I remember the Pathé name from films too - usually European releases and newsreels. The Beatles imports are the ones I think I may have; I'll have to look. When I was in my late teens my friends and I started to go down to Greenwich Village to all the little record shops. A lot of them sold new and used UK and other European imports, which weren't available in regular record shops. The Beatles and Stones ones usually sounded better and sometimes had more songs or different mixes (e.g. Stones' "Aftermath"). That was where I got all the UK punk singles by The Sex Pistols, Clash, Stranglers, etc. before they were released in the US. My older brother, who also graduated in 1970, used to go years before me - he got the "forbidden" cover of "Electric Ladyland" down there.
I just sold my copy of the "forbidden" cover album this weekend for $65. It's on its way to Detroit as we speak. Bittersweet after all these years, but it is going to someone who wants it and will likely take care of it. We have a record store that I believe is still open on the far west side of Cleveland where I got all my imports and MFSL half speed pressings in the 70's and 80's. When I was driving the old coffee truck, I would take all of my Kennedy half dollars I accumulated and go over on Saturdays and do my buying. The MFSL's were $15 back in the day and imports ran about the same. They were much better quality and yes, the songs were different, too. They are in demand now.
Here's a listing for a UK / French Pathé copy of The Beatles album like we are talking about. They are rare and fetch a real good $. There are other titles that were done the same way. You might want to go and dig them up. Vinyl is at its peak $'s again now. . https://www.discogs.com/The-Beatles-The-Beatles/release/14211169
Yep. My 50th HS reunion is this summer and by the looks of things it will happen. Newport Beach, like the next town north Huntington Beach, is one of those towns that has already had their beaches open for sometime now, so it would follow suit, barring something terrible down the road.
Pathé France was a quality outfit. Their 60's and 70's pressings are highly sought after today. Great QC only makes it better ;)
I figured you were familiar with that company. The name seemed familiar to me too; I may have some pressings of theirs. They are cool pictures of a certain lost era; I thought you might like them. Was 1970 really fifty years ago?
Yep. My 50th HS reunion is this summer and by the looks of things it will happen. Newport Beach, like the next town north Huntington Beach, is one of those towns that has already had their beaches open for sometime now, so it would follow suit, barring something terrible down the road.
I read something about the Pathé food chain not too long ago having to do with the ABC records logo and Steely Dan in the EU. It was very convoluted as is everything in music land. But the Pathé name is mostly known for film and film production and the related equipment although they did pioneer audio cylinders in Europe back in the 1890's. They did pinch hit for a lot of the GB Beatle's albums due to either a fire or work stoppage. They were GB / UK credited releases pressed in France by Pathé. Now just another name in the growing scrap heap of history.
I figured you were familiar with that company. The name seemed familiar to me too; I may have some pressings of theirs. They are cool pictures of a certain lost era; I thought you might like them. Was 1970 really fifty years ago?
So I follow an 80s punk band on Facebook, The Dogmatics. I want a T-shirt of their old album "logo" so I made up the design and am trying to walk them thru how to get it done. They're a bunch of blue collar guys in Boston, not real up on the whole internet thing, so once they realized I wasn't trying to rip them off (I prepared the art and just gave it to them so they could offer them for sale and I can buy one), they said (I still don't know who I'm talking to) "do you know anything about designing printed record sleeves?"
So I might be designing a cover for the new Dogmatics record! Woohoo!
But in doing my due diligence, I learned why so many old record labels were black/dark blue etc with silver metallic ink... They're subjected to high heat, twice: once when printed, the inks and adhesive are sort of heat-set, and then when the vinyl is pressed, the label is pressed in too. Blank paper can yellow or pick up off colors, pastels and full color images can fade or change color but the metallics and dark rich colors survive pretty well.
This is great news. Over the decades, when it comes to audio, the Japanese have the highest standards and do not cut corners. Japanese vinyl has always been sought after because of its consistently high quality.
