Wow! This thread is just what I'm looking for. There is a question about allman brothers band's fillmore east press. There is a VSRP plant mark(maybe) but nobody knows what does VSRP stand for. Usually after ST-CAP-712223, pressing company should be followed such as PR, MO. So I guess ST-CAP-712223 VSRP shows pressing plant. Do you have any idea?
Polydor Pressing Plants Anyone know who which pressing plant used the code 33? I have an Atlanta Rhythm Section LP on Polydor from 1974 that has "33 PD–6O27–A-4 STERLING[Stamped] RL"/"33 PD–6O27-B–4 STERLING[Stamped]" etched in the dead wax. It has flat finish labels with a pressing ring of approx 2.75"
As of 1974, Polydor LP's were pressed by at least three plants - All Disc Records in Roselle, NJ (such pressings, with label copy typesetting from Progressive Label Co. in Brooklyn, NY, have a "6" right below the European xxxx xxx number on the label), PRC Recording Corp. in Richmond, IN, and Monarch Record Mfg. Co. in Los Angeles. (All Disc and PRC pressings used uncoated paper stock for the labels, but their typesetting differed considerably.) Can't say about the former Capitol plant in Scranton, PA which by then was now owned by North American Music Industries of Pittsburgh; but selected "record club" copies were pressed by Columbia. I can't vouch for what the "33" stood for on the deadwax, but generally the PolyGram pressing plant number designations were not written on the deadwax, only (after 1979) on the labels.
Thanks for your insights, as always, W.B. It's definitely not a Columbia pressing (it doesn't have the 2.70" diameter pressing ring) and I don't think it's a Capitol/NAMI pressing (as I thought those typically have a pressing ring of about 1.5" in diameter). Given that there's no "6" underneath the European product number on the label and that there's no "MR"/delta numbers stamped in the wax, I'm guessing this one may have been pressed by PRC? All of the PRC pressings I've encountered have had a 1.375" diameter pressing ring and an raised "hump" around 2.75" in diameter, as well as "PRC" and some sort of "1 – 1 - 1" after the matrix numbers in the dead wax, but all of my PRC pressings are from the late 70's onward, so maybe their pressings had different characteristics back then? I've attached a scan of the label - perhaps the fonts will help out with identification.
This was an All Disc pressing, with Linotype fonts from Progressive Label Co. of Brooklyn, NY comprising the label copy. PRC pressings as of 1974 likewise had 2.75" diameter rings in the label area (and Varityper fonts for label copy); it wasn't until later in the decade that the molds on their LP pressings were changed to 1.375" ring and 2.75" hump. I should add that the "6" began showing up before 1974 came to an end. Here's a label from James Brown's Reality (PD 6039) for comparison: and a layout from PRC (here is the 2.75" ring): and finally, one from Monarch (with 2.875" ring):
Here is an image from my Emerson Lake and Palmer1970 recording on Cotillion Here is a copy from the deadwax from my Vinyl LP of Emerson Lake and Palmer Self-titled Debut Album 1970 recording on Cotillion SD 9040 pressed at the Specialty Records Corp, Olyphant, PA plant.
I got a question regarding UA pressing plants for Frank Zappa's 200 Motels Label #1 (top left) Matrix: TI UAS-9956-1 (re-1)-1 F (engraved) Pressing Plant: Columbia Records, Terre Haute, Indiana. Label #2 (top right) Matrix: 44 UAS-9956-1 re1 (re-2) F (engraved) ((re-2 is scribled over) Pressing Plant: ? This one is quite heavy. It is 150g while the others are 110g Label #3 (bottom left) Matrix: UAS-9956-A y. (engraved) Pressing Plant: ? Hope someone here can help
In the first place, these images . . . and look like two copies from the same pressing plant. I know that Columbia pressings would have had a 2.703125" diameter circular indent in the label area - and the first looks nothing like the diameter dimensions would be that. At the time, United Artists owned two pressing plants, one on each coast. The heavy pressings sound like they're from All Disc Records in Roselle, NJ (UA's East Coast plant), which had a 2.75" diameter circular indent. They also owned Research Craft in Los Angeles on the West Coast; those pressings had the same 2.875" diameter circular indent that could be found on pressings from Rainbo, Monarch, Cadet (United/Superior), H.V. Waddell and some other area plants in that period. All Disc and Research Craft both had uncoated paper stock for their labels (while Columbia used coated paper, but used matte finish light tan ink); after 1973-74 or so, All Disc pressings of UA LP's began to use label copy type from Progressive Label Co. of Brooklyn, NY. As for this . . . . . . it was pressed by MCA Records (Canada) in Cornwall, Ontario (known until 1970 as Compo Co., Ltd.). The circular indent diameter on such pressings (like those from Decca/MCA's own U.S. plants in Gloversville, NY and Pickneyville, IN) was 0.984375".
Hello W.B. and thanks for the fast reply. I asumed the first was from Terre Haute because of the T and I. When i look closer, I see something that looks like a upsidedown V. It is very weak and around 12 o'clock when reading the Matrix nr's. I measured the indent and it was approximately 6.85 cm and I calculated that to be 2.7" (using a online inch calculator) I measured the indent on the second US pressing to be approximately 7cm and i calculated that to be 2.76". This is the one with 44 engraved. Is it possible the first is from Terre Haute when looking at my measures?
The first you described would've been a Terre Haute, because all Columbia LP pressings had that 6.85 cm (metric) calculation. (Not just them, but also Pitman, NJ and Santa Maria, CA.) By your description, it would seem the "44" was associated with All Disc pressings.
Thanks a lot W.B. One more mystery solved. I am quite new when it comes to figuring out pressing plants, but I find it very exciting and interesting, so this information is very valuable to me. Thanks again.
Most of the pressing plants for the Verve singles on ZappaFrenzy have been identified. But there is one that doesn't have a pressing plant home. I post picture of it here, just in case someone knows something. Matrix A: VK 10632 #105597 Matrix B: VK 10632 105599 BIZ 101-B TF (engraved)
A few late 1970's PolyGram label pressings had written on the deadwax "SMK." I can't at this time determine what number was corresponded to that, but looking at a Billboard article from 1978 on the itinerary of pressing plants that handled the soundtrack for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (speaking of Robin Gibb's recent death), one of the plants listed was Sound Makers in Brooklawn, NJ. Until then, I'd've thought the "SMK" was shorthand for Philadelphia-based Diskmakers.
I acquired a 2nd copy of Fleetwood Mac - Bare Tress on LP a while ago. I have an original WEA Canada LP purchased in around 1975. This 2nd copy, the seller said was from the early 1980s. I happened to look at the deadwax yesterday and noticed the MCA Pickneyvill, IL. stamp on it. I thought Warner U.S. would have been pressing their LPs at Specialty, since they bought it in the late 1970s. Anyone know why this was "farmed out" to MCA?
It was around 1978 when this was pressed - around the point when Columbia's Pitman, NJ plant was on strike for a considerable period of time. And Columbia was still pressing for Warners', albeit on a far more limited basis than before 1976, at the time (Capitol was the main pressing plant for Warners' product by this point). During this period, Warners' had a few other plants they contracted to that were normally not associated with them - namely, PRC Recording Corp., Richmond, IN; North American Music Industries, Scranton, PA (the former East Coast Capitol plant - "NM" code in deadwax); and Shelley Products Ltd., Huntington Station, NY. (Monarch was a tertiary West Coast pressing venue, dating to around the same time Warners' began using Capitol for their pressings in 1976.) It should also be noted that despite WEA acquiring Specialty in 1978, pressings of Warners' product from that plant didn't really begin to come out until about 1980. The main focus there up to then was the other two labels in that triumvirate, Elektra and Atlantic. (However, Allied Record Co. began pressing some Warners' 45's just prior to WEA buying that plant in 1979.)
More All Disc pressings? I recently ran across this LP on the EMI America label recently, and was surprised to find that, unlike most Capitol pressings which have the approximately 1.5" pressing ring, this one has a 2.75" diameter pressing ring which is a bit more textured and not as glossy than the interior of the label: My understanding is that EMI/Capitol acquired the rights to the UA/Liberty labels as well as their Research Craft and All Disc pressing plants (as well as their cassette pressing plant) ca. 1979, so I'm assuming that this LP was probably pressed at All Disc. There's nothing distinguishing in the dead wax that would indicate one way or the other. Ca. this same time period (from mid-1979 to early 1981), Word Records and its affiliated labels also used a pressing plant with these same pressing characteristics with the less-glossy 2.75" diameter pressing ring. I know that Word had utilized Research Craft & All Disc throughout the 70's, but wasn't sure who handled their pressing in this era. Here are a few examples of labels from this time-frame: It seems very likely to me that all of these were pressed at All Disc, especially considering that Word switched over to using Monarch Records (which was owned by ElectroSound as of 1979) for their record pressing needs in 1981 and a Billboard article from the Sept. 26, 1981 issue states the following: "...ElectroSound Group, the major independent manufacturing chain, reports the Roselle, N.J. and Hollywood record manufacturing facilities acquired last year from Capitol have been closed," presumably speaking of All Disc and Research Craft. Some of the fonts on these Word-related labels look similar to those on the Rock Justice label, while others don't look that that similar to my eyes, but I'm certainly no expert on these things. Perhaps W.B. can chime in and confirm?
The Rock Justice label . . . . . . had their typesetting prepared by Capitol's Los Angeles plant, and the film of that label copy sent to the other plants in question (including, in this case, All Disc). As for these labels . . . . . . I can't say for sure which printing company (based in Hollywood or elsewhere in L.A., evidently) did these fonts (all IBM Selectric Composer), but they did do such work not only for some Monarch pressings, but also (from c.1969 to the mid-1970's) for RCA's Hollywood plant, on some RCA releases themselves. These labels, of course . . . . . . had Alco Research & Engineering label typesetting. Capitol had acquired the All Disc and Research Craft plants at the point when they took over United Artists, but evidently sold them by 1980 to ElectroSound. Presumably, some Capitol LP's may've been done at All Disc around this period? . . .
Thanks for the insights, W.B., as always. In the Sept. 27, 1980 issue of Billboard, there's an advertisement for All Disc, Research Craft and Liberty/UA Cassette duplication services which lists them all as "divisions of Capitol Records, Inc.", so apparently the sale to ElectroSound must have taken place sometime after that in Q4 of 1980. In addition to the address and phone numbers of the individual plants, the ad also lists a Hollywood, CA address and a phone number for "National Custom Productions", so it would seem that they had a centralized office in Hollywood that handled processing of pressing orders and then the actual manufacturing got farmed out to Research Craft or All Disc, perhaps depending on capacity of the plants at the time or proximity to the client? At least that would explain why all of these labels were actually typeset on the west coast but pressed on the east coast.
This here label of the Quadraphonic Over-Nite Sensation was posted at the Zappateers.com forum. It's quite strange since it has Stereo written on it and it does not look like other labels we have seen. Anyone know where this one could be from?
Your image link is not visible to other people. (You probably have to be logged into that Zappa blog to load it in your browser.)
The label typesetting was from Columbia's Santa Maria, CA plant, which very likely pressed this as well (unless markings on the deadwax point this to being a pressing from Terre Haute, IN or Pitman, NJ).
