Label guide for German Elvis pressings - LP's

For a long time there has not been a common description among collectors to determine German LP pressings, except for a very complicated one introduced by Peter Baumann with his Book "Elvis On Vinyl teil 3". This guide is a hopefully the solution to this. Since the LP and single labels do follow the same patterns regarding the evolution it is adviced to read the single and EP label guide first. This LP guide is actually based on the single and EP guide and is a result of collectors requests for an LP label guide for this WEB-site. For LP's as singles there's some quick rules that can help you place the record to a certain period of time.



The label guide shown here, is a systematically list of the information given in the book "Elvis On Vinyl" and my own label guide. But everything is based on and adjusted to Wolfgang Kühnel and Helmut Radermacher's work way back in 1985. I have listed the abbreviations used in "Elvis on vinyl Teil 3" together with my own abbreviations. At the same time I have tried to make it fit the allready known abbreviations from our Elvis-bible "Rillen Revue" and the 45 label guide. This has been done to make as less confusion as possible.

After a long time of consideration I wanted to completely drop the Baumann sn3++ and rename them as sr=silver ring A, B, C and D. The reason for this is that there were to many sn variations in Baumanns books that had little in common, like sn4, sn5 and sn6 for instance. In addition, many UK collectors has now adopted the "New German a),b),c) and d)" abbreviations after Paul Alner used this in his great book "Elvis On Record". So why not just try to make the UK and German collectors understand each other easily. And that's how the srA, B, C and D labels were born. At the moment the old names are in brackets and I cannot force collectors to use the new ones, but time will tell how these new names will be recieved among collectors.

By introducing two new v2 labels I might for the first time show a label guide for LP's that makes even the mid 60's releases fit perfectly into a release order and maintain the 45 label system. Instead of Baumanns v2, v3 and v4 we now have v2a, v2b, v2c, v3 and v4. Many collectors have been puzzled by the "v2" editions of LPM/LSP 3553. And why "Living Stereo" on several v3 releases and not on all v2's. Why large side numbers on v2 labels when v3 could still be found with small side numbers. Now everything falls into its rightful place with this new label guide.

A final note: Be aware that the s4 label is used differently for LP's and 45's. Both labels were short lived and can be seen as a transition label between s3 and s5 for both LP's and 45's.

And now to label guide!

s1
s3 Long Play
s3
s4
1956
Baumann: s1
 1957-1958
Baumann: s3 Long Play		 1959
Baumann: s3		 1959
Baumann: Not covered
s5
s5 Living Stereo
s6 glossy
s6 glossy Living Stereo

1960
Baumann: s5
1960
Baumann: s5 Living Stereo
1960-1962
Baumann: s6
1960-1962
Baumann: s6 Living Stereo
s6
s6 Living Stereo
v1
v1 Living Stereo
1962-1963
Baumann: s6		 1962-1963
Baumann: s6 Living Stereo		 1963-1964
Baumann: v1		 1963-1964
Baumann: v1 Living Stereo
v2a
v2a Living Stereo
1964
Baumann: v2		 1964
Baumann: v2 Living Stereo
v2b
v2b Living Stereo
v2b Stereo
1964-1965
Baumann: v3		 1964-1965
Baumann: v3 Living Stereo		 1964-1965
Baumann: v3 Stereo
v2c
v2c Stereo
1966
Baumann: v2		 1966
Baumann: v2 Stereo
v3
v3 Stereo
v4
v4 Stereo
1966
Baumann: v4		 1966
Baumann: v4 Stereo		 1967-1968
Baumann: v4		 1967-1968
Baumann: v4 Stereo
o1
o2
o3
o4
1968-1970
Baumann: o1		 1970-1974
Baumann: o2-o3		 1975-1976
Baumann: o4-o6		 1977-1981
Baumann: o7
b1
b2
b3
b4
1969-1970
Baumann: b1		 1970-1974
Baumann: b2-b3		 1975-1976
Baumann: b4-b6		 1977-1981
Baumann: b7
sn1
sn2
1982-1983
Baumann: sn1		 1983
Baumann: sn2
srA (sn3)
srB (sn4)
srC (sn6)
1983-1984(?)
Baumann: sn3		 1984(?)-1986(?)
Baumann: sn4		 1987(?)-1988
Baumann: sn6
srD (sn9)
BMG 1 (not named yet)
1988-199?
Baumann: sn9		 199?-199?
Baumann: Not covered



SPECIAL LABELS
Old RCA 1 (RCA)
Old RCA 2 (BMG)
Old RCA 3 (BMG)
1986 Old UK style
Baumann: sn5		 1988 Old UK style
Baumann: sn7		 1990 Old UK style
Baumann: sn8
I Was The One
Blue UK Elvis
50th Anniversary
1983
Baumann: Elvis 1		 1984
Baumann: Elvis 2		 1984-1985
Baumann: Elvis 3
Collectors Gold
Complete 50's Masters
1991
Baumann: Elvis 4		 1992
Baumann: Elvis 5

How to spot the differences between the 4 different orange labels
o1 is identified by the words
TELDEC and MARKA(S)

 o2 is identified by the words
TELDEC and MARCA(S)

 o3 is identified by the words
MADE BY RCA at the top and
English text at the bottom		 o4 is identified by the words
MADE BY RCA at the top and
German text at the bottom

How to spot the differences between the 4 different "Silver Ring" labels
srA is identified by the copyright bureau box
GEMA above BIEM		 srB is identified by the copyright bureau box
BIEM above GEMA		 srC is identified by Two copyright bureau boxes
BIEM and GEMA in different boxes		 srD is identified by the large RCA logo and
MARKETED BY BMG


© Jarle Jensen 2015