RCA International

[Asheville75]

Question: the RCA International label, when did that start? And was this only for Europe? I have seen both green and turquoise label RCA International, was that for different periods or simultaneously? First and last issue on this label? A lot of questions, hope you can give me some help.

[LSP-4445]

Question: the RCA International label, when did that start? And was this only for Europe? I have seen both green and turquoise label RCA International, was that for different periods or simultaneously? First and last issue on this label? A lot of questions, hope you can give me some help.

No idea but they were cheap to buy with often a Best Buy sticker on them...not as cheap as the Camden ones though.
I avoided them when I as a teenager bought a lots of vinyl in the 80s
They looked cheap as the artwork quality was poor and also soundquality was poorer than the full
prices versions of the same albums.As a kid I had no clue regarding sound differences but my uncle worked in a record store and he was a Bowie fan and many of his albums was on the International label as well.
My uncle avoided these Bowie rereleases.
If buying used Elvis records I would definately avoid them.
Instead of LSP,APL,CPL and so on the cheap version releases had INTS or NL as a vinyl code.PL is another one but I think they were more expensive.
To me its important that the vinyl releases is marked RCA Victor as most covers and labels had this during Elvis lifetime

[emjel]

Those Bowie RCA International releases on the Green Label with the INTS prefix (5xxx) are quite collectible amongst Bowie fans and some aren’t that cheap for a budget album. Bowie fans in the U.K. generally find the sound is as good as the full price earlier variants. Cannot speak for the US pressings.

I believe that albums with the INTS 1000 prefix started back in 1966 - Elvis sings Flaming Star in 1969 was the first Elvis album to go on that label RCA International (subtext Camden) in the U.K. - INTS 1012

[Buddy]

To judge on my experience what I have owned, played and heard. The Original black Nipper RCA Victor or Orange label till his death sounded best.
Second the Camden releases till around 1975 (almost similar as good as the Victor ones, the vinyl was a very little thinner but still good and no wavesto be seen while playing. They also sound great )
Third the Pickwick releases (guess it started around 1975). No sound/vinyl difference to the Camdens but the layout of their re-released Camden ones looked often a bit childish... girlie-like : - )

The International label (I think it started aber his death) often had minor pressing qualities, the used pictures often looked like a third generation copy of the original releases and the original logo seemed just "overpainted" which is a big minus, back cover also were mostly diffetent or IF not, than the smaller pics on the back had often bootleg quality only. .not my thing at all.

But the german end 70s/80s RCA Victor on black label (no nipper) with silver letters were also bad, because they had very thin vinyl and often not really nice to play, because the needle went up and down while playing....

[Scoobie]

According to Elvis UK Vinyl, https://www.elvisukvinyl.co.uk/ep-s
The first release on the International label was in 1969 Flaming Star

60E76596-6D94-4199-864F-3DD5F1DAE6CE.png

1F5F6DF9-39D2-4F08-B077-513E9249005D.png

*****edit from previous post citing Elvis’ Christmas Album, I was wrong about that******

[emjel]

I disliked them because of missing original back cover artwork, but the sound or pressing quality of the UK pressings was quite decent! I often found them better than the German re-pressings from the same time on the orange RCA label, which were very often warped and had quite some crackle and pop.

What ones had the missing back cover artwork? I think I have all of the soundtrack releases which were the same as the original full price versions. Plus some studio ones too that were really-issued on the budget label. The only couple I recall at the moment having a different back cover is How Great Thou Art which ditched the colour white suited Elvis with a black and white photo from ‘68 and Pot Luck which changed the adverts on the back as the ones on the original were not relevant 20 years later.

I didn’t know RCA in Germany were still pressing on Orange labels at the same time as the green U.K. RCA International releases. I thought Germany had gone over to black labels. Of course it was around 1980/81 when operations for pressings were being centralised in Germany and eventually the green label releases in the U.K. were phased out and everything went over to the black label and with a change in catalogue prefix from INTS to NL. A shame...I always liked the green labels for budget and orange labels for full price....I thought the black ones were boring. But it was all about saving money

[emjel]

According to Elvis UK Vinyl, https://www.elvisukvinyl.co.uk/ep-s
The first release on the International label was in 1970, Elvis Christmas Album.

Then that information is incorrect. The first one was Elvis Sings Flaming Star which came out in 1969 and Let’s Be Friends preceded the Christmas one too going by the catalogue numbers.

[emjel]

To judge on my experience what I have owned, played and heard. The Original black Nipper RCA Victor or Orange label till his death sounded best.
Second the Camden releases till around 1975 (almost similar as good as the Victor ones, the vinyl was a very little thinner but still good and no wavesto be seen while playing. They also sound great )
Third the Pickwick releases (guess it started around 1975). No sound/vinyl difference to the Camdens but the layout of their re-released Camden ones looked often a bit childish... girlie-like : - )

The International label (I think it started aber his death) often had minor pressing qualities, the used pictures often looked like a third generation copy of the original releases and the original logo seemed just "overpainted" which is a big minus, back cover also were mostly diffetent or IF not, than the smaller pics on the back had often bootleg quality only. .not my thing at all.

But the german end 70s/80s RCA Victor on black label (no nipper) with silver letters were also bad, because they had very thin vinyl and often not really nice to play, because the needle went up and down while playing....

The International label did not start after Elvis’ death, well certainly not in the U.K. There had been a few releases in the early 70s. It was in 1980 when RCA U.K. started to re-issue back catalogue albums on the green International label. When things got centralised in Germany a year or so later, they probably started to reduce the amount of vinyl being used to help reduce costs.

[Scoobie]

According to Elvis UK Vinyl, https://www.elvisukvinyl.co.uk/ep-s
The first release on the International label was in 1970, Elvis Christmas Album.

Then that information is incorrect. The first one was Elvis Sings Flaming Star which came out in 1969 and Let’s Be Friends preceded the Christmas one too going by the catalogue numbers.

Thank you, I have corrected my previous post.

[emjel]

I disliked them because of missing original back cover artwork, but the sound or pressing quality of the UK pressings was quite decent! I often found them better than the German re-pressings from the same time on the orange RCA label, which were very often warped and had quite some crackle and pop.

What ones had the missing back cover artwork? I think I have all of the soundtrack releases which were the same as the original full price versions. Plus some studio ones too that were really-issued on the budget label. The only couple I recall at the moment having a different back cover is How Great Thou Art which ditched the colour white suited Elvis with a black and white photo from ‘68 and Pot Luck which changed the adverts on the back as the ones on the original were not relevant 20 years later.

I didn’t know RCA in Germany were still pressing on Orange labels at the same time as the green U.K. RCA International releases. I thought Germany had gone over to black labels. Of course it was around 1980/81 when operations for pressings were being centralised in Germany and eventually the green label releases in the U.K. were phased out and everything went over to the black label and with a change in catalogue prefix from INTS to NL. A shame...I always liked the green labels for budget and orange labels for full price....I thought the black ones were boring. But it was all about saving money

A Date With Elvis comes to mind ...

A Date with Elvis dropped the 1960 calendar as I guess it was regarded as being obsolete 21 years later. It was replaced with some info from Roger Semon which was probably considered more interesting.

[EAP 35]

Is this one of the first releases on the label?
https://www.discogs.com/Perry-Como-Hello-Young-Lovers/release/5639748

[emjel]

Is this one of the first releases on the label?
https://www.discogs.com/Perry-Como-Hello-Young-Lovers/release/5639748

Probably the first although the release date of 1969 looks like it is wrong unless it was assigned the catalogue number and the release was delayed which is unlikely for the amount of time. I think it should be 1967

[Asheville75]

Thank you all for the response! Scoobie, the elvisukvinyl gives a lot of information! Wonderful done. From what I read there and as said here "Flaming Star" 1969 was the first release for Elvis on the International label. But only two years later it ended with "I Got Lucky" in december 1971. But, around 1980 the RCA International label came back with among them reissues of a lot of original releases, also a kind of corporation with RCA Germany started in the early 80s. But If I am correct the lime green International label 1969-71 was produced in the UK only. The more you know about different releases the more you know how little you know...

[bajo]

I used to have a copy of A Date With Elvis, a German electronic stereo version, SVA-S1016. I bought it in the late 60's/early 70's. Since I don't have it anymore, I can't really recall if it was on the International label. I seem to recall the black Victor label!?

[emjel]

Thank you all for the response! Scoobie, the elvisukvinyl gives a lot of information! Wonderful done. From what I read there and as said here "Flaming Star" 1969 was the first release for Elvis on the International label. But only two years later it ended with "I Got Lucky" in december 1971. But, around 1980 the RCA International label came back with among them reissues of a lot of original releases, also a kind of corporation with RCA Germany started in the early 80s. But If I am correct the lime green International label 1969-71 was produced in the UK only. The more you know about different releases the more you know how little you know...

As I wrote in a couple of posts above, in the early 80s, RCA decided that due to financial problems that they would use Germany as a central pressing place for the whole of Europe including the U.K. So the U.K. had to adopt their catalogue reference numbers which caused frustration with U.K. shops. The green labels disappeared to be replaced by black labels this was not just for budget releases but full price albums too.

The international label did not come back as such in the early 80s but it was decided that a lot of Elvis’ back catalogue would go over to the budget label to encourage sales - his back catalogue stuff was simply not selling at full price.

[emjel]

I used to have a copy of A Date With Elvis, a German electronic stereo version, SVA-S1016. I bought it in the late 60's/early 70's. Since I don't have it anymore, I can't really recall if it was on the International label. I seem to recall the black Victor label!?

It was on a black label RCA victor as early as 1964 and on an orange label in the early 70s and in Electronic Stereo as you state. It followed the US ten track release and not the 14 track U.K. version. Not sure why they changed the catalogue number because in 1963, it was LPM 2011 which of course was mono.

For LP Fans Only retained the LSP numbering 1990e in the mid 60s with "e" for Electronic Stereo like the US.

[rockinrebel]

I disliked them because of missing original back cover artwork, but the sound or pressing quality of the UK pressings was quite decent! I often found them better than the German re-pressings from the same time on the orange RCA label, which were very often warped and had quite some crackle and pop.

What ones had the missing back cover artwork? I think I have all of the soundtrack releases which were the same as the original full price versions. Plus some studio ones too that were really-issued on the budget label. The only couple I recall at the moment having a different back cover is How Great Thou Art which ditched the colour white suited Elvis with a black and white photo from ‘68 and Pot Luck which changed the adverts on the back as the ones on the original were not relevant 20 years later.

I didn’t know RCA in Germany were still pressing on Orange labels at the same time as the green U.K. RCA International releases. I thought Germany had gone over to black labels. Of course it was around 1980/81 when operations for pressings were being centralised in Germany and eventually the green label releases in the U.K. were phased out and everything went over to the black label and with a change in catalogue prefix from INTS to NL. A shame...I always liked the green labels for budget and orange labels for full price....I thought the black ones were boring. But it was all about saving money

The green label International re-issues were pressed in the UK, and the majority of them had the black & white ads for other albums on the reverse, rather than the original cover artwork, as per the re-issue of Pot Luck that you mentioned.

The German black label pressings generally used the original cover artwork, and the US track listings, so in most cases there are both German and UK pressings of the same albums with different catalogue numbers and sleeve variations, and both were sold in UK shops.

For example, there are UK RCA international pressings of the 1970 & 71 reissues of Elvis' Golden Records Vol.1 & Vol.2 with the 1968 cover photos, and original UK tracklistings, and there are German pressings of the same titles with the original cover art and US track listings.

The version of How Great Thou Art you mentioned reprised the cover art that was designed for the 1971 UK re-issue of the album.

[LesterB]

My Speedway and clambake super thin and cheap green label RCA pressings sound simply amazing on the bonus songs. My Love Letters RCA International sounds much much much more dynamic than the FTD vinyl. Frankie and Johnny sounds great too.

Elvis Country on the black RCA International label sounds superb also and is only beaten by the USA pressing. Incidentally I have a near mint copy of Elvis Country RCA International for sale on ebay.

[emjel]

I disliked them because of missing original back cover artwork, but the sound or pressing quality of the UK pressings was quite decent! I often found them better than the German re-pressings from the same time on the orange RCA label, which were very often warped and had quite some crackle and pop.

What ones had the missing back cover artwork? I think I have all of the soundtrack releases which were the same as the original full price versions. Plus some studio ones too that were really-issued on the budget label. The only couple I recall at the moment having a different back cover is How Great Thou Art which ditched the colour white suited Elvis with a black and white photo from ‘68 and Pot Luck which changed the adverts on the back as the ones on the original were not relevant 20 years later.

I didn’t know RCA in Germany were still pressing on Orange labels at the same time as the green U.K. RCA International releases. I thought Germany had gone over to black labels. Of course it was around 1980/81 when operations for pressings were being centralised in Germany and eventually the green label releases in the U.K. were phased out and everything went over to the black label and with a change in catalogue prefix from INTS to NL. A shame...I always liked the green labels for budget and orange labels for full price....I thought the black ones were boring. But it was all about saving money

The green label International re-issues were pressed in the UK, and the majority of them had the black & white ads for other albums on the reverse, rather than the original cover artwork, as per the re-issue of Pot Luck that you mentioned.

The German black label pressings generally used the original cover artwork, and the US track listings, so in most cases there are both German and UK pressings of the same albums with different catalogue numbers and sleeve variations, and both were sold in UK shops.

For example, there are UK RCA international pressings of the 1970 & 71 reissues of Elvis' Golden Records Vol.1 & Vol.2 with the 1968 cover photos, and original UK tracklistings, and there are German pressings of the same titles with the original cover art and US track listings.

The version of How Great Thou Art you mentioned reprised the cover art that was designed for the 1971 UK re-issue of the album.

There was bound to be an overlap in stores that carried old stock of records pressed at their plant in Washington Tyne and Wear. and when supplies of the green label releases were exhausted, it was only those pressed in Germany on the black labels that were coming through with the NL prefix. And to avoid confusion with new numbers and old stock, the older sleeves had to have a sticker applied.

Not sure what you mean when you write that the majority had black and white ads - do you mean ads and nothing else or modified artwork of the original album with new ads included - I can only recall one soundtrack album which was Girls Girls Girls as having ads for other albums but it still used the main artwork from the original - I'm sure most of them simply used the US sleeves, in fact they accidentally included the ascap/bmi info which was not used on original UK sleeves.

The only ones I know carried ads and nothing else were those where the originals also carried ads but needed updating, I think Gold Records 4 actually omitted ads for other albums and totally revised the reverse of the sleeve and looked most odd.

If I remember correctly, there were a few which never got issued on the budget International label like From Elvis In Memphis - I don't think any original albums from 1972 onwards got issued on the International label. I believe there were 4 albums that used the newish 1970 style artwork - GR1 and 2 as you mention and also Elvis Presley Rock n Roll 1 and Rock n Roll 2 which kept the original UK track listings. All my RCA International versions of the original albums are stored in the loft so I can only go from memory.

[rockinrebel]

I disliked them because of missing original back cover artwork, but the sound or pressing quality of the UK pressings was quite decent! I often found them better than the German re-pressings from the same time on the orange RCA label, which were very often warped and had quite some crackle and pop.

What ones had the missing back cover artwork? I think I have all of the soundtrack releases which were the same as the original full price versions. Plus some studio ones too that were really-issued on the budget label. The only couple I recall at the moment having a different back cover is How Great Thou Art which ditched the colour white suited Elvis with a black and white photo from ‘68 and Pot Luck which changed the adverts on the back as the ones on the original were not relevant 20 years later.

I didn’t know RCA in Germany were still pressing on Orange labels at the same time as the green U.K. RCA International releases. I thought Germany had gone over to black labels. Of course it was around 1980/81 when operations for pressings were being centralised in Germany and eventually the green label releases in the U.K. were phased out and everything went over to the black label and with a change in catalogue prefix from INTS to NL. A shame...I always liked the green labels for budget and orange labels for full price....I thought the black ones were boring. But it was all about saving money

The green label International re-issues were pressed in the UK, and the majority of them had the black & white ads for other albums on the reverse, rather than the original cover artwork, as per the re-issue of Pot Luck that you mentioned.

The German black label pressings generally used the original cover artwork, and the US track listings, so in most cases there are both German and UK pressings of the same albums with different catalogue numbers and sleeve variations, and both were sold in UK shops.

For example, there are UK RCA international pressings of the 1970 & 71 reissues of Elvis' Golden Records Vol.1 & Vol.2 with the 1968 cover photos, and original UK tracklistings, and there are German pressings of the same titles with the original cover art and US track listings.

The version of How Great Thou Art you mentioned reprised the cover art that was designed for the 1971 UK re-issue of the album.

There was bound to be an overlap in stores that carried old stock of records pressed at their plant in Washington Tyne and Wear. and when supplies of the green label releases were exhausted, it was only those pressed in Germany on the black labels that were coming through with the NL prefix. And to avoid confusion with new numbers and old stock, the older sleeves had to have a sticker applied.

Not sure what you mean when you write that the majority had black and white ads - do you mean ads and nothing else or modified artwork of the original album with new ads included - I can only recall one soundtrack album which was Girls Girls Girls as having ads for other albums but it still used the main artwork from the original - I'm sure most of them simply used the US sleeves, in fact they accidentally included the ascap/bmi info which was not used on original UK sleeves.

The only ones I know carried ads and nothing else were those where the originals also carried ads but needed updating, I think Gold Records 4 actually omitted ads for other albums and totally revised the reverse of the sleeve and looked most odd.

If I remember correctly, there were a few which never got issued on the budget International label like From Elvis In Memphis - I don't think any original albums from 1972 onwards got issued on the International label. I believe there were 4 albums that used the newish 1970 style artwork - GR1 and 2 as you mention and also Elvis Presley Rock n Roll 1 and Rock n Roll 2 which kept the original UK track listings. All my RCA International versions of the original albums are stored in the loft so I can only go from memory.

Apologies. I was going from memory too, and misremembered. The green label soundtracks did indeed feature the original cover designs.

Pot Luck, Elvis For Everyone and the 1957 Christmas album were the ones issued with the black and white ads on the reverse:

Screenshot_20210225_205616.jpg

With regards to the album's that had stickers on them with the INTS catalogue numbers, these were actually old stock of the orange and new black label SF pressings, with the stickers applied to cover the original catalogue number and price code.

There's a black label German NL pressing of From Elvis In Memphis but it wasn't issued until 1991.

[rockinrebel]

My Speedway and clambake super thin and cheap green label RCA pressings sound simply amazing on the bonus songs. My Love Letters RCA International sounds much much much more dynamic than the FTD vinyl. Frankie and Johnny sounds great too.

Elvis Country on the black RCA International label sounds superb also and is only beaten by the USA pressing. Incidentally I have a near mint copy of Elvis Country RCA International for sale on ebay.

Thanks for the info. I have most of the green label pressings, but tend to play the US or UK orange label versions, so will have to give them a spin.

[EAP 35]

This version of Elvis For Everyone contains the mono tracks in true mono and the stereo tracks in stereo. No ERS.
It was cut by Boppin' Bob Jones.
https://www.discogs.com/Elvis-Presley-Elvis-For-Everyone/release/3809794

[drghanem]

In the mid to late-80's the black label German International pressings were unfortunately the only Elvis-records that the local record shops had for sale. I bought several of them and these are a waste of paper and vinyl imho. Nothing beats the original USA RCA Records pressings, in terms of sound quality and printing quality.

[splanky]

Just a quick note to bajo :
emjel explained to you what label you most likely had of the
A DATE WITH ELVIS album ,so you probably remember when you bought it
and can decide for yourself whether it was a black or orange label.
The RCA International version ,NL 89097 , was in mono ,had 10 tracks like
the original LP ,and was released in 1980 . It bore the New Black label.

[rockinrebel]

This version of Elvis For Everyone contains the mono tracks in true mono and the stereo tracks in stereo. No ERS.
It was cut by Boppin' Bob Jones.
https://www.discogs.com/Elvis-Presley-Elvis-For-Everyone/release/3809794

Thanks for the info. Will have to check whether I have this version of the album. Any album mastered by Boppin' Bob is a keeper!