Date:Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:43:47 -0800
Reply-To:Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:Roger and Allison Kulp <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:Re: Philips U.S. releases in the 60's
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Tom,David,et al,
I have never seen a US budget Mercury reissue of a Philips Lp.I'm not saying they don't exist,but,I have never seen one.Their buget label was "Wing",that put out inferior reissues of mono Living Presences.There are the Mercury-pressed Philips of Willem Mengelberg,which I think are grossly underrated.Tom,you are well aware of the Svastiaslv Richters,on Philips,that your mom produced,in like 1963,and '64.
Some of these deep groove US PhilipsLps,on a black glossy label,are as good as Living Presences,IMHO.These would be the pressings from roughly 1963-67, by '68,they were beginning to go downhill,as were Mercurys themselves.Philips began to export records to the US,around late 1969,or early 1970,perhaps Don,or someone else could clarify this date.Both British and Dutch pressings were imported.
Philips did,indeed,export pressings,from Holland,to other countries before this.I just learned this last year,when I bought such a record,from somebody in Mexico .(eBay of course.)This is one of those 1956 Clara Haskil Mozart Jubilee Lps.The pressing is a post-minigroove maroon label Dutch pressing from the early 60s.(No photo of record in the listing,just the cover.) I cannot recall,if it says "Made in Holland" on the label,it may not.The cover is a copy of the Dutch one,except it looks like it was printed in The US.Heavy,laminated cardboard,like an early 60s Merc.On the back cover,is a round orange sticker,slightly smaller than a quarter,that says imported from Holland,in Spanish.
Roger
David Lennick <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Philips came into the picture when US Columbia lost its arrangement with
English Columbia, which began exporting its product to the US as Angel (around
1953). There were no imported Philips pressings sold over here in the 50s
except odd items like musicals and revues (Joyce Grenfell etc). Epic probably
relied a lot more on Philips than Columbia, being a new label with not much
homegrown classical product except Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra, but all
Beecham's recordings appeared on Columbia (that was probably because of a
contract with Beecham). As well, all US Columbia product that was issued in
Europe came out on Philips.
As for recycling the 50s Philips recordings once Philips owned Mercury, I
recall some domestic pressings and budget reissues, but I'd say (without being
certain) that the full price stuff came in as imports, as did Deutsche
Grammophon titles in the 60s (there was a period when those were imported by
MGM and packaged on this side).
Partial answer, anyway. One way to answer whether Columbia and Epic held onto
old titles is to check in 60s Schwanns.
dl
Tom Fine wrote:
> I'm hoping there is a student of Philips history here.
>
> As I understand it, before Philips bought Mercury, they had a U.S.
> distribution deal with Epic (CBS). I've seen Epic tapes and LPs of
> Concertgabouw (sp?) and I Musici and perhaps others. After Philips
> bought Mercury, by the mid-60's, they had a bunch of their classical
> records on sale here, I believe manufacturered here and sleeves like
> Mercury records (not thin paper like European Philips records from the
> 60's).
>
> So here are my questions:
>
> 1. Was some or all of the material originally out on Epic reissued on US
> Philips?
> 2. Was the entire European classical catalog issued here by the mid-60's?
> 3. Were the LPs indeed manufactured in the US or just sleeved here?
> 4. Were new masters cut or were European manufacturing parts sent here?
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
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