Foreword
Prior to getting in amongst the colourful characters who feature in our record collection I thought that we should plough through a little of the nuts and bolts. I hope that you find it interesting and having worked your way through it, that you feel more in tune with our bunch of LPs and that you'll become thoroughly engaged as we go along. Alright, deep breath. I'm going in. Don't get left behind, now!
DECCA DECCA Records was established in 1929 as a British record label and five years later, developed a US arm, however, the name ‘DECCA’ has earlier origins. In 1914, instrument makers Barnett Samuel and Sons produced a portable gramophone record player and called it the DECCA Dulcephone. DECCA is simply a combination of the word ‘Mecca’ and the initial of the company’s logo ‘Dulcet’ … or at least that is one punchline to the story. A more poetic-sounding stimulus for naming the fledgling record label, however, may have been triggered by a radio programme of the 1930s which used a five-note sequence as a kind of call sign. Guess what the notes were. Yep! D E C C and A and this would seem to be a likely source of inspiration especially as the DECCA logo also included a musical stave with the notes marked in crotchets. Having tried out the notes on my trusty guitar (a Fender Strat copy, since you ask) I don’t recognise the tune from any old radio show. Now, that might simply mean that I should have concentrated more on my lessons at school but, except for the second C, I reckon that I almost reproduced the alien call sign from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Cripes! What’s that rumbling sound in the garden? What the … who are … Hey! Get off me! Help! Help! Mummeeeeee … Phew! That was weird. You know that Fender Strat copy? Firewood!! Now, where were we? Ah, yes … ahem … DECCA originally concentrated on classical music and its standing among the other great labels of the time; His Master’s Voice and Columbia, were possibly boosted by its development of the Full Frequency Range Recording (ffrr) system and the introduction, around 1949, of the vinyl LP; the long playing record, which revolved at 33rpm, allowing longer tracts of music to be recorded onto one disc than the previous 78rpm shellac records. DECCA’s superior sound could also partly be put down to the innovation of Mr John Culshaw who joined the company in 1946. He started in a junior position but soon began to have ideas about how the sound of music, particularly classical opera, could be improved for the listener of a record. He experimented with having performers, in the case of opera, move around the studio as they might on stage. He also improved recording studio acoustics and even introduced subtle sound effects. He began recording in 1958 with Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen with Georg Solti conducting but his career at DECCA could have been over before it had started. Culshaw somehow upset the company’s leading female recording star in his first week and Vera Lynn was not to be messed with in those days. It was one of Culshaw’s early duties to identify those artists on DECCA’s books that seemed to be missing a biography and arranging to interview them. His superior at the time, a Mr Attwood, decided that Vera Lynn needed doing so our intrepid, faithful hero telephoned for an appointment. Boy! Did he live to regret THAT move? Ms Lynn let loose explaining that DECCA was awash with versions of her biography and that DECCA had published a piece about her recently and who are you that doesn’t even know who I am and what’s your name and you are a dead man walking etc. etc. or, if not those actual words, sentiments along those lines, I should think. I imagine that it was a while before Master Culshaw could laugh about that memory. Still, he survived to tell the tale. DECCA in America released British DECCA recordings until 1947, after which, they were issued in the US by subsidiary London Records. Whilst classical music provided the main thrust of DECCA’s output, jazz, big band, blues and other more popular music was also being released by artists such as trumpeter Louis Armstrong and band leaders Billy Cotton and Charlie Kunz. In 1942, American DECCA issued White Christmas by Bing Crosby who recorded a new version for British DECCA (now just DECCA) and this remains the world-wide best-selling single record ever.1 Later, in 1962, DECCA was a little less astute as they passed up the opportunity to record The Beatles because, as was famously stated by Mr Dick Rowe, Head of A&R (Singles Division), ‘groups of guitars are on the way out’.4 Ooh! That had to hurt. Some of the pain would have been alleviated, however, with their capture of The Rolling Stones soon after. Guitar groups were apparently back in! Hugh Mendl, long-time DECCA staff producer, was instrumental in establishing the non-classical branch and was pivotal in the formation of DECCA’s progressive rock arm DERAM on which bands such as East of Eden were released. The first prog band to have an LP on Deram? The Moody Blues with Days of Future Passed, though this was the seventh Deram album in all following such as Orchestral in the Night by Gordon Franks and Piano in the Night by Tony Osborne. Other WORLD OF artists to blossom under Mendl’s tutelage were balladeer Paddy Roberts and pianist Winifred Atwell. He also oversaw several original cast recordings amongst which was THE WORLD OF’s Oh! What a Lovely War. DECCA generally was a pioneering label. Full Frequency Range Recording (ffrr) became a recognisable DECCA logo signifying superior sound quality but it came about quite serendipitously. During the Second World War, it was discovered that the available sonar equipment could not distinguish between Allied submarines and the U-boats of the Axis. DECCA chief engineer, Arthur Haddy, was taken on to improve the system and managed to do so by making the sonar sensitive enough to tell them apart. Significantly, Haddy was then tasked with producing some records of training material from which sonar operatives were to learn how to use the modified apparatus. Right up his street, then. Music lovers were soon able to listen to their favourite pieces in sensational splendour as the new techniques were applied to the recording of music. This was still in the days of the 78rpm shellac discs and even though the sound quality was vastly improved, there was an irritating surface noise, particularly on earlier records, as the styli of the day trundled along the grooves. The introduction of the 33rpm vinyl long-player, however, allowed recording engineers to use ffrr technology with the improved medium and the results became the gold standard that other studios soon duplicated. Our man Haddy, along with fellow recording engineers Roy Wallace and Kenneth Wilkinson, worked up a system of microphones placed above and around whole orchestras and big bands to capture the complete aural experience of listening to the music as if live. This configuration became known as the DECCA Tree. Thus begun the stereo revolution though it turns out that DECCA rival RCA Victor made the first ever stereo recording a couple of months before DECCA joined the party on 13th May 1954. On this date, incidentally, DECCA began the recording of Rimsky Korsakov’s Antar played by the Orchestra de la Suisse Romande who were conducted by Ernest Ansermet. So now we need a new logo. A stereo logo and this is where DECCA obliged with ffss. Actually, these records, though recorded using the new techniques, were first issued in mono sound and it wasn’t until the late 1960s that DECCA began to release full stereo versions as their DECCA Eclipse series. Stealing a march on rival record labels, DECCA developed further refinements in sound quality with the Phase 4 series … but these are stories for another day. COLLECTING
So, why collect The WORLD OF DECCA? Well, the reason for collecting anything is that there is something about the chosen objects that appeals to the beholder; an idiosyncrasy inherent within the id of the collector. The id? Oh, you have one. We all do. The id is (deep breath): The part of the psych residing in the unconscious that is the source of instinctive impulses that seek satisfaction in accordance with the pleasure principle and are modified by the ego and the superego before they are given overt expression2 You don’t stand a chance! The collecting thing is at the whim of your unconscious. You are not conscious of it so how can you control it. The impulse is instinctive. It can’t be explained. And nor should you feel obliged to try to do so. It happens subconsciously in accordance with the pleasure principle which, in case it’s ever useful to know, is: An automatic mental drive or instinct seeking to avoid pain and to obtain pleasure2 Unconscious, instinctive, impulse, automatic! My friend, if you have the urge to collect The WORLD OF DECCA LP series, don’t think twice. The Pleasure Principle will not be denied! You may unconsciously succumb to the allure of the swirly, ornate, italicness of the font used on many of the sleeves. You may instinctively find the silly big faces of some of the artists on the covers make you smile. (Go ahead. Smile). You may be lulled, on impulse, by the serenity of the pastoral scenes of some of the classical LPs or you may automatically get a buzz from discovering the different designs of the labels in the middle of the disc. If you feel that anyone nearby needs an explanation for the saliva running down your chin from your open mouth whilst holding a WORLD OF, tolerate them, tell them about the id. Be similarly tolerant if you witness others being manipulated by their id in some apparently odd way. They could be just like you inside; sane, sensible, nice to know. They may actually not be crazy … not much, anyway. In any case, there may be more earthly reasons to collect; the so-called investments in collecting. These may include, though it is unlikely in the case of WORLD OF LPs, financial investment. Whilst a handful of the records in this series might cost you a bit more than a couple of quid to buy, the massive majority should not – and will also not appreciate remuneratively. Ah, so no investment value here, then. Well, how about we collect WORLD OF records for the culture embedded within them. The release of this series began in 1968 and endured until 1981 so with DECCA probably being on the commercial ball, we can assume that the music and spoken word featured represents the listening trends of record buyers of that period. So let’s see … here’s a little list which compares the music of the series with what was at the top of the popular charts at the time: Year/ On THE WORLD OFs/ At the top of the UK Charts
1968 - 1969 The Bachelors The Beatles George Formby The Rolling Stones Val Doonican Cream
1972 - 1973 Vera Lynn Badfinger
Winifred Atwell T Rex
Val Doonnican Jimi Hendrix
1979 - 1980 Mary Hopkin The Jam
Shakespeare Thin Lizzy
The Goons ... Oh dear ...
… this ain’t working out either is it …
OK, how about we go with Sigmund Freud. He reckoned that the need to collect stuff dates back to the time when we were being potty trained (naturally). He theorised that the necessary loss of … you know … down the toilet had to be compensated for by collecting something else in its Stead3 … and that, you’ll doubtless be pleased to learn, is the last time S Freud is mentioned in this writing.
Hmmm. So we seem to be left with the id and the Pleasure Principle. Well, I’m happy to go with that if you are, dear reader, considering the alternatives. Now, let’s go shopping!
WORLD OF records are likely to be found cheaply in the charity shops which abound on the high streets of most towns and cities. Oxfam has a number of shops dedicated to music and many of those devoted to books carry LPs as well. The other obvious place to check for WORLD OFs are record fairs, of course. You may have to sift through mountains of discs but after some practice, you’ll be able to spot dealers and particular piles which are likely to provide what you seek. And you do have some seeking to do. The WORLD OF series runs to around 550 records and whilst some are available in mono only or stereo only, some come in both mono and stereo. The mono versions seem to peter out in those records with catalogue numbers in the 270s except for most spoken word records. Stereo versions are available from no. 1 right through except, once again, most of the spoken word LPs.
THE RECORD
Now, it might be a good idea for you to call up a couple of images of WORLD OF records to refer to as you work your way through the next bit. Anyone who has their own WORLD OF records to look at may help themselves from the cake tin.
THE FRONT RECORD COVER
The first thing you might notice about the WORLD OF record covers is the italicised uppercase letters of the title typeface font on those glossy sleeves which immediately identifies this fantastic series of LP records. However, whilst it is used for the majority
of the series, some records, particularly those numbered upwards of SPA 572 eschew the WORLD OF title completely and feature various more modern, angular fonts, for instance, COMMERCIAL CLASSICS (SPA 581) and TOCCATA (SPA
583). The font appears in many different colours and though it is usually in white, the wording does feature in black, brown, dark blue, pale blue, red, yellow, orange, green and a rather fetching mauve colour (THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS:
MENDELSSOHN etc. [SPA 503]). Also featuring in one of the four corners of the front cover is the rectangular DECCA logo measuring, approximately, either 3.5cm x 1.5cm or 4.5cm x 2cm except for those records on DECCA subsidiaries such as ARGO, REX and DERAM where these names, naturally,
proudly stand in the place of the mighty DECCA. Later records in this series (SPA 584 onwards) feature a different DECCA logo. This one measures 3.5 x 3.5cm and has three
bands of colour; 1.8cm of blue, 7mm of red and 1cm of white. The word ‘DECCA’ lies on top of the blue section in white whilst the white section features the wording ‘Great Classics’ in black italics.
The track listing, which is also often to be found on the front cover, is presented in the same italic-type font though in smaller sized lowercase letters.
Now, the first classical music LP in the series is THE WORLD OF JOHANN STRAUSS (SPA 10) and from this record until THE WORLD OF BALLET (SPA 55), the classical discs are afforded no especial place in the series other than via their catalogue number. However, the next classical record, SPA 69, has the prefix THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS VOL. 1 in front of the title, BEETHOVEN SONATAS etc. and this trend continues on up to THE WORLD
OF GREAT CLASSICS VOL. 11: BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONY NO. 6 etc. (SPA 118). All classical music editions after this record, though, that is, from TCHAIKOVSKY: ROMEO AND JULIET: RICHARD STRAUSS DON JUAN (SPA 119) are known by a boxed legend in one of the four corners of the front cover claiming them to be member of THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS sub-series rather than carrying on with the rising volume numbers.
There is a further sub-series of 13 records that are devoted to the sound
of steam engines and locomotives, the first three of which have the title THE WORLD OF STEAM VOLS 1 to 3. The remaining ten have their own box similar to that above, proclaiming them members of THE WORLD OF RAILWAYS club such as can be seen on THE WORLD OF RAILWAYS SOUTHERN STEAM (SPA 462).
The images on the front covers are generally a joy to behold. Albums of single artists often have a large image of that artist’s physiognomy taking up most of the space of the front cover. I know these as the Big Face covers, for example,
THE WORLD OF STANLEY HOLLOWAY (SPA 199), a personal favourite, and THE WORLD OF FRANK CHACKSFIELD (SPA 5). Others have more modest, half or full figure pictures of the performers. Many covers, particularly of classical music records, display a placid pastoral scene from Britain’s green and pleasant countryside
and similar images from around the world as seen on covers of LPs like THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS VOL. 11: BEETHOVEN: PASTORAL SYMPHONY (SPA 113) and THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS VOL. 6: FINLANDIA (SPA 91) or interior shots of such as cathedrals and stately homes.
THE BACK COVER
Typically, the back of the record sleeve would have, in its top right corner, the
catalogue number of the disc enclosed. On the earlier LPs in the series, a white rectangle lined in thin black measuring approximately 7.5cm x 1.5cm contains, ‘reading’ from left to right, a circular cut-out of about 1cm diameter through which the colour of the underlying inner sleeve is revealed showing whether the recording was in mono or stereo sound – red for mono and blue for stereo. To the right of the cut-out lies a thick, black, chevron-type arrow pointing to the coloured circle. Following the arrow is the colour key on two lines; the top line reading ‘RED•MONO’ followed by ‘PA’ and the numerical part of the catalogue number. Beneath this can be read ‘BLUE•STEREO SPA’ and then the same number as above. So, your stereo version of THE WORLD OF CAT STEVENS looks something like:
On some records, such as THE WORLD OF HITS (SPA 7), instead of the word ‘STEREO’ may be seen, in smaller capitals, ‘SEE NOTE’ and often, sprouting from the end of the STEREO legend can be seen a thin, black right-angled arrow pointing down the right side of the back cover on the fold-over, leading the eye to advice familiar to all vinyl record fans; ‘The tracks marked * are mono recordings electronically reprocessed to give stereo effect on stereo equipment. The remainder of the tracks are true stereo. This record can be played on mono reproducers provided either a compatible or stereo cartridge wired for mono is fitted. Recent equipment may already be fitted with a suitable cartridge. If in doubt consult your dealer.’ Both mono and stereo options are available for records from THE WORLD OF MANTOVANI (SPA 1) to THE WORLD OF THEM (SPA 86). However, from THE WORLD OF THE GREAT CLASSICS VOL. 2: DVORÁK: SYMPHONY NO. 9 IN E MINOR OP. 95 “FROM THE NEW WORLD” (SPA 87) there is no colour-revealing cut-out and the catalogue number, preceded by ‘PA’ and ‘SPA’, is placed unceremoniously beneath the word ‘MONO’ or ‘STEREO’ rather than in its own little box. Mind you, this is true only up to THE WORLD OF THE FLIRTATIONS (SPA 218). From THE WORLD OF SACRED SONGS: STUART BURROWS (SPA-R 219), it is only the catalogue number that is displayed and one must proceed armed with the above advice when deciphering these simple hieroglyphics. Now, all of you that spotted an extra letter complicating matters within the catalogue number of the Sacred Songs record, take a sweetie from the sweetie jar. Just what does that letter ‘R’ mean? Well, it seems to stand for ‘Restricted’ which means that the LP could not be exported to specified other countries due, most likely, to contractual complications. Further, the letter ‘A’ may be inserted into the catalogue numbers of LPs on the DECCA subsidiary label, ARGO.
Moving on.
At top centre of the back cover is placed the LP title in that fantastic font, for example:
Beneath this is usually centred two columns of track names:
There are usually no track numbers and no column headings such as ‘Side 1’ or ‘Side 2’ though these do sometimes appear. Beneath the track listing can often be found images, often four, of other album covers in the WORLD OF series along with a longer listing of titles. Then, of course, you’d expect to find the famous DECCA logo and the usual bits and pieces like the year of LP release and record company address:
This general design varies a little occasionally throughout the collection.
THE INNER SLEEVE
THE WORLD OF MANTOVANI (SPA 1) ushered in DECCA’s iconic red-rimmed inner sleeve for mono records along with the similar blue one for stereo. This momentous release occurred in 1968 but the inner sleeve design was to change subtly over the coming years. An irritating question that bugs a pedant such as your author though,
is, how do you know if the sleeve on your record is the original one? It may remain difficult to know for sure whether it is the original but there may well be clues so that you may be able to say that the inner sleeve probably goes with the record it encloses or if your LP definitely does not. How? Well, many DECCA inner sleeves, from mid-1971 if my record collection is to be relied upon, feature a date code comprising the month and year in the form of, for example, ‘5-71’, inserted along the bottom edge of one side and this should coincide with the release date on the record label. I imagine, however, that re-issues of records at later dates may carry differing dates; the one on the sleeve being later than that on the record label. In this case, a further indication as to whether we have a correct match might be the colour and design of the label itself. There appear to be three designs varying in colour and design for the mono versions of LPs and six for the stereos and if we can decide in which order these were used, we might be able to link them with specific release dates. But hold hard, me hearties, as this story is covered a little later below.
Now, the inner sleeve design. Firstly, all sleeves in this collection have a polythene liner, the pros and cons of which are debated by connoisseurs around the record collecting fraternity. It is true that a vinyl record that has been left undisturbed within such a sleeve for a time may attach to it, rendering its attempted removal, whilst not impossible, a little stressful. Still, I quite like ‘em.
Those early Decca WORLD OFs, began life in a sleeve dominated by the colour red if it was in mono or blue if it was stereo and as mentioned above, most of the low numbers were available in both formats. These initial sleeves are bordered along all edges on both sides with 2.5cm of the appropriate colour in order to be sure of showing through the small circular hole in the outer sleeve, whatever the orientation of them, thus revealing the format of the recording. The word ‘MONO’ or ‘STEREO’ is printed in white five times along each edge. Curiously, the gap between the 4th and 5th entry in all cases is larger than the other but you can’t worry about everything, can you? Later issues have appropriately coloured squares, one positioned along each
edge in such a location as to show through the circular cut-out, once again, regard-less of orientation.
There is a label viewing hole in the middle of the paper outside layer on both sides whilst the polythene see-through inner remains intact. There is also writing on both sides but there is more on one side than there is on the other. The side with most words has a column of text to the left of the label viewing hole which is headed ‘THE EQUIPMENT’ with the usual guidance on the levelness and speed of the turntable, the pick-up arm position and weight as well as stylus condition. On the right hand side is the title ‘THE RECORD’ which heads a similar column of information on the handling storage and cleaning of your records. A wider, central section above the label viewing hole, the same width as the diameter of the viewing hole, gives ‘IMPORTANT’ stuff on the correct tip radius of your stylus!
Inside the coloured border along the bottom, in a central position, can be found the recommended ‘PLAYING SPEED 33 r.p.m.’ and beneath this, ‘Made in England’. In the left hand corner can be found the date code (if it features at all) whilst in the other corner is the patent information though these may be reversed in sleeves issued later. Finally, to the left of each coloured square is the advice that, in the event of the record being ostensibly stereo, if mono recordings are featured which have been electronically reprocessed to give a stereo effect, the label will state as much.
The flip side, so to speak, simply sports the ‘IMPORTANT’ section exactly as on the other side as well as the playing speed plus the ‘Made in England’ bit at the bottom along with the mono-made-stereo guidance, though there are slight variations here and there between sleeves.
Judging by the dates on the sleeves and/or the record release dates on the labels, the original inners seem to have been in use from 1968 to around 1970. After this, the colour borders were exchanged for the colour squares positioned a little way in from all four corners. Within the border space originally taken up by the full border may lie the word ‘MONO’ or ‘STEREO’ in large print and this time, just the once per edge. From approximately 1975 (according to my collection, once again) the inner sleeve became somewhat plainer with one side being empty except for ‘MADE IN ENGLAND’ followed by the date code at bottom left and the patent information at bottom right. The busy side holds the same guidance and advice as the earlier sleeves with minor modifications, for example, ‘THE RECORD’ section has some of the record cleaning detail cropped. The section headed ‘THE EQUIPMENT’ reads exactly as it did previously but this and ‘THE RECORD’ sections have exchanged locations. The section previously headed ‘IMPORTANT’ has become less so with the text reading exactly as before but with the heading missing. ‘PLAYING SPEED 33 r.p.m.’ now lies above the label viewing cut-out instead of below and the mono-to-stereo message lies below in a central location rather than along each edge as before. On this new inner sleeve there is new advice which is headed ‘Important Notice’ and this is furnished with a nice thin-lined blue box and warns of copyright infringement. Remember, though, dear reader, that if one of these new inners was found to be caressing an older LP, the LP could be a re-issue. In this case, as suggested earlier, hopefully more information could be gleaned by checking the label colour and/or design.
I apologise if the foregoing visited a bit of brain-fade inside your otherwise fine cranium. Those of you that were able to view an actual specimen would maybe have gained a little more from the exercise. Anyway, time waits, but not for you and I, duck!
Let's jump back in ...
THE RECORD LABEL
The components of the label vary in colour and design and probably signify the order of issue and reissue sequences. For most label versions there is one text colour over a different background colour and includes the DECCA logo at centre top in its rectangular box, the box being the same colour as the text but with DECCA in the same colour as the background. Mono records, in what I perceive to be the earliest
form, have a plain red background with silver text. Later adaptations come with an orange background with either a silver boxed DECCA or a black one. The default box
size seems to be either 3cm x 1cm or 3.5cm x 1.5cm for the red form and 3.5cm x 1.5cm for the orange regardless of text colour. The stereo version comes in seven varieties. The basic style is of a bright blue with a silver boxed DECCA and it seems that the earliest stereo issue comes in the smaller size whilst a first re-issue comes with a larger sized box. Those with later catalogue numbers over SPA 100 come with the large box only.
After these comes a version with dark
blue box on pale blue, the box being of the larger size followed by a form that has a very pale blue beneath silver and a large box. This very pale blue appears to be more
scarce than other colours but does not attract higher financial remuneration. There then comes a later adaptation which also has a large box in black on white. Next
comes one that has two base colours; the upper third is blue with the lower two thirds in white. The DECCA box appears in the upper blue zone and is of the small size coming in a black box with a white DECCA. The text is otherwise black. This design crops up in English versions as well as Australian (see left).
The most recent re-issue has a label with a silver/grey background and a coloured circumference. At the outer edge there is a ring of silver/grey within
which is a dark blue ring which surrounds a red ring. There is a boxed DECCA but this box measures 1.6cm2, the top 7mm of which is blue. Beneath this is 3mm of red and at the bottom, 5mm of white, over which is written in a blue italic font ‘Great Classics’. The word DECCA lies over the blue section in white. This DECCA box emulates that found on the outer sleeves of the later issues mentioned earlier.
Now, I suppose you are ready to amuse yourselves with matrix numbers, eh? Well, in the run-off area at the end of each side you will find markings and numbers, including matrix numbers, which correspond to certain elements of the manufacturing process of the record. So, how is a record made? Well, very briefly, because this information is available elsewhere, it goes something like this.
To begin with, the music is played live in a studio and recorded onto a Master Tape which is then mixed and formatted for transfer to vinyl by engineers. The music is then transferred from the Master Tape to the aluminium Master Disc via a cutter, which looks like a record player with a super-heavy stylus arm and which etches the familiar groove into the disc whilst the tape is running. The Master Disc is then coated with lacquer, which dries to the hardness of nail varnish, and is roughly the size of the final 12” record. A centre hole is punched out and if all goes well, it is now that the engineer stamps or etches the matrix number and other marks into the run-off area. The disc, which is now sent to a record production company, is electroplated with a nickel alloy or tin chloride and liquid silver which is fixed into the groove and run-off marks of the Master Disc. This metal layer is then removed to form the Stamper. Sometimes, especially if high numbers of records are to be pressed, this metal stamper might be electroplated several times with the new discs, when removed, being known as Mothers. Separate stampers are made for each side of a record.
Polyvinyl chloride pellets (black ones in the case of the WORLD OFs but can, of course, be any colour if an expensive collector’s item is required) are melted and moulded into thick biscuits about the diameter of a record label and, indeed, a label is attached to both sides. This labelled biscuit is placed between two Stampers in a hydraulic press which heats and melts the biscuit and forces the grooves into the vinyl. Before being released from the press, the new record is rotated whilst a trimmer removes excess vinyl. And there, in your hand, you hold SPA 498, THE SINGING WORLD OF BERNARD MANNING! A classic of the future!
DECCA records released since the 1960s (therefore, including our WORLD OFs) feature four numbers or marks: the actual Matrix Number, the Mother Number, the Stamper letter and the tax code.
So, the matrix number is found stamped (or scratched by hand) in the run-off section. So, let’s take as an example, one of the LPs in our collection; THE WORLD OF MANTOVANI (SPA 1) on the regular blue label with large Decca box and silver background. This LP has the number ZAL8456-4L. The letters ZAL refer to the record being a stereo version (the mono version has the letters ARL). The number 8456 relates to the master tape used and there would ordinarily be a different master for each side, therefore, a different number. The number on side 2 is normally one higher than side 1 so my record has no. 8457 on the flip. The number 4 after the hyphen is the number of the Master Disc made from the Master Tape and the letter L refers to the engineer who created the Master Disc. The engineer assigned to letter L was a Mr George Bettyes and it would have been he that had responsibility for the whole procedure right up until the creation of the Stampers.
The Mother number features at a location a little away from the matrix number (often at the 9 o’clock position in relation to the matrix if we say that the latter is at 6 o’clock) and is usually no. 1 or 2 whilst the Stamper letter is located at the 3 o’clock position. The Stamper letter for Decca records will be one of those comprised in the word BUCKINGHAM where B = 1, U=2, C =3 etc. This word has 10 letters which is not coincidental. It means that numbers higher than 10 can be concocted by certain combinations: NC, for example, would be 63. Geddit? Other labels will have different codes. For example, Parlophone chose to use GRAMOPHLTD (Gramophone Ltd) for their 10 letter word.
Anyway, back to Decca, roughly at the 12 o’clock position, there may be a tax code number which relates to Her Majesty’s tax office codes and determines the revenue required from the sale of the records. The codes are made up of letters with MT being the code for 1st January to 30th June 1963; KT from 1st July 1963 to 22nd November 1968 and JT from 23rd November 1968 to 1st April 1973. If no tax code can be found, it may be that the record was pressed after 1st April 1973 when the Purchase Tax system was changed and the VAT system introduced. If there are two codes, for example, MT KT, this probably denotes that the disc was pressed around the time of tax code change at the end of June/start of July 1963. Here, for completeness and, not least, your amusement, is the full listing of the start dates of tax codes which you may find on records since 1950 plus a list of possible Decca engineers and their codes:
Dec 30th 1950 AT
Apr 15th 1953 NT
Oct 27th 1955 RT
June 1st 1957 XT
Oct 1st 1958 UT
Apr 8th 1959 ET
Aug 1st 1960 WT
July 26th 1961 OT
Apr 10th 1962 ZT
Nov 26th 1962 PT
Jan 1st 1963 MT
July 1st 1963 KT
Nov 23rd 1968 JT5
A Guy Fletcher
B Ron Mason
C Trevor Fletcher
D Jack Law
E Stan Goodall
F Cyril Windebank
G Ted Burkett
K Tony Hawkins
L George Bettyes
V Quentin Williams
W Harry Fisher
Incidentally, whilst you might expect to find the tax code at the 12 o’clock position on the run-out area on Decca records, it may be found, for example, with one letter either side if the centre spindle hole on others. Printed numbers, letters and marks on the run out areas of vinyl are likely to be clearly legible but etchings may be less distinct.
Refs:
1. http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/59721-best-selling-single
2. Dictionary.com
3. Mark B McKinley. The Psychology of Collecting. 2007. Nationalpsychologist.com
4. Dick Weindling & Marianne Colloms. Decca Studios and Klooks Kleek: West Hampstead’s Musical Heritage Remembered. 2013. The History Press
Other references on request
Regarding the LP cover images and other pictures, they are photographs of the records in my own collection and are taken by my own hand (which explains the slight wonkiness of some of them). All images are, however, copyright of Decca.
Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of any image in any form is prohibited.
Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the text in any form is prohibited, restricted by permission of the author.