Quote: 6702 TPS Printed and made by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd. Patents Pending T 2566 ST 2566
TPS appears regularly at the bottom of LP sleeves, and maybe EP sleeves as well.
It is the acronym for THE PLATING SERVICE, a company that prepared the Lacquers from the master tapes of a release, and then the mothers and stampers used when vinyl was finally being pressed for commercial release.
I found the information a few years back by accident whilst using Discogs….
.....no problem, I thought that the idea of this multitude of sites was that we all help each other, and thus gain information......I know I have.
@PhilMH Re: TPS I have still not figured out what that means, other than a reference used by printers, on reverse of album sleeves.
I am sort of the current custodian of all things to do with printed sleeves, first on singles at 45cat EP sleeves, and the printers involved......singles too., and soon to be followed by a forum devoted to albums and LP sleeves on this site. Maybe 12" singles, etc. will follow.
I would particularly like to thank all members who currently add details of printers of sleeves in Notes on their submissions, most helpful, and please continue.
Mike - YankeeDisc
Good, I'm glad that's sorted, though I don't know why I had the code back to front in my example, I should have known that the year came first! Now, do you perchance know what the "TPS" means? That has always puzzled me!
....you are quite right, there will be a printers code on the reverse of the album sleeve, probably Garrod and Lofthouse Ltd., and a date code.
I have the album somewhere near at hand, to scan the labels (sleeves are a bit beyond me right now), so I well locate and update from my copy. Thanks for the reminder.
The US release was most likely late August or very early September 1966, as this entered the Billboard Pop Albums chart the week of September 10. The Schwann dates could be as much as two months out, as I believe that the issues generally became available in the second week of the month prior to that shown on the cover. As for this UK issue, is there a 4-digit code (e.g. 0167) in the bottom right-hand corner of the back cover? Many EMI UK pressings have that.
I cannot doubt that you may be correct in assuming a 1966 release, from the Schwann catalog, which of course is an american publication, and as far as I was aware, did not include UK releases. Of course both US and UK versions of this album shared the same catalog number T 2566/ST 2566, but I would perceive a delay between US and UK issues of the album.
It's not as if the hit from the album Love Is A Hurtin' Thing was a huge US hit, #13 pop, #1 R&B chart, hardly a reason for simultaneous release dates for the LP.
I still have reasonable number of Schwann catalogues at home, from the late 1970s, as I used to import them along with vinyl product from the US.
Some collectors back then were interested in copies of the monthly? catalog......
....class written all over this fine performance by the late Mr. Rawls, who was once
also a paratrooper, as was Jimi Hendrix, Bernard Cribbins, and Frank Carson.....