page 1
a) jacket iterations
b) labels & rings
c) lacquers
page 2
d) deliveries
e) post-Koenig
f) foreign exchange
g) the undelivereds
d) deliveries
Let’s package it all together.
In the beginning, there was mono. D4/D2 appear to be the earliest lacquers to make it to market, followed soon after release by D5/D3 recuts.
… much later came STEREO:
SIDEBAR: Muntz Stereo-Pak
The Arrival of Victor Feldman was released on this forgotten 4-track format in 1967, as indicated by the ad in The Billboard seen here. Could this point to a 1967 release date for the stereo vinyl as well? Maybe?
Contemporary parted from RCA in 1973 and took its plating/pressing needs to Monarch. Two changes mark the move for The Arrival of the Victor Feldman:
LKS-103-D3
The D2/D3 RCA metal made the trip across town, but only side 2 seems to have been fresh enough for another run. So side 1 was re-cut, the resultant D3 lacquer electroplated at Monarch, and its stampers put in the press opposite the older side 2/D3.
The Yellow Stereo Label.
Last we saw S7549, it was on the GREEN label at RCA. Suddenly at Monarch the YELLOW label appears.
We should be suspicious of multiple variables (pressing plant and label color) changing in concert like this, but we should also consider the relative obscurity of this title. It’s possible that the final RCA run was specifically numbered to run through the green labels on hand— and there’s no rule that the company had to immediately reorder labels whenever they ran out, especially for a slow-selling release that wasn’t going to immediately need another run.
So it remains to be seen whether a) yellow S7549 labels arrived prior to the exit from RCA, or b) green S7549 labels were still in the mix at Monarch. Option c) neither of the above is very possible and the current best guess, but we’d need a big sample size of pressings to be confident about it.
I have no evidence for the D3/D3 metalwork making it past Monarch, but maybe it did. There may be a CBS Santa Maria repress using this metalwork, but it remains to be found.
The next known delivery arrived a bit later from Santa Maria, using new D4/D4 lacquers processed there:
Stereo S7549: Delivery V (1980 or 81)
After leaving 8481 Melrose, Contemporary reprinted the S7549 rear slick with the P.O. Box 2628 address. It seems that this new jacket was still loaded with the CBS Santa Maria D4/D4 expression seen earlier.
I’m working on sourcing that delivery and building it into this list.
Stereo S7549: Delivery VI??
Unknown at present if this title received a pressing run at Wakefield (1981-84). If it did, that’s another delivery to catalog.
e) post-Koenig
Fantasy standard issue (S-7549, 1984)
This was among the many CR titles reissued by Fantasy without being first pulled into the OJC series (which was intended as a budget series).
This release S-7549 appeared in a tip-on jacket almost identical to the pre-Fantasy stereo jacket but for the Berkeley address newly pasted along the bottom of the liner notes.
The disc labels were also updated, to Fantasy’s font styles. The lacquers were freshly cut at Fantasy Studios.
Original Jazz Classics (OJC-268, 1986)
The Arrival received the OJC treatment in the second batch of Contemporary titles, in 1986.
This is extremely easy to identify: it has the OJC-268 catalog number on the upper right corner of the jacket rear as well as the labels.
More new lacquers cut at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley.
And that’s it… this has not been reissued on vinyl in the US since in nearly forty years.
However there have been, in that time, some pretty stellar digital masterings. The OJC CD is very solid indeed and the Japanese Stereo Sound SACD (mastered by Steve Hoffman and only available as part of a 5-disc boxset) is my favorite version of this title bar none.
f) foreign exchange
This title was issued multiple times overseas, in the UK and Japan.
First up is the late 1950s UK mono pressing, Vogue LAC 12172.
Cut by Ron Mason (indicated by -xB in the lacquer string, the x being the cut number) at Decca Studios and pressed at Decca’s plant in New Malden. If you’re familiar with any of the Contemporary/Vogue 50s masterings, this will sound similar: more top end and a cleaner bottom than US Contemporary LPs of the era, the tradeoff being less romance through the middle. It’s a question of preference.
Heavy vinyl here. Pressings at Decca consistently hit upwards of 180 grams.
Moving east, find the Japanese 1980s reissue, Warner-Pioneer P-7595. This was in the 8th installment of the Contemporary “Spotlight Series” that W-P released in 1982-1984.
A promo version of this title is documented on Discogs (with the wrong year, of course); its promo label suggests a street date of June 25, 1983.
Lacquers were cut in Japan. Other W-P reissues in the Spotlight Series and the Art Pepper Memorial Masterpiece Series used US metal, but metal was this title (and some others) was apparently not available. Which is no problem; this sounds excellent. Worth seeking out…
There are more foreign releases than documented here, including the 1974 King Records pressing out of Japan which is easier to source than either of these.
g) the undelivereds
The stereo jackets that weren’t.
What if Stereo Records had released the two-track mix under its STEREO-forward schema in 58 or 59? Alternately, what if Contemporary had released the stereo title c. 1960 in a banner jacket, like they did with S7551 and S7558?
Stereo Records S7033 (1959)
Contemporary Stereo S7549 (1960)
That boat text on S7033 ain’t perfect, I know. I can’t match the original hand-painting, at least not without wasting a lot more time. And who the hell would print “In Association With Contemporary Records” across the side of a boat? Once-innocent whimsy begins to tests the suspension of disbelief.
To be honest, though, the banner jacket slaps. I’m pretty mad this doesn’t actually exist.