The Droid's labels with the small boxed BIEM are from the first Dutch issue of the Album. This release came in an UK sleeve, so I can understand why it was added here. Will move them to the Dutch release. The Droid may want to adjust his "I Own".
Nice to see the labels in their proper order Hawkmarty. Any chance you can you do something about the Malaysian copy of Deep Purple's Fireball in the UK entry ??
It's really hard to tell. The one constant in the UK ones is the Made in Gt Britain.
TheDroid's labels have BIEM but that can appear on UK issues as well (Decca, Deram etc) so cannot be taken as definite proof that they are not a UK contract pressing.
I'll move them to the end until we find out for sure.
The Mfd In UK on Abbey Road isn't restricted to just Abbey Road but a wide range of Beatles, McCartney & Lennon issues from this period so rules out the notion that "it's a mistake", plus "Manufactured In" has different connotations to "Made In"
Well, perhaps that Beatles issue was a mistake, and they didn't put "Made in UK" on this Deep Purple release for the very sound reason that it wasn't made in the UK, just as this copy of Stevie Wonder's "Innervisions" has "Made in USA" at the top of the label and no mention of UK anywhere else on the label ("The Gramophone Co Ltd" on the left rim, and EMI Records Ltd at the bottom, mark this as a UK issue, along with the Tamla Motown label itself - not used on USA releases - and the EMI Records Ltd name on the back cover, which was printed by the UK company Garrod & Lofthouse).
Given that the Harvest label was part of the EMI family I find it difficult to believe that they would've imported these during the 3 Day week / Oil Crisis period without marking them as Mfd In UK. If you look at the other examples from the Apple label at this time there is the Pathe Marconi copy of Abbey Road being pressed in France but quite clearly states on the label "Mfd In UK" to say this is a UK issue and not a French one.
The catalogue number and record company name on Droid's labels suggest to me that it is still a UK release, even though it might have been made in Europe; the European EMI companies had different names, and used EMI's European catalogue number system from 1969 onwards. It could well have been pressed in Europe due to the energy crisis and/or the British three-day working week, as other UK releases were at the time (e.g. a made-in-USA Stevie Wonder Lp on Tamla Motown); I wouldn't necessarily trust that Discogs entry.
Cptbeefheart you may be correct as I am not that knowledgeable on all the permutations of European/UK etc. variances. I used the gatefold EMI Hayes - Middlesex - England as an indicator of UK pressing. If incorrect, Mods, please relocate to proper placement. In 1970 were there actual European pressings (not designated to a particular country)?
Just in case people did not realise, the ones with EMI on the middle left-hand side were later issues. They also had EMI printed around the rim as opposed to Gramophone Co Ltd. Originals are worth a lot more if you are interested in value.