Oh, The Guilt

7" (black) / test pressing / Touch & Go / TG83 / made in France (DFI) / 1993.01.22

Black vinyl with yellow generic "Échantillion" labels, which is French for "sample". The records came in white inner sleeves with a release information sticker from the company that organized the distribution in Europe, Southern Studios Ltd. The retail singles were only pressed on blue vinyl.

The lacquers were cut in the USA by an unspecified company. The first cut of side B must have been unsuccsessful because it was recut, determined from "RE1", which means recut 1. The father and mother plates were made by Lee Plating in the USA, which added the L-codes to the lacquers before doing so, as the L-codes are just as deep as the lacquer etchings by the mastering company.

Southern Studios contracted Cops to arrange the manufacturing [1]. Cops was a British production company which would arrange manufacture of records and sleeves and deliver a final, complete product. They had the records pressed by DFI in France. DFI added the "DFI -93-1" parts to the mothers before creating the stampers.

So far seven copies have been found. "TG83" and "Cops" are handwritten in blue pen on side A on all of them. The date "22 JAN. 1993", exactly one month before the retail single was released, was stamped on side A on all copies, though it has almost entirely disappeared on copy 2.

Copies 2 and 3 came from a Southern Studios ex-employee. According to him, five or six may have been made, but more have surfaced. Copy 4 also has handwritten band names on both sides, which appears to have been written with a different pen. This came with a letter and a press release. The letter was addressed to Gary Crowley, a DJ on Greater London Radio, now BBC London, and was sent by a TV and radio promotions representative at Southern Studios. The blue press release contains general information about the release, and has much of the same text as a white press release which once came with a retail 7" used for promotion. (The blue press release has also been found with a retail CD used for promotion.) This particular copy was used for radio promotion, which explains the addition of the band names on the labels for Crowley's convenience.

The fifth copy came without the inner sleeve with sticker, but in a normal retail sleeve with a cutout corner and various scribbles. It was picked up in the Southern Records offices by a member of a band signed to the label. The sixth copy seems to be missing the original inner sleeve with the sticker. The seventh copy was sold by a person responsible for Nirvana PR in the UK back then.

Tracklist

Side A
  • Puss (The Jesus Lizard)
Side B
  • Oh, The Guilt (Nirvana)

Matrix

Side A
TG 83 A L40697 DFI 93-1
Side B
TG 83 B RE1-A L40697-X DFI 93-1

Copy 1, side A and sleeve with sticker
1. Copy 1, side A and sleeve with sticker

Copy 1, side B
2. Copy 1, side B

Copy 2, side A label before and after the date was removed
3. Copy 2, side A label before and after the date was removed

Copy 3, side A
4. Copy 3, side A

Copy 4, labels with titles
5. Copy 4, labels with titles

Copy 4, letter
6. Copy 4, letter

Copy 4, press release
7. Copy 4, press release

Copy 5, front
8. Copy 5, front

Copy 5, back
9. Copy 5, back

Copy 5, side A
10. Copy 5, side A

Copy 6, side A
11. Copy 6, side A

Copy 6, side B
12. Copy 6, side B

Copy 7, side A in sleeve with sticker
13. Copy 7, side A in sleeve with sticker

References