Philips Contract Info

PHILIPS PRESSING Philips pressings is the term we use for a Philips or Fontana pressing. The company may have been variously called Polygram and Phonodisc but there were no record labels of the name, so Philips it stays. (as from the Beatles page...) Typical late 60s 3 prong centre. Contract pressings were usually made with a small spindle centre, many Philips pressed standard labels 1967 on were made as large centre. 'Hey Jude' as Philips press turns up often on ebay as it's the easiest identifiable and is relatively common of type. The other 'Hey Jude' contracts are very rare. Thin vinyl with mildly raised vinyl edge. These usually had push out centres. Some Philips c1962-65 had solid centres though this was not the norm, Starting in 1967 a cheaper pressing method using the USA style large centre hole began, these were originally sold with the skinny 3 prong adapter, not the jukebox operators thicker swirl one. This continued until about 1972 when the even cheaper (& easily snapped!) moulded labels began. These were based on European countries using this cheap pressing method from c.1968. A contract of Jethro Tull 'Living In The Past' hit is so far the only Contract we've seen with the big centre.Fleetwood Mac's 'Albatross' unusually is remastered by Philips as the matrix shows Philips style, not EMI. Philips was initially a Dutch electronics company founded in 1950 and in 1962 they became part of the Phonogram group with Deutsche Grammophon and later combined with Polydor as Polygram by 1972. As Philips is the label UK collectors are familiar with, so Philips is the easiest name to use. They pressed many UK labels: Philips, Fontana, Polydor, Mercury (1964 on), CBS (to 1964), Track, Reaction & lots of smaller labels. If you see the typical line of stamped numbers in the matrix, the other way up on the curve of the dead wax area to eg Decca & EMI, then it's a Philips press. You even see Jamaican Studio 1 mid 60s that were mastered in the UK by them.

ˆ1965 PHILIPS CONTRACT	ˆ1968 PHILIPS CONTRACT
ˆ1969 PHILIPS CONTRACT	ˆ1964 PHILIPS CONTRACT
ˆ1968 PHILIPS CONTRACT	ˆ1977 PHILIPS CONTRACT
ˆ1974 PHILIPS CONTRACT	ˆ1968 PHILIPS CONTRACT