PhilMH SUBS 13th Dec 2016
| | I've left the release date blank because my copy is the 1975 reissue, released by RCA to cash in on CBS/Epic's success with "Lady Marmalade" and NIGHTBIRDS, and sports the code A975F on the back cover, so September 1975. Discogs has a 1973 New Zealand issue, manufactured by Pye, with the same catalogue number (same as the US original), so it's reasonable to assume that there was a 1973 Australian issue. Anyway, we now know that RCA Australia had the orange label up to at least September 1975.
On the subject of the date codes, a quick(-ish) look in Discogs last night told me these things:
(1) New Zealand used similar date codes, prefixed NZ;
(2) There was an Australian ABBA LP (forget which one now) which one owner mentioned that he had 3 copies of, all with slightly different codes: they all started A1176 (for Australia, November 1976) but had last letters of (I think) B, F and N. Now, 1976 was right in the middle of ABBA-mania in Australia, and I remember reading at the time (don't remember where) that RCA had 5 factories pressing ABBA product. I interpreted that then as they had 5 factories of their own, but could easily have meant that they contracted out to the other major plants (Astor, CBS, EMI and Festival). Whatever the case, I wonder if these last letters are factory codes? That said, I can only relate one code, F, to one of those majors, so maybe they signify where the factories were located, if indeed they were RCA's own? (EDIT: and then there's the fact that some releases don't have a final letter at all, so...???).
(3) David Bowie's Australian release of YOUNG AMERICANS in Discogs had code A475, signifying April 1975. However, the Australian Chart Book 1970-1992 has that LP entering the chart on the 7th April (a Monday), which seems much too soon for an April release, unless the album was released on 1st April (the previous Tuesday, not the usual release day in Australia) and sold well enough to make the chart at the end of the week. Unless the album was actually released in March, closer to the US & UK release dates, and the April date on the sleeve is in fact a pressing date? But, then how is the ABBA LP with the same date and 3 alpha codes explained? Conundrums, conundrums! |