Ernst almost in tears!:

The lost (destroyed) Elvis tapes

EIN recently received an enquiry (thank you, Robert) asking why BMG had not released alternate takes of the following tracks: Blue suede shoes All shook up Don't be cruel Hound dog

"An element of the unknown shrouds any account of the Sun session masters, which yielded a batch of world-changing tracks, including "Good Rockin' Tonight" and "Mystery Train." Presley was an 18-year-old truck driver when he began the recordings in July 1954, and a year later he had enough momentum to catch the attention of RCA, which paid $35,000 to Phillips to buy out Elvis's contract.

That sale included all of Phillips's master tapes. He delivered 15, and RCA turned them into cash right away. Before the label released its own string of hits with Presley, starting with "Heartbreak Hotel," it re-released his Sun material, which, with the added heft of a national publicity campaign, rose higher than they had the first time around. According to Jorgensen, RCA then stashed the masters in a warehouse in Indianapolis, near the company's manufacturing plant.

About nine of those tapes were destroyed in 1959 when someone in upper management decided to save money on storage costs by tossing out thousands of reels. They had copies, after all. Who cared? "I talked to some of the men who were at the plant back then," Jorgensen says. "I wanted to cry when they told me about it. I couldn't bring myself to ask how they destroyed them."

Negligence and luck saved the surviving six, which either were mislabeled in Indianapolis or kept in a Nashville storage facility that was spared an austerity program. Those six are kept in a climate-controlled vault built into a mountain in Pennsylvania.

And then from the FECC Messageboard:

Q - Regarding the infamous 1959 tape destroying saga, is it possible that the only thing that was destroyed were the tape box's, and the expensive tapes were re-used? it may be possible that these tapes were not "wiped" but just recorded over, and perhaps a half used tape may still contain some precious Elvis out takes.(?)

Could it be worth while to check all the tapes that were recorded during 1959, perhaps checking the "obscure" artists tapes first, as major recording artists would probably warrant brand new tapes? its just a thought. Sorry the question is so long. (From Dan Taylor,England)

ERNST - Brilliant thinking - this of course the story behind the surviving outtakes of the Jan 10-11 and April sessions in 1956. However, in 1959 tape costs were not a big problem. Additionally the tapes were out in Indianapolis where there was no studio, and even worse, I know a man who worked there, who confirms that the tapes were actually destroyed. A very sad story - but not an uncommon one.

Q - Why are we not open about what RCA has in their vaults.

ERNST - Many of you may remember that it wasn't always so. However, after we had talked freely about what tapes were missing, we started getting calls from a small group of fans who "knew" where various tapes had gone. We spent a LOT of time discussing with these people, checking the information through endless expensive phone calls and sometimes travel. It never led to anything other than just an enormous waste of time. One fan kept calling me about the lost ELVIS IS BACK outtakes, claiming he knew where they were, but just couldn't tell me now. He kept returning to the subject for more than year.

Sometime during that period I actually found these tapes and acquired them for RCA. I didn't tell that particular well informed fan about my find, and he just kept going on about where they were even after we had them in our vault. Some of you may remember stories about SUN tapes, or outtakes of Hound Dog, or Hal Wallis vault finds - what happened? Only one thing - some people created these stories based on a supposed knowledge of what RCA had - and basically tried to fool all of us. The irony multiplies, when you see some of these fans praised for what they do for the Elvis world on your own message board.

And....

Remember, in the first nine months at RCA, the management believed he would be a flash in the pan. That is why the picture sleeve from Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel was a black and white photo. Alfred Werthiemer was hired to shoot B&W photos, and thus very few color shots exits. Thus, it should not be surprising that the tapes were erased. After all, once the master was cut from the reel, the outtakes were no longer needed. They simply lacked forsight - similar problems exist with the first sessions for the Beatles. We have been pretty lucky to get the outtakes from the 50s we have so far.

The Stereo 1957 tapes were taken by Bones Howe in 1960 (after Radio Recorders cleaned out there archives), so we need to thank him for his forsight. RCA was offered these tapes but they did not want them. God, even in late 1960s, RCA cleaned out many mono movies session takes (i.e., Blue Hawaii, Kid Galahad); this is how the Audifon bootlegs came about. As the other fans posted here, the tapes were erased because of their cost. Regardless of the popularity of an artist, industry standards said that unused takes from a session were to be bulk-erased and the tapes re-used.

Back in the 1950's, it was the general consensus that rock and roll was just another fad and wouldn't be popular for very long. Therefore, recording companies such as RCA believed that unused takes from a session had no value. When it was apparent in the 1959-1960 period that rock and roll would become a mainstay; then many recording companies began to save their tapes for future reference and use. One sidenote. It was also very expensive for companies like RCA to rent warehouse space to save every tape from every session. Even tapes that were saved at first, were later erased for space-saving reasons!

(Spotlight Article, Source: EIN/For Elvis Collectors Only messageboard/ Ernst Jorgensen)