Elvis Presley, That's All Right, Sun original, Sample, historic copy, MP3, READ

$

2,500

Elvis Presley, That's All Right b/w Blue Moon of Kentucky, on Sun 209.  This is Elvis's first record and the beginning of a seismic shift in popular music, so of course any original copy is of huge historic importance.  But this copy is particularly special, for several reasons:

• It is the local Memphis pressing from Plastic Products, with the three push marks clearly visible on both sides of the label, assuring both its authenticity and the likelihood that it was a particularly early pressing
• It has the catalog number (209) at the 9:00 position on the label, which is several times rarer than those copies that have it at the 6:00 position
• It has the original red "Sample" stamp on the A-side label.  These stamps were applied at Sun records to a few early copies that were then given free to radio stations as promotional copies.  They are far, far rarer than unstamped stock copies
• It has hand written notes on both labels, almost certainly put there by the Program Director of the radio station that it was given to in 1954.  Some of these are just the usual radio station marks (X's, and, apparently, a station catalog number, "1828" on both sides).  Of far more historical interest, however, is the word "Race," written large, two times on each label.  At the time, "Race Record" was the industry's code phrase for records made by black people.  There's no way to know whether the radio station employee who listened to this record on release actually thought Elvis was black or just recognized that the style of the music was based in blues and R&B, but given the record's history (and the huge controversy that this disc and other early rockers engendered about white kids listening to music by or inspired by black people) it's fascinating to see an example on this disc of how that played out in practice; because the word "Race" here almost surely meant, "Don't Play" to DJ's at the station.

This record came to me from a collector who bought it from an old radio-station man in Florida.  It looks like it's seen very little play--it has full shine and no groove wear--but it also looks like it went a long time without being housed in a sleeve.  Both sides have a lot of light scratches (see third scan, above), though nothing deep or problematic--given the shine and the scratches, call it VG overall.  I've included entirely unmanipulated, complete MP3s of both sides, and, though you can hear the familiar Sun records background wash (which is audible even on Mint copies, as it's an artifact of the pressing, not the condition of the vinyl), the sound is excellent, with only minimal sounds coming from the record's condition, and the music and vocals upfront and vibrant throughout.  Labels show very little wear, A-side label has a discreet stain just to the left of the letter S in Sun (see scan).

On the rare occasions that Mint copies of this disk come up for sale, they routinely go for $10,000 or more.  Those typically come out of someone's closet, where they have lain untouched for decades.  While those pristine copies are indeed amazing, there's something about this copy, with its evidence of the real-life grit of the country's and rock and roll's past, that strikes me as more interesting than those.  This is not only an extraordinary piece of rock and roll history, but also an extraordinary piece of American cultural history.  Very, very cool, and a unique copy of what may be the most important record ever released.

Grading

MINT-  Perfect or virtually perfect.  

VG+ Light marks, full shine, great looking record

VG  Still fairly shiny but clearly a used record, light scratches, will play well but with some surface noise

VG-  Played or used more heavily, lots of scratches, more pronounced surface noise, but still plays through okay

G  Rough record