DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: A revision to Decoding Two- or Three-Letter Matrix Hand Etchings on the Early Pressings — "PPP" was NOT a code for Columbia Records' Pitman but for another New Jersey pressing plant!

The oldest American company for children's
music turned out to have helped Columbia's
Pitman plant for pressing Springsteen's 4th
album (image taken from Discogs). 

Early vinyl copies of Springsteen's original albums up to THE RIVER (Columbia PC2 36854), the fifth released in October 1980, were pressed at three record-pressing plants Columbia Records owned and located in Santa Maria, CA, Terre Haute, IN, and Pitman, NJ. However, DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (Columbia JC 35318), his fourth, was the exception due to the temporary suspension of production at the New Jersey factory caused by labor strikes between April 2 and May 17, 1978, when this long-awaited album was slated to be released in late May (cf., The album was slightly delayed to be released on June 2). As a result, several pressing plants of non-Columbia Records were subcontracted to the Pitman to prevent the inevitable shortage of album supply, mainly in the East Coast market.

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: Notes on the late pressing labels and deadwax

Even a barcode-bearing, very late issue comes with the hype sticker
as viewed in the mirror (This one is a Pitman pressing with the matrix
numbers G2C/G1C). See my thoughts on DARKNESS stickers posted
previously (8/24/2020 and 8/29/2020).

The DARKNESS label variation continues. Here are some notes for the U.S. late pressing, although I don't own as many copies as the early pressing. With the shutdown of the pressing plants in Santa Maria, CA (1963 to 1981), and Terre Haute, IN (1953 to 1982), in the early 1980s, vinyl releases after that from Columbia Records were manufactured at the old Pitman factory, NJ (1960 to 1986), and the newly launched facility located in Carrollton, GA (1981 to 1991). As the major differences from the early releases, at first, these late issues came in the sleeve with the small tracklist/white credit on the rear side, often accompanying the barcode on the upper right corner. Second, the inner sleeve is made of thin paper with poor-quality pictures. Finally, the discs do not carry TML-M or TML-S stamps on each side of the dead-wax space.

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: Summary of LABEL variations found in the early pressings

NOTE: THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN REVISED AND UPDATED.

1. As of August 21, 2022, this article was revised and updated in light of new information reported on 8/20/2022. The major change focuses on one of the two Pitman pressing variants, "Pitman pressing ー Variant Two (listed below as no. 9)," which turned out to be a product of Peter Pan Records' pressing plant in Lakewood, New Jersey. Accordingly, it was renamed "Lakewood pressing" (or could be alternatively called "Pete pressing").
   
2. As of February 23, 2023, this article was corrected in response to the comment by wbhist (see here), who provided an accurate size of the stamper ring for Lakewood/Pete pressings as well as the three Columbia pressings (i.e., Pitman, Santa Maria, and Terre Haute). Although this post originally reported that these pressings shared the same diameter size, as in the comment, I confirmed that Pete's diameter [2.75" (69.9 mm)] is slightly longer (by approximately 1 mm) than the others [2.703125" (68.7 mm)]. Moreover, the ring size of the Hauppauge/Keel and Holbrook/Goldisc pressings was also found to be a bit more than 69 mm and, thus, the same as the Lakewood pressings (2.75"). Accordingly, all the relevant information has been corrected.

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.

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 specifies a non-Columbia Records' plant that pressed early copies of this album.

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).

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: Pitman pressing — Early edition

NOTE: One of the two vinyl discs reported here, with the hand-etched matrix code "PPP," was found not to have been pressed at the Pitman factory. Please check the updated information in the blog entry from 8/20/2022.

Two label variants for the early Pitman pressings mainly differ in the spacing between the album title and tracklist, with slightly different production credits [left, P-stamp version; right, triple-P (PPP) hand-etching version; see the main text for details]. However, both print Springsteen's name and album title into two separate lines, which is basically a unique feature of the early Pitman discs (although I once saw a copy of the Terre Haute pressing with the narrow "18 mm-spacing" label). Note that only the album title is split with the late pressings (see the label image on 03/04/2018).
CORRECTION: The label on the right is of vinyl copies pressed at another plant in New Jersey (see 8/20/2022).

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: trivial thoughts on the hype stickers (Part 2 of 2)

Two DARKNESS sticker variations with the U.S. release.
The purple version is rarer than the red one.

As one of the six focused series ("DARKNESS US pressing LP variations"), I've been blogging on collecting the U.S. pressings of DARKNESS LP (Columbia JC 35318), particularly focusing on the early vinyl copies*. When this album was pressed in Spring 1978, unusual pressing plants of non-Columbia Records participated in the manufacturing process due to the temporary shutdown of one of the three Columbia's plants (i.e., its Pitman, New Jersey plant; see 03/18/2017). So, my motivation for the collecting effort has been to get in-depth knowledge on how many variations exist for the early release concerning vinyl-pressing plants. As already explained in detail in the past blog posts on this series, such variations can be distinguished by examining dead-wax matrix numbers and other markings, stamper ring, and label design, including typesetting, of a given vinyl disc, which often exhibits pressing plant-specific signatures.
*One of the essential features of the early copies is to have either TML-M or TML-S stamped on each side's trail-off dead wax.

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: trivial thoughts on the hype stickers (Part 1 of 2)

Hype stickers, generally affixed to the front side of an album sleeve, are used by record companies to highlight specific tracks on an LP, such as single-cut releases, or to get attention to other attributes like multi-disc numbers and featured guests on the recording sessions. I don't exactly know from which Springsteen's LP a hype sticker is featured on the very first or original U.S. pressing (I'm talking about those specific to an album but not generic ones such as "The Nice Price" stickers). The likely album one would mention is probably DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (Columbia JC 35318), which, if still sealed or shrink-wrapped, occasionally accompanies the rectangle round-cornered sticker that simply says    INCLUDES  "BADLANDS"  35318    in red on the white background.

The album's first single cut is Prove It All Night, but a bit strangely, the front sticker mentions the second single release only.

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: Decoding two- or three-letter matrix hand etchings on the early pressings (Part 2 of 2)

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.

One yet unelucidated DARKNESS matrix code found
in some of the early U.S. pressings.

In some fraction of the early vinyl copies of the U.S. DARKNESS album released in June 1978, you can find at least four different varieties of hand-etched matrix codes, PN, PMI, PMN and PK. Each code specifies one of the four pressing plants that had been used unusually and temporarily for making Springsteen's fourth LP, due to the transient shutdown of the Pitman plant, one of the three major Columbia plants back then. In the last post, I attempted to crack these codes and proposed that: (1) the first and shared letter P might denote the Pitman plant because it is the most probable common term; (2) a second letter, N, M or K, refers to an initial of company that owned one of these pressing plants; and (3) a third letter, I or N, specifies the State where a company locates its own facilities. According to these assumptions, I interpreted the four matrix codes as follows: PN for Pitman/North American Music Industries, Scranton, Pennsylvania; PMI for Pitman/MCA Records, Pinckneyville, Illinois; PMN for Pitman/MCA Records, Gloversville, New York; and PK for Pitman/Keel Manufacturing Corp., Hauppauge (blog posts 1 and 2), New York.

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: Decoding two- or three-letter matrix hand etchings on the early pressings (Part 1 of 2)

Pressing plant-specific matrix hand etchings as found on the early vinyl copies of DARKNESS released in the United States. For the details, refer to the main text.

As I first introduced here March in the last year, there is a small unusual variety of the early U.S. pressings of his fourth album, as to where they were pressed. These variants occurred because, when the LP was ready for production, the Pitman pressing plant, one of the three major plants used by Columbia Records back then, was not available for the operation due to continued labor issues that first happened on the 2nd of April 1978, according to Billboard Magazine. Thus far, I have confirmed that at least four vinyl manufacturing plants, excluding the other two major Columbia-related plants in Santa Maria and Terre Haute, made up for the shortfall in vinyl pressing at the early phase of the album release. The said four plants were owned by the following companies that had probably never been involved in Springsteen's album production before:

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: A repressing with an erroneous lyric sheet

The custom Zippo lighter used as a paper weight is serially numbered
(#026/200) and distributed for promoting the Hungry Heart Berlin '95
single in France. Though not shown, it comes in a black plastic holder.

Based on the dead-wax matrix information, US-pressing copies of the vinyl DARKNESS album are roughly classified into two groups, one with and another without a machine-stamped TML marking (either TML-M or TML-S), a proof for the early pressing issues that were mastered by Mike Reese at The Mastering Lab, Inc., Los Angeles, California. So, any vinyl copies lacking this stamp on both Sides 1 and 2 are instantly excluded from the list of my "variation" analysis on the U.S. version of this classic album (A series on this subject starts here).

Collecting log: Collectable acquisitions in 2017 (Part 3 of 3)

Here is the final part of the three consecutive posts on this year's collectable selection (Part 1 and Part 2 here). As written on the last paragraph of this post, a question arises on the item introduced here which hopefully gets answered from knowledgeable visitors. This post is also the latest addition to a featured blog series DARKNESS US pressing LP variations.


DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US white label promo LP - Terre Haute pressing (US Columbia JC 35318)

From the auction page: I hadn't noticed a indigo-blue rubber stamp on the front sleeve indicating
where this copy came from, until I received the record shipped by the U.S. seller.

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).

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: Gloversville pressing (Pressing Plant owned by MCA Records)

Unfortunately, the signature (⧈-G-⧈) of MCA Records'
pressing plant in Gloversville is stamped so weak that it is
not clearly visible on the dead wax of my copy (shown 
is the stamp on Side 2, as indicated by hand-etched "2").
Check the Discogs website for the clearer images.

The U.S.-pressed DARKNESS LP (Columbia JC 35318) variation continues. First introduced here in this blog, early copies of this vinyl album have more varieties than those of the other albums, in terms of the location of the pressing plant where the record was manufactured. The cause of this variation was due to the labor strike that took place in Spring 1978 at the Pitman pressing plant of NJ, the then major factory to manufacture and distributie Columbia Records' products mainly for the East Coast market. This compelled the plant to stop its operation temporarily and so, several unusual pressing plants (to Springsteen's records) had compensated for the album production, although the two other major Columbia's plants located in Santa Maria CA, and Terre Haute IN, were most probably unaffected and operating. Here on this post, I show the fourth example of such early DARKNESS copies, not originating from any of the three major Columbia Records' plants, but pressed at MCA Records' Gloversville plant of NY, according to the dead wax matrix information on the vinyl disc.

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

Keel's dead wax symbol (stamped on both sides)

Up to THE RIVER copies released early in the 1980s, most, if not all, of the U.S. vinyl copies of Springsteen's albums had been pressed at three major pressing plants of the U.S. Columbia Records: Pitman (ceased manufacturing vinyls in December 1986), Terre Haute (stopped vinyl pressing in late 1982), and Santa Maria (closed in 1981). As I wrote previously, however, the DARKNESS LP is the exception. This was because the Pitman pressing plant stopped operation temporarily due to labor issues just before the scheduled release date of his highly anticipated 4th album in Spring 1978. As a result, vinyl manufacturing factories, that had probably never made (or at least had not made major) contributions on pressing any of Springsteen's LPs before, got involved in the album production. This led to a small variety of the early vinyl copies of DARKNESS that differ in where they were pressed. In fact, the locations of pressing plants were mostly unusual for Springsteen's albums available back then, such as Pinckneyville, IL, and Scranton, PA. Such vinyl variants can be identified by checking label designs, circular indents on the labels, or matrix etchings and unique stamps found on the dead wax space.

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: Scranton pressing (Pressing Plant owned by North American Music Industries)

Through the 1970s up to early 1980s, there were three major vinyl-pressing plants, located in Terre Haute, IN (1953-1982), Pitman, NJ (1960-1986) and Santa Maria, CA (1963-1981), that served the US Columbia Records. So, most of vinyl copies of Springsteen's albums up to THE RIVER originate from one of these plants. As told in the last blog, however, the original copies of DARKNESS album have more variation with respect to where they are pressed, because the Pitman Plant stopped pressing operation temporarily upon strike until close to the scheduled release date (due late May 1978), which necessitated the company to find out substituting factories. In the May-27th issue, Billboard magazine reports that the strike ended May 17, 1978. The magazine continues that the full production is expected to resume by this week* and that the settlement will allow CBS to be able to meet demand on upcoming releases by Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan, Boston, and Dave Mason (*May 27th is Saturday).

The overall label design looks the same between Santa Maria (left) and Scranton (right) pressings, although the stamper ring on the latter is far smaller than that on the former (but still noticeably larger than that on the Pinckneyville pressing).
 

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN US LP variations: Pinckneyville pressing (Pressing Plant owned by MCA Records)

Still-sealed US vinyl collection of the DARKNESS album from my archive

Although one of the best sounding vinyls among his early original releases, collecting-wise, the US release of DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN LP (US Columbia JC 35318) has not been so attractive to me, especially compared to the other classic albums such as BORN TO RUN or THE RIVER. This is probably because it is a single album housed in a single pocket sleeve without significant variations, with the exception of the picture disc edition that is not commercially available and released solely for promoting the album in the U.S. market; the half-speed mastered LP (US Columbia HC 45318), another notable variation, is classified as a reissue - not an original. Nonetheless, there still exist minor but noticeable variations, for example, in the font size (large or small) and color (black or white) used for displaying track listing and album credits on the rear LP sleeve, respectively, and thickness and printing quality of the inner sleeve with a B&W photo portrait and the credits, as briefly mentioned here.

Collecting log: The best acquisition in 2016

Big box arrived here from upstate New York. Inset shows the eBay
sticker probably for global shipping (overlaid on which is the semi-
transparent lilac-colored label of the domestic delivery service).

Now we're coming to the end of the year, it's time to look over the best acquisition in 2016. It's a volume purchase won on eBay this spring with a cumulative bid of 12, which resulted in the final amounts just exceeding 80 bucks. The amounts were happily way less than what I had expected to pay, but as always, the shipping cost too much from East Coast of the US (slightly more than the half of the final bid). Speaking of the shipping option, as many non-US buyers already pointed out, I am also quite discontented with eBay Global Shipping Program because it charges additional costs that probably results from handling, custom/import duty (pre-paid is mandatory; Note that the zero rate is usually applied for importing vinyl discs here, unless an item is quite expensive or highly valued) and the US domestic delivery from seller's address to the Global Shipping Center.