I've been looking for a 1st release 45 of this tune but have seen various label designs. Can someone point me in the right direction, please?

The original pressing exits on black Chess, blue Chess and orange/yellow Chess.

Obvious reissue is the blue/white variant below:

"Sitting In The Park" was originally released in early June 65.

Light Blue label Chess 45's came later (around Nov / Dec 66) though old 45's were re-pressed by the company with blue Chess labels.

Early 45's on the label (mid 50's) were silver / blue labels.

Dark blue labels were around in 57 to 61/62/63 (Chess written down left hand side of label).

Orange / yellow labels were then used, from about 1961 to as late as 64 (on blues 45's rather than the soul releases near the end I believe)..

Black labels started to replace orange / yellow labeled ones around 1964.

But SITP was a massive hit & so will have been pressed up at 2/3 different plants from the early days after its release. The 45 also sold well in the pop field & the 45 made it into the Top 30 of the US pop charts .... so the number being pressed up during that period would far exceed usual Chess 45 pressing levels.

I would guess that most of the 1st press versions of this 45 had a black label BUT some could have been rushed out (to meet the great demand) using orange / yellow labels that were still laying around.

To me, originals are the ones with black labels BUT no doubt someone else will dispute that.

Edited February 13, 201312 yr by Roburt

2nd press

originals

Fantastic. Muchas gracias everyone. :-)

Kris the blue label variant you've posted above is also an early press, contemporary to the black label one and the yellow/orange/black rather than a later re-issue. The first two are from plants owned by Chess (can't identify the first one off the top of my head but that's a clear example of one of their particular typesetting styles; the second one pressed at their MidWest factory), the third is a Monarch press.

What is interesting in the variants posted above is that the blue label one has a much earlier master number (in brackets) and if the label copy is to be believed is also forty seconds shorter. There are both Stereo and Mono copies of the "I Do Love You" album so this could account for different mastered versions appearing on the 45.

There's no apparent rhyme or reason I can see as to why Chess pressed on so many variants of its labels, as there are even some releases of this period on the much older label stock for Chess (blue) and Checker (maroon), although not of this particular title. It's not even a case of one set of particular labels for one particular plant, so a bit of a minefield.