Vintage label art on cds

[sbsugar]

Hey, ya'll....

I'm a big fan of the classic A&M label art, and in the last few years, other record companies (Columbia & affiliates, RCA,) have been using their vintage label art on their cds.

To the best of y'alls knowledge, has A&M ever done this? I can't recall any examples...

Thanks!!

 

[Steven J. Gross]

On a couple of CDs- the A&M "ochre" color and A&M logo do resemble the vinyl counterparts. Off the top of my head- I recall: Tamba 4 "We and the Sea".

 

[Rudy]

Also, Look Around (Brasil '66) does this. Some are a little bit off--no white behind the red letters (only the clear of the CDs shows through), but the feeling is right. For some strange reason, on a reissue of Paul Desmond's From The Hot Afternoon, they use the stylized A and M (like the white/silver/tan labels in the 70's). I believe Brasil '66's Equinox gets ALL of the correct colors involved, with fonts close enough to work.

Import A&Ms do this in some cases. I have two Chris Montez CDs that go wtih the ochre and black text, and the logo done all in black letters.

It's neat that Columbia does this...they usually get the era correct for the labels. I've seen some six-eye versions, the two-eye "360 sound", and the ugly red/gold 70's version as well. Verve has been using an original black/silver "spike" label for years. RCA I've never seen use a LiViNg StErEo black or red "shaded dog" or DynagrooVe labels either. (One of my favorite designs.)

Ideal reissue: mono "Lonely Bull" album, with the light tan/brown scheme and unbordered A&M logo at the high-noon position. (See my George McCurn post, or the label gallery, for an example.)

 

[LPJim]

The disc from CONGRATULATIONS I'M SORRY by the Gin Blossoms features the A&M ochre label.
JB

 

[Harry]

Don't forget three more from the earlier batch of Verve By Request series that used the classic A&M ochre label design, Sergio Mendes Presents Edu Lobo, Tamba 4's We And The Sea, and Tide by Antonio Carlos Jobim.

The other classy thing about these releases is the use of the old SP# right on the face of the disc where you'd find it on the record. Too bad they didn't complete the illusion an attempt to list the songs under the spindle hole. But still I give 'em an A for effort, especially since these sound so good.

Harry
...looking over his CD shelves for tell-tale digi-paks, online...

 

[Harry]

I also forgot to mention that A&M Japan could be given a C+ for their efforts on the Digitally Remastered Best series labels. They used a mustardy color that's remeniscent of the old ochre color, and used some older Hobo-styled fonts to recall the older styles of A&M. The logo also wasn't in the right place at all, nor nearly big enough. Close, but no cigar.

Harry
...looking at labels, online...

 

[W.B.]

It's neat that Columbia does this...they usually get the era correct for the labels. I've seen some six-eye versions, the two-eye "360 sound", and the ugly red/gold 70's version as well.

While the era may be correct, they don't have the colors or fonts all that accurate. I've seen CD label reproductions where their red was more like Pantone 185 instead of Pantone 199 which they actually used on the old LP labels (although, from 1966-67 when Columbia used uncoated stock to print their labels they used what appeared to be Pantone Warm Red instead). And for the "360 Sound" two-eye labels, they use Helvetica on the top instead of Venus Medium Extended, which was the actual font they used in the 1960's. The "360 Sound's" were set in Univers 48 (a condensed italic font) on the aforementioned LP labels; the "Stereo" in Venus Medium. On the CD approximations, they use Helvetica fonts as a substitute. When finishing work at Sony's vaults on a pending book I've been working on relating to Epic Records' singles some years ago, one of Sony Music's reissue men came down and explained that, I.H.H.O., they got the red color wrong, and I told him as best I could what color they actually used. However, to this day they still appear to use the "wrong" red (by the standards of "nitpickers" like myself, I suppose). I gotta hand it to 'em for trying, but . . .

And of course, the "gold" isn't gold at all, but Pantone 150 Orange. On the original LP's post-1970, that is. On later LP's they would use Pantone 136 Orange. Whatever the case, I've thought that two-tone scheme was somewhat derivative of the red/orange "target" labels of 1969-72 Capitol 45's. Speaking of which, they approximated that design (as it started out, with the pre-'69/post-'78 logo instead of the '69-'78 "circle" logo) for a Grand Funk (Railroad) greatest-hits collection Capitol put out in 1991.

 

[sbsugar]

Thanks for the great info, guys!

Cool to see that "Equinox" and "We and the Sea" have the cd-label art; I've been meaning to upgrade these for years. Now I have another reason!

It would be neat if they used the old label art on more cds....sometimes you can't tell who did the cd, or what it is! (Pink Floyd's 'The Division Bell' comes to mind)