Carpenters "Close To You" LP pressed on vinyl

[jukeboxexpress]

I've been going through my large record collection over the last several months and last weekend I discovered a copy of the Carpenters LP "Close To You" that was pressed by the CBS Santa Maria, CA factory on vinyl. As most of the A&M LP's were pressed by Monarch Records on styrene, this vinyl was quite a pleasant surprise. I played my original mint styrene pressing in back-to- back comparison with my newly discovered vinyl pressing and the vinyl pressing is far superior sounding. There was less cross-talk and static vibration than the styrene copy.

There are several ways to tell a styrene Monarch pressing from a vinyl pressing.

1.) The vinyl CBS Santa Maria,CA A&M pressings have an -S1 at the end of the matrix number in the trail-off.

2.) The labels are darker with maybe a greenish tinge and follow the contour of the record on the vinyl pressings while the styrene pressings have a lighter label that can often times look like it was glued-on as an afterthought.

3.) The Monarch styrene pressings are much stiffer than the CBS pressings on vinyl, which are very flexible.

4.) Vinyl pressings are also much shinier, including the labels.

5.) The Monarch styrene pressings usually have a circled MR in the trail-off.

Monarch records did press vinyl records that were usually promotional copies but did not change to vinyl full-time until around the time that CBS closed the Santa Maria,CA factory. Their style of pressing also changed at this time to the CBS style, although thinner. It is my suspicion that Monarch may have purchased the old CBS equipment and supplies.

 

[Harry]

If I recall correctly, Monarch only used Styrene for its singles, not albums. A&M used vinyl for all of its album pressings no matter which company did the actual stamping - at Herb's insistance, I believe.

The -S1 would indicate the stamper number used. Generally, the closer the number is to the beginning of the alphabet, the earlier the stamper. Mine have -P# designations for example, and each side can be a different stamper number.

W.B., who posts here occasionally, will know all about this stuff. He's an expert on the Columbia pressings. IIRC, Columbia tended to press the albums designated for sale in the Eastern half of the country, while Monarch tended to press stuff for the Western half.

Harry

 

[jukeboxexpress]

Hello Harry!

Monarch's pressing material may not have been styrene on the LP's, but it definitely was not the same vinyl that other companies were using. Being that the Monarch LP's were not very flexible and easily broken when bent, the material was more like Vinylite from the 50's.

Especially noticeable in the trail-off areas of the Monarch records, the finish is kind of dull and has an orange-peel texture. This is common on styrene pressings. The S1 designation is definitely for CBS Santa Maria, CA pressings and the 1 might be for a master number. I have seen 2's, but mainly 1's. One of the few companies that numbered their stampers was RCA. Your "P" copy is an East Coast pressing which may stand for the PRC factory or most probably the CBS factory in Pennsylvania. I'll bet your label is darker than a Monarch pressing's label. I've got a TJB LP with a TML imprint and it has a darker label like the Santa Maria pressings. When you have that orange-peel finish, it does impart surface noise and is obviously not a high-quality pressing.

From talking with my friend who used to work for A&M in the late-70's to early-80's, Herb was known to be a penny-pincher. I believe that Herb wanted to put out the best sounding records for the money, but only went top-drawer on the Quadraphonic and audiophile LP's. I know that the SQ quads were CBS pressings and the CD-4 discrete's were probably RCA or JVC manufactured, all of which being vinyl.

 

[Harry]

I've been going through my large record collection over the last several months...

Let us know if you ever come across your alleged HAECO-CSB copy of SINGLES 69-73!

Harry

 

[jukeboxexpress]

Hello Harry!
I was probably mistaken about the "CSG" Carpenters album and was confused because of the many CSG, especially promo, 45's, but I did find a second Quad copy(both CBS pressings). I did find some Sergio Mendes CSG LP's, "Greatest Hits", "Fool On The Hill" and "Ye-Me-Le". Surprisingly "Crystal Illusions" was not, on either my promo copy or my commercial copy.

 

[Harry]

Hello Harry!
I was probably mistaken about the "CSG" Carpenters album and was confused because of the many CSG, especially promo, 45's, but I did find a second Quad copy(both CBS pressings). I did find some Sergio Mendes CSG LP's, "Greatest Hits", "Fool On The Hill" and "Ye-Me-Le". Surprisingly "Crystal Illusions" was not, on either my promo copy or my commercial copy.

That's right. CRYSTAL ILLUSIONS had no CSG processing, but FOOL and YE-ME-LE did.

Hey, at least we can all stop searching for that elusive SINGLES LP with the CSG processing, since it doesn't exist!

Harry

 

[Rudy]

If I recall correctly, Monarch only used Styrene for its singles, not albums.

I only recall ever seeing one styrene LP. I can't remember the title or even the label, but it wasn't a major. It just felt cheap/brittle. Probably was one of Dad's "Latin" LPs he bought in the 60s.

 

[A&M Retro]

Doesn't the original single of "Merry Christmas Darling" have "CSG" on the label? I'd have to look it up....I know it's the only time they used that type of vinyl for a Carpenters single. Or maybe it was "HAECO", or both?

 

[Harry]

Doesn't the original single of "Merry Christmas Darling" have "CSG" on the label? I'd have to look it up....I know it's the only time they used that type of vinyl for a Carpenters single. Or maybe it was "HAECO", or both?

HAECO-CSG was what A&M used around that time. Yes - a few of the Carpenters singles in that era were CSG'ed, many on the promo versions for radio. Both of the Christmas singles were plagued with it.

Harry

 

[jukeboxexpress]

I think that "Merry Christmas, Darling" may be the only Carpenters' 45 to be commercially released in the Haeco-CSG format. The original is # 1236-S and both the Commercial and promo versions are CSG. The next release, #1648-S "MC,D" was still CSG, but "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" is regular stereo. On only the promo version of #1648-S, "Santa Claus..." is CSG. The next xmas release, #1991-S, "Christmas Song" and "MC,D" are both regular stereo, promo and commercial versions. On two label types of #8620-S, the green/gold striped "Forget Me Nots" and the pink/white "Memories" , both songs, "MC,D" and "CS" are both regular stereo. On another 45, #1978-S, "Calling All Occupants...", I've never seen a commercial version and it was never played in my town, I guess that it was just too weird, but my promo copies have edited CSG versions on one side and regular stereo LP versions on the other side.

About the only places that you would find Haeco-CSG versions of the Carpenters records were on promo 45's. Other 45's issued commercially using the Haeco-CSG system that come to mind are 45's #1206 by Free and #1193 by Miguel Rios.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

On another 45, #1978-S, "Calling All Occupants...", I've never seen a commercial version and it was never played in my town, I guess that it was just too weird, but my promo copies have edited CSG versions on one side and regular stereo LP versions on the other side.

I have the original A&M US single of Calling Occupants with the original picture sleeve. The Calling Occupants side is the edited version and is regular stereo (no haeco) it is b/w Can't Smile Without You.

 

[jukeboxexpress]

Thanks, I didn't know about that one for sure. I'm looking at one of my promo copies of #1978-S right now and nowhere does it say CSG or Haeco anywhere, but looking at the edited side, it definitely is. The edited side has the rough texture of a CSG record and it plays like a CSG record. Most CSG A&M 45's started off the matrix number with CSG in the trail-off. Mine is inscribed, A&M 12335(STEREO)(SHORT)-S2. The other side is inscribed, A&M 12335 "(A&M 12355)crossed-out"(STEREO)(LONG)-S2. The "S2" means that this record was pressed by the CBS factory in Santa Maria, CA, and it is ofcourse vinyl.

 

[song4u]

I was listening to XM's 70's on 7 channel this morning and they were playing Kasey Casem's American Top 40 from the week of 8/15/70 - Close to You was #1 for the 4th week in a row, with David Gates and Bread at #2 with "Make it With You". Oh the memories.

I got to thinking that maybe next year, as it will be the 40th anniversary of their first #1 hit, maybe something new will be released.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Herb was known to be a penny-pincher.

Well that's a new one...although it might be a twist on "he was a careful businessman."

 

[jukeboxexpress]

Herb and Jerry are very smart and careful businessmen. To build a company up from scratch and turn it into a major player, plus selling it off to one of the biggest companies in the entertainment industry for an astronomical amount, now that's business!

 

[Michael Hagerty]

I was lucky...buying all my LPs in Los Angeles, I always had CBS Santa Maria pressings.

---Michael Hagerty

 

[jukeboxexpress]

Los Angeles was where Monarch records was and those pressings were much more common out West. Santa Maria is also in Cailfornia and A&M used them as a secondary factory. Other than CBS, EMI, MCA and RCA, who had their own pressing plants, the other major record companies contracted out their pressings to independents like Monarch. Other than CBS product, you were lucky to get Santa Maria pressings on any other labels.

 

[W.B.]

Your "P" copy is an East Coast pressing which may stand for the PRC factory or most probably the CBS factory in Pennsylvania.

Actually, 'P' was Columbia's Pitman, NJ plant; I don't think A&M ever used PRC during its run as an indie label (i.e. before entering into the deal with RCA in '79).

Santa Maria pressings were known at the time of Close to You (both the single and LP) for Varityper fonts used for the label copy, as noticeable on many a Warner/Reprise LP or 45, as well as on ABC/Dunhill, White Whale and countless other West Coast labels. Up to the end of October 1969, such fonts were seen on most A&M releases coming from all of Columbia's plants, before it was decided to have each of the pressing plants do their own label copy. I've long gone for the Pitman pressings myself, for the very reason of the label copy typefaces (mostly Linotype, with three sizes of Franklin Gothic and a 7 point Baskerville from Intertype).

As for Monarch vinyl pressings, I saw them, but alas, the shape of the records had nothing to do with that of Santa Maria-pressed copies.

 

[jukeboxexpress]

Yeh, I got mixed up. I meant the Pitman CBS factory. Although they did much better quality pressings than Monarch, the Santa Maria pressings were superior due to a better quality of vinyl. As far as the Monarch vinyl pressings, the earliest ones were more like the style of RCA, but thicker, and the only ones that I have seen were promotional. The later Monarch vinyl pressings, after A&M went to the red label, were in the style of the Santa Maria type and were not quite as thick. Though some label printing styles were more appealing than others, records were meant to be played and not just looked at.