a blog about elvis presley's music and records
E‑Z COUNTRY PROGRAMMING was the title of a series of promotional LPs manufactured by RCA Victor in the 1950s. Each record collected sides from current singles by various country artists. One of these records featured “I Forgot To Remember To Forget” and “Mystery Train” by Elvis Presley. [Read more] “was “e‑z country programming 2” the first LP to feature an elvis track?”
E‑Z POP PROGRAMMING was the title of a series of promotional LPs manufactured by RCA Victor in the 1950s. Each record collected sides from current singles by various pop artists. One of these records featured “I Forgot To Remember To Forget” and “Mystery Train” by Elvis Presley. [Read more] “was “e‑z pop programming 5” the first LP to feature an elvis track?”
DID RCA RELEASE OTHER VERSIONS of ‘Mystery Train’ and ‘I Forgot To Remember To Forget’ by other Victor artists at the same time they released Elvis Presley’s versions of those songs as his first RCA record?” Why would they do that? Were they hedging their $40,000 bet on purchasing the contract of the fledgling singer? [Read more] “did rca release other versions of elvis’ songs to compete with elvis’ records?”
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”
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”
RCA’S CARTOON PICTURE SLEEVES of the ’50s featured a “biography” that summed up each artist’s life in a few comic strip-like panels. While rather rare, these sleeves are not very collectible and therefore are not valuable, except for one: the Elvis “This Is His Life” sleeve is among the rarer Presley items of that time. [Read more] “the elvis “this is his life” cartoon picture sleeve”
RCA VICTOR SIGNED ELVIS as a recording artist on November 21, 1955. The first RCA Elvis record they released was a reissue of Sun 223, “I Forgot To Remember To Forget” / “Mystery Train.” It had been among the best-selling country records for several weeks and RCA was determined to take it to the top. [Read more] “the first rca elvis record was “I forgot to remember to forget””
ELVIS WAS ALREADY A STAR when RCA Victor acquired his contract in November 1955. The record company had won a bidding war for the right to purchase his contract from Sun Records. They paid a king’s ransom for that contract but believed that Presley would be the biggest country & western record star of 1956! [Read more] “the biggest country & western record news of 1955”