DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: Supplementary Note to Hauppauge pressing (Pressing Plant run by Keel Mfg. Corp.)

Composite image from the actual auction page
(originally shown as three separated images)

This short post is just following up on early U.S. copies of the DARKNESS LP (JC 35318) that are pressed at the Keel manufacturing factory, located in Hauppauge, New York. Two months ago, I won a domestic auction of vinyl collection sold as "junk records," consisting of early six LP titles (five official and one bootleg albums; total eight discs). Although the seller did not provide any information on these records, especially on the official releases such as countries of origin, I was tempted to join the auction (and did so) because I knew that this kind of auction would usually not cost high (It actually cost me 300 JPY per disc, which exceeded a little bit my expectation, though). Another reason was that this volume contained one of the all-time classic bootlegs with an original orange slick insert. Finally, in a small picture displayed on the auction page, I spotted a gold stamp on the upper left corner of the rear sleeve of DARKNESS. Normally, it would be a "promo" stamp but I just couldn't read what was stamped exactly. Having received these records, I found that all but BORN TO RUN (which was a Japanese reissue missing an obi) were U.S. pressings, with DARKNESS originating from the Keel plant. The remaining were second pressing copies for GREETINGS ... in the postcard gate-fold sleeve (PC 31903) and THE WILD ... with the yellow/cream cover title (PC 32432), and an original THE RIVER from the Pitman factory (PC 36854).

Unique outline words found on the dead wax: "ONE" on SIDE 1 (left) and "THREE" on SIDE 2 (right)
 

A gold stamp on the rear sleeve turned out to be
"For Governmental Sale Only"

As shown previously, vinyl DARKNESS discs pressed at this Long Island-based factory are distinguished from the other pressings by a dead-wax stamp of the UK Union Jack flag on both sides. In addition to this, my first Keel copy carries another unique marking which depicts an outline word "ONE" on the run-off groove area of Side 2 (There's no outline words on Side 1). The copy included in this auction lot adds a variety to this outline character, showing "THREE" on Side 2 instead of "ONE" which appears on Side 1 of this disc. The exact matrix inscriptions can be read as follows (hand-etched, oblique; stamped, straight; ∋∈, Union Jack stamp):

• Side 1:  A    ONE      ∋∈    PAL-35318-1AB  PK           TML-S
• Side 2:  THREE   C   ∋∈    PBL-35318-2K   PK            TML-M

Although what is meant by these outline words remains unknown to me, they are almost probably unique to Keel pressings together with the UK flag stamp, as I have never seen such matrix characters on any copies of the U.S. DARKNESS album from other pressing plants.