The Mad Dogs copy looks like it was made after 1971 but before '73, given that Alco first used 6 point Intertype News Gothic Condensed with Bold Condensed (the latter of which was used for matrix numbers of each side on this pressing) for label copy in the spring of '71; before that, and after the late 1970's, they used 6 point Linotype Trade Gothic Condensed with Bold Condensed. I also see Alco's label blanks for A&M went way off the track compared with what Columbia's A&M label blanks were doing, in terms of the colors - mustard instead of ochre for the background, warm red instead of orange for the "A&M" part. (But that's neither here nor there.) Side 2 of the 're' Diamond album is an early example of these alternate fonts from an alternate printer rather than Bert-Co or Alco. The same unknown typesetter also did label fonts for RCA Hollywood pressings of the 45 of "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies on Calendar that same year. There (and here) they used Varityper fonts rather than the IBM Selectric composer fonts as on the Mendes 45 promo and the Ya-Ya's LP copy you cited.
Frank I totally forgot about a private press Monarch that I have! It's the self-titled album from Formula. They were a band from Echo Park that featured the husband wife duo of Brent and Carrie Seawell (like Delaney and Bonnie). The band also featured Sam Clayton on percussion and Ben Benay on guitar. My mom was very good friends with the group and hung out with them all the time. She was even present for the cover shoot for the album, but declined their offer to get in the photograph! The number is Delta 16860! Oh and the number on the "Mad Dogs...." is Delta 16588. So it is a later pressing from 1972 or so.
As we suspected on the Mad Dogs album! The LP could not have been a true first pressing. Still I have not found an identifiable Monarch copy from mid-1970. There seem to be three original labels, and three corresponding white-label promo copies. The most common usually has CP in the matrix (Columbia Pitman): JOE COCKER: Mad Dogs & Englishmen USA Fold Out Cover VG++ Super CLEAN lp » 2 JOE COCKER Rare WHITE LABEL PROMO 2Lp Mad Dogs & Englishmen A&M WLP Self » The other copy with "Joe Cocker" over the title seems to have TC in the matrix (Columbia Terre-Haute): popsike.com - Joe Cocker 2 LP White Label Promos Mad Dogs & Englishmen Original Release A&M - auction details » Joe Cocker - Mad Dogs And Englishmen Original Gatefold Vinyl LP SP 6002 Record » The copies with "Joe Cocker" in large bold print usually have "SM" in the matrix (Columbia Santa-Maria): Joe Cocker Mad Dogs & Englishmen 1970 A&M SP-6002 Gatefold 2 LP Record Album » popsike.com - JOE COCKER 2LP MAD DOGS & ENGLISHMEN - RARE WHITE LABEL PROMO! - auction details » That repress would date c. February, 1972. There are also reissues on the silver label that use the same numbers: 16588/9. Joe Cocker - Mad Dogs and Englishmen DISC: VG/VG+ Original 1970s A&M # SP-6002 » Maybe Viewlex (which completed its purchase of Monarch in 1970) did not have a direct deal with A&M, so there were records pressed by CSM. Certainly if they were having so many records pressed at CSM, there was no need to also have Monarch pressing albums. Between 1970 and 1972, Decca/MCA owed Monarch a tidy sum of money. Monarch was also busy with Atlantic/Atco. There could have been several reasons by Monarch wasn't pressing for A&M at the time. Maybe there was a deal with Columbia for particular records.
PS: I see Formula (followed by V, IV, or III) mentioned online in reprints of a newspaper from Long Beach. If Sam Clayton is on that record, it appears to be his first record. He joined Little Feat later in 1972.
You speak the truth Frank. Columbia must have handled the first pressings all over. The first copy I owned of "Mad Dogs" was definitely the Santa Maria pressing! Now I finally know what I had (but I'm still wondering if it had the Artisan Sound mastering stamp). Wish I hadn't decided to trade that one in years ago, but the original Pitman I have now is in better shape than that one (and has the Artisan stamp). About Formula, they did go by Formula V, etc. There's a video on You Tube of Delaney and Bonnie doing "Getting To Know You So Well" on that has Sam on congas and a couple of other members of Formula. The guitarist was named "Kinky" but I can't find any info on him. They had a trumpet player named Mike Crawford whom my mom had a rather serious relationship with for a bit. And you can see Formula's leader Brent Seawell backing up Climax on the video of "Precious And Few" (he's the tall blonde with the funky bell bottoms). They played Long Beach quite a bit (my mom lived right in Belmont Shore on Park Ave. at the time). ALSO, Brent and Carrie got Delaney and Bonnie to sing "Happy Birthday" to my mom when they joined Formula at a club for my mom's 23rd birthday in August of 1971! No joke. My mom got to spend the evening chatting up Jim Gordon in the club's kitchen!
By the way Frank, what does "RE" mean when it's etched into the dead wax on a record? I've seen first pressings of albums with that etched, so it doesn't mean "Repress" does it?
In this case it does, but it depends on who is using it. Warner used it to refer to any set of replacement lacquers -- which doesn't necessarily mean a repressing.
Monarch, however, continued pressing 45's for A&M in that whole period, and was the only plant among those that pressed for A&M, to press promo singles for them. Notice that not until after 1974 or so did Columbia start pressing 45 promos for A&M. But thanks to all for the confirmation of the dating of that Monarch Mad Dogs pressing. As I've said, the small font used for the matrix numbers was one key.
Jest picked up a near mint copy of The Rolling Stones, Get Your Ya Ya's Out. Δ 15256 (already listed). The deadwax area on side one is very thin. However, there is a MR stamp on side two as it has a tad bit more room.
I recently picked up a mono "Between the Buttons" with very narrow dead wax on both sides, especially side 2. On that side, there's just enough room for the MR symbol.
Great finds, everyone. This project started as just a means of narrowing down when unusual (Monarch) LP's came out, but we have so much more information now. Even when it comes to unusual releases, sellers are starting to mention whenever they have Monarch pressings. I think the word is spreading about Monarch's usual high-quality LP's.
In non-Monarch news, I am now 100% convinced that the "black stereo" copies of Atlantic and Atco labels from 1966 to 1969 are indeed RCA Record Club issues. I found a lone LP, (AT-1 or ATSD-1) that is a club exclusive; all of them have the black stereo. A little research gave me the fact that Atlantic/Atco joined up with the RCA Victor Record Club in spring, 1966. The LP's on that label begin to appear in fall. In addition to being pressed in Indianapolis, who pressed for the club, some have labels that were printed by RCA (using their unusual fonts). http://www.friktech.com/labels/AtlanticLabelography.pdf
Any of those that I've seen have been RCAs, for sure. Philles 4009 happens to be the one I picked up a few weeks ago. Righteous Brothers, Back to Back, Philles LP 4009 (mono), delta 8644
My "Buffalo Springfield Again" was an RCA pressing. My impression THEN was that the black Atco label must have been manufactured right before they switched over to the yellow label. Now I know that wasn't the case. I remember the vinyl was really noisy. Loud, but noisy.
I think I have a few more floating around that were picked up recently, I'll try and remember to post em as I'm working on record sorting today. I know a Fats Domino from the other day was a Monarch...
I bought a copy of Todd Rundgren's Hermit of Mink Hollow. It has delta numbers, but I don't know if it a Monarch. It has Sterling and * stamps.
Just found a Monarch pressing of Judy Collins' "#3" album on the red Elektra label. Delta 12797 The Monarch pressing history of her albums is very inconsistent it seems. One would think Monarch pressed all of her albums pretty much, but some titles like "Wildflowers" only seem to appear as Columbia pressings on their first runs.
I have a "gold label" pressing of Wildflowers, but my database doesn't tell me if if is a monarch or not. I will have to physically check it. Discog lists it as Monarch Δ 11257 EKS 74012. Normally, Columbia would only press those copies for distribution in areas not in Monarch territory. My belief is that there are early monarch pressings of the that record. Just like The Doors, Tim Buckley, Love, Paul Butterfield, etc. They were all produced around the same time period.
Oh I just checked Frank's list and I see there is a Delta 11341 for "Wildflowers" as well as a '69 press with Delta 12895. I guess there must be early Monarch copies out there so I'll keep my eyes peeled. I also found a mono Monarch "In My Life." I wrote the seller on e-bay but no word back yet on the number.
