Over the decades, I've noticed a LOT of albums and 12" singles with the raised letters E A S T around the center hole in the labels, what do these mean?
I think all of those were made at Specialty records, they then became WEA Manufacturing East Inc, so probably its makes reference to that
To tag on to the recent (for this thread) query about the Monkees 45... I've found a few Monkees LPs with a tiny MR in the deadwax. Would that indicate a pressing from Mercury Richmond? Did RCA sub out to them? Another reason I ask is because I found a copy of John Gary's A Heart Filled With Song with the common 'I' scratched out and a tiny MR. I would guess that would mean Mercury Richmond. Since I've seen the tiny MR on some Monkees LPs (and since Colgems was an RCA susbsidary) then maybe they would all be from Mercury Richmond. Also.. another code that I don't think has been documented here.. I found another John Gary RCA with an odd code. My copy of Spanish Moonlight has a different pressing ring (sort of the sloping indent from Presswell) but it doesn't have the common R, I, or H from RCA. Instead it has a small arrow when looked at from one angle or a T on top of a V when looked at from another angle. It is definitely NOT the Capitol Winchester 'wineglass' / 'rifle' that I'm quite familiar with. I feel like I've seen this on other releases and ignored it in my cataloging, not realizing what it was. Since I've been through about 10 John Gary LPs all pressed at an RCA plant, I noticed the odd pressing ring and realized this one was from somewhere else.. But where?
See post 105 in the Labels and pressing plants,we're tired of non-fill so knock it off!! thread. Sorry not sure how to link to it. Someone gave me directions but it seems that I have lost them.
It's not Monarch.. That would mostly likely have the MR in a circle and a Delta #. I'm familiar with those. It's not from there. Mercury Richmond is my suspicion, but were they marking MR or RR by 1966?
Rainbo is an S-xxxxx. Five digits. Don't know if they used that code decades ago, but that is their code the past bunch of years. I provided the info on the other post.. Learned it from other people on the forum.. Passing it along..
The MR is probably Monarch. They got overflow from a lot of labels. I may have mentioned this earlier. Motown co-owned Southern Plastics and may have owned part of ARP. While I was there between 1965 and 1972 the original DJ and first run pressings were mostly done by RCA with Southern, ARP and Monarch handling our reorders using RCA metal. The reason for using RCA was that they could put 20,000 copies in stores virtually overnight and had the capability of dealing with any defective pressings immediately. In the singles business timing was everything. There had to be pressings selling in the stores when anything went on the air or it would be dropped in a day or two and probably never given any more airplay.
Thanks. That's going to come in handy! Does it stand for "Rainbo is a Shocker!" I just checked my new Depeche Mode represses and they all have the dreaded S-xxxxx
It just doesn't have the right pressing ring type to be Monarch. The RCA John Gary & Colgems Monkees both have a deep groove type pressing ring. That's not on any other Monarch I've found. And.. It's a very tiny MR close to the playable groove area. Most Monarchs I've found are pretty distinguishable with a big MR in a circle and that Delta #. I will say that I have no idea how to tell a pressing from Southern.. ARP is Allied? I can tell those later when WEA bought Allied.. But not earlier ones... I know sometimes it comes down to the label type font... But I can't distinguish that well enough yet.
Very likely a summer 1967 pressing - from when RCA's own Rockaway, NJ plant was on strike. As for Mercury Richmond-pressed LP's - they had a deep groove similar to RCA pressings, before transitioning to 2.75" pressing ring by the later '60's. (The small etched "MR" first began to be seen after 1966, after what had been Richmond Record Pressings had changed its name to Mercury Record Mfg. Co.) Over the years, RCA would subcontract to Mercury's successor nomenclature plants, Philips Recording Co. Inc. ("PR") and PRC Recording Co. ("PR" / "PRC") - namely on 45's with PRC's infamous styrene. The pressing with the T atop a V in the deadwax, sounds like it has a 2.75" pressing ring. I think that plant pressed also for Motown starting around 1969-70.
The Monkees and the John Gary with the tiny MR do indeed have a 2.75" pressing ring and a deep groove. That would indicate a pressing at Mercury Richmond pressing as I surmised. The other John Gary with the T atop a V does have a larger, sloping pressing ring at 2.75" and a smaller ring right around the spindle hole at about 1.25". Have any idea which plant this was?
I haven't checked in on this thread in a while, but the last Monarch list I printed out didn't have this listed: Rolling Stones Big Hits London NP-1 Mono Delta 8925 Cheers, Bob
Still trying to figure out where the Ruben An the Jets - Deseri/Jelly Roll Gum Drop (Reuben misspelling) was pressed.. I finally got a copy of my own and I could study the matrix. I think it says Audio Matrix on the a-side, but I’m not 100% sure since it is very faint. It also has some strange markings. Not sure if it is supposed to illustrate something or if it is just scribbling. You can see a scan of it below. http://www.zappafrenzy.com/singles/...p/Deseri-Jelly_Roll_Gum_Drop.html#verve_usa_1
All I know is, this typesetting was on MGM and sublabel center labels from mid-to-late 1968 until some time in '69. Beyond that, I'm as much interested in their origin.
My copy of Neil Diamond Double Gold on Bang has "G.A.M/MI-N" etched in the deadwax on all four sides. I've also seen copies with "MASTERFONICS". Is "G.A.M" Glenn Meadows?
Hey, several months later I can second your confirmation. I noticed the other day my copy of that Monkees LP is also a Mercury pressing. Sounds like they used better vinyl than they were using for their own LPs at the time, as well.
Thanks for the confirmation Arkoffs... I'm sure that first Monkees LP sold tons of copies and there was probably a need to spread it around to multiple plants to keep up with demand. I've owned (mostly beat) about 5 or 6 copies of that album in my 38 years (long before I understood deadwax codes). That Monkees S/T is a mono and has the tiny MR on both sides. I've also got a Stereo More Of The Monkees with the tiny MR only on side 1. I can't tell anything by the other side. Maybe swapped out plates? Who knows.
To clarify a bit (read the posts too quick), it's a More of the Monkees that I noticed this on last week ... I <think> it had MR on both sides, but I'll have to look to be sure.
I recently acquired an original dry mono mix, 1955 Capitol Canada grey label LP pressing, of Frank Sinatra - in the wee small hours. Most of the Capitol Canada LPs I have in my collection from the 1950s and early 1960s have the abstract anvil machine stamped in the deadwax. That indicates Capitol, Scranton, Pennsylvania. Does that mean that Capitol, Scranton handled the lacquer cutting and plating and then sent the metal parts to Canada? In Canada, in 1955, RCA Smith Falls, Ontario began pressing LPs for Capitol Canada. Deadwax: Side 1: W1-581-D2 Side 2: W2-581-D13
Researching Swan Records pressings and located a reference that Capital Album Corp. of Philadelphia pressed their records. Anyone know what the dead wax pressing marks for this pressing plant might be? I have a few Swan pressings from Monarch. They are easy to to identify.
Crown Album would have printed the album jackets. The records themselves, if locally pressed, would have been by a plant called Mallard - which later evolved into Discmakers. The metalwork indeed was from Scranton (with a larger version of the stamped type from 45's, as seen on LP's from c.late 1954 to about late 1956/early '57), but the lacquers were cut in Hollywood (with their 'D' code). Some Scranton metal parts for LP's and 45's that went to Canada were from lacquers cut in New York ('N'). But the "deep groove" whose dimensions, I.I.N.M., were similar to U.S. RCA pressings', was way different from what Capitol had moved on to just as EMI were about to acquire them.
