alone! The ma­jority of the 45s of­fered for sale have ob­vi­ously been han­dled and played many times, and do not fall into the as­signed NM values above. These ob­vi­ously in­fe­rior, lesser grade sleeves still sell for $25–$50. Copies with radio sta­tion no­ta­tion written in ink or felt-tip pen are common and should be noted in any de­scrip­tion when ad­ver­tising such a record for sale.

 

 

Elvis_GS_0605_PS_y

447-0605     Heart­break Hotel / I Was The One
                       • Full color pic­ture sleeve                                                                            $ 200–400
                      Note: The value here is for the pic­ture sleeve alone! This sleeve was also is­sued com­mer­cially and can be found with stan­dard black label records. The ma­jority of these pic­ture sleeves of­fered for sale have no­tice­able wear—especially on the front cover—and do not fall into the as­signed NM values above. These ob­vi­ously in­fe­rior, lesser grade sleeves still sell for $50–$150.

 

 

 

 

Elvis_GS_0608_wlp

447-0608     Hound Dog / Don’t Be Cruel
                       White label promo with “RCA Victor” on top                                        $ 100–200
                       • Rock­away pressing with “Not For Sale” on one line.
                       Note: The value here is for the record alone! The ma­jority of the 45s of­fered for sale have ob­vi­ously been han­dled and played many times, and do not fall into the as­signed NM values above. These ob­vi­ously in­fe­rior, lesser grade sleeves still sell for $25–$50. Copies with radio sta­tion no­ta­tion written in ink or felt-tip pen are common and should be noted in any de­scrip­tion when ad­ver­tising such a record for sale.

 

 

Elvis_GS_0608_ps

447-0608     Hound Dog / Don’t Be Cruel
                       • Full color pic­ture sleeve                                                                            $ 200–400
                      Note: The value here is for the pic­ture sleeve alone! This sleeve was also is­sued com­mer­cially and can be found with stan­dard black label records. The ma­jority of these pic­ture sleeves of­fered for sale have no­tice­able wear—especially on the front cover—and do not fall into the as­signed NM values above. These ob­vi­ously in­fe­rior, lesser grade sleeves still sell for $50–$150.

 

 

 

 

Elvis_GS_0618_wlp

447-0618     All Shook Up / That’s When Your Heartaches Begin
                      White label promo with “RCA Victor” on top                                       100–200
                      • Rock­away pressing with “Not For Sale” on one line.
                      Note: The value here is for the record alone! The ma­jority of the 45s of­fered for sale have ob­vi­ously been han­dled and played many times, and do not fall into the as­signed NM values above. These ob­vi­ously in­fe­rior, lesser grade sleeves still sell for $25–$50. Copies with radio sta­tion no­ta­tion written in ink or felt-tip pen are common and should be noted in any de­scrip­tion when ad­ver­tising such a record for sale.

 

 

Elvis_GS_0618_ps2

447-0618     All Shook Up / That’s When Your Heartaches Begin
                      • Full color pic­ture sleeve                                                                            $ 200–350
                     Note: The value here is for the pic­ture sleeve alone! This sleeve was also is­sued com­mer­cially and can be found with stan­dard black label records. The ma­jority of these pic­ture sleeves of­fered for sale have no­tice­able wear—especially on the front cover—and do not fall into the as­signed NM values above. These ob­vi­ously in­fe­rior, lesser grade sleeves still sell for $50–$150.

Elvis_GS_header_4

HEADER IMAGE: At the time that RCA was cel­e­brating its Elvis ‘Summer Spe­cial,’ MGM was preparing for the re­lease of what proved to be one of its biggest hits of the year, Viva Las Vegas. While just an­other ho-hum Presley ve­hicle, the pres­ence of co-star Ann-Margret was enough to spark Pres­ley’s plugs and during their mu­sical scenes to­gether, he gave his most pelvicly per­sua­sive per­for­mance of the decade.

Ac­cording to Wikipedia, the box of­fice take for Viva Las Vegas was ap­prox­i­mately $9,400,000, which does not sound like a lot by con­tem­po­rary stan­dards. But if that figure rep­re­sents tickets paid for by viewers, then that would trans­late to al­most $100,000,000 in 2015.

Note that un­like the ’50s movies, in the ’60s ‘Presley ve­hi­cles’ era, the man­i­fest sex­u­ality of his per­sona was played down. And for this movie, so was the ever-yummy Ann-Margret’s. Nonethe­less, the two were lovers be­hind the scenes and they simply siz­zled when­ever they were to­gether, on screen and off . . .

 

 

Elvis 1957 goldsuit standup 1000

POST­SCRIP­TU­ALLY, I just want to stress to col­lec­tors that finding the pic­ture sleeves listed above in “Elvis’ Gold Stan­dard 45s Part 4” in truly NM (near mint) con­di­tion is far more dif­fi­cult than even the rel­a­tively dear values above would in­di­cate. Should you come across any of these sleeves without the al­most ubiq­ui­tous wear and ring-impressions at an af­ford­able price—buy it!

Now, here are all the ar­ti­cles on the Elvis Gold Stan­dard 45s listed in the sug­gested reading order:

1The Elvis Presley Gold Stan­dard 45s Part 1 (Fore­word)
2The Elvis Presley Gold Stan­dard 45s Part 2 (Com­pany Sleeves)
3The Elvis Presley Gold Stan­dard 45s Part 3 (1958–1965)
4The Elvis Presley Gold Stan­dard 45s Part 4 (1964)
5. The Elvis Presley Gold Stan­dard 45s Part 5 (1965-1968)
6. Those Bloody Rare Or­ange Label Gold Stan­dard 45s
7. The Elvis Presley Gold Stan­dard 45s Part 6 (1969)
8. The Elvis Presley Gold Stan­dard 45s Part 7 (1969–1976)
9. The Elvis Presley Gold Stan­dard 45s Part 8 (1976–2000) 

 

 

2 thoughts on “the elvis presley gold standard 45s part 4 (1964)”

  1. Are the prices shown for the recording and/or sleeve alone?

    If one found them to­gether, have they struck the “Mother Load”?

    I’ll never pass a box of 45s at a yard sale again!

    Reply
    • Thank you for the ques­tion. I can un­der­stand the con­fu­sion! So that others will not have to deal with that con­fu­sion, I have changed the layout of the list above. It will an­swer your questions . . .

      Reply

Leave a Comment