A batch of Elvis Presley's earliest RCA recordings from nearly 50 years ago failed to meet the minimum asking price at auction on Monday, but lesser keepsakes from the King of Rock 'n' Roll fetched more than $6,000.
The highlight of the two-day sale of show business memorabilia by international auction house Bonhams and Butterfields was a private collection of six reel-to-reel tape recordings of Presley valued at between $30,000 and $50,000. The "pre-master" recordings of some of Presley's first sessions at RCA included never-before-heard versions of such hits as "All Shook Up" and "Jailhouse Rock" as well as studio banter among the singer, members of his band and the engineer who recorded them, Thorne Nogar. It was Nogar, working under contract for RCA, who ended up in possession of the reels and whose family put them up for bid through Bonhams & Butterfields. Nogar died in 1994. The tapes ended up being withdrawn from auction because "they did not meet minimum price set by the owners," auction spokesman Erik Simon told Reuters. He said the family did not want to divulge the reserve price set for the collection or the range of bids received. Several other pieces of Presley memorabilia did sell, including a signed photograph of the singer ($2,115), an autographed movie banner from his 1968 film "Stay Away Joe" ($3,525) and an autographed record sleeve ($470).
BMG already has everything which is featured on these tapes.
Rare Elvis Recordings Fail To Sell
November 23, 2004 | Other Source:Reuterssecondrichard wrote on
November 23, 2004
As we discussed last week, we knew already that BMG had the material. But what about the All Shook Up Takes. According to the article above, the tapes include "never before heard" takes of ASU. Is BMG saving something for future box sets or FTD releases ? My personal opinion is that the tapes do NOT include ASU takes, but I sure hope I'm wrong on that...... And Joe Tunzi didn't mention anything about this in his latest Sessions book either.
Sean Ryan wrote on
November 23, 2004
They say that there are outtakes of 'All shook up' and Jailhouse rock' but surely if BMG had outtakes of 'All shook up' they would have released them by now.I mean, we have outtakes of 'Jailhouse rock' so why no 'All shook up' outtakes? I doubt very much if outtakes of 'All shook up'' exist and what about the 1957 Christmas session which was supposed to be on the tapes.My guess is that the seller of these tapes doesnt really know what they are on about cause im sure they would have been sold. Can someone from BMG give us any more info on this?
lray wrote on
November 23, 2004
The article is deceptive. If you look at the list of songs on this site from last week, that was added to the original news article later, it is pretty clear that what they have is the masters, no outtakes. It is just 2 hours of the master tracks. The mystery is over. Outtakes of the Christmas session and All Shook Up were tossed out in 1959 along with many others. This family does not have anything rare, that's why no one is bidding high enough.
Cruiser621 wrote on
November 23, 2004
I'm really disappointed on this issue. So what's the real truth BMG? Do we or don't we have outtakes on All Shook Up and the entire 1957 Christmas Album songs? Are we saving them for FTD or a future box set? What about outtakes for Good Luck Charm?
Mofoca22 wrote on
November 23, 2004
i really dont understand why they didnt sell. and i think there saving all the outatkes for a boxed set that will prolly be out in july
Viva wrote on
November 24, 2004
Why is it I've always longed for that holy grail of memorabilia - an autograph, but could never afford it; and now they sell one for $470! that's less than £300. Pants.
mfbinc wrote on
November 24, 2004
I heard that the family selling the tapes had a stipulation that they were only for private listening pleasure and not for resale. If that's true, it would limit the number of people bidding and the amount bid.
glennd wrote on
November 24, 2004
It looks like the bubble burst at all. There are no alternate takes of All shook up, or are there ? The only one who can tell us is Mr. Ernst from BMG. Maybe we get a Cd from Ftd or they give us a new boxset in 2005. We must be patience. TCB.
lray wrote on
November 24, 2004
No folks. There are no outtakes for All Shook Up, Elvis' 2nd LP or the Xmas album. No one has them. They were tossed out in 1959. What these people are selling are another set of masters. If you take a look at the list that was posted over the weekend, on this site, you will see what I mean. No wonder Ernst goes nuts. Fans insist on something that has been gone for 35 years.