Going Places pressing

[thetijuanataxi]

Does anyone know the approximate year that a pressing of GOING PLACES by Herb and the TJB with the number "4" on the lower right corner of the rear side of the jacket would have been pressed? I am trying to determine the age of a sealed stereo LP on eBay that's up for sale. Any help would be appreciated.

David,
"phoning" a friend at the corner for help............

 

[W.B.]

In terms of your query, one hint to manufacturing origin could be found in Bruce Spizer's The Beatles' Story on Capitol Records - Part Two: The Albums. According to his aforementioned book, a #4 would indicate that the cover in question was probably made by a company called Imperial Packing Co., Inc., based in Indianapolis, Ind. And that would likely mean that the pressing which used such a number on the bottom right of the back cover would have emanated from Columbia's Terre Haute, Ind. plant (if, indeed, it was Imperial Packing; however, the main number this Imperial used was #6, for pressings out on the West Coast). Other numbers Mr. Spizer wrote about included #2 (for Imperial Paper Box Corp., Brooklyn, N.Y.), #3 (Modern Album, Long Island, N.Y.), and #5 (Modern Album, Terre Haute, Ind.). Such numbers, on these pressings, were only used up to near the late 1960's.

For many years after that point, Columbia-pressed copies of LP covers with black-and-white print on the back had the following symbols on the lower right-hand side thereof: a heart shape (either black or light grey) for Pitman, N.J.; an "A" designation for Terre Haute, Ind.; and an "S" (either as a letter or as a distorted bold symbol) for Santa Maria, Calif.

But then . . . that #4 was also associated with pressings from Capitol's Jacksonville, Ill. pressing plant, so that may be a Capitol Record Club issue (and A&M albums were offered via the Capitol Record Club). Who knows?

 

[Rudy]

Wouldn't the info in the dead wax be more indicative of when the LP was pressed? I tend not to trust LP jackets, especially with used copies of LPs, as they could have been swapped at the store or even by a previous owner (combining a good jacket with a good disc, for instance).

Yep, Capitol did press some A&M LPs. And Verve as well. I've unfortunately gotten ahold of a couple over the years. They sounded noticeably worse than anything Columbia or Monarch pressed for A&M--the sound was noticeably dulled. The giveaway, though, is that Capitol would use their own catalog number on the LP label, often a "SMAS-" prefix, and the normal tan color was more olive. (Verve's was more a dark- and light-grey as opposed to black and silver.)

 

[thetijuanataxi]

Thanks guys. I always thought that the number on the bottom right rear corner of the jacket was an indication of the pressing number ( 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc). But I was trying to determine if this was a '60's pressing before I bothered with it.

David,
trying to get a stone mint sealed copy of GOING PLACES from the '60's..........

 

[W.B.]

The giveaway, though, is that Capitol would use their own catalog number on the LP label, often a "SMAS-" prefix, and the normal tan color was more olive.

Although, on a Capitol club copy of Joan Baez' Come From The Shadows I recently saw at an oldies store, the ochre color is more similar to the "mustard" color of mid-to-late 1973 Columbia pressings of A&M LP's and 45's -- and of 1971-73 Monarch pressings of same.

 

[DAN BOLTON]

I just happen to have a Capitol pressing of GOING PLACES!! handy...it has a 4 in the bottom right-hand corner of the back cover, the label has the album name at the top, the A&M logo is on the left side, the serial number is T-90507 with T1-90507 in parntheses below it, the same stuff is on the other side, with the number in parentheses as T2-90507. Etched into the vinyl are the numbers T1-90507-T3P for side one, and T2-90507-P2P for side two.


The label says manufactured by Capitol Records Inc. on the bottom. The album cover doesn't have the A&M logo with the square around it, and the
record isn't numbered[ no A&M SP4112]. I don't know if the album on ebay is of the same vintage or not, but maybe there are some clues here as to it's origin and pressing date. I haven't played it, so I don't know how it sounds...I just wanted to have it in my collection. It also came in a plain white paper sleeve, and the artwork isn't as bright as on the A&M issues...



Dan

 

[W.B.]

I just happen to have a Capitol pressing of GOING PLACES!! handy...it has a 4 in the bottom right-hand corner of the back cover, the label has the album name at the top, the A&M logo is on the left side, the serial number is T-90507 with T1-90507 in parntheses below it, the same stuff is on the other side, with the number in parentheses as T2-90507. Etched into the vinyl are the numbers T1-90507-T3P for side one, and T2-90507-P2P for side two.

The label says manufactured by Capitol Records Inc. on the bottom. The album cover doesn't have the A&M logo with the square around it, and the
record isn't numbered[ no A&M SP4112]. I don't know if the album on ebay is of the same vintage or not, but maybe there are some clues here as to it's origin and pressing date. I haven't played it, so I don't know how it sounds...I just wanted to have it in my collection. It also came in a plain white paper sleeve, and the artwork isn't as bright as on the A&M issues...

What's the insignia on the dead wax . . . a stamped or etched "0"? If so, that would be a Jacksonville, IL pressing. (Although the P on the end suggests that that particular copy may have been farmed out to Decca Records' Pickneyville, IL plant.) Scranton pressings had an "IAM" in a triangle that indicated the International Association of Machinists union whose workers manned the presses there, while an asterisk (*) indicated a Los Angeles pressing. At the time, all Capitol pressings had a 1½" ring around the label area . . . but Decca pressings of the same time had a ring measuring less than 1". What would the ring around the label measure on your copy be? That might provide some clues.

The "P" and "T" codes (T1-90507-T3P and T2-90507-P2P) suggest that the lacquers were cut at Capitol's New York studios, located then at 151 West 46th Street. (Stereo copies, ST-90507, would have had a W or X code before the lacquer number, if they were cut in New York.) The tapes they used may have been tenth-generation -- at best. And their processing was even more compressed and limited in sound quality than on non-Capitol pressings, I venture.

Another thing was that there was white around the front, as on many a Capitol LP of the time, whereas you saw the entire cover on *regular* pressings.

And as I indicate . . . per Spizer's Beatles book, "4" on the lower right-hand side of back album covers was largely associated with pressings from Capitol's Jacksonville plant.

 

[Harry]

Wouldn't the info in the dead wax be more indicative of when the LP was pressed? I tend not to trust LP jackets, especially with used copies of LPs, as they could have been swapped at the store or even by a previous owner (combining a good jacket with a good disc, for instance).

Well if the album he's interested in is sealed, then there shouldn't be a "swap" problem.

All I can add to this confusion is that I have two GOING PLACES that have "4" on the back cover. One for sure, the latest, was purchased by me in the '70s and features the silver/tan label, so it's certainly not an original vintage album. Oddly, the front cover is wrapped around exactly centered (top to bottom) so if you flip it over, you can read the orange STEREO SP 4124 on the top of the back, and LP 124 on the bottom of the back.

The other came in a set of albums from an eBay seller, and it's a mono pressing from the '60s. It may be a "swapped" album though, since the cover has that washed-out 'record club' color look about it, while the album is a genuine A&M mono from the '60s. This cover is folded properly to reveal the LP 124 on the bottom front.

Harry
NP: GOING PLACES (mono)

 

[thetijuanataxi]

I have some TJB albums that were definitely sixties pressings that have the numbers 4,3,5.and the gray heart symbol. So the numbers and symbols must refer to the place more than the time period. Also, I have some with no symbols or numbers. What does that mean? As for the silver/tan 70's GOING PLACES issues with the funky looking covers, I too, remember seeing them and thinking, What kind of qality control did they have? Didn't they notice that the "STEREO" and "SP4112" logos were mis-aligned and drooped over the top of the cover? They let it stay that way for about 7 0r 8 years till they changed to the SP3264 designation. Always wondered why they never bothered to fix it.

David,
pondering the mysteries of A&M