History of Purple Pressed Vinyl

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Can someone give me the history of the purple pressed vinyl, the kind that when you hold up to a light you can almost see through it or you can visibly see a light bulb behind it. It almost look like a purple color hue to it.

I've been slowly replacing some of my worn out Lp's....one that I had, I used soo much it had a couple skips & really worn grooves & the cover was badly damaged too so I wanted to replace it. I found a sealed copy, good price so I bought it, when I opened it, I first held it to the light to see if I could see through it, I could. Where as my older one I could not see through it.

So far I'm through side one of the purple pressed Lp & it sounds really nice & full....in fact I'm really suprised it's so nice sounding, the clarity seems stronger to me, maybe it's because I was so use to my worn out copy.

It's an A & M Lp that has a date of 1983 on the back Lp cover & also same date on the label.

Any history on this kind of pressing would be cool to hear.

Why would my original one (I purchased it when it was first released in 1983 at a record store) be the dark vinyl and the new one I just bought is also pressed in 1983 (according to the label & back cover) why is that one purple see through kind?

 

[LPJim]

Split Enz's 1980 A&M release, TRUE COLOURS (SP 4822) has a sticker on front reading : NEW! See True Colours on this laser-etched graphic record.
Sure enough, some neat looking circles, triangles and dots can be seen when you hold the record under light. To my perhaps color-blind perspective, the record looks black at any angle.

TRUE COLOURS did have a variety of cover art color combinations. My copy has the purple background with white squares and yellow triangles. I've seen the red & green version around, and there are others I don't recall at the moment.

Maybe there's a hard-core Enz collecter with all variations somewhere.
JB

 

[andywithaz]

I don't know about the purple vinyl but I have seen clear vinyl colored yellow. Can someone give me the history on this

 

[Andrew T.]

A little bit about purple-tinged vinyl is mentioned in this thread. It sounds like you may have a superior pressing on Quiex vinyl. As for the history thereof, however, I'm at a loss.

 

[Rudy]

Yep, Andrew's got it: Quiex II, when held up to light, has a very faint translucent purple color to it. Some A&Ms were pressed with this vinyl--I believe Styx's Kilroy Was Here was one of them (I'd have to check), and I know for certain the Police album Synchronicity was released on Quiex II. Ditto Herb Alpert's Blow Your Own Horn. The A&M/CTi Audio Master Plus reissues were also released on Quiex II. A&M's Canadian-pressed Audiophile series (SPJ) used virgin vinyl, and other labels used it as well, usually for top-selling releases. The audiophile labels like Mobile Fidelity used a different kind of virgin vinyl, but the end result is the same: the grooves can retain their shape better, since it is a more durable vinyl. (It allows the full range to be better reproduced, with lower distortion.) Plus, with fewer impurities, surface noise was lower. Quiex is pretty good, and I know the Mobile Fidelity LPs are sometimes so quiet, you'd think you were listening to a tape. The ECM label also released their LPs on virgin vinyl--I have yet to see one of theirs that wasn't. More recent Impulse! LP releases also used virgin vinyl.

I know Mobile Fidelity sort of pioneered the use of it for "premium" LP pressings in 1977, and other labels that cared about their end product began to use it, including other audiophile record labels.

This isn't the same as laser etching, which was a feeble attempt at combatting piracy (see the "B" side of the Styx album Paradise Theater for a good example)...nor is it the same as the novelty clear vinyl pressings that are tinted various colors. I have discs pressed on anything from clear to red, blue, yellow, blue/yellow, and even an opaque coral pressing on RCA Red Seal for Tomita's album The Bermuda Triangle.

 

[LPJim]

I've got several A&M color vinyl editions. Soundgarden's SUPERUNKNOWN came out as a mint green double LP set in 1994. Their BADMOTORFINGER LP was yellow-gold and red vinyl was used on LOUDER THAN LOVE.

My favorite color-vinyl is the light brown with red streaks edition of Simple Minds' NEW GOLD DREAM from 1982. I also have a purple picture disc version of Bill Wyman's A&M solo album from 1981, English release.
JB

 

[Murray]

I know for certain the Police album Synchronicity was released on Quiex II. Ditto Herb Alpert's Blow Your Own Horn.

Interesting... I just held my Canadian-made copy of Blow Your Own Horn up to the light, and it's opaque black vinyl! Same thing with Carpenters Voice of the Heart, so it's obvious that A&M Canada wasn't using Quiex II, at least not in 1983.

 

[Rudy]

I know for certain the Police album Synchronicity was released on Quiex II. Ditto Herb Alpert's Blow Your Own Horn.

Interesting... I just held my Canadian-made copy of Blow Your Own Horn up to the light, and it's opaque black vinyl! Same thing with Carpenters Voice of the Heart, so it's obvious that A&M Canada wasn't using Quiex II, at least not in 1983.

That's quite possible...there's no telling what "international" versions are pressed with. It doesn't necessarily mean the vinyl isn't good (I've heard some imported black vinyl sound better than their US counterparts...my Deutches Gramaphone pressings of A&M albums are very quiet). It could be that the Canadian vinyl was better than what was used in the US. I tend not to worry about it if the vinyl's quiet and it sounds good.

Also, I think that Quiex II was only used for A&M's initial pressing runs. Reissues, I would think, would not get the good vinyl.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Thanks guys for the quick response.

Rudy says, " Also, I think that Quiex II was only used for A&M's initial pressing runs. Reissues, I would think, would not get the good vinyl."


The A&M Vinyl I was speaking about in my original post is the Carpenters "Make Believe it's Your First Time" The dates are 1983, I just held it again up to my monitor this time in a complete dark room tonight & it really is see through & the color is clearly light purple.

I'm not that knowledgable about vinyl's so I knew you guys would know. My worn out copy of this A & M Lp is the standard dark non-translucent color. That is why I was so suprised to see this newly opened copy was this purple hue color.

The only other translucent Lp I have is the Carpenters Lovelines LP but that one is not as purple as the Make Believe Lp & the Lovelines is not quite as see through.

But in any case, it's like Rudy said, if it plays well then it doesn't really matter.

So if this Lp is really a Quiex II, it sure does play really nice, I'm impressed.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

UPDATE:

Regarding this topic, I was in my local record store today & I was telling the dealer about this A & M Carpenters record (holding up to light & seeing through it with a clearly purple hue translucent color) I was telling him how my older copy was just black vinyl & also how the cover were the exact same pressing #. He told me to do this, compare the written pressing #'s on the actual "vinyl record" near the inside label.

Voice of the Heart (my original black vinyl Lp) says this:
A&M SP 04954A-ESI This is side one
A&M SP 04954B-ESI This is side two

Voice of the Heart (Purple LP) says this:
A&M SP 04954A-RCA1 Side one
A&M SP 04954B-RCA2 Side two

Can anyone shed any light on this? These #'s are actually etched into the LP.

 

[Rudy]

I don't know all the specifics of this era, but markings in the "run-out" area are often indicative of which plant pressed the LP, and in some instances, which stampers were used. (Earlier stampers are better.) Every label has a different marking system. It almost appears that the Quiex vinyl may have been pressed at an RCA plant (I believe A&M was having RCA press some vinyl for them when Columbia fell out of the picture).

 

[Mr Bill]

I'm not sure of the "start date" but A&M used the Quiexx vinyl for their A&M/CTI AM+ series in 1983 and about two years later shifted ALL vinyl (domestic US -- I don't know about the rest of the world) to it. I have the press release somewhere in my files... Even my 12" DJ singles from the mid to late 80s are on the translucent vinyl (though it looks more brown than purple to my eyes). You can only really see it if you hold it up to a light...

The laser-etched records LPJim wrote about were another short-lived trend. I have Split Enz's True Colors LP and one single with the laser treatment. A&M used it again on Styx's Paradise Theatre. Certainly there were a few other uses of it, but none that come to mind at the moment.

--Mr Bill
also a colored vinyl fan... Klark Kent's IRS release on 10" green vinyl, A&M's No Wave on "water-colored" viny and YMO's debut LP (on Horizon) on Yellow Vinyl are my faves...