ELVIS PRESLEY - Surrender / Lonely Man

Item Description

Vinyl,
7" 33 ⅓ RPM Single

In 1961, RCA Victor Records released Lonely Man b/w Surrender on compact 33. The prefix (37) denotes compact 33. The catalog (7850) is identical to the relatively common counterpart release as a 45 RPM (47-7850). This release was part of an industry-wide attempt to establish a one-speed record market which began in 1960, that was anticipated to phase out the 45 RPM within two to five years of its introduction. Using big name artists, like Elvis Presley to propagate sales of the compact 33 in the direction of market domination should have been enough, however, it wasn’t. In 1961, 45 RPM record sales were climbing at a record pace, the major discount stores cut retail prices by nearly 22%, and lack of inexpensive automatic 33-speed singles player discouraged the promotion of the compact 33. All these factors and more attribute to the extreme rarity of this single.

Label Variation with "New Orthophonic" High Fidelity on left side over Catalog number.