Mercury LP label question

Which came first, the label with the skyscrapers on it or the orange label?

 

They switched from a red label to the skyscraper label in 1974. (Or am I colorblind and it was orange?)

 

I have a 60s Mono, it's Red.

 

I only remember when the switch happened because on one trip to the record store, the label of "The Night Chicago Died" was red, and a month later, the label of "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" had the skyscrapers.

 

Like this one. Link below...........


www.patswayne.com/lesley2/MercLPLB.htm

 

Well, that label was retired around 1967-68 in favor of the red one with the Merc logos going around the perimeter of the label. I think that one was the LP label until the skyscrapers came along.

 

That's right. 1969-1973 - red label with 12 oval logos around perimeter
1973-74 - red label with 7 oval logos around perimeter
1974-1982 - skyscraper label

See the red label pictures. It looks orange for me too! So, don't worry Steve
red label link

 

Actually, that color was more red-orange. From looking at my circa 1966 Pantone swatch, it appears that the 1968-73 label used Pantone 172, while the '73-'74 label was outright Warm Red.

The label as shown by 'Tetrack' (in effect from c.1964-5 to 1968) was used by Columbia for contract pressings of Mercury singles and albums as late as 1969 (the most recent in my collection being Jerry Butler's Ice on Ice album and "What's The Use Of Breaking Up" single, #72960), long after Mercury's own pressing plant switched to the orangeish-red (or reddish-orange) label. Although some Columbia contract pressings of Gene Chandler's "Stone Cold Feeling" (#73206) used the mid-'60's design when they temporarily ran out of the then-current label design. (Which may also explain the situation with first pressings of Rod Stewart's "Maggie May," #73224, which had an outright red background, the same as on Columbia's own 45's of the late 1960's, and the then-current Mercury logo in black instead of white.)

 

Mercury has had many labels. Most of them can be found in the Record Label Gallery.

http://www.recordlabels.smugmug.com/

They started with black in the 50s, then went to a red label with a long black logo on top. Then, in the 70s, they went to an orange/red/orange-red label with the more familiar oval white logo at the top. Later, some LPs had the white logo all around the circumference.

In mid-1974, they went to the Chicago skyline photo.

In 1983 they went to a black label with the glowing red logo at the top.

 

Some copies of the Paper Lace song had the skyscraper label. So, the switch was made in mid-74. The LP labels of the Ohio Players' "Skin Tight" had the orange lebel, while the single had the skyscraper label.

 

Probably everything you wanted to know about Mercury Records can be found here.

 

Actually, among the last "red label" Mercury 45's were "Skin Tight" by the Ohio Players (#73609) and "Sugar Pie Guy Pt. 1"/" . . . Pt. 2" by The Joneses (#73614). One factor as to the label changes has to do with the bottom layout. Note that the BTO 45 filled out the bottom more than either the Joneses or Paper Lace singles, laid out to accommodate the "Philips/Mercury/Vertigo" layout at the bottom. (And this is judged by Columbia contract pressings of Mercury 45's.)

 

Mine has the skyscraper label...

 

Must be a later pressing. According to my notes from what I gathered at Sony Music's vaults back in 1997, looking at three-ring-bound books of LP and 45 label sheets for different contract clients (as well as Columbia and various subsidiaries and distributed labels), I saw sample label sheets for the "skyscraper" label as first structured, with an "AUG 12 1974" printing date on the back of every one of them. "Skin Tight" (the 45) obviously was released before that date, judging from my own (Warm Red label) copy. . . .

 

Really? I've never seen any copies of the "Skin Tight" LP with orange labels. I've got the 45 too with the skyscraper labels and just assumed all of the LP copies had the same labels too.