Just when you thought it was safe to visit Music Lane again...
I have been quietly cornering the world market in early Oistrakh Brahms Cleveland 1969 pressings... US and ROW pressings. France. Germany. Russia.
My two most recent purchases have taught me a lot!
And because Audio Asylum is populated by many who get distracted by Bright Shiny Objects, here is the short version.
My working hypothesis of the moment on that is, in view of my not having been able to find a resource that establishes a date for Angel's changeover from the the goldenrod solid-color label with the beaver-brown band across the middle, to the later orange label with the pen and ink sketch of an angel:
While the the goldenrod solid-color label with the brown band across the middle is not necessarily a guarantee that the pressing is pre-master-tape-substitution, the orange label with the pen and ink sketch of an angel pretty much assures that that LP is post master tape substitution.
The LP copy I have had since circa 1978 that I bought in Nashville has the orange label with angel, and is scribed Side 1 F 13, Side 2 G 10. I am now informed that the G lathe was relocated from NYC to LA at some point, so, I was previously misled by true but inapplicable statements that the F code meant cut in LA, while the G code meant cut in NYC... .
My next-to-last Angel acquisition was Side 1 F2 Side 2 F4, so, I was getting close, much closer than my Nashville LP.
My most recent (delivered today) purchase is: F2/F2! The same stampers as the celebrated-in-myth-and-legend Brown U. LP! Rejouissent les paysans dans les roues!
Of course, it has the same gold w/brown band label as the Brown U. LP. What is fascinating is that while the penultimately-purchased LP has a shiny (coated) paper stock for the cover, the more recently-purchased but OLDER LP has a MATTE-finish paper for the cover.
OK!
Here we are:
Barring the discovery of an F1/F1 LP (my working hypothesis on that is that the first cut was rejected for being over-optimistically too hot), it seems reasonable to assume that if you are pawing through the bins and find an Angel SFO-36033, if the cover is shiny, check the label. If the label is gold/brown, check the scribing. If the cover is matte, check the label but it almost certainly will be gold/brown. In which case, please check the scribing and if you can, email me what it says.
And of course, if anyone finds an F1/F1, please notify me.
BTW, Bob Ludwig, ever the helpful friend, decoded for me the mysterious "I AM" scribe in a triangle. That's on the two most recent finds but not on my Nashville LP.
I thought it was the emblem of some Mystery Cult, but Bob assures me that "I AM" in a triangle is the "union bug" of the International Association of Machinists," the union (in that early era) of the pressing plant and therefore of the plating operation.
Thanks to everybody!
The next step is to get the new LP washed and make a rip on a known good for speed VPI turntable, so I can make accurate timing checks.
At some point, I will get back to Warner.
ATB,
John
PS: I posted this in Music r/th vinyl because this is not really about vinyl, it is about the music and the master tapes.
