Date:         Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:16:12 -0500
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         David Lennick <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: Philips U.S. releases in the 60's
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Looks as if Wing was sidelined for a while..not even listed in some late 50s 
Schwann catalog price lists, then cross-referenced in 1958 as "see Mercury 
12000". By 1960 it's a $1.98 label. I know I have a 12" LP of kiddie songs on 
Wing that was in the house in 1959, and this was reissue material, so maybe the 
label was revived by the end of 1959 to compete with Lion, Harmony, Camden etc.

dl

Roger and Allison Kulp wrote:
> The Wing label that was around in 1955-6,was essentially a different label.It was not a reissue label.As a collector of 50s rock,and R&B,I am very familiar with the original Wing,as the home of Freddie Bell and The Bell Boys,and the label some of the records by Buddy Johnson,The Griffins,etc. were issued on.
> 
> 
>                                       Roger
> 
> David Lennick <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Wing was started in late 1955 as both an LP and a 78 label. See Gart's ARLD, 
> page 244. I have Wing 78s (jazz) and we had a couple of Wing LPs in the house 
> in 1959, no classical material at that time.
> 
> dl
> 
> Tom Fine wrote:
>> Dave -- There were no Wing reissues made in the 50's, at least of 
>> classical material. Wing was launched in the early 60's and was not the 
>> idea of the classical division, not by a long shot. It was a marketing 
>> department plan to fill voids in the rack-jobber world and get Mercury 
>> stuff on racks at places like supermarkets and other sell-cheap outlets. 
>> This was during a downturn in the record business. The Wings were 
>> considered cheap junk by those in the know. The interesting thing is 
>> that Mercury kept the name even after receiving ridicule for the early 
>> 60's Wing records. Like I said, they were still repackaging jazz albums 
>> as 2-LPs-for-the-price-of-1 in the early 70's under the Wing label. I 
>> think Wing was finally clipped for good in the mid-70's. I notice it did 
>> not fly again in the CD era.
>>
>> -- Tom Fine
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Lennick" 
>> To: 
>> Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2008 12:57 AM
>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Philips U.S. releases in the 60's
>>
>>
>>> The Philips US reissue label I was thinking of was World Series. All 
>>> that I've seen are Canadian pressings, mid 60s, from when London 
>>> distributed the label up here. I think these were the first to 
>>> proclaim themselves "compatible mono stereo", and I vaguely remember 
>>> (don't own any, used to see them in radio stations and nobody ever 
>>> wanted to play them) that they were low level and had phasing 
>>> problems, or at least sounded slushy in mono.
>>>
>>> Wing did some tolerable reissues, at least if you got the mono 
>>> versions or were assured that the original had been recorded in 
>>> stereo. But yes their fake stereo releases were pretty awful. Wing 
>>> blue label pressings from the 50s are appalling, pressed on styrene in 
>>> the US..at least up here we got Quality's low grade vinyl, better than 
>>> nothing. I have some 60s Wing US pressings that are as good as any 
>>> contemporary Mercurys. I also have Wing 78 issues from the 50s, so 
>>> Mercury may have used the name for a spinoff label similar to 
>>> Columbia's Epic and RCA's Vik (X, Groove).
>>>
>>> dl
>>>