World Record Club - Discussion Thread

[StereoNET]

Some of our members will remember 'World Record Club' no doubt.

 

Just a distant memory now, in a very different music distribution marketplace; but with the resurgence of records we felt it timely to revisit the iconic World Record Club.
John Day, one of the co-founders of World Record Club shared with StereoNET some of the background which provides an interesting story.

 

Read the full article at: http://www.stereo.net.au/news/exclusive-the-world-record-club/

[k-k-k-kenny]

Thanks for this, Marc.

I inherited a bunch of these , mostly ploughed rather than played. But I ain't giving them up in a hurry.

[ZEN MISTER]

Great article. These often turn up in the op shop, covers a little dog eared, but the vinyl usually in great condition. In theory, they were often purchased by people who cared for their collections, so someone wanting to start a classical collection on a budget, could score very well.

The edition of "MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR" gets great prices on ebay.

A friend has a unique box set of The Beatles, with the albums spread across multi vinyl chronologically, as side times permitted.

Does John remember the circumstances of that edition. Where did the stampers come from?

I t must have been a dedicated local pressing.

ZM.

[cheekyboy]

Thanks for posting John's background to the WRC which I was a member of during the mid to the late '70s, but I can't remember exactly when my subscription lapsed.................distant memories indeed!

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

[colclarke]

Thank you for such an interesting insight

[valvelover]

I scored around 180 of these a bit over 18 or so months ago for $200.  Bargain!  Pretty much everything in immaculate condition, but some surface noise.  A good clean got rid of nearly all of that.  Great value.  

[Guest]

That's a score @@valvelover !

Pics!

 

As a graphic designer, I found this story interesting and dug a bit deeper and read more about Geoff Hocking's story as the designer for a large majority of the releases.
Some more reading for anyone interested: http://www.geoffhocking.com/worldrecordclub.html

[Candyflip]

Thank you - fascinating.

[Guest]

Great article. These often turn up in the op shop, covers a little dog eared, but the vinyl usually in great condition. In theory, they were often purchased by people who cared for their collections, so someone wanting to start a classical collection on a budget, could score very well.

The edition of "MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR" gets great prices on ebay.

A friend has a unique box set of The Beatles, with the albums spread across multi vinyl chronologically, as side times permitted.

Does John remember the circumstances of that edition. Where did the stampers come from?

I t must have been a dedicated local pressing.

ZM.

 

Hi Zen, I ran that past John Day - sadly it was after John's time (he retired from the company in 1975) so he cannot offer any information.

[ZEN MISTER]

Thanks Marc.

I may borrow the set and post some photos and details and see what memories it stirs up.

ZM.

[Grumpy]

I recently threw out a bunch of WRC vinyl, I think. or are they gathering dust in the shed. I must look. ( Mainly classical)

[colclarke]

I recently threw out a bunch of WRC vinyl, I think. or are they gathering dust in the shed. I must look. ( Mainly classical)

This is heresy GOF...!!!!

I'd be happy to see heretics treated in the traditional fashions of old

[k-k-k-kenny]

Hi Zen, I ran that past John Day - sadly it was after John's time (he retired from the company in 1975) so he cannot offer any information.

No it wasn't. I got my copy before Abbey Road was released, so it can't have been later than 1969. Mind you, the one Beatles release in the WRC catalogue may well have gone unnoticed in a world largely of classical. Plus it did not get the WRC cover treatment, but borrowed images from the UK. And of course it wasn't nearly as cool as having the 2 "real" Magical Mystery Tour EPs. Nevertheless, lots of my mates got copies of the WRC LP between its first release and 1974, when IIRC it was still in their catalogue.

Sorry - my fading memory. Discogs says it was 1970 release. I got it before I got Abbey Road, but that doesn't mean much.

Edited May 13, 2014 by k-k-k-kenny

[Guest]

Hi Zen, I ran that past John Day - sadly it was after John's time (he retired from the company in 1975) so he cannot offer any information.

 

A further follow up from John Day:

 

 

I thought Zen's query concerned the Beatles boxed set, which was indeed issued after my retirement. 

 

Re Magical Mystery Tour:  my Repertoire Director Dianne Ellis was in Sydney on a routine visit and took delivery of a pile of E.M.I. LPs - mainly classical - from their A &R man for us to consider for Club release.  Flipping through them she discovered to her astonishment the Beatles album.  She immediately queried its inclusion and E.M.I. confirmed they did not intend to release it - it was ours if we wanted it! 

 

Some time later E.M.I. repented this decision and formally requested our permission to release it retail - which of course we gave! 

 

So the rather extraordinary situation came about that the same record was available both in the shops at normal retail price, and through the Club at much lower cost - and each in the same sleeve, one of the exceedingly rare instances we had not designed a special Club one. 

 

Dianne had of course flown out the metal mothers, so we shared those with E.M.I. too - very convenient all round! 

 

Much the same circumstance occurred with Glen Campbell's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix":  we put it out first, then he won a Grammy award for it, and E.M.I. asked if they could put it out retail.

 

John

[ZEN MISTER]

I love this sort of music history.

I will still get a hold of the box set, and run some snaps, and maybe some matrix numbers.

ZM.

[Guest]

Another entry: http://www.stereo.net.au/articles/stories-from-the-club/

[arthur63]

I looked forward to receiving the catalogues in the mail and then posting my orders back with postal notes / money orders from the post office.

Wished I'd kept some of the catalogues for nostalgia.

 

How times have changed, now we can order and pay on the internet.

[masterpaul]

I was lucky enough to have cut many titles for WRC during my time with EMI Records Aust. I can confirm that the equipment used was the same as for all our other clients, including EMI Classical. Likewise, the same matrix, pressing processes at Homebush.

 

I say "lucky enough" because WRC introduced me to many composers and artists that I might have otherwise avoided through ignorance.

 

Although now we can order and pay on the internet, what we don't get is relatively obscure yet wonderful gems promoted on a regular monthly basis.

[morloch]

this is very interesting to me - I've got many WRC lps in my collection.

 

Some WRC lps are obviously pressed in Australia from imported metal parts - they have the same machine cut matrix numbers as the UK major label equivalent. Whereas others have a hand cut matrix in the run-out area. I would be interested to know in what circumstances this was done and what the source for the locally cut lps was - I guess a master tape sent from overseas? And lastly I would really be interested to hear what anyone involved at the time has to say about the relative merits of the local versus imported stampers. I've not done any direct comparisons myself. Thanks!

[Guest]

@@morloch

 

John Day offered the following in response to your questions:

 

 

In answer to the query:  We much preferred to import the metal mothers, because this obviously removed the necessity for us to listen to tapes before sending them off for processing.   But even in those far-off days the science of cutting masters was universal:  a master cut at Homebush for E.M.I. (or World Record Club) would have been identical in all physical aspects to one cut in London or Berlin, Paris or Vienna, New York or Los Angeles.  I don't think any technician would argue with the statement that more skill was required to produce a first-class tape than a first-class master.  In the same way, mothers produced by any originating company for export to World Record Club or any other company would come from the same master and would be identical.   And again, stampers produced from the mothers would be identical, no matter in whose factory they were being pressed.  If you imported metals rather than tapes, then you would import mothers, never stampers.  The only possible exception I can think of is if you were anticipating a very short run - and if it was going to be that short, why put out the record at all?  Or else import the records themselves.  In short, the relative merits of local versus imported?  No difference whatsoever!

 

[masterpaul]

this is very interesting to me - I've got many WRC lps in my collection.

 

Some WRC lps are obviously pressed in Australia from imported metal parts - they have the same machine cut matrix numbers as the UK major label equivalent. Whereas others have a hand cut matrix in the run-out area. I would be interested to know in what circumstances this was done and what the source for the locally cut lps was - I guess a master tape sent from overseas? And lastly I would really be interested to hear what anyone involved at the time has to say about the relative merits of the local versus imported stampers. I've not done any direct comparisons myself. Thanks!

Nothing wrong with imported mothers - quite the opposite generally because tapes are copies and an extra generation. Regarding mastering, EMI's equipment was standardised worldwide. Matrix scribing is a bit complicated.'Hand scribing' on Australian matrices only became common in the mid eighties (except for RCA product - theirs began in the 70s). Prior this, Alpha Toolex 'pantographs' were used which produced print like results. Bit of trivia - EMI had two - one was a locally made copy which created letters twice the size. It was a bugger to use because the bearings weren't as good.

[EV Cali]

A further follow up from John Day:

Although I am reluctant to raise this when John was a part of WRC plus the last time I questioned some infomation on this forum I was actualy wrong but I am afraid it is not the case that the oz WRC edition of Magical Mystery Tour had the same cover as the standard edition.The WRC pressing used the picture from page ten of the booklet ,that was in the center of the UK double ep and the USA  LP.The back cover was also diffrent consisting of a couloured striped background.

The original UK release was a double ep consisting of the six new beatles songs from the ,made for TV ,Magical Mystery Tour ,Film and it was released in this form as there was not enough songs for a normal LP.

The Americans decided to issue it as an LP with a gate  fold sleeve and the colour booklet from the UK ep,plus five other recent US hit singles ,this was the LP released by the WRC and it is valued around the world ,because of it's diffrent cover to any other pressing.The Australian LP is also more honest in its full title of Magical Mystery Tour and other Splendid hits.I have three copies,the first and second Au labels and a NZ lable.

See link for more details.

http://www.beatlesaustralia.com/16_MMT_index.html

The other thing I like about WRC releases was the three round dials they had so that you could record the position you set the base, treble and stereo balance for the next time you llistened to the record.

[morloch]

thanks for all the information re matrices etc. Very interesting to hear about the standardisation of facilities at EMI around the world, but there is a view that the particular engineer making the cut made a difference. In UK Decca matrices there is a code to denote which engineer made the cut and some people claim that  some consistently did a better job than others, but that seems pretty dubious to me.

 

re the Beatles MMT lp. I was also going to mention that the WRC sleeve was unique to WRC, but then realised the very final WRC version was in fact the regular Parlophone issue with a WRC sticker. It's mentioned and pictured in the linked page as being from 1979 onwards. 

[Monty]

I have WRC releases of Eric Dolphy Out To Lunch and a Dexter Gordon compilation. Did they release much jazz? (I haven't searched beyond op shops, but have mostly noticed classical reissues on the label.)

[JukKluk2]

I have the Mercy, Mercy, Mercy lp by Cannonball Adderley on WRC. The cover is different to the cd release. Great album, btw.