the elvis presley gold standard 45s part 7 (1969–1976)

Es­ti­mated reading time is 30 min­utes.

IN 1969, the Gold Stan­dard Se­ries was changed for the third time: the vi­su­ally life­less or­ange label was re­placed by a more at­trac­tive bright red label. (The or­ange label re­main as the pri­mary label for RCA’s stan­dard cat­alog sin­gles and al­bums.) Oth­er­wise, the layout and the type­face re­mained the same from the pre­vious to the newest. 

In 1968, RCA had switched from its classic black label to a more ‘modern’ or­ange label for all its records. Whether this change was in­tended to af­fect the Gold Stan­dard Se­ries re­mains un­clear: the amount of or­ange label GS records is so small that it has long been as­sumed that they were er­ro­neously pressed and then for­gotten by RCA.

 

This is part 7 of the most com­plete discog­raphy and ac­cu­rate price guide to Elvis’ Gold Stan­dard 45s on the Internet.

 

Ig­nored by col­lec­tors for decades, these red label sin­gles have been at­tracting more at­ten­tion from Elvis com­pletists lately, many of whom are finding that some num­bers among the red la­bels are rather rare records in­deed. As copies of orig­inal 45s from the ’50s (with a 47 prefix) and ear­lier Gold Stan­dards be­come more dif­fi­cult to find in higher grades, in­terest in these later press­ings will grow. ¹

 

Sup­pos­edly, Elvis fan­cied Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello as the A‑side to his next single: One can see why: it is a nice song, the arrange­ment and pro­duc­tion lean and clean with a sound that sparkles fifty years later. And Elvis sings like an angel. But it doesn’t work: the im­me­diate and ob­vious problem is Elvis naming him­self “Jim”—a HUGE mis­take. Wouldn’t it have been smarter if he had sung, “Just tell her I said hello”? But even had that been so, this just doesn’t have the zest ap­peal needed to make the top­per­most of the pop­per­most. Whether it was Elvis or RCA who nixed it as an A‑side, it was the right move. Nonethe­less, a minor gem of a record and a fave with many Presley connoisseurs.

Indianapolis pressings

Since the ’60s, RCA’s In­di­anapolis plant man­u­fac­tured the vast ma­jority of GS 45s. In­di­anapolis records are easily rec­og­nized: by the ma­trix num­bers are machine-stamped into the trail-off area (the dead wax around the label).

There should also be a cap­ital ‘I’ with serifs (re­ferred to as a cross-beam ‘I’) stamped into the same area, but this marking can be dif­fi­cult to see in some light.

For the sake of this discog­raphy, I have iden­ti­fied two pri­mary label lay­outs, each based on the in­for­ma­tion printed on the right side of the label. I refer to them simply as Red label 1 and Red label 2 . . .

 

As you can see, the de­sign that RCA had used for the or­ange Gold Standards—which was the same as the com­pa­ny’s cat­alog records—was the same de­sign used for the red label.

RCA’s basic label template

The basic label tem­plate that RCA shipped to the re­gional printers that worked with their pressing plants had only three bits of information:

•  “RCA” in white, open-block let­ters ran ver­ti­cally up the left side.

•  “Victor” in a plain white, san serif type (Hel­vetica, of course) was set hor­i­zon­tally on the right side.

•  “TMK(s)” and other trade­mark in­for­ma­tion in tiny type on two lines laid across the bottom of the label.

Every label has that in­for­ma­tion in the same style and in the same places. These la­bels were shipped to the re­gional printers who worked with RCA’s plants. The rest of the label data was set by these local shops working with RCA in­struc­tions on the rest of the layout:

•  The artist’s name in plain black block type (all caps) was above the spindle hole.

•  The song title in the same type was below the spindle hole but above the TMK)s) data.

•  The song­writer credits ap­pear below the title in low­er­case type.

These three lines of type were flushed left with a hard ver­tical line. The vari­a­tions on Red label 1 and Red label 2 all take place on the right side of the spindle hole below “Victor.”

NOTE: A no­tice­able and wel­come change was the ad­di­tion of GOLD STAN­DARD to the right side of the spindle hole. This was the first time that the se­ries was ac­knowl­edged on a single with any­thing other than a cat­alog number!

Red label 1: without publishing data

This first label can also be called the simple ver­sion due to its having less in­for­ma­tion than Red label 2. There are four bits of in­for­ma­tion on five lines on the right side: “GOLD STAN­DARD” (two lines) and the 447 cat­alog number are above “Victor” while the ma­trix number is below. Like so:

   GOLD
   STANDARD
   [cat­alog number]
   Victor
   [ma­trix number]

These five lines are usu­ally flushed left and usu­ally with a hard ver­tical line. Usu­ally but not al­ways: the ex­ample above has the “V” in “Victor” veering a few points port-side. This is a minor type-setting error.

Red label 2: with publishing data

A more de­tailed vari­a­tion (the com­plex ver­sion) has six bits of in­for­ma­tion on at least eight lines of type on the right side. Like the simple ver­sion, “GOLD STAN­DARD” and the cat­alog number are above “Victor.” But below “Victor” it is a very dif­ferent critter: first comes a credit for the song’s pub­lisher with ei­ther ASCAP or BMI taking up two or three lines. Then comes the ma­trix number (one line) fol­lowed by the side’s run­ning time (one line). Like so:

   GOLD
   STANDARD
   [cat­alog number]
   Victor
   [pub­lishing data]
   [ma­trix number]
   [time]

These lines are flushed left with a hard ver­tical line. Like the ex­ample above with the mis­aligned “V,” don’t be sur­prised to find sim­ilar type-setting errors.

A few more discrepancies

There are sev­eral other dis­crep­an­cies for which I have not found a pat­tern. Each of the four label vari­a­tions below may be found on ei­ther or both Red label 1 and Red label 2, but in no dis­cernible or pre­dictable pattern:

•  Copies may be found with GOLD STAN­DARD on the right side.
•  Copies may be found without GOLD STAN­DARD on the right side.

•  Copies may be found with MONO on the right side.
•  Copies may be found without MONO on the right side.

•  Copies may be found with a recording date above the spindle hole.
•  Copies may be found without a recording date above the spindle hole.

•  Copies may be found with the month, day, and year in the recording date.
•  Copies may be found simply with the year in the recording date.

•  Copies may have “TMK(s) REG­IS­TERED” in all up­per­case at bottom of the label.
•  Copies may have “TMK(s) Reg­is­tered” in upper/lower case at bottom of the label.

 

This is an ex­ample of a computer-created des­ig­nated promo. The NOT FOR SALE stickers were ap­par­ently placed by hand, as there is nei­ther rhyme nor reason to their place­ment: right side or left, top or bottom. They could be on one side of a record or on both—some are even up­side down!

Designated promos

Copies of ei­ther label vari­a­tion may be found with a small white sticker that reads NOT FOR SALE. These stickers are usu­ally af­fixed to just one side but may be found on both sides of the record. These stickers des­ig­nate stock copies of the record for pro­mo­tional use. ²

This usu­ally means that they were shipped to radio sta­tions in hopes of ob­taining ex­po­sure via air­play. These are often re­ferred to as des­ig­nated promos and usu­ally com­mand a small pre­mium from a savvy seller. ³

 

There are enough ty­po­graphic vari­a­tions on the two pri­mary label lay­outs to keep a col­lector searching and hap­pily buying red label Gold Stan­dard 45s for years to come.

 

Gold Standard company sleeves

Each GS 45 was shipped in a pro­tec­tive paper sleeve. These sleeves may have been plain white or brown paper with no print what­so­ever; this was the most in­ex­pen­sive way to go and every record com­pany used such sleeves.

The record com­pa­nies also had spe­cially man­u­fac­tured sleeves that fea­tured the record com­pa­ny’s name, often with a logo or an eye-catching de­sign. These generic sleeves did not iden­tify in­di­vidual records by having ti­tles or cat­alog num­bers printed on them!

That is, these sleeves merely iden­ti­fied the record within as com­pany product without spec­i­fying what the in­di­vidual product was. Record col­lec­tors refer to these by sev­eral terms:

•  man­u­fac­turers sleeves
•  fac­tory sleeves
•  com­pany sleeves

These are ef­fec­tively syn­ony­mous terms but it is com­pany sleeves that I favor and use ex­clu­sively in my ar­ti­cles on record collecting.

For the Per­fect Elvis Col­lec­tion, each GS 45 should be housed in a GS sleeve man­u­fac­tured at the time for use with that record. Of course, over­lap­ping of older sleeves with newer records was common with the Gold Stan­dards, but that should not stop a col­lector from seeking out the cor­rect sleeve for each record in his collection.

For this ar­ticle, I am listing those sleeves that were man­u­fac­tured con­tem­po­ra­ne­ously with the red label records listed below. For more in­for­ma­tion on all Gold Stan­dard com­pany sleeves, refer to “elvis gold stan­dard 45s part 2.”

 

Gold Standard company sleeve design 2

This sleeve was in­tro­duced in the mid-’60s and lasted into 1973 when most of the red label GS 45s were re­leased. There­fore, every red label record in your col­lec­tion from 1970–1973—and that is every record with a 447 prefix—should be ac­com­pa­nied by one of these sleeves!

There are two vari­a­tions on this sleeve:

•  The paper on the in­side of the sleeve is the same yellow color as the paper on the out­side (bottom image above).

•  The paper on the in­side of the sleeve is white in­stead of yellow (middle image above).

I don’t know if this is an in­di­cator of two dif­ferent printers making the sleeves or one printer whose stock changed over time. I also don’t know if it matters.

 

Gold Standard company sleeve design 3

This sleeve was in­tro­duced in 1974 and was shipped with the later red label num­bers with the GB prefix. For some reason, this de­sign had a very short shelf life: it was used for little more than a year be­fore RCA being re­placed with an­other new de­sign in 1976.

 

Gold Standard company sleeve design 4

This sleeve was in­tro­duced in 1976 and may have been in use when the final red la­bels were is­sued (10486–10489), so it’s okay to as­so­ciate them with those later num­bers. It was cer­tainly used for the ‘new black’ label num­bers (“RCA” on top) which also ap­peared in ’76. This sleeve lasted into 1989!

A tip for collectors

All Gold Stan­dard com­pany sleeves were made equal: these sleeves were used with GS 45s by other RCA artists, most of whom are not very col­lec­table. Should you be flip­ping through stacks of 45s and come across a Gold Stan­dard record by other artists in NM sleeves and the seller wants a couple of quar­ters for the record, buy it! The sleeve can be re­moved and used to re­place an anom­alous sleeve on one of the Presley plat­ters in your collection.

 

Pres­ley’s last gasp at real rock & roll be­fore per­pe­trating one of the great crimes in pop music his­tory: giving up rock & roll for Hol­ly­wood in 1963! Al­though never reaching #1 on a na­tional survey (it peaked at #3 on both the Bill­board and Cash Box sur­veys), it has been a staple of oldies radio for decades. (If you can find an oldies sta­tion anywhere.)

Assigning the values

Each record below is as­signed a value for the record in near mint con­di­tion. Here, NM means that the la­bels and the vinyl on both sides of the record are al­most ‘like new.’ The as­signed value for most records is a 2:1 spread: the high value is twice that of the low value. A few that are still in limbo re­garding their rarity and value have a 3:1 ratio. ⁴

If I am cor­rect, the high number in the as­signed values more ac­cu­rately re­flects rarity and real value—and what these records might fetch when sold by a knowl­edge­able dealer to a knowl­edge­able collector.

The low number re­flects what these records might be pur­chased for when sold by someone not aware of the record’s ac­tual worth. (That is, a non-knowledgeable dealer, which is most of the sellers on the Internet.)

The num­bers were ar­rived at by hours of re­search on the In­ternet, pri­marily the Pop­sike, Col­lec­tors Frenzy and Grip­sweat web­sites. My own ‘common sense’ based on forty years of ac­tivity in buying and selling records and writing about buying and selling records also came into play.

Please note that copies of these records in less than NM con­di­tion usu­ally sell for sig­nif­i­cantly lower prices. For records in VG+ con­di­tion, start at half the value of a NM copy and work down from there. Copies of most num­bers in VG con­di­tion have little value.

I don’t own the records that are il­lus­trated below. I pulled these im­ages off the In­ternet, hence the vari­able quality of those im­ages. They are placed in the discog­raphy below to break up the mo­notony of the list, al­though each image is can be found near its listing.

 

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.

 

And now for the discography

The discog­raphy and price guide sec­tion that fol­lows should be self-explanatory. I as­sume that most readers have seen and used some form of price guide for some sort of col­lec­table. Since I know that I should never as­sume any­thing, let’s take a quick walk through it anyway.

The records are listed in chrono­log­ical order based on the cat­alog num­bers. Each listing has three lines of information:

•  Line 1 has the cat­alog number fol­lowed by the ti­tles of the two songs on the record.

•  Line 2 notes that it is, in fact, a red label record, which is fol­lowed by the as­signed value.

•  Line 3 notes that the record was pressed at In­di­anapolis and is iden­ti­fied as such by machine-stamped num­bers in the trail-off vinyl.

Any record with en­graved or etched num­bers in the trail-off area prob­ably in­di­cates an­other pressing plant’s product. These would prob­ably be rather rare records and I would cer­tainly ap­pre­ciate your no­ti­fying me of their existence.

 

A red label copy of 447‑0601 with Elvis’s sur­name mis­spelled as PRE­SELY on the B‑side was auc­tioned on eBay and sold for $6,000 in 2011! I think this is one of those bogus stunts that people pull off for at­ten­tion. Why? Be­cause sub­se­quent sales of this record have been for $114 and $32 in 2012, $79 in 2013, and $100 in 2014.

NEW INFO: Ap­par­ently, 447‑0601 with red la­bels was never pressed with the cor­rect spelling! All known press­ings have the in­cor­rect spelling! For more in­for­ma­tion, see the com­ment from Dave Reynolds (www.elvisrarerecords.com) below.

 

1969

447‑0600     I Forgot To Re­member To Forget / Mys­tery Train
                       Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                      $   10–20
                       • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0601    That’s All Right / Blue Moon Of Kentucky
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side (“Presley” spelled cor­rectly)    $ ____
                       NOTE: The ex­is­tence of this record is un­ver­i­fied; there is no as­signed value.
                       • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.
                       Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side (“Pre­sely” mis­spelled)               $   10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.
                       NOTE: See the cap­tion to the image above.

 

447‑0602     Good Rocking Tonight / I Don’t Care If The Sun Don’t Shine
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    15–30
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0603     Milkcow Blues Boogie / You’re A Heartbreaker
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    15–30
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0604     Baby, Let’s Play House / I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    15–30
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0605     Heart­break Hotel / I Was The One
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                        $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0607     I Want You, I Need You, I Love You / My Baby Left Me
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                        $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0608     Hound Dog / Don’t Be Cruel
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                        $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0609     Blue Suede Shoes / Tutti Frutti
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                        $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0610     I Got A Woman / I’m Counting On You
                     Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                          $    _____
                      NOTE: The ex­is­tence of this record is un­ver­i­fied; there is no as­signed value.

 

447‑0611     I’ll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin’) / I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You)
                     Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                          $    _____
                      NOTE: The ex­is­tence of this record is un­ver­i­fied; there is no as­signed value.

 

447‑0612     Tryin’ To Get To You / I Love You Because
                     Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                          $    _____
                      NOTE: The ex­is­tence of this record is un­ver­i­fied; there is no as­signed value.

 

Elvis recorded Blue Moon in 1954 in an arrange­ment that sounds like Sam Philips had a western movie on his mind. Pres­ley’s vocal is no­tice­ably smoother—and more ‘professional’—than what we as­so­ciate with his first months with Sun Records. While most rock & roll fans think of the Marcels’ (wacky doo-wop) hit ver­sion first and fore­most when they think of this song, Pres­ley’s ver­sion is the one I ex­pect to find The Most Wholly Grom­mett lis­tening to in Heaven.

447‑0613     Blue Moon / Just Because
                     Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                     • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0614     Money Honey / One Sided Love Affair
                     Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    15–30
                     • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0615     Shake, Rattle And Roll / Lawdy, Miss Clawdy
                     Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                     • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0616     Love Me Tender / Any Way You Want Me (That’s How I Will Be)
                     Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                     • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

This com­pany sleeve first saw the light of day in 1976, at the end of the run for the red label de­sign for Gold Stan­dard sin­gles. Red label records can be found in the three pre­vious com­pany sleeves, none of which have any ef­fect on the value of the record.

447‑0617     Too Much / Playing For Keeps
                     Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                        $    10–20
                     • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0618     All Shook Up / That’s When Your Heartaches Begin
                     Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                     • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0619     Jail­house Rock / Treat Me Nice
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0620     (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear / Loving You
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0621     Don’t / I Beg Of You
                     Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                     • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0622     Wear My Ring Around Your Neck / Doncha’ Thinks It’s Time
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0623     Hard Headed Woman/ Don’t Ask Me Why
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0624     I Got Stung / One Night
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0625     (Now And Then There’s) A Fool Such As I / I Need Your Love Tonight
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    15–30
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0626     A Big Hunk O’ Love / My Wish Came True
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

This com­pany sleeve first was used very briefly in 1974–75 be­fore being (wisely) re­placed by the sleeve shown with 447‑0617 above. Red label records can be found in the three pre­vious com­pany sleeves, none of which have any ef­fect on the value of the record. This sleeve’s short lifespan may in­di­cate a modest amount man­u­fac­tured in those two years, and that they may be­come col­lec­table in the future—like many a couple hun­dred years from now.

447‑0627     Stuck On You / Fame And Fortune
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    15–30
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0628     It’s Now Or Never / A Mess Of Blues
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0629     Are You Lone­some Tonight / I Gotta Know
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0630     Sur­render / Lonely Man
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0631     I Feel So Bad / Wild In The Country
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    _____
                       NOTE: The ex­is­tence of this record is un­ver­i­fied; there is no as­signed value.

 

Be­cause His Latest Flame peaked one po­si­tion higher than Little Sister on Bill­board’s Hot 100 (#4 and #5, re­spec­tively), there is a ten­dency to think that it was the A‑side in­stead of the B‑side that RCA and Elvis in­tended. There is also a ten­dency to see it as the bigger hit in the US. But that’s not nec­es­sarily so: His Latest Flame spent eleven weeks on that survey, two of them in the Top 10. Little Sister spent thir­teen weeks there with four in the Top 10, so the nod would seem to go to the latter as the bigger hit.

 

On Cash Box’s Top 100 it wasn’t even close: Little Sister spent three weeks at #5 while His Latest Flame stalled at #21! Had Presley and RCA had the sense to issue these as two sep­a­rate A‑sides, they might have had an­other pair of #1 hits in 1961. Please note that in the UK, His Latest Flame was the side that re­ceived the bulk of the at­ten­tion and should be con­sid­ered the A‑side there.

447‑0634     Little Sister / (Marie’s The Name) His Latest Flame
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    15–30
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0635     Can’t Help Falling In Love / Rock-A-Hula Baby
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0636     Good Luck Charm / Any­thing That’s Part Of You
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0637     She’s Not You / Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0638     Re­turn To Sender / Where Do You Come From
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0639     Kiss Me Quick / Suspicion
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

The ex­is­tence of this record sur­prised me: Pop­sike does not have a single copy have sold at auc­tion for more than $25 in the past ten years. Nei­ther Col­lec­tors Frenzy nor Grip­sweat list one as having sold else­where. This could mean it’s a nothing record with a nom­inal value (less than $15), but that is un­likely, or it could mean it’s so rare that it rarely pops up for sale! Con­se­quently, I have as­signed it a very broad range of value.

447‑0640     One Broken Heart For Sale / They Re­mind Me Too Much Of You
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                          $   15–30
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0641     (You’re The) Devil In Dis­guise / Please Don’t Drag That Skin Around
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0642     Bossa Nova Baby / Witchcraft
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0720    Blue Christmas / Wooden Heart
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                        Not released

 

447‑0643     Crying In The Chapel / I Be­lieve In The Man In The Sky
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0644     Kissin’ Cousins / It Hurts Me
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0645     Such A Night / Never Ending
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    15–30
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0646     Viva Las Vegas / What’d I Say
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0647     Blue Christmas / Santa Claus Is Back In Town
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                        $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0648    Do The Clam / You’ll Be Gone
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    20–40
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0649     Ask Me / Ain’t That Loving You, Baby
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                        $   60–120
                       NOTE: The ex­is­tence of this record has been ver­i­fied. (Thanks, Paul!) One copy graded nearly NM sold for $71 in 2015.

447‑0650     Puppet On A String / Wooden Heart
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

On Oc­tober 31, Elvis recorded four­teen new tracks: twelve were re­leased in early ’61 as the album HIS HAND IN MINE, which con­tinues to sell fifty years later! The single Sur­render was is­sued at the same time and was a world­wide #1 that sold mil­lions. Why Crying In The Chapel—arguably the high­light of this fan­tastic session—sat on the shelves for four years has been mooted for years. Suf­fice to say that it was a big hit in 1965, re­minding people that Presley was still in the game at a time when the British In­va­sion had made him look di­nosaurian. Ap­par­ently, it also in­spired RCA to pull four more tracks from the LP and issue them as GS 45s in 1966, but without any air­play or suc­cess at all.

447‑0651     Joshua Fit The Battle / Known Only To Him
                     Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    _____
                      NOTE: The ex­is­tence of this record is un­ver­i­fied; there is no as­signed value.

 

447‑0652     Milky White Way / Swing Down, Sweet Chariot
                     Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    _____
                      NOTE: The ex­is­tence of this record is un­ver­i­fied; there is no as­signed value.

 

447‑0653     (Such An) Easy Ques­tion / It Feels So Right
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    _____
                       NOTE: The ex­is­tence of this record is un­ver­i­fied; there is no as­signed value.

 

447‑0654     I’m Yours / (It’s A) Long Lonely Highway
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    20–40
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area (?S/?S).

 

447‑0655     Tell Me Why / Blue River
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    _____
                       NOTE: The ex­is­tence of this record is un­ver­i­fied; there is no as­signed value.

 

447‑0656     Frankie And Johnny / Please Don’t Stop Loving Me
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    40–80
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0657     Love Let­ters / Come What May
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

Re­leased as We Call On Him / You’ll Never Walk Alone in 1968, these sides have never sold well as a 45. Con­se­quently, col­lec­tors have long rec­og­nized any per­mu­ta­tion that has seen the light of day is a rather rare record and there­fore sought after. This number is one of the more valu­able red label press­ings, al­though the value as­signed below may be con­ser­v­a­tive should you want a near mint copy today.

447‑0658     Spinout / All That I Am
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0659     In­de­scrib­ably Blue / Fools Fall In Love
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0660     Long Legged Girl (With The Short Dress On) / That’s Someone You Never Forget
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    40–80
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area (?S/?S).

 

447‑0661     There’s Al­ways Me / Judy
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    40–80
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0662     Big Boss Man / You Don’t Know Me
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0663     Guitar Man / Hi-Heel Sneekers
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0664     U.S. Male / Stay Away
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

The year 1968 was a make-or-break point in Pres­ley’s ca­reer and his ef­forts had mixed re­sults: Let Your­self Go / Your Time Hasn’t Come Yet Baby was ar­guably the best double-sided sound­track single in four years, but no one much cared. Ex­actly which side should be con­sid­ered the hit side is de­bat­able if you rely on Bill­board: Let Your­self Go reached #71 while Your Time Hasn’t Come Yet Baby was #72 but stayed two weeks longer on that sur­vey’s Hot 100. It’s a clearer pic­ture using Cash Box: Let Your­self Go reached #55 while Your Time Hasn’t Come Yet Baby stalled out at #63. As there were more than enough of the orig­inal pressing of the record sit­ting around for years, the press run for the red label Gold Stan­dard reissue was mi­nus­cule, al­lowing for this number to be very hard to find forty-five years later. (PS: This was a very good single that de­served more air­play than it re­ceived in ’68.)

 

1970

447‑0665     You’ll Never Walk Alone / We Call On Him
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                        $    25–50
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0666     Let Your­self Go / Your Time Hasn’t Come Yet Baby
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                          $   50–100
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0667     A Little Less Con­ver­sa­tion / Al­most In Love
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                        $    40–80
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

The first single from the ‘Singer Presents Elvis’ NBC-TV Spe­cial was If I Can Dream. To me, it was then and is now one of the defining mo­ments in Elvis Pres­ley’s life. At the time of its re­lease in late 1968, it was pretty much make-or-break time for Elvis: a lame single and a pedes­trian tele­vi­sion spe­cial could have killed his ca­reer. At the time, I was 17-years old and waited with a trep­i­da­tion sur­passed only by my need (and fear of) losing my vir­ginity. Presley came through with If I Can Dream—ar­guably his most soul-filled per­for­mance ever—which was matched by the TV show. The red label pressing is not that easy to find in near mint condition.

447‑0668     If I Can Dream / Edge Of Reality
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                        $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0669     Mem­o­ries / Charro
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    15–30
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0670     How Great Thou Art / His Hand In Mine
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    50–100
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0671     In The Ghetto / Any Day Now
                     Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                     • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0672     Clean Up Your Own Back Yard / The Fair Is Moving On
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0673     Sus­pi­cious Minds / You’ll Think Of Me
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0674     Don’t Cry, Daddy / Rubberneckin’
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

The rea­soning be­hind pairing the two ti­tles songs from Pres­ley’s two sa­cred LP al­bums (HIS HAND IN MINE from 1961 and HOW GREAT THOU ART from 1967) and re­leasing them as a reg­ular cat­alog 45 may re­main an un­de­ci­pher­able se­cret for­ever. It is a rather rare record in what­ever form it is found as a single and the value here may be op­ti­mistic from a buy­er’s perspective.

 

1971

447‑0675     Ken­tucky Rain / My Little Friend
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0676     The Wonder Of You / Mama Liked The Roses
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0677     I’ve Lost You / The Next Step Is Love
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0678     You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me / Patch It
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0679     I Re­ally Don’t Want To Know / There Goes My Everything
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0680     Where Did They Go, Lord / Rags To Riches
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                          $    40–80
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0681     If Every Day Was Like Christmas / How Would You Like To Be
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

Someone took their record to Vegas and got an au­to­graph with a mes­sage, but I’ll be ding-danged if I can make out all of Pres­ley’s scrawl: “Best Wishes Mugg. Elvis Presley ’77. [?????] no­tice this recording date — ten years after the Army and Ger­many. I recorded it 1967 — April 3, N. York and re-recorded it in L.A. in 1970.” Maybe. This is very hard to find but there is little de­mand ex­cept from completists.

 

1972

447‑0682     Life / Only Believe
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                        $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0683     I’m Leavin’ / Heart Of Rome
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    40–80
                     • Rock­away pressing with an “R” in the trail-off area.

 

447‑0684     It’s Only Love / The Sound Of Your Cry
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    15–30
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.
                      • Rock­away pressing with an “R” in the trail-off area.

 

The second single from the ‘Singer Presents Elvis’ NBC-TV Spe­cial was Mem­o­ries. Legend has it that pro­ducer Steve Binder tested Elvis by asking if he would have con­sid­ered recording MacArthur Park had it been of­fered him first. Elvis said he would have. Binder was pleased. What does that have to do with any­thing about Mem­o­ries? Nothing. But this could have been a fine project for Frank Sinatra: “Of holding hands and red bou­quets, and twi­light trimmed in purple haze, and laughing eyes and simple ways, and quiet nights and gentle days with you.” This is also more dif­fi­cult to find then the values suggest.

 

1973

447‑0685     An Amer­ican Trilogy / Until It’s Time For You To Go
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    10–20
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

Each of the seven Gold Stan­dard num­bers is­sued with red la­bels in 1975 and ’76 listed below is very valu­able records in­deed. Good luck finding any of them any­where at any price any time soon.

 

1975

GB-10156     Burning Love / Steam­roller Blues
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    25–75
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

GB-10157     Raised On Rock / If You Talk In Your Sleep
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $   25–75
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

GB-10485     I’ve Got A Thing About You, Baby / Take Good Care Of Her
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $   25–75
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area. *

 

GB-10486     Sep­a­rate Ways / Al­ways On—My Mind
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $   25–75
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area. *

 

GB-10487     T‑R-O-U-B-L‑E / Mr. Songman
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                         $    25–75
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

GB-10488     Promised Land / It’s Midnight
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                          $    25–75
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 

GB-10489     My Boy / Thinking About You
                      Red la­bels with “RCA” on the left side                                                          $    25–75
                      • In­di­anapolis pressing with an “I” in the trail-off area.

 There are enough truly hard-to-find-in-near-mint-condition num­bers and enough ty­po­graphic vari­a­tions on the two pri­mary label lay­outs to keep a col­lector searching and buying red label Elvis Gold Stan­dard 45s for many, many years to come . . .

 

HEADER IMAGE: In 1970, Elvis Presley was given a Rolex watch as a thank you for playing six sold-out shows at the Houston As­trodome Live­stock Show & Rodeo. It was a lim­ited edi­tion King Midas with only 1,000 pieces made; Elvis wore #343, which hap­pened to be a left-handed spe­cial. It was en­graved “To Elvis Presley From The Houston Live­stock Show Of­fi­cers 1970.” 

The King Midas was a solid gold watch made in the early ’60s; it was the heav­iest watch in the in­dustry at that time. The dis­tin­guishing fea­tures of this watch were that it was a manual wind, the crown was in the shape of the sun, it had a unique shape and style. (Amit­De­vHanda)

 

POST­SCRIP­TU­ALLY, this ar­ticle (“elvis gold stan­dard 45s part 7 (1970 — 1976)”) is one of eight that at­tempts to pro­vide col­lec­tors with the most com­plete discog­raphy and price guide for Elvis Gold Stan­dard 45s avail­able. Need­less to say, it is nei­ther com­plete nor per­fect: cor­rec­tions, ad­di­tions, sug­ges­tions, and even ar­gu­men­ta­tions are welcome . . .

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

1. The Elvis Presley Gold Stan­dard 45s Part 1 (Fore­word)
2. The Elvis Presley Gold Stan­dard 45s Part 2 (Com­pany Sleeves)
3. The Elvis Presley Gold Stan­dard 45s Part 3 (1958–1965)
4. The 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)

 

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FOOT­NOTES:

1   I found seven in­stances of a red label GS 45 selling for more than $100 at auc­tion on eBay. In July of this year, one seller of­fered three un­played records (447‑0656, ‑0680, and ‑0683) with a min­imum bid of $102 each and sold the three to one (dis­cerning?) (de­luded?) col­lector at that price.

2   When Jerry Os­borne in­tro­duced the con­cept of the des­ig­nated promo in one of the early edi­tions of an O’­Sul­livan Wood­side price guide, I con­fess that I laughed at it as ab­surd. Use­less. I was wrong, he was not.

3   In the months fol­lowing Pres­ley’s death in Au­gust 1977, radio sta­tions that had rarely if ever played his music were in­un­dating the air­waves with All Elvis – All the Time! pro­gram­ming. To en­courage more play, RCA af­fixed these NOT FOR SALE stickers to thou­sands of red and new black label records and shipped them!

Copies of these records were plen­tiful on the col­lec­tors market for years af­ter­wards, usu­ally selling for a dollar or two more than than a reg­ular copy, which sold for all of a buck apiece in the early ’80s.

4   For more de­tailed in­for­ma­tion on grading records, refer to my “On Grading Records” on this site.