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This page and now multiple Sections, we began in 2004 & have added much to since, is THE ORIGINAL SOURCE for VERIFIED & ACCURATE details on the UK 60s Contract Pressings as well as London Gold & Tri centres scene.
The Record Info & Contract Press pages: Original research, photos of our records & text
©2004-2011 by select45rpm.
We first Published the Beatles Contract Pressings page as a FEATURED ITEM on ebay (costing us ££) in 2004 to educate buyers, so BE AWARE THIS IS OUR ORIGINAL RESEARCH OTHERS ARE COPYING and cynically passing off as their own work. Our 2004 article was the first publishing of this accurate info simply as no-one done it properly before. We lead, others copy...
Record Collector later wanted us to write an article on Contracts for them, but we declined. For the pittance they pay, why would we give them the published "credit" for printing our work in their outdated rag? No, Sir.
Much here is our own work with our own-found discs & the rest clarified the confusion. We offer this for free online to forward collecting to keep records alive whether you buy for the music or collect them like any other vintage item. We have a detective's mind & recall the smallest details into making THIS the correct source for info about Contract Pressings. We update & add to the pages as new info turns up, but generally the main labels are completed. Just some small pressing company info needs more work & with so much vinyl to view online now as well as what we see & have seen, you can be assured we aren't quoting guesswork as facts as that is irresponsible! Take note Record Collector!
But shame on those who just openly steal our work from us such as happens everywhere online, even with their own record pics & words after comparing to ours, without giving us credit for clarifying the main issue. There was no info like this around in 2004, now look at all the instant-'expert' sites ripping us off! One good thing is it gets people noticing the oddities after knowing what to look for and it brings them out to the market at prices that show their real rarity & interest.
Beware a inevitable consequence of this "Rare Contract Pressing" is getting amateurs saying that one is rarer than the other just to get you to pay more! Up to the Buyer as with anything, but no Beatles 45 Contract makes more than £60 now despite our early successes. Beatles 60s Contract LPs are much rarer, EPs are extra rare. But the high prices are only paid for top grade ones, see the difference in pricing as an example. One seller that got us typing this caveat said for a vaguely Beatles related 45 that his was the "rarest of 6 variants". And he's seen every copy made, no doubt. Even if pressing count data was available, many records were permanently disposed of over the decades. As an example, in books, 1923 Pip & Squeak Annual sold 100,000 copies by Xmas 1922, as the Daily Mirror reports, but this book by it's type may only have 5% of those copies left by the amount you see. Tyrannosaurus Rex Magical Moon sold 10,000 copies we read once but is not particularly hard to find. With collecting, what was rare can become common if a cache is found and what was high priced and desirable may go out of fashion. Some items may now appear so far out of date & undesirable, they can be mixed with the items that have never been wanted.
These articles are our work done discovering & finding stuff out just because it interests and there is/was a gap in Collectors' knowledge. We have enough records to check we're making sense of things rather than guessing like most 'experts' do in most things and creating confusion. Record Collector's foolish Pye Press Parlophone nonsense is still doing the rounds via dealers who should know better as most just don't bother checking facts. If you can correct or confirm anything with facts, please do. Read on...
ARE CONTRACT PRESSINGS OF ALL ARTISTS WORTH MORE AS THEY ARE RARER?
Apart from Beatles & solo 70s efforts, no Contract press by other artists has attracted ANY premium, so the answer is NO THEY ARE NOT. Until collectors of other artists find added value, they are priced the same. Also, on the opposite side, buyers of 60s hits don't mind the Contract Press as it's the article sold at the time. Those adding premiums on are not going to get sales, even Elvis & Cliff collectors show no interest currently.
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WHY DID CONTRACT PRESSINGS OCCUR?
A Contract Pressing is made by a different pressing company than was regularly used to press the Record Company's records. They were not the company usually licensed to press a certain label. Decca pressed London but these are a proper license, not just a short-term by-title contact pressing. Heavy demand for the title, the company unable to cope with the demand at the time including the machinery being needing updating or servicing caused the usual pressing company to need to seek outside help. It may have needed 500 or 50,000 copies of a fast & heavy selling 45 to fill the demand, as empty shelves in shops are bad for business. The first Beatles Contracts were pressed in early 1964, as label designs of the 1963 ones found as contract are only found with 1964 designs.
These appear to have started in 1959 as teenage buyers took to record buying in a big way. We have found 1959 Contract pressings, but never anything 1958 or before.
At the time few if any must have noticed, as the goods were still the same quality, but ourselves as record buyers & collectors noticed these things even in the mid 80s & have found out more as the page shows. It involves comparing these odd pressings with other labels pressings & finding the match, not a thing a person who had not handled a million records can do!
It appears the Contracted Pressing Company got a copy of the raw & flat metal 'mother' master & added their own shaping & style to the stampers they made, probably to conform to the weight of their own vinyl & the pressure needed to press it to their standards save making below par pressings. Decca sometimes fully remastered the track entirely into their own system (as found on certain Fontana/Philips ones).
We've not noticed any difference in the music with those so they never put the wrong mix on (sadly). Philips/Fontana often remastered their contracts too. One 1971 Slade 45 (Coz I Luv U) is found as a rare CBS Contract & mastered by CBS, an odd one as the mix is really muddy & not as good sounding as the Polydor one! A contract pressing usually uses the same labels used by the main company. We've not found anything clearly different for 1960s product.
RCA is a good example of a varying range of pressing companies used for one label, being pressed by DECCA from 1957-70, then by CBS 1970-74. In 1971-72 there are some undentified Contracts that are clearly not CBS. 1974 was a messy year: there were proper UK Decca and some rare Pye and Orlake contracts due to vinyl shortages & the many USA pressed records, ie DAVID BOWIE Rebel Rebel only found as a USA press for the UK market. These are the glossy label large centre hole records with APBO codes. You might find the Hues Corp hit 'Rock The Boat' on a USA copy as the UK imported the exact US product, or the rare UK Pye pressing. Some USA RCA were pressed with 'EX' on the catalog number due to some export limitations. By 1975 RCA pressed their own 45s, making anything non-RCA a contract like the French 'paint label' moulded 45s.
TOP RANK is a confusing one too: they started with Philips pressings (I've Had it), then Pye (Kansas City) and also Orlake pressings & a rare Orioles & Pyes on the Blue Label. The Red label started with Orlake, a few Saga & by late 1960 was EMI pressed/owned until ending. Some of the crossover indie-EMI era 45s are extra rare, the Safaris debut (odd Saga type press or the EMI repress) & the wonderful Southlanders one (EMI press) are unfindable, though the 'name' 45s are around. Top Rank got into trouble & sold out to EMI who pressed Top Rank in 1961-62 as they were poorly managed with all those light orchestral & cheap priced LPs as well as similar uncommercial 45s. They should have issued more R&B & USA hits. Some of their bigger hits are pressed by several companies, a bit like the Blue Beat label which changed many times likely due to unpaid bills with one presser. See the main listing sections pictures for typical pressings, use the A-Z label sort page to compare best. But some 1960 titles were pressed both by Orlake & EMI depending if the title was a hit and sold over several months. Neither are really contracts at a transitional time. The pre EMI issues came in either a Blue or Red design sleeve with "Top Rank" in a white curved box. There was talk ago that Red was for UK recordings & Blue for USA & World ones. A high grade red with "117" written on at the time means a Bert Weedon 45 to help clarify & the fact that the Red ones are much easier found confirms this. Read more on Top Rank on the SAGA page.
NO DECCA GROUP HAVE NON-DECCA CONTRACTS The observant reader will notice no DECCA group labels appear as Contracts, despite other labels 'contracting & being contracted' by each other. Only the the 1982 London CBS contract exists but that was from the taken-over-by-Phonogram era, so not strictly the Decca as we know it. We've not seen any Decca group labels as Contracts, if anyone has, well, it'll be news to us! The nearest you'll see a Decca group contract pressing is with the clearly labelled Irish pressings, which were all made by EMI-Ireland. A collector reckoned he had a Pye pressing of a 1963 London with a Solid Centre. No chance!! A solid centre Decca pressing is rarely seen until the late 70s, but it will look a bit like a Pye as 1963 Deccas already will & it's probably a factory test or reject. Check out late 70s Deccas that were pressed solid centre & they'll look a little like Pye, but the edge & other facts of a Pye is very different.
It's interesting for sure, but in real terms, beyond Beatles collectors, there is currently absolutely no interest in other artists with Contract Pressings. No Elvis are Contract pressed until the later 70s & those that are get no interest, ie his 1976-77 hits on the Phonogram press. Only Collector Demand can increase prices. From our sales, buyers really don't care if a non Beatles 45 is a "real" in-house press or a Contract, as the prices are the same.
Label errors are different, where labels on wrong sides, 2xA or B labels or even a wrong label unrelated to the vinyl, is actually seen as imperfect or a nuisance & much less wanted. It's odd how a hit record with 2x B-side labels actually sold to anyone at full price in a Record Shop as it's a faulty item really & some you find that look well played but without the label altered so they played the right side. Again Beatles & Elvis collectors are the only ones to like these odd things & pay a premium.
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Please Email us if you have any queries or suggestions.
OMG!!! If you think we're wrong, we're not! Please educate yourself further to find out we were right all along! We don't want to argue what you think is wrong based on your lack of experience, sorry. We don't publish guesswork or other half-assed crap like "experts" do & leave it to others to sort out the mess. After 7 years many still believe of 1964 Beatles Parlophone being pressed by Pye (yawn) but many are thankfully now picking up on OUR research and fruits of our detective skills as being the one that is right. And quoting it as their own work... Seeing Orlake press means they read it here only. And if that sounds preachy, well that's what it needs! We paid ££ to preach our correct Beatles Contracts info on eBay in 2004 as we were tired of all the misinformation. It appears we are getting there which we like too. It awakens interest & keeps records alive, maybe not for just playing, but records needs the varieties scene like coins & stamps to keep it alive, whether we music fans like it or not. Enjoy!
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