Bootlegs

BOOTLEGS col­lects ar­ti­cles about the many unau­tho­rized records—mostly LP albums—that fea­ture Elvis: in the studio, on stage, at home. When these records were first re­leased in the early 1970s, they gen­er­ally were sold in jackets with cheesy graphics and often sounded even worse.

By the end of that decade, spec­tac­ular al­bums were being issued—products that, in lavish jackets with gor­geous graphics holding records with as­tounding sound—blew just about every­thing that RCA Victor had ever re­leased by Elvis. At least in the United States.

The ar­ti­cles below in­clude records bootlegs, unau­tho­rized re­pro­duc­tions (man­u­fac­tured as re­pro­duc­tions for col­lec­tors), and coun­ter­feits (man­u­fac­tured to cheat and swindle everyone).

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Elvis SPD

is the “country & western jukebox promotion kit” for spd-15 more fake news?

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RCA VICTOR SPD-15, a col­lec­tion of ten un­ti­tled records, were known only by their group cat­alog number for decades. The ten 45 rpm extended-play (EP) records con­tain forty tracks by ten country artists, in­cluding four by Elvis Presley. The records were made for juke­boxes and are now in­cor­rectly re­ferred to as the “Jukebox Pro­mo­tion Kit.” [Read more] “is the “country & western jukebox promotion kit” for spd-15 more fake news?”

Elvis 1956 fans close up 1500 crop

the “record bulletin” picture sleeve for rca’s first elvis record is fake

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A REL­A­TIVELY RE­CENT AD­DI­TION to the world of Elvis col­lectibles is the “Record Bul­letin” pic­ture sleeve, re­put­edly made for 47–6357 from 1955. It doesn’t look like any­thing as­so­ci­ated with Elvis or RCA Victor and comes with an origin story as odd as its ap­pear­ance. [Read more] “the “record bulletin” picture sleeve for rca’s first elvis record is fake”

Elvis photo publicity 1955 600 trim

rca victor 47–6357 bootleg picture sleeves

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THERE ARE FOUR PIC­TURE SLEEVES as­so­ci­ated with RCA’s first Elvis record, “I Forgot To Re­member To Forget” / “Mys­tery Train.” One is a le­git­i­mate item while an­other is of ques­tion­able au­then­ticity; they are cov­ered sep­a­rately in their own ar­ti­cles. There are also a pair of RCA Victor 47–6357 bootleg pic­ture sleeves ad­dressed in this article. [Read more] “rca victor 47–6357 bootleg picture sleeves”

elvis and the illuminating turntable

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AN ELVIS REISSUE may be one of the rarest and most valu­able Elvis records of the past fifty years. Or, it may be an­other fake col­lectible de­serving no better status than that of a cleverly-made-yet-unnecessary bootleg. And it’s tied in with a fooked-up but very in­ter­esting pic­ture cover and—get this—an il­lu­mi­nating turntable! [Read more] “elvis and the illuminating turntable”

Elvis BurningLove 0769 1500 crop

the most valuable elvis 45 of the ’70s has been bootlegged!

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SOME COPIES OF “BURNING LOVE” may be the most valu­able commercially-issued Elvis single of the ’70s! De­spite its last sale on eBay for al­most a thou­sand dol­lars, many col­lec­tors are un­aware of this record’s value or its origin. This ar­ticle ad­dresses those facts and warns readers that this rarity has been boot­legged and these coun­ter­feit copies are being sold to un­sus­pecting fans! [Read more] “the most valuable elvis 45 of the ’70s has been bootlegged!”

Elvis AuburnUniversity March1974 1500 crop blue

valuable insert associated with elvis presley’s “my boy” may be bootleg!

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RCA 2458EX IS AN ODD RECORD, one of the oddest in the vast cat­alog of Elvis records. It was man­u­fac­tured in the US ex­pressly to be ex­ported to the UK and sold there in 1974. In­stead of the usual cream­sicle or­ange label that was the stan­dard for RCA records at the time, this weird record had la­bels that were as gray as the In­cred­ible Hulk was in 1962! [Read more] “valuable insert associated with elvis presley’s “my boy” may be bootleg!”

EltonJohn record collection 1500

elton john used to collect elvis bootleg albums

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TO RAISE FUNDS FOR HIS AIDS CHARITY, Elton John sold his record col­lec­tion through a Sothe­by’s auc­tion in 1993. The col­lec­tion con­tained more than 70,000 items, in­cluding sin­gles, al­bums, 8‑track tapes, cas­settes, and com­pact discs. Pro­ceeds from the sale went to the Elton John AIDS Foun­da­tion, which re­mains an on­going con­cern that has raised more than $400,000,000 over the past quarter-century. [Read more] “elton john used to collect elvis bootleg albums”

Elvis SunEra 800X600

all the elvis sun EPs are bootleg EPs

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THAT’S COR­RECT, all of the Elvis Sun EPs are bootleg EPs. For­tu­nately, most col­lec­tors seem to know that they are not le­git­i­mate, and few sellers ad­ver­tise them as any­thing other than boots. But they are nice looking records and most se­rious Elvis col­lec­tors own them, so if you have been looking into them and wanting some in­for­ma­tion, look no further! [Read more] “all the elvis sun EPs are bootleg EPs”

Elvis Memphis1956 cropped

elvis presley bootleg picture sleeves 1954–1956

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EVERY RECORD COL­LECTOR should be fa­miliar with some if not all of the many col­orful pic­ture sleeves that ac­com­pa­nied Elvis Presley records in the 1950s, many col­lec­tors may not be aware that not all Presley Product was is­sued with such a sleeve. All of them are col­lec­table and I would argue that al­most all of them are truly under-valued in truly near mint con­di­tion (NM), even harder than THAT to find in mint con­di­tion (M)! [Read more] “elvis presley bootleg picture sleeves 1954–1956”