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Tom,
Thanks for the link to the Penndorf page. I'd forgotten about his work on
labels. I found that he does mention that the colored labels were promo/for
broadcast pressings in section 11. It's interesting that there were various
colored promo labels when labels like Columbia generally only had white
label promos. I think that RCA had no promo labels only the "for
demonstration" stamp on the backs of their jackets. London only had those
round promo stickers on the front of the jacket. I don't think I've ever
seen EMI or UK Decca promo labels.
Thanks to Karl Miller about the Copland 3rd. I guess I need to purchase the
Pristine release of Carnegie Hall performance of BSO/Koussevitzky.
--------------------------
Eric Nagamine
-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tom Fine
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2016 3:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] A couple of Mercury questions for Tom Fine
Hi Eric:
I don't have answers to all your questions, but some info. See below.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Nagamine" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2016 3:21 AM
Subject: [ARSCLIST] A couple of Mercury questions for Tom Fine
> Hopefully Tom can answer a couple of questions..
>
>
>
> 1. I've been sorting through a deceased friend's collection and I
> noticed there were many different colored labels in addition to the normal
> Dark Plum or later Red labels. There's the common white label promo, but
> I've also found Pink, Green, Yellow and Gold labels in place of the normal
> plum or red labels on stereo SR series discs. Some say promo and some
don't.
> Any significance in this? I know some of the early mono Mercuries have the
> Gold Label and I think so does the Civil War sets, but these are not
those.
>
First of all see this, from the late Ron Pendorf
http://ronpenndorf.com/labelography3.html
Ron got his information directly from Harold Lawrence, so I assume it's
correct. Ron doesn't address
the green, pink and yellow labels I have seen from time to time. I assume
they have to do with
promotional or other uses. Ping me off-list with some deadwax info on those
records and maybe we can
figure out some things. One thing I can tell you is that the non-glossy
sleeves of early issues,
even if they have color printing on the back, indicate an inferior pressing
from Mercury's own
Richmond IN plant. The best pressings, 1951 through about 1962, were done at
RCA Indianapolis and
have an "I" somewhere in the deadwax. What has surprised me is how bad the
Richmond "for broadcast
only" white-label pressings are! Those were supposed to be the best vinyl,
for broadcast. The
examples I have did not shine a nice light on the quality of Mercury's
plant.
> 2. Do you know if the Dorati/Minneapolis Copland 3rd in the most
> recent Mercury box has the uncut version of the finale? From what I
> understand, every recording from the late 50's on use Leonard Bernstein's
> cuts from the late 40's, even the 2 Copland led recordings.
>
I am not familiar enough with the work to know the answer. Here is a video
said to be of that
movement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZruGxBJwwg
BY THE WAY -- I can tell you that all the wow and flutter and distortion you
hear in this lousy
transfer DON't EXIST in the new CD reissue, thanks to Plangent Process. The
work is available in Box
Set 3 and as a 96/24 download from HDTracks. We also got a much more full
sonic spectrum, thanks to
Andy Walter at Abbey Road Studios. If there were enough potential sales, and
thus interest from the
corporate parent, I'd remaster all the mono recordings the way we did
Copland 3rd.
>
> Thanks for any light you can shed on this.
>
You're welcome!
>
>
> --------------------------
>
> Eric Nagamine
>
>
>
>
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