Elvis presley moody blue album value

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AUGUST 16, 1977, was the day the earth stood still:Elvis died. Very few fans were mindful of his de­te­ri­o­rating health and we were un­pre­pared for our own re­sponse come his death. Fans were mindful of Elvis in gen­eral: his latest album, MOODY BLUE, had been re­leased 4 weeks ear­lierand to be selling much better than usual. In the month after his death, his last album be­came one of his finest selling al­bumsever.

Due it being his final album,MOODY BLUEholds aspe­cial location in the Elvis canon, de­spite it’s gift arel­a­tively undis­tin­guished album, even by Presley’s flag­ging ef­forts that the time.As amu­sical state­ment,it to be amediocre hodge­podge that studio tracks from the pre­vious year and live record­ings, one of which was three yearsold.

Given Presley’s wellness at the time, Icould argue the medi­oc­rity was ac­tu­ally Elvis rising to the oc­ca­sion and also over­coming part high hurdles—namely his now-legendary self-medication skills. But this ar­ticle is not aimed at the mu­sical con­tent of the album, yet in­stead ex­am­ines the numerous forms that took as avinyl record in the 1970s and also ’80s.

As the mar­ket­place was much an ext open to var­ious for­mats in 1977 보다 it is currently when CDs rule, the album MOODY BLUE was is­sued in fourmedia:

• AFL1-2428: LP record • AFK1-2428: cas­settetape • AFS1-2428: 8-track ice cream • EPP1 2428-C: reel-to-reel-tape

It was later on re­leased together acom­pact disc (1988) and then as an ex­tended com­pact disc (2000). Much more re­cently, it to be re­mas­tered and also is­sued together a180-gram LP (2013). Because that this ar­ticle, Iad­dress the LP al­bums is­sued in the United states from 1977 into the ’80s—and over there are an ext vari­a­tions than you can imagine.

Thefront cover because that theMOODY BLUE was among the much more at­trac­tivecovers on an Elvis album in the ’70s. That’s in the US, where RCA Victor con­sis­tently is­sued Presley plat­ters in trivial sleeves. Various other coun­tries often pack­aged Elvis in far an ext ap­pealing art­work, no­tablyJapan.

First pressing: AFL onblue vinyl

In the so late ’70s, col­ored vinyl was every the rage, as it had remained in the early on ’50s. Therefore RCA had actually the first 250,000 duplicates of AFL1-2428 pressed top top translu­cent blue vinyl at your In­di­anapolis plant. Why not? MOODY BLUE on blue vinyl expense the exact same as black vinyl and was acute offering point. 2

These first press­ings had actually the fol­lowing in­for­ma­tion etched into the trail-off vinyl:

Side 1: AFL1-2428-A-1S Mas­ter­fonics GAM Side 2: AFL1-2428-B-1S Mas­ter­fonics GAM

Copies the this pressing can be found in sealed or opened up shrinkwrap with one or 2 dif­ferent stickers af­fixed come thefront:

• One sticker reads The BlueAlbum • One sticker reads Con­tains the access time Moody Blue and WayDown

For some reason—maybe the blue vinyl?—sales were brisker 보다 pre­vious studio al­bums; in ~ weeks of re­lease it was ob­vious the 250,000 duplicates weren’t enough and RCA switched the document to black vinyl for sub­se­quent pressings.

Copies the AFL1-2428 on black vinyl are fairly rare records and also can market for simple $200in NM con­di­tion. Later on press­ings v an AQL prefix on black color vinyl are typical used records.

Secondpressing: AFL onblack vinyl

In early on Au­gust, after all the blue vinyl copies were shipped, In­di­anapolis began pressing the album on typical black vinyl. These documents car­ried the same cat­alog number (AFL1-2428) through sim­ilardata etched into the trail-off vinyl:

Side 1: AFL1-2428-A 1S A4? Mas­ter­fonics GAM Side 2: AFL1-2428-B-1S A4F Mas­ter­fonics GAM

Side 1: AFL1-2428-A-1S LA5 Mas­ter­fonics GAM Side 2: AFL1-2428-B-1S A1O Mas­ter­fonics GAM

On Au­gust 16, 1977, the un­think­able hap­pened: Elvis Presley died.RCA im­me­di­ately or­dered the MOODY BLUE it is in re­turned come blue vinyl.The number of copies the AFL1-2428 pressed on black vinyl is un­known. Given its scarcity among col­lec­tors, it might not have been alarge press run. 3

There space mil­lions that copiesof AFL1-2428 MOODY BLUE on beloved translu­cent blue vinyl. Opened duplicates in NM con­di­tion room worth $5-10.Nonethe­less, you will certainly see world who be­lieve oth­er­wise asking vast prices for what they be­lieve to be arare record at document shows, flea mar­kets, and also on the Internet.

Thirdpressing: AFLon bluevinyl

RCA had to lease out other (smaller) pushing plants in the US and also Canada to fulfill the un­re­lenting de­mand for Presley Product in the months fol­lowing his death. In­di­anapolis alone re­turned come blue vinyl and pressed mil­lions of more copies the AFL1-2428. 4

This should median count­less dif­ferent stamper num­bers top top one document from one plant, yet Ihave only discovered afew num­bers (below):

Side 1: AFL1-2428-A-1S A1V Mas­ter­fonics GAM Side 2: AFL1-2428-B-1S A1Z Mas­ter­fonics GAM

Side 1: AFL1-2428-A-1S A2H Mas­ter­fonics GAM Side 2: AFL1-2428-B-1S A1F Mas­ter­fonics GAM

Side 1: AFL1-2428-A-1S A3Q Mas­ter­fonics GAM Side 2: AFL1-2428-B-1S A1P Mas­ter­fonics GAM

Side 1: AFL1-2428-A-1S A2CC Mas­ter­fonics GAM Side 2: AFL1-2428-B-1S A1N Mas­ter­fonics GAM

Side 1: AFL1-2428-A-2S WMas­ter­fonics GAM Side 2: AFL1-2428-B-2S Mas­ter­fonics GAM

Side 1: AFL1-2428-A-1S Mas­ter­fonics GAM GA3 Side 2: AFL1-2428-B-2S Mas­ter­fonics GAM DA2

Side 1: AFL1-2428-A-1S Mas­ter­fonics GAMA7 Side 2: AFL1-2428-B-2S WMas­ter­fonics GAM?

Side 1: AFL1-2428-A-30 Mas­ter­fonics GAM Side 2: AFL1-2428-B-1S Mas­ter­fonics GAM

There might be other numbers.

When RCA readjusted the MOODY BLUE album’s cat­alog number from AFL1-2428 come AQL1-2428in 1980, castle switched over to black vinyl for all sub­se­quent press­ings of the record. These al­bums v black vinyl documents are worth $5-10each.

Fourth pressing: AQLon blackvinyl

In 1980, RCA re­vamped that is cat­alog and also MOODY BLUE was provided anew prefix and also reis­sued as AQL1-2428. This and also all sub­se­quent do­mestic press­ings that this document were top top stan­dard black color vinyl. The data in the trail-off vinyl:

Side 1: AQL1-2428-A 32 # ~1~ Side 2: AQL1-2428-B 32 # ~1~

Side 1: AQL1-2428-A 32A1A Side 2: AQL1-2428-B 32A1A

Ques­tion: room there any kind of other trail-off num­bers?The lowest figure that Ihave checked out from are­li­able source for the sales the MOODY BLUEin the united state is 4,000,000. The highest total Ihave checked out is 14,000,000—although that is indigenous aless de­pend­able source. Ei­ther way, there have to be much more stamper num­bers than the few Ihave provided above. 5

This is the orig­inal de­sign for the LP cover; the was published as acover slick and then can­celed. The slickswere de­stroyed, yet afew sur­vived and oc­ca­sion­ally turn up on the collector’s sector for sale. The many re­cent revenue of among these slicks was for area­son­ably usually $4,700.

Special vinyl pressings

During the pressing of MOODY BLUE, RCA’s plant at In­di­anapolis sur­passed 2,000,000,000 documents man­u­fac­tured. Acel­e­bra­tion was held, in­cluding providing Elvis aplaque for the mere reality that among his documents wasthe two-billionth pressed. As component of the cel­e­bra­tion, RCA had sev­eral spe­cial press­ings of the album done in ex­tremely tiny runs. These to be ap­par­ently given out to com­pany execs and other VIPs. 6

These col­ored vinyl press­ings of AFL1-2428 are among the rarest and also most valu­able Presley plat­ters the the 1970s. Due to the cur­rent in­sta­bility that the rare record mar­ket­place, aNM copy of any color record might sell because that as tiny as $500 or as much as $2,000 at auction.

Colored vinyl

As part of the cel­e­bra­tion, ase­ries the lim­ited press­ings were done in heavy colors:

• environment-friendly •red •white • yellow

There were additionally records pressed in 2 colors v a ‘splash’ effect:

• purple-and-white • red-and-white • yellow-and-white • multi-color

Some of this were placed in AFL1-2428 jackets, while rather were just slipped into plain white sleeves. 7

Picture disc

As part of the cel­e­bra­tion, atiny number of pic­ture discs the MOODY BLUE to be made through aphoto that Colonel Parker dressed as Santa Claus! this were offered by the Colonel come VIPs and also are ab­surdly rare.

Record club

An avid col­lector browsing the In­ternet might run across ref­er­ences because that aspe­cial pushing of MOODY BLUE for the RCA Victor document Club. This ref­er­ences frequently as­sign acat­alog number to the record: 66602-4. The only list­ings the Ifound for arecord through that cat­alog number was aGerman pushing of thealbum.

This is asealed copy the AFL1-2428 v both of the stickers af­fixed to the shrinkwrap. Most sealed duplicates with these stickers host orig­inal blue vinyl records. No­tice that the folks at the store offering this copy payment no at­ten­tion to where they put their pricing stickers.

The Avid document Collector

Ac­cording come Pop­sike, there have been al­most 600 sales that MOODY BLUE in some kind on eBay in the past ten years. The values below are because that NM copies of cat­alog number AFL1-2428 and are es­ti­mates based upon the few sales reg­is­tered top top Pop­sike. As­signed values below are in us dol­lars and also are approximations.

AFL1-2428 hard blue vinyl $ 5 AFL1-2428 solid black vinyl $ 250 AFL1-2428 solid green vinyl $ 1,000 AFL1-2428 solid red vinyl $ 1,000 AFL1-2428 heavy yellow vinyl $ 1,000 AFL1-2428 solid white vinyl $ 1,000 AFL1-2428 purple splash vinyl $ 2,000 AFL1-2428 red splash vinyl $ 2,000 AFL1-2428 yellow splash vinyl $ 2,000 AFL1-2428 multi-color splash vinyl $ 3,000

The pic­ture disc of AFL1-2428 with Colonel Parker as Santa Claus is so rare there have actually been no trans­ac­tions top top which to es­ti­mate avalue. 8

In the job after Elvis died, grief-stricken em­ployees at the RCA pushing plant in In­di­anapolis spon­ta­neously cre­ated their very own collectables—various col­ored vinyl and unique pic­ture discs to be made the what­ever Elvis album they to be printing, in­cluding MOODY BLUE. Ihave not in­cluded these sporting activities in this article.

Mispressings and also misprints

During the man­u­fac­turing that arecord, mis­takes have the right to happen. Some­times, the wrong brand gets slapped onto one side of arecord; this is usu­ally re­ferred to as amis­printing. That is, a45 or one LP can play the cor­rect music top top both sides but have one cor­rect label and also one in­cor­rectlabel.

Some­times, two parts are combined up and also the not correct music it s okay pressed top top one next of arecord; this is usu­ally dubbed amis­pressing. The is, a45 or an LP deserve to have the cor­rect la­bels top top both sides however play the cor­rect music top top one side but play some other music—even an­other artist’s music—on the others side.

The worth of together in­cor­rectly man­u­fac­tured documents values madness de­pending top top the artist and also the title. Both mis­printed and mis­pressed records lug sig­nif­i­cant value to asmall por­tion of col­lec­tors, al­though that dif­fi­cult come as­sign any kind of kind of worth to them. Usu­ally, mis­press­ings are more de­sir­able than misprintings.

FEATURED IMAGE: The photo at the optimal of this web page was cropped native the photo above which was provided on the covering of the MOODY BLUE album. The is astun­ning photo and Ihave won­dered for much more than forty years why RCA’s art de­part­ment de­cided the it necessary ablue border in­stead of having it to fill the en­tire frontcover.

Post­scrip­tu­ally, along-time Elvis fan who Ihave known for much more than thirty years and who oc­ca­sion­ally provides the ring of the In­ternet under the alias “Blane Win­ston” (as that is an alias, any kind of other Blane Win­ston top top the In­ternet or in actual life is no this fake Blane Win­ston girlfriend of mine) wants it reg­is­tered the he dis­likes the MOODY BLUE cover de­sign: the blue border gift too huge and the photo of Elvis toosmall.

FOOTNOTES:

1 Ifind it cu­rious that arecord that offered enough duplicates to peak the nation charts in ~ atime when nation records were selling big, would have actually sold enough duplicates to at least put it near the peak 10 ~ above the popular music charts.

2 The 250,000 number for the ini­tial run of blue records has actually been around along time, however Ihave not viewed it ver­i­fied by any­thing re­sem­bling an of­fi­cial RCA source.

3 Ihave read that the album had actually sold 300,000-400,000 devices be­fore that fateful day in Au­gust. As that would have in­cluded LPs and tapes, the number of black vinyl records could be in the 10s of thousands—a mi­nus­cule amount for abest offering album.

4 Re­garding In­di­anapolis and AFL1-2428: “For five days ~ Elvis died, the In­di­anapolis tree pressed 250,000 duplicates of the MOODY BLUE album every day and then still man­aged to press athird that that figure for the fol­lowing 4 weeks. In total. It seems In­di­anapolis pressed alittle over 4,000,000 copies of this album as much as Feb­ruary 1978, to include to the 400,000 al­ready in publish be­fore Elvis died.” (Elvis Ex­press Radio)

5 so many, many facts and also fig­ures re­garding Elvis Presley’s sales are un­known be­cause RCA “lost” years’ precious of pa­per­work from your ac­counting and/or sales de­part­ment. Fans and also his­to­rians have the right to only guess: v at some figures—including total world­wide sales of every Presley records, tapes, and com­pactdiscs.

6 Sup­pos­edly, each pressing was lim­ited come fifty (50) copies, but that is unconfirmed.

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7 part or every one of the white vinyl press­ings have actually the cor­rect B-side label for MOODY BLUE and also the in­cor­rect A-side brand for LSP-1254(e) ELVIS PRESLEY.

8 Re­garding factory-sealed copies of AFL1-2428 through or without the stickers: the price col­lec­tors salary are almost everywhere the place! In 2016, one sealed copy sold for $300, i beg your pardon is way too high! because then, plenty of sealed copies have offered in the $20-30 range. Ifound one renowned huck­ster of­fering 2 sealed copies: one is noted as “AFL-1-2428, blue vinyl. SS” and also is $100; the other is listed as “Moody Blue (the blue album) Mint un­opened AFL-1-2428” and also priced at awhop­ping $2,000!

Elvis Presley"s Moody Blue album top top blue vinyl is worth much less than $10 yet on white vinyl, it"s worth more than $1,000. Click ToTweet