David Bowie Heroes A2 B2 UK Vinyl (Rare)(Contract Pressing)
£
70
$
93
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Description
DAVID BOWIE
HEROES
UK Contract Pressing A2 B2 Matrix.
This predates The "Dave's R.C.A" Vinyl.
Pressed By Island Records Middlesex 1977
Vinyl & sleeves Are In Excellent Condition
Very RARE
From a smoke-free home.
UK Buyers Only!
A1 Beauty And The Beast A2 Joe The Lion A3 "Heroes" Lyrics by Bowie Music By: Eno, Bowie A4 Sons Of The Silent Age A5 Blackout B1 V-2 Schneider B2 Sense Of Doubt B3 Moss Garden B4 Neuköln B5 The Secret Life Of Arabia
Very rare A2/B2 1st UK pressing.
The early pressing history of “Heroes” isn't straight-forward because the majority of copies bought in the UK were actually pressed in Italy. [Elvis Presley had just died and the RCA presses in North-East England were busy churning out his back catalogue and Greatest Hits to meet the surge in demand].
So, apart from a tiny run of initial copies pressed by RCA in England, the majority of the original pressings of "Heroes" available in the UK were pressed in Italy. The Italian copies are very common and are easy to tell apart from UK pressings because the labels and covers both mention that the vinyl is made in Italy, and the labels are beige/tan in colour and not orange.
At the same time, RCA also released a small number of UK-pressed, orange label contract pressings with the same A2/B2 matrixes found on the Italian copies. These were mastered by Sterling Sound and the pressing was contracted-out to Island Records in Middlesex. These copies are easy to identify because the label mouldings are different and, like the Italian copies, there are no quote marks around the word "Heroes" on the labels. This is one of those hard-to-find original UK orange label pressings.
It has the following matrix information:
Side 1: PL 12522 A-2 (AFL12522-A crossed out)
Side 2: PL 12522 B-2 (AFL12522-B crossed out)
Both sides are also stamped with STERLING and unlike later pressings, it DOES NOT HAVE the "Dave's R.C.A" etching. Towards the end of 1977, RCA began pressing "Heroes" back in England, and the vast majority of orange label UK copies were pressed during this period (late 1977 up to late 1979, when the labels changed to black). These later orange label pressings have the quote marks restored and even though some of them can be found with an A1 matrix, they ALL include "Dave's R.C.A." in the run-out grooves on side 2 (typically 3E matrix or later) "Dave's R.C.A. refers to Dave Tucker, who mastered the vinyl.
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