RCA Christmas Portrait 8-track

[andywithaz]

I found an old Christmas Portrait 8 track made by RCA. It is in very good condition and sounds good. (The heads on my player need cleaning.) My question is did RCA manufacture good quality 8 tracks I have The Singles, Close to You, and Now and Then on 8 track made my Columbia house and they don't even play any more.

How rare is the Christmas Portrait 8 track?

Does it have the original mixes?
(I can't tell because my heads are dirty)

 

[Rudy]

Back in the days of reel-to-reel tapes, I believe RCA used to make their own tape stock. Having said that, what indication is there on the 8-track that tells you it was duplicated by RCA? I know A&M used Ampex for duplicating their reel tapes, but of the few A&M 8-tracks I own, none of them indicate RCA on their labels.

Having said that, given the age of Christmas Portrait and 8-tracks in general, it would be the original mixes on that tape.

Columbia House? Forget 'em. Cheap, shoddy product. Their reel tapes were usually 3-3/4ips and sounded lousy. The LPs I've heard have been lousy also. If the vinyl was OK, the sound wasn't--the clubs would usually get a sub-par copy of the LP master tape to produce their vinyl with, and ditto that for any tape (reel, 8-track, cassette) releases. Capitols' record club LPs never sounded that good either--I have an A&M and a Verve that, for lack of a better term, sound washed out and lack detail.

 

[W.B.]

Back in the days of reel-to-reel tapes, I believe RCA used to make their own tape stock. Having said that, what indication is there on the 8-track that tells you it was duplicated by RCA? I know A&M used Ampex for duplicating their reel tapes, but of the few A&M 8-tracks I own, none of them indicate RCA on their labels.

That could well have been the "RCA Music Service Edition," offered by that label's record club (now "BMG Music Service"). RCA, I.I.N.M., also used its own "Red Seal" magnetic tape for the original session and master tapes of its roster of artists in that period.

Having said that, given the age of Christmas Portrait and 8-tracks in general, it would be the original mixes on that tape.

Columbia House? Forget 'em. Cheap, shoddy product. Their reel tapes were usually 3-3/4ips and sounded lousy. The LPs I've heard have been lousy also. If the vinyl was OK, the sound wasn't--the clubs would usually get a sub-par copy of the LP master tape to produce their vinyl with, and ditto that for any tape (reel, 8-track, cassette) releases. Capitols' record club LPs never sounded that good either--I have an A&M and a Verve that, for lack of a better term, sound washed out and lack detail.

Capitol, as I might have said before, seemed to go overboard on the compression and limiting part. I have two copies of Jimmy Charles's "A Million To One" as originally released on the Promo label in 1960 -- one pressed by Capitol, the other by Columbia. I'd have to say Columbia's copies sound somewhat better and less "compressed." Then again, each label did its own lacquer mastering for Promo.

Capitol also cut some lacquers for non-Record Club A&M albums during the 1966-67 period, and I have seen in the past being sold on eBay some 45 reference acetates cut by Capitol around 1972 of some vintage A&M masters -- i.e. Sergio Mendes' "Fool On The Hill," Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass's "Tijuana Taxi" -- or was it "Taste Of Honey"? The A&M part numbers were typed on the label where the "MASTER NO." designation was.

 

[andywithaz]

Back in the days of reel-to-reel tapes, I believe RCA used to make their own tape stock. Having said that, what indication is there on the 8-track that tells you it was duplicated by RCA? I know A&M used Ampex for duplicating their reel tapes, but of the few A&M 8-tracks I own, none of them indicate RCA on their labels.

The 8 track cartridge is white with the Christmas Portrait album art in a black box printed on the front. Down at the bottom of the black portion it says that it is manufactured by RCA music divison for A&M records. It has a copyright date of 1978 but that doesn't mean it is from that year.