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Melvyn Bliss - Synthetic Substitution - Sunburst Now Sold


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Melvyn Bliss - Synthetic Substitution - Sunburst 

 

Lovely copy of this much sought after tune!  Must be an underplayed one in northern circles, one for the more open minded DJ!

 

100.00 UKP NOW SOLD

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfJ7BVsy75A

Edited by waterfall_manc
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I thought the plain ones were just promos. There's a coloured logo copy on popsike from 2004 though and I'm sure that was ages before the re-press.

 

Could do with a definitive answer from someone on this.

 

Found a scan of the original promo - it has Reward on both sides - one in stereo and one in mono

 

post-8942-0-39691500-1395415401_thumb.jp

Edited by kjw
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It's really tricky.

There's a Monclairs 45 from the late 60s with a white promo that looks like the definite original of Melvin Bliss and two different red issues. Later releases from early 70s (including 1973 like Melvin Bliss) have both issues and promos on the coloured variation.  Sometimes the promos are mono/stereo versions of the A side as with "reward' and sometimes they have the same A and B sides as the regular issue.

 

We could do with an expert on the label here...

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I bought it as a new release, on Sunburst and also on UK Contempo, and I admit I overlooked 'Synthetic Substitution' for some years because I loved 'Reward' so much.  I think it's fair to say that most people overlooked both sides.

It was quite an easy record to find at the time (but forty years ago now, let's not forget) and for many years it was probably difficult to sell for more than a pound or two because sadly there wasn't very much interest in it - not until the intro of 'Synthetic Substitution' was first sampled and looped etc.  Suddenly a demand existed.

I've had several US issues (and promos with 'Reward' on both sides) on both vinyl and styrene.  There were several original vinyl issues (using different plants) but most vinyl copies were pressed at the Specialty plant in Olyphant, Pa., and the labels have a  SP suffix after the matrix number.  The recent repros tried to emulate that style but on closer inspection they used some incorrect fonts in places.

 

I'm pretty sure I also once had a vinyl copy which was pressed at NAMI (the company which took over the former Capitol plant in Scranton) and that's even easier to identify because of the different label typesetting and even more because of those distinctive interlocking serrations near the edge of the labels - as commonly seen on most UK 45s until the late 1970s but only seen in the US on Capitol and NAMI pressings.

 

The styrene copies were pressed at Bestway in New Jersey and they are easy to recognise as typical Bestway pressings, the labels also having a BW suffix after the matrix number.

 

If in any doubt about authenticity, the styrene copies from Bestway are safe to buy (because bootlegs are almost always on vinyl these days) and of course the UK Contempo issue is authentic but I think it's also quite easy to spot an original vinyl issue from Specialty or NAMI.

Paul


 

Edited by Paul
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here the scan lads, sorry for delay

 

comparing it in my hand and from the pic the boldness on both the sunburst and records ltd is a lot thinner, also the font size on the left hand side is a lot smaller too.  im confident its OG

 

Jay - will message you now, obviosuly money back if not happy but when you get it in your hand and compare it against the below you can defo see distinct differences

 

 

post-16817-0-49226300-1395440065_thumb.j

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here the scan lads, sorry for delay

 

comparing it in my hand and from the pic the boldness on both the sunburst and records ltd is a lot thinner, also the font size on the left hand side is a lot smaller too.  im confident its OG

 

Jay - will message you now, obviosuly money back if not happy but when you get it in your hand and compare it against the below you can defo see distinct differences

 

 

Hello Adam,

Looking at the photo of your copy I've no doubt that it's an authentic original vinyl issue from the Specialty plant.

I compared the typesetting (mainly the fonts and tracking) with an image of the repro and your copy uses two old Univers fonts, unlike the repro which uses Swiss type fonts which may seem similar at a quick glance but they're not quite the same - not quite as condensed on the artist name and title - and they're also spaced closer together (auto tracking set at zero on computer rather than old-style setting).

 

The more I compare them, the more differences I see.  Another obvious difference is that on the label address line, which runs around the lower edge of the label, the SP original issue uses a narrow Trade Gothic font (almost certainly TradeGothicBoldCond20) but the repro uses just two fonts for all text: Swiss 721 Cn BT and probably Swiss 721 Md or 721 BT and there are very noticable differences on some characters more than others.  More obvious, the artist name, title and catalogue number are set in Univers Cond on the original, it's a distinctive font and was used a lot by Specialty.

 

And, maybe most obvious of all, the font used for the Sunburst logo is much heavier on the repro - as you said.

 

I hope that's good news for you and Jay.

Best wishes,

 

Paul

Edited by Paul
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Hello Adam,

Looking at the photo of your copy I've no doubt that it's an authentic original vinyl issue from the Specialty plant.

I compared the typesetting (mainly the fonts and tracking) with an image of the repro and your copy uses two old Univers fonts, unlike the repro which uses Swiss type fonts which may seem similar at a quick glance but they're not quite the same - not quite as condensed on the artist name and title - and they're also spaced closer together (auto tracking set at zero on computer rather than old-style setting).

 

The more I compare them, the more differences I see.  Another obvious difference is that on the label address line, which runs around the lower edge of the label, the SP original issue uses a narrow Trade Gothic font (almost certainly TradeGothicBoldCond20) but the repro uses just two fonts for all text: Swiss 721 Cn BT and probably Swiss 721 Md or 721 BT and there are very noticable differences on some characters more than others.  More obvious, the artist name, title and catalogue number are set in Univers Cond on the original, it's a distinctive font and was used a lot by Specialty.

 

And, maybe most obvious of all, the font used for the Sunburst logo is much heavier on the repro - as you said.

 

I hope that's good news for you and Jay.

Best wishes,

 

Paul

 

Paul you're a font of information.

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Paul you're a font of information.

 

 

That's a great pun, Jordi, you should be writing headlines for The Sun.

 

Sometimes I think my interest in design and typography etc is a "bit sad" but it's nice when it comes in handy (such as on this thread) and it's also part of my work anyway.

 

It's a lot like our interests in music history etc, it gets to the point where we can remember the catalogue number of a particular 45, or what plant it was pressed at, but we have trouble remembering our National Insurance number or what we had for breakfast this morning !

 

It's odd how some obscure facts seems to be stuck somewhere in our brains but at least I suppose it means our brains are still working to some extent.

 

:wink: 

Best wishes

 

 

Edited by Paul
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