Sliver

7" (black) / test pressing / Tupelo Recording Co. / TUP 25 / made in France (MPO) / 1990.11.07

Black vinyl test pressing with Mayking Records labels. Six copies have surfaced. They all have a "B" stamped on the side B label, while the date "7 NOV 1990" and "A" are stamped on the plastic sleeves they came in, together with a handwritten catalog number. This seems to be the way they left the pressing plant. Some copies have various handwritten text on the labels as well. This may have been added by the record label or the distributor, or by a collector.

The test pressings were pressed by MPO in France, unlike the green retail singles which were pressed by Orlake in the UK. MPO had a partnership with Mayking such that MPO would press all their vinyl orders, but MPO only pressed black vinyl. Colored pressings were further subcontracted to Orlake, but MPO would still make the metal plates. [1]

Usually 25 test pressings were made for releases they thought would sell well [1], which were used by sales representatives from the distributor to gather advance orders from retailers throughout the UK [2]. Less copies have been found of the 7" than of the 12", so perhaps they mostly used the latter for this purpose. None of the 7" test pressings came with release sheets, which supports this. However, at least one 7" was used by a sales representative [3].

The lacquers were cut by Noel Summerville at Utopia in London, UK, as identified by "NS" in the matrix code on side A. The rest of the matrix codes was written into the lacquers by MPO before plating, as Summerville only wrote some information in the outer area of the lacquers to keep track of them during processing. This area is trimmed off of the stampers before pressing, and is obviously not transferred to the records. [4]

Tracklist

Side A
  • Sliver
Side B
  • Dive

Matrix

Side A
MPO   TUP 25 A¹ NS
Side B
MPO   TUP 25 B¹

Copy 1, side A
1. Copy 1, side A

Copy 1, side B
2. Copy 1, side B

Copy 2, side A inside sleeve
3. Copy 2, side A inside sleeve

Copy 3, side A
4. Copy 3, side A

Copy 3, side B
5. Copy 3, side B

Copy 4, side A inside sleeve
6. Copy 4, side A inside sleeve

Copy 4, side B
7. Copy 4, side B

Copy 5, side A inside sleeve
8. Copy 5, side A inside sleeve

Copy 5, side B
9. Copy 5, side B

Copy 6, side A
10. Copy 6, side A

Copy 6, side B
11. Copy 6, side B

References