NEW: QUALITON CONTRACT PRESS
Qualiton Records (Wales). Pontardawe, Glamorgan. 1967 sleeve printed by Talbot Printing Co. Ltd Port Talbot.
AT LAST WE CAN CONFIRM THIS CONTRACT PRESSING TYPE EXISTS FROM 1960-1961 and to at least 1963 on their own labels eg Top Six. The 4 prong thicker vinyl ones with similar handwritten lettering can possibly be seen to be earlier Saga pressings, but now are proved not to be. Note one of the 4 centre prongs isn't properly cut, implying the one piece machinery used was damaged & no big company would leave it like that or just have one machine. The matrix handwritten style is pretty similar, but really the only link beyond Blue Beat using both types of pressing. Compare the 2 handscratched matrices, they are similar yet different enough to only make it a possibility.
These thicker vinyl records you find on Melodisc red label EPs such as Leadbelly, as opposed to the more usual green Decca pressed ones.
Qualiton label is the same type of pressing & unusually this company made company sleeves as found on a 'Jan Rohde' release. Not found any further labels to compare further. These Qualiton pressings show the age of their existence ties into only being on 1960-61, but why would a tiny Welsh label have it's own pressing plant & print it's own sleeves?, Money talks & maybe the owner overspent & went bust, but info online says it did so no reason to doubt it. Who did it sell out to? Around Neath, South Wales are mostly houses, no industrial area likely then or now. These thick 45s appear to have the same pronged centre fault where a bit of the centre prong cutter is missing, leaving a bigger prong on one. Their 3 prong ones are later and show new machinery & thinner vinyl was used to cut costs
Qualiton exists with a 3 prong centre on a Blue and a Red Label in their 45s company sleeve, and the centre looks exactly like the 3 prong Blue Beat BB 44 & Melodisc 1570 with the centre ridge as shown. But most Qualiton we've seen don't contain collectable music, the Jan Rohde one we got £40 for as a Teen Popcorn Rocker type 45. The only ones that sold were the Jan & Kjeld ones it appears & then they went to Ember with the Qualiton styled vinyl as mentioned above.
A late 1967 Qualiton QSP 7001 by Y BLEW on a dark blue label is an Orlake press as the features show on one listing. Not quite the mega wow! hype they claim (is it ever?), but an OK amateur 1965 beat sounding record really in the £50 range. But how long did Qualiton exist then? 1959 to 1967 at least is still only all we know.
 
 
 
See the 2 Qualition styles matching the Melodisc, Kalypso & Bluebeat 45s as shown. Note the Scratched Matrix is very similiar esp the "4". Top 6 issued 8 EPs 1963-64 but the last 1964 one, from a photo only, looks like a Pye pressing. The early 1960-61 red-gold Ember look like this thinner Qualiton type too. Top 6 records come in a printed company sleeve, but no further details given. If you know more with old paperwork or similar, please help.
FACTS: MELODISC never pressed their own records. They started with Decca in the 78s era, then by Blue Beat BB6 (excluding later pressings) were this thick 4 prong Qualiton (but not on Blue Beat), then Pye 1960-61 with the large label edge bumps, then the Saga 3 prong type as pictured 1960-61, then Pye again 1961-64 (where the Blue Beat sleeve was issued). Then onto Orlake 1964-67 and finally CBS as seen on some late Blue Beat & early Fab by 1967, Decca again by 1968, Philips by 1969 (Fab label) and Orlake again by c1970 & that's likely it. Confusing!
Of the above records, the 'Evening News' Qualiton press is the best quality sound, the Decca pressing of this was messed up & it has a bad delay echo beyond reverb timing & it's unlistenable! The 'Baba' one exists as a Pye pressing, showing it was repressed in 1961. Some 1960-61 Bluebeats you can find as 3 pressing types & BB6 Keith & Enid was repressed often until 1965 & it appears on about a dozen different JA labels through the decades.
• WORK IN PROGRESS •
UK CETRA LABEL. Another oddity are the pretty obscure UK CETRA 45s from 1958-61, found CARLA BONI 45s. 1958 one (Cetra SP 4001, May 58 dated) with Yellow label. Manufactured by Rare Records Manufacturing Ltd it says, the vinyl is very thick at the label & similar to Qualiton on the rest. But with Italian stamper info only showing there are no clues. The 1960 one (Cetra SP 4014, Feb 60 dated) with a Black Label is the same pressing type, but without the pronged cutout. These use the original Italian master stampers, as only Italian releases are issued, with the usual curved edge lettering & the (recording?) date, but are UK vinyl & UK labels. One Carla Boni we had was the Popcorn tune 24 Mila Baci (Cetra SP 4021). The vinyl looks like the Qualiton, but has a deep groove on the centre on the 1958 one & a large centre dip on th 1960 one, close but not close enough. Whether it is needs research & beyond that above it is currently unknown.
 
SFI label one that may have done Vinyl Contracts is SFI, the 1968 Blues 45s on Python (see the Lyntone page) we half-think is a SFI press, but there aren't many vinyl 45s to compare. They pressed some Flexis & another 45 that looks like the Python one is Don Downing Dream World on People 108 from 1974, having a few copies all pressed the same, yet no other People 45s look like this. Not even that site shows any Python 45s!
Topic label is another one that could have done contracts, those strange 8" folk LPs from 1958 need researching next time we see one. Some Topic 7"s were pressed by Pye on the 1962-63 beige-cream labels that turn up, though the later dark blue ones need researching as Topic were still pressing into the 70s. One 1963 single looks very like the Python/People unknown, but with just a scratched matrix it'd just be nothing more than guessing saying they are Topic pressed. On comparing a few, they do look like Saga pressings if with different matrix etchings. Maybe Topic bought the pressing plant? One 1963 blue one looks a bit like an Orlake, but too thin vinyl & the small hand scratched numbers clearly both non-Orlake. The 1968 Saga 45s & LPs look very like Topic product of the same era. Saga or Topic product are related somehow, we'll dig deeper.
(from the Lyntone page...) As an extra bit of oddity, the obscure Python blues label UK made 1968-69 is an odd unidentified pressing. It's cheaply made & not much care in the whole 45, ie the titles are on the wrong sides though the matrixes match. The sound is pretty lo-fi & the vinyl is pretty uneven! It could be a SFI or an earlier Lyntone press perhaps. The matrix number is machine cut, a bit like a 1968 era Pye but narrower typeface & not like Pye enough. Who the name CH Rumble is remains unknown, maybe they had a tiny pressing plant somewhere? Info needs to be found before it's too late!
Sites listing & giving photos of thousands of records for info is very useful, but when it comes to identifying a Contract, you really need to see the record in person.
What we publish is considered well before it gets found by Search Engines & quoted as fact!
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