DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: Holbrook pressing (manufactured by Goldisc Recording Products, Inc.) and an Update to Decoding Two- or Three-Letter Matrix Hand Etchings on the Early Pressings

NOTE: Vinyl discs reported here with the hand-etched matrix code "PPP" was found not to be pressed at the Pitman factory. Please check the updated information in the blog entry from 8/20/2022.

Left, the Billboard magazine (Issue 05/27/1978) article reporting the
labor issues at the CBS pressing plant in Pitman, New Jersey, settled
on May 17, 1978 (Note that Billboard has released the magazine
issues into the public domains Google Books and Internet Archive).
Right, six dead-wax codes unique to the early vinyl copies of 
DARKNESS pressed in the U.S. (All images taken from my collection).
Each code, except for PPP, specifies a non-Columbia Records' plant
that pressed a given disc.

PN, PMI, PMN, PK, and PPP reported previously, and here PV — Having been interested in deciphering these dead-wax hand-etched codes associated with the U.S. early pressings of DARKNESS LP,  I may finally be able to take a break for this subject by posting about the remaining last probable one. The above six dead-wax codes were uncommon for vinyl pressings made by Columbia Records since the code-specified pressing plants normally had not worked under the company's operation, except for PPP, which denotes Columbia's Pitman, New Jersey pressing plant (see 11/19/2018 and 05/15/2021). The unusual pressing plants that joined in the album production, due to Pitman's labor issues, included those back then run or owned by North American Music Industries (NAMI) in Scranton, Pennsylvania (coded for by PN), Keel Manufacturing Corp. in Hauppauge, New York (PK), and MCA Records in Pinckneyville, Illinois (PMI), and Gloversville, New York (PMN).

The Side One matrix numbers of a Holbrook press have an error crossed out and corrected. The Columbia logo on the label rim is blacked out on my copy due to trademark issues in some countries, including Japan (see 06/09/2016).

Without examining dead-wax inscriptions, these unusual pressings are roughly distinguished from Columbia's standard discs (pressed at Santa Maria and Terre Haute, in this case) by checking letter fonts and pressing/stamper rings on the record labels (BTW, I will summarize these aspects of the U.S. DARKNESS discs soon). However, vinyl copies bearing the PV code are quite difficult to distinguish by this measure from other discs pressed at Santa Maria, Terre Haute (see 12/30/2017), and Keel plants (see 06/30/2017 and 10/02/2017). The PV hand-etching always occurs on the run-out space with another inscription, GOL, referring to Goldisc Recording Products, Inc., Holbrook, Long Island, New York. So, two Long Island-based plants (another being Keel) played a part in compensating for the album supply. 

The hand-etched "GOL" company signature on
the dead-wax space appears on the opposite
side of the label from the matrix numbers
(shown is that of Side Two).

Side One:  PAL-  PBL-35318-1AC  PV   TML-S          GOL
Side Two:           PBL-35318-2J    PV   TML-M         GOL
       (oblique, hand-etched; straight, stamped)

What PV exactly encodes is not clear. Assuming that the common first letter P means Pitman as the other codes, I guess that the following V stands for Viewlex, Inc., which owned Goldisc until early 1979 (source: Discogs; Note that DARKNESS is released early June 1978). Thus far, I cannot come up with any other idea to explain this code.

Considering the above and the last post (05/15/2021), the table below updates the previously summarized relationship between dead-wax inscriptions, pressing plants, and plant owners (11/19/2018).

Note that this summary was based on the vinyl copies in my possession. So, perhaps there are more entries, especially to matrix number suffixes (but I don't think more pressing plants to be added). For example, I'm still unable to dig out Santa Maria's -A1/-A2 pressings, although reportedly, such copies exist according to the relevant entry on the Discogs website informing "First stampers for this record are -1A/-2A. This alone should determine pressing time frame" (for example, check here).

Seriously, I suspect that this Discogs description is wrong and consider no such regular copies circulating, as I explained in the comments to the post on 11/19/2018. To quote my remarks here:

According to Dave Marsh's BORN TO RUN book (Chapter 15), SIDE 2 of the LP, once completed mastering, had to be remastered immediately before the release of the album because the first track, The Promised Land, was remixed to put Miami Steve's guitar solo back in. So, I guess SIDE 2, before subjected to remastering, would carry the matrix suffix 2A.

In short, my point is that the earliest matrix number most probably ends with -1A/-2B (which I own), but not -1A/-2A (which I haven't seen by far), for the vinyl pressings circulating and available to the market.

Finally, as always, this is a work in progress. If you have any revisions, corrections or additions, please let me know.