Hey kids! Collect The Whole Set!

[soundog III]

Pretty stiff competition for the Things back in Jan 65.



I concur wholeheartedly--->

 

[soundog III]

In full flight at the Star Club:



Soon to be Oz bound JS on his matrimonial day. I can appreciate how he wouldn't want to leave that behind.

 

[soundog III]

Which ones are the top 3 hardest to find, soundog?

Well, here's what must be the toughest worldwide score. I never came across an available copy at anything resembling an earthbound tariff.



Here's a cleaner scan of this item that generated a 4 figure offer several years back. Lightning caught in a jar, in a manner of speaking. Yes, I accepted the offer...

 

[soundog III]

A report from the front lines:


Seasoned greetings.


More contemporary reportage-->

 

[soundog III]

So THIS is how it's done !

 

[soundog III]

Dick Taylor was, is & always shall be a class act. Hirsute inclinations to fore or not...





What a difference a label change makes?



Circa Defecting Grey, as though anyone seeing this needs be advised of such...



The Things were near unique in managing to overcome any number of personal changes & still maintain an extraordinarily high level of achievement. I quite rate the Tolson era, now all I need attend to is finding a Victor Unitt era pic.

 

[soundog III]

Here's a hens tooth snap:



This ought to bring Things full circle.

 

[soundog III]

A much more manageable discography for these worthies. I haven't included any UK or US issues other than the Polydor, which features one of the bands very best tracks. Only ever issued in the UK, apparently, much as Sylvette was exclusive to the French Making Time EP. Parental advisory: try not to gag at the very sight of the abomination in the upper left hand corner. Ghastly beyond words, I suppose I could have deleted it from this post and erased history much as a certain Vissarionovich did.

 

[soundog III]

Real time reportage in chronological order.

June 18, 1966



Buy an ad, get a feature---> Melody Maker June 18, 1966



Keep plugging away. MM July 16, 1966



Disc gets on board. A few rounds 'round The Ship would accomplish that sort of thing. July 16, 1966



A week later. This is basically an excuse to post the Francoise Hardy "candid".



A brief hiatus and then this . MM October 29, 1966



Disc November 5, 1966



WOAH!!! What became of the tapes ? November 12, 1966 w/ the typeface giving away the source.



Jackie kicks in .November 11, 1966



Les Rockers indeed! #2 December 17, 1966

 

[soundog III]

Ushering in the New Year with some goofy filler. January 7, 1967. Anyone care to guess the source?



Tragically few color pics of the band seem to have been published back in the day. Here's one from OK #12 March 13, 1967 --->


A couple of features from varied European Journals of (the) Finer {POP} Arts.

 

[mr. splendid]

 

[Dave Baldwin]

The Montgomery label featured combos from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC. Where the label was based, I don't know.

Office in Silver Spring, Maryland (Montgomery County). 'Vector' label (Mister's Virtue 45)
was a subsidiary operated by the same producer.

 

[Dave Baldwin]

I have no real evidence, but it seems obvious to me that Mon-Art, Michelle and Montel-Michelle are 3 Louisiana labels directly related in some way.

These were part of the 'label stable' operated by producer S. J. Montalbano ("Sam Montel") of Baton Rouge, LA...the man who had chart hits with Dale & Grace and John Fred. Those 'Mon-ART' label records are particularly tough to find these days.

 

[bosshoss]

I don't know what it is, but there's obviously something linking these labels. They share the same fonts, and have exactly the same design and layout. Is there a link?

 

[Rich Strauss]

They were all pressed at Monarch in L.A. I suspect that this was the default label design. You could probably design your own layout, but that was probably more money.

 

[bosshoss]

Aha...Thanks Rich! There are also lots of garage 45s with a similar design to the Monarch pressed ones, but a different font for the label, as shown below...are they Monarch pressings too?

 

[Rich Strauss]

I haven't checked them all. But I believe that all of these are Monarch pressings. It is easy to tell by looking in the deadwax. Monarch pressings have a number preceded by a delta (triangle) symbol. The bside has the same number followed by an X (usually).

 

[chas_kit]

Monarch pressings are easy to identify by the Δ symbol. It's followed by a 5 digit master #.

Monarchs are often, but not always, styrene. There may have been a premium for pressing on vinyl.

This brings up the point that we really could use an index of dead wax markings for all garage 45s. Even if we keep it within the secret, secret society.

 

[MopTopMike]

The outfit that handled many independent or custom pressings was Alco Research and Engineering, located on Santa Monica Blvd in Los Angeles. Alco handled the entire process from receipt of the master tape.
They typeset the labels, assigned the in-house master numbers (the triangle "Delta" numbers found in the deadwax) to packaging and drop shipments.

Monarch record pressings handled the pressings from Alco. Clients who dealt directly with Monarch - did not go through Alco - show the circled MR script in the deadwax along with the delta number.

Monarch was originally part of the Jay-Gee Records (Jubilee Records and others) conglomerate. In the mid 1950s it was created to help meet increased demand for product. It was sold with other parts of the company to Viewlex in the 1970s. I believe Monarch went out of business in 1986.

Alco used a few different typesets but the most / main ones employed during the 1960s are depicted in Mark's label arrays.

 

[chas_kit]

Aren't all the Dovers releases Monarch pressings on vinyl, not styrene?