is a british relese a record thats pressed in the uk and sold in the uk or can it be pressed outside the uk but only sold in the uk thanks in adv phil

Back in the 60's / early 70's, lots of soul stuff was considered to be for a 'specialist market' with limited appeal in some Euro countries. So countries, like the UK, that had major pressing capacity would manufacture extra copies which were specifically to service overseas markets. I seem to recall UK 45's being sent to countries such as Belgium & Holland for sale there.  I would come across copies when over there  -- I worked for British Rail at the time & we got free rail / ferry travel via Harwich to Rotterdam & Zeebrugge, so went a few times a year. I'd drop into record shops over there on each visit, to get copies of locally pressed stuff in pic sleeves. 

i was just thinking stuff pressed in the usa but just sold in the uk like the carstairs could that be considerd a british relese

The way I see it is that if a record was made to be sent out to record shops for the normal public to buy, and maybe with a view to getting in the charts, it is a proper release in that country. 

If a record was pressed up to cater the needs of a specialist market like the Northern Soul scene or whatever scene's mail order market, and never meant to be available to the general public of that country, then it isn't a proper release in that country at all, but a custom pressing for a limited market.

So for example "I'll Do Anything"- Doris Troy on UK Cameo Parkway, Toast or Mojo were all proper UK releases available for the general public to buy at there local record shop.  But a reproduction pressed up just for a specialist mail order market or just for specialist dealers to sell, isn't a proper release!

That's they way I see it, and the same goes for USA releases.

It's not all cut and dried with a subject like this, but maybe a rough outline!

 

Edited October 27, 20231 yr by Solidsoul

I would say for it to be a UK release, it needs to have been available to order from high street record shops (or in a few cases via specialist clubs - e.g. Blue Horizon). Records pressed in the USA even if for UK demand (Carstairs, Milton Wright etc.) are not UK releases in my book. I am not sure that the Motown Appreciation Society 45 fits into this definition, but there is always an exception to any rule.    

Edited October 27, 20231 yr by Steve G

I'm not sure where UK label singles are pressed now, a lot were pressed in Poland and other EU countries then shipped to the UK as there weren't any factories left here. After that they could be ordered from almost anywhere in the world.

If  @Bleep was asking about older releases (pre 2000) @Solidsoul and @Steve G have summed it up well. For our music there are some good examples that show the difference. Selecta Disc sold US special pressings and UK pressings on Black Magic. Soul Bowl had Grapevine , Neil Rushton had Inferno. These UK issues were done for a specialist market but they all could be ordered anywhere and the labels would have been very happy to get in the charts as some did.

My small contribution is these UK pressed titles from the 70s

The Spy was issued for specialist sales. Seven Day Lover was UK wide and could be ordered  by any shop. I'm Not Strong Enough was for specialist shops ( not my idea but that's a long story). Share What You Got was done for a customer in The Netherlands although a few copies were sold in HMV Manchester. What makes these different is that Seven Day Lover and another five titles on Cream were listed in Music Master and the others weren't. This was a big red book that record shops used to find details of all available records. The problem was that some shops didn't deal with smaller distributors so couldn't or wouldn't have been able to order some records. Black Magic, Grapevine and Casino Classics were handled by major companies, Inferno and Destiny I don't remember being sold by the large distributors but definitely were UK issues as they were all listed in Music Master.

Music Master listed some quite obscure stuff which was hard to get. I remember having to order Maryetta and Vernon Midgely LPs (loved by pensioners of the 1970s) for customers at Our Price by phoning Vernon. Music Master listed a few European issues as Conifer Distributors were allowed to market some EMI LPs in this country. They had a couple of nice 60s soul and RnB compilations.

I've no idea how to define British releases now since everything has changed with the internet.