Table of Contents
THE AVID COLLECTOR’S GUIDE to Wild In The Streets Part 3 addresses records made that are associated with this movie—both singles and albums. All were released in the wake of the very successful movie in 1968, but few were hits. Before commencing, I recommend that you first read “On Wild In The Streets As Political And Social Satire” and then the first part of this four-part series of articles about the movie and its music.
The movie Wild In The Streets was released to American theaters on May 29, 1968. Since people who have just seen a movie are more likely to purchase the movie’s music, it was common practice to release the movie’s soundtrack album in advance of the movie. That way, it was on sale at a retail shop near you wherever you saw the movie. 1
People who have just seen a movie are more likely to purchase the movie’s music on a soundtrack album.
But the WILD IN THE STREETS soundtrack album may have been issued after the movie: the June 1, 1968 issue of Billboard noted, “A major promotional effort is also underway for the soundtrack of the American International film Wild In The Streets.” The album did not début on that magazine’s album survey until July 6, 1968, indicating a release in mid-June. 2
With this third part, I explain how to tell the various pressings of records manufactured by Capitol Records for their Tower imprint. These albums are:
• Various artists: Wild In The Streets (soundtrack)
• Max Frost & The Troopers: Shape Of Things To Come
• The Second Time: Listen To The Music
•The Arrows: Wild In The Streets
Please note that when discussing record albums—which consist of a record in a paper sleeve in a cardboard jacket—I do not use the word pressing and printing interchangeably. Records are manufactured at pressing plants and may have one or more pressing. Album jackets have their front and back cover slicks manufactured at print shops and may have one or more printing.
Davie Allan’s fourth album was titled “The Arrows Play Music From The Score Of The Motion Picture Wild In The Streets”—easily one of the unlikeliest titles ever to make a teenager fork over three bucks for a record! The record features Allan playing lead guitar over previously released tracks. That is, despite the album credits, there are no Arrows on this album. (But the cover art is kind of neat!)
Tower record label variations
From their first release in 1964 into late 1968 or early ‘69, Tower’s labels on both their 45s and LPs were an ugly dark orange—although others refer to them as brown. There are several minor variations on this label that are important in delineating first pressings from later; they are noted below. In 1969, Tower switched their LPs to an equally ugly label of colored stripes.
Most records released by Capitol and its subsidiaries had at least two label variations: one each from the company’s primary pressing plants in Los Angeles, California, and Scranton, Pennsylvania. The easiest way to tell the difference between West Coast and East Coast pressings is by examining the record’s labels. 3
West Coast pressings
Records pressed in Los Angeles had their labels printed by Bert-Co Press. The Los Angeles labels often had the first song on each side listed above the spindle hole, with the remaining tracks below the hole.
On the right side, the catalog number info is on two lines—here as STEREO / SKAO-5099—with the numeral ‘1’ with serifs.
The bottom of the label reads either MFD. IN U.S.A. (1964-1968) or MANUFACTURED IN THE U.S.A. BY CAPITOL RECORDS, INC. (1968-1969).
East Coast pressings
Records pressed in Scranton had their labels done by Keystone Printed Specialties Co., Inc., on label backdrops from Queens Litho of Long Island City, New York. The Scranton labels have all the songs listed below the spindle hole.
On the right side, the catalog number info is on three lines—here as STEREO / SKAO-5099 / (SKAO-5099)—with the numeral ‘l’ without serifs.
The bottom of the label reads either MFD. IN U.S.A. (1964-1968) or MANUFACTURED IN THE U.S.A. BY CAPITOL RECORDS, INC. (1968-1969).
For examples to illustrate variations in the orange label records, I used stereo pressings of Pink Floyd’s THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN (Tower ST-5093). I chose this record because the variations are so well documented online, which is not true of the records related to Wild In The Streets.
1964-1968
West Coast record with orange labels with MFD. IN U.S.A. at the bottom. Note the large ring indented into the record about 1½ inches from the spindle hole; the small, dense STEREO with the catalog number listed once below it; and the numeral ‘1’ with serifs at the top and bottom. There is a small gap between STEREO and ST-5093.
West Coast record with orange labels with MFD. IN U.S.A. at the bottom. Note the large ring indented into the record about 1½ inches from the spindle hole; the small, dense STEREO with the catalog number listed once below it; and the numeral ‘1’ with a serif at the top. On this variation, there is a large gap between STEREO and ST-5093.
East Coast record with orange labels with MFD. IN U.S.A. at the bottom. Note the small ring indented into the record about ½ inch from the spindle hole; the large, thin STEREO with the catalog number and matrix number below it; and the numeral ‘l’ without serifs.
1968-1969
West Coast record with orange labels with MANUFACTURED IN THE U.S.A. BY CAPITOL RECORDS, INC. at the bottom. Note the ring indented into the record about 1½ inches from the spindle hole; the small, dense STEREO with the catalog number listed once below it; and the serifed ‘1’ to the right. There is a small gap between STEREO and ST-5093.
1969-1970
Towards the end of its run, Tower switched to this busy, striped design with four colors. There are no known pressings of any of the records associated with Wild In The Streets (Tower 5099, 5139, or 5147) with this striped label. This would seem to indicate that the demand for these albums ceased and there were no more press runs ordered by Capitol. 4
Trail-off information
For those readers interested in having a better understanding of the technical information stamped or engraved into the trail-off area (also known as ‘dead wax’), click on over to the Pink Floyd Archives website and read “How to Read Record Secrets of the Matrix.” Scroll down to Matrix Information and while the day away!
The image above is the lower right corner of the back cover of THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN. Note the tiny 6 in the lower right corner: this number indicates that this jacket was printed and assembled in Los Angeles. It does not have anything whatsoever to do with first or later printings of the jacket.
Tower jacket variations
The album jackets—also referred to as ‘covers’ in the US and ‘sleeves’ in the UK—used by Capitol were manufactured by independent printers, each affiliated with one particular pressing plant. With a few exceptions, there is rarely any marked difference between the printings of the jackets.
On most jackets, there is a small number printed in the lower right corner of the back cover. This number designates which company printed the cover slicks.
Apparently, Capitol began this numbering with ‘2’ as jackets with a ‘1’ are not known to exist. The numbers used by Capitol’s printers were: 5
Scranton: 2, 3
Jacksonville: 4, 9, 16
Los Angeles: 5, 6, 18
Winchester: 11, 12, 21
The correct pressing of the record is usually found in the correct printing of the jacket. As record companies often ordered larger quantities of jackets to keep the per-unit cost as low as possible, the original printing was often overstocked and used with later pressings of the records.
“Keep in mind that these designation numbers do not indicate order of release. Many cover slick printing factories were used simultaneously, and it is possible that any pressing could be put with any [jacket] number depending on the record company’s inventory at the time.” (Pink Floyd Archives)
“The numbering system was never true for a color gatefold album jacket. There are numbers only on black-and-white back covers. Capitol used different companies for black-and-white back covers than they used for the color front covers.” (Frank Daniels)
This is the front cover to Tower Records version of Pink Floyd’s Piper At The Gates Of Dawn album. Released in 1967, it sold modestly well in the US. It is rightfully considered a landmark of the Psychedelic Sixties and has been a consistent—if still modest—seller ever since.
On grading records
In grading records and most other collectables, NM means ‘near mint,’ a grade assigned to an item that appears to be almost new. Learning to differentiate between grades is a task that has proven to be very, very difficult indeed to accomplish for many buyers and sellers of records. This lack of ability has made buying records on the Internet as predictable as calling numbers on a roulette wheel.
I am listing the specifics of the labels only of those records that I was able to find images of online. At this time, collectors have not discriminated between the pressings with any of the Wild In The Streets albums, so the assigned values below apply to any pressing.
For more information on this topic, see my article “On Grading Records” on this site.
FEATURED IMAGE: The artwork at the top of this page was lifted from an advertisement for the movie that appeared in newspapers around the country in 1968. The four interconnected articles can be found here:
• The Avid Collectors Guide to “Wild in the Streets” Part 1
• The Avid Collectors Guide to “Wild in the Streets” Part 2
• The Avid Collectors Guide to “Wild in the Streets” Part 3
• The Avid Collectors Guide to “Wild in the Streets” Part 4
FOOTNOTES:
1 For a contemporary review of the move—and a very enthusiastic one at that—see: “Blunt Philosophy With Dual Exhausts and a Clear Logic: Singer Runs Country in ‘Wild in the Streets’” by Renata Adler appeared in the May 30, 1968, issue of the New York Times. The movie was a hit: according to the January 8, 1969 issue of Variety magazine, it had grossed $4,000,000 in rentals in the US in 1968—which means it made many, many times more in box office receipts—with a production cost of only $700,000.
2 The album was reviewed in the New Album Releases of the June 22, 1968, issue of Billboard, indicating a release date of about June 10—which explains its late début on that magazine’s survey. (Courtesy of Frank Daniels)
3 Bigger selling titles would also have pressings done at Capitol’s secondary plants at Winchester, Virginia, and Jacksonville, Illinois.
4 “After some point in time, Tower Records had their West Coast records pressed by contract outside of Capitol. Tower also had a separate tape contract, so that their 8-tracks, 4-tracks, and cassettes were made by GRC, instead of by Audiopak.” (Frank Daniels)
5 Jackets do exist without a printer’s number on the back cover. They may be the number ‘1’ in Capitol’s method.
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