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Typical early (upper) and late (lower) DARKNESS releases. The differences are evident in the photo-image quality of the inner sleeve (left half) and the rear-side lettering of the outer sleeve (right half). Note that there are "hybrid" copies housed in the combination of the late-outer and early- inner sleeves (but no alternative combination circulated). |
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Hunting the early U.S. pressings* of his fourth official album, released in June 1978, provides a unique opportunity for expanding your collection of Springsteen's vinyl albums relatively at low costs. In the spring of that year, the Pitman factory in NJ, one of the three vinyl-pressing plants Columbia Records owned (cf., the other two are located in Santa Maria, CA, and Terre Haute, IN), ceased the operation temporarily due to labor disputes until right before the album release date (originally scheduled late May). Therefore, the company needed to take action to compensate for the anticipated shortage of the album supply in the East Coast area.
According to my survey results, at least five unusual pressing plants that would have otherwise never handled Columbia label's products got involved in the album production. These five were located in NY (three), PA (one), and IL (one). Consequently, the standard copies issued in 1978 display more variations in record label and dead-wax stamp/inscription than any other his albums released before or after, as featured in the blog series "DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations."
Eleven months ago, in the last post in this series (5/23/2021), I made a concise summary table for the run-off groove/matrix information of these vinyl pressings. This post mainly focuses on the label variations (thus far counting nine), as listed below in an order based on matrix codes on SIDE ONE (the current list starting from 1A to 1AG).
*The early U.S. pressings, as defined here, meet the following conditions:
1. Most, if not all, early copies in circulation came in the sleeve with no hype sticker (see 8/24/2020 and 8/29/2020) on the front, and the rear side features the large-letter tracklist and black-letter credits on the upper and lower of the left corners, respectively (see the photo images on the top right). Especially, I have never seen any copies pressed at five non-Columbia plants, which are housed in the small-letter tracklist sleeve.
2. The inner sleeve is thicker paper with higher resolution images than that for later pressings.
3. The main matrix numbers are hand-etched PAL-35318 and PBL-35318 on SIDE ONE and TWO, respectively.
4. Each side of a vinyl disc is stamped TML-M or TLM-S (meaning The Mastering Lab-Master or Slave lathe; see 3/18/2017) on the dead-wax space.
1. Santa Maria pressing
Location of pressing plant: Santa Maria, California
Pressing plant owner: Columbia Records
Label printing and stamper ring
(1) Rim-text color:
orangish yellow**
(2) Artist name/Album title:
single line/
single line
(3) Stamper ring:
single,
large (Ø = 69 mm)
Deadwax stamp and inscription (straight, stamped; oblique, hand-etched)
(1) Confirmed
SIDE ONE/TWO matrix codes :
1A,
1B,
1C/
2B,
2C
(2) Plant-specific matrix code:
1S,
2S
(3) Plant-specific matrix symbol:
(none)
Note: Probably, the most abundant pressing before the
Pitman plant resumed the operation on the right tracks upon resolving the labor issues on May 17th (
cf.,
the
DARKNESS album is released on June 2nd), and possibly even after that until 1981, when this West Coast facility shut down. The label image is taken from my personal copy with
SIDE ONE/TWO matrix numbers
1B/
2B.
2. Terre Haute pressing
Location of pressing plant: Terre Haute, Indiana
Pressing plant owner: Columbia Records
Label printing and stamper ring
(1) Rim-text color:
bright yellow**
(2) Artist name/Album title:
single line/
single line
(3) Stamper ring:
single,
large (Ø = 69 mm)
Deadwax stamp and inscription (straight, stamped; oblique, hand-etched)
(1) Confirmed
SIDE ONE/TWO matrix codes :
1D,
1E,
1H/
2E,
2H
(2) Plant-specific matrix code:
1T,
2T
(3) Plant-specific matrix symbol:
(none)
Note: Indistinguishable from the
Santa Maria pressings by label design and stamper ring, although, as an exception, I've once seen a
1T-etched disc with the
Pitman label (
Variant Two; see below). As far as I've seen, many of the white label promotional copies in circulation are from this pressing plant. The label image is taken from my personal copy with
SIDE ONE/TWO matrix numbers
1D/
2E. Check also
12/30/2017.
3. Scranton pressing (also known as NAMI pressing)
Location of pressing plant: Scranton, Pennsylvania
Pressing plant owner: North American Music Industries (
NAMI)
Label printing and stamper ring (1) Rim-text color:
bright yellow**
(2) Artist name/Album title:
single line/
single line
(3) Stamper ring:
single,
middle (Ø = 35 mm)
Deadwax stamp and inscription (straight, stamped; oblique, hand-etched)
(1) Confirmed
SIDE ONE/TWO matrix codes :
1G,
1H/
2S,
2T
(2) Plant-specific matrix code:
PN
(3) Plant-specific matrix symbol:
☖ (The U.S. Capitol building)
Note: Easily recognizable by the middle size-stamper ring that is unique to this pressing plant. Before
NAMI,
Capitol Records owned the
Scranton plant, which explains why the American Capitol is symbolized and stamped on the dead wax (
Capitol sold
NAMI the pressing plant in 1973). The label image is taken from my personal copy with
SIDE ONE/TWO matrix numbers
1G/
2S. Check also
3/21/2017.
4. Gloversville pressing
Location of pressing plant: Gloversville, New York
Pressing plant owner: MCA Records
Label printing and stamper ring (1) Rim-text color:
bright yellow**
(2) Artist name/Album title:
single line/
single line
(3) Stamper ring:
single,
small (Ø = 25 mm)
Deadwax stamp and inscription (straight, stamped; oblique, hand-etched)
(1) Confirmed
SIDE ONE/TWO matrix codes :
1J,
1K/
2Q,
2R
(2) Plant-specific matrix code:
PMN
(3) Plant-specific matrix symbol:
⧈-G-⧈
Note: One of the two vinyl-pressing variants manufactured at
MCA Records' plants located in
NY and
IL. Both share the small stamper ring and are distinguished by different letter fonts printed on the labels and unique matrix codes/symbols on the deadwax space. The label image is taken from my personal copy with
SIDE ONE/TWO matrix numbers
1J/
2Q. Check also
7/29/2017.
5. Pinckneyville pressing
Location of pressing plant: Pinckneyville, Illinois
Pressing plant owner: MCA Records
Label printing and stamper ring (1) Rim-text color:
bright yellow**
(2) Artist name/Album title:
single line/
single line
(3) Stamper ring:
single,
small (Ø = 25 mm)
Deadwax stamp and inscription (straight, stamped; oblique, hand-etched)
(1) Confirmed
SIDE ONE/TWO matrix codes :
1L/
2N,
2P
(2) Plant-specific matrix code:
PMI
(3) Plant-specific matrix symbol:
◈-P-◈
Note: Another pressing with the small stamper ring from the
MCA Records' plant in
IL. The
Pinckneyville pressing adopts a different font from all the others for label lettering, representing the most distinguished among the
DARKNESS labels. The label image is taken from my personal copy with
SIDE ONE/TWO matrix numbers
1L/
2N. Check also
3/18/2017.
6. Hauppauge pressing (also known as Keel pressing)
Location of pressing plant: Hauppauge, New York
Pressing plant owner: Keel Manufacturing Corp.
Label printing and stamper ring (1) Rim-text color:
bright yellow**
(2) Artist name/Album title:
single line/
single line
(3) Stamper ring:
dual,
large (Ø = 69 mm);
very small (11 mm)
Deadwax stamp and inscription (straight, stamped; oblique, hand-etched)
(1) Confirmed
SIDE ONE/TWO matrix codes :
1AB/
2K,
2W,
2X
(2) Plant-specific matrix code:
PK
(3) Plant-specific matrix symbol:
Union Jack flag
Note: By appearance, almost indistinguishable from the
Santa Maria and
Terre Haute pressings, except for a minor difference in the stamper ring, which is dual, consisting of the large and extremely small ones. The latter ring is found only on
SIDE ONE but not on
TWO. The
Hauppauge/
Keel discs are well-known for Union Jack symbol(s) etched in the run-off groove area. The label image is taken from my personal copy with
SIDE ONE/TWO matrix numbers
1AB/
2K. Check also
6/30/2017 and
10/2/2017.
7. Holbrook pressing (also known as Goldisc pressing)
Location of pressing plant: Holbrook, New York
Pressing plant owner: Goldisc Recordings Products, Inc.
Label printing and stamper ring (1) Rim-text color:
bright yellow**
(2) Artist name/Album title:
single line/
single line
(3) Stamper ring:
single,
large (Ø = 69 mm)
Deadwax stamp and inscription (straight, stamped; oblique, hand-etched)
(1) Confirmed
SIDE ONE/TWO matrix codes :
1AC/
2J
(2) Plant-specific matrix code:
PV
(3) Plant-specific matrix symbol:
GOL
Note: Virtually identical looking to the record labels of
Santa Maria and
Terre Haute pressings and only distinguished from these copies by the presence of two hand-etched inscriptions,
PV and
GOL, on the dead wax. For this reason, the
Holbrook/
Goldisc pressings are not easy to identify and rather difficult to find. Check also
5/23/2021.
8. Pitman pressing — Variant One
Location of pressing plant: Pitman, New Jersey
Pressing plant owner: Columbia Records
Label printing and stamper ring (1) Rim-text color:
bright yellow**
(2) Artist name/Album title:
Double line/
Double line
(3) Stamper ring:
single,
large (Ø = 69 mm)
Deadwax stamp and inscription (straight, stamped; oblique, hand-etched)
(1) Confirmed
SIDE ONE/TWO matrix codes :
1AD/
2AA
(2) Plant-specific matrix code:
P
(3) Plant-specific matrix symbol:
(none)
Note: Most probably, the very first pressing at this
NJ plant based on the matrix codes, and rarer than
Variant Two (see below). Although the stamper ring is the commonly seen single large, Springsteen's name and the album title are printed differently on the labels in a double line each (
cf., the later pressings change his name in a single line; see
3/4/2018). The label image is taken from my personal copy with
SIDE ONE/TWO matrix numbers
1AD/
2AA. Check also
5/15/2021.
9. Pitman pressing — Variant Two
Location of pressing plant: Pitman, New Jersey
Pressing plant owner: Columbia Records
Label printing and stamper ring (1) Rim-text color:
bright yellow**
(2) Artist name/Album title:
Double line/
Double line
(3) Stamper ring:
single,
large (Ø = 69 mm)
Deadwax stamp and inscription (straight, stamped; oblique, hand-etched)
(1) Confirmed
SIDE ONE/TWO matrix codes :
1AF,
1AG/
2AB,
2AC
(2) Plant-specific matrix code:
PPP
(3) Plant-specific matrix symbol:
(none)
Note: The major difference from the
Variant One label is the spacing between the album title and tracklist, which is noticeably wider by about 10 mm. The label-design change is accompanied by alterations in the matrix numbers (
i.e., the old one is scratched out on
SIDE ONE) and plant-specific code (from one-letter stamp to triple-code hand-inscription). The reason for revising the label and matrix information is unknown. Some copies do not carry the plant-specific code
PPP on
SIDE ONE. The label image is taken from my personal copy with
SIDE ONE/TWO matrix numbers
1AD 1AF/
2AC. Check also
11/19/2018 and
5/15/2021.
**A first, I thought the rim-text color was specific to regional printing factories (accordingly, pressing plant-specific), but its tones can vary depending on the printing lot, so it may not be a good guide to distinguish these pressings.
This survey is, as always, still work-in-progress. There may be more label variations or exceptions. In addition, the matrix-number information must be fulfilled to represent comprehensive, thorough data collections. So, I welcome any addition, correction, question, or suggestion.
— To be continued to Notes on the late pressing labels.