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Post by 19mark62 on Mar 16, 2024 11:50:17 GMT
Over the years abba were with Epic records in the UK , quite a few TEST PRESSINGS were tried out using abba singles .
First of all the first I am aware of was the INK JET test pressing of TAKE A CHANCE ON ME in 1977 !
Then came the first coloured vinyl test pressing
in 1978 Epic records launched a set of singles NUMBER ONE'S ! abba had two singles re-released WATERLOO AND FERNANDO on the orange label , Fernando was used to test press Green vinyl !
The same year 1978 CHIQUITITA had a couple of test pressings , a INK JET label and a Yellow vinyl test pressing .
The next one was in 1979 ANGELEYES/ VOULEZ VOUS was subject to more test pressing , INK JET TEST and three coloured vinyl test pressings Red Yellow and Purple !
So in the same year 1979 they had a couple of more tests on singles a INK JET of GIMME GIMME GIMME, and a coloured vinyl test pressing of I HAVE A DREAM in Grey vinyl .
The early test pressings of INK JET , Take a chance on me and Chiqitita were released commercially but are rare to find , later ink jet releases Angeleyes and Gimme Gimme Gimme were also released in larger numbers and quite easily found these days .
I would like to know if anyone has any idea of how many INK JET TAKE A CHANCE ON ME AND CHIQUITITA singles were pressed .
As for the coloured vinyl test pressings well as far as I am aware one or two pressings were made of each single FERNANDO , CHIQUITITA, ANGELEYES AND I HAVE A DREAM .
Does anyone of you guys know how many were pressed ? I have seen photographs of the FERNANDO, CHIQUITITA, and the Red and yellow ANGELEYES , I haven't seen the purple one or the Grey I HAVE A DREAM .
I would appreciate any information regarding this subject especially about the numbers involved with the test pressings , regards Mark
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Post by Alan on Mar 16, 2024 13:22:02 GMT
You might find this topic of interest. All the various UK label variants are included. What you describe as ink jet are termed injection-moulded or plastic in the thread, but refers to the same thing. abbachat.com/thread/1597/abba-epic-single-label-variantsI acquired the Chiquitita one last year. Take A Chance On Me comes up quite often on eBay and appears to be much less rare than the Chiquitita one. There is one on there now at £4.25 buy-it-now. They’re not test pressings though. A couple of blue-label singles even had two versions of it. The most rare UK label variant is I Have A Dream Dutch-pressing. Later singles Super Trouper and Head Over Heels were widely issued on the variant but I Have A Dream is virtually impossible to find. I know someone that has it but they only saw it for sale the once and got lucky. |
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Post by Alan on Mar 16, 2024 14:22:15 GMT
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Post by Alan on Mar 16, 2024 14:49:28 GMT
Finally, the injection-moulded early ones from my collection: Chiquitita I’ve only seen this once on eBay, last year. It was hidden amongst other ABBA singles in the photos, but I worked out that it had to be Chiquitita.  Take A Chance On Me Much more common (as stated earlier, there is one on eBay listed for sale now as a buy-it-now, £4.25).  |
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Post by Alan on Mar 16, 2024 15:02:43 GMT
Some info from a Discogs user. I would strongly disagree there were only 25 copies though. They turn up much too regularly on eBay for that (including right now!). I also don’t get the bit about the Epic logo not having a box around it. It didn’t on the orange paper labels, only on the sleeves and yellow labels.
“1. Take A Chance On Me / I'm A Marionette Epic S EPC 5950
Rejected test pressing using injection moulded centre. 1978
Epic used this single as an 'example template' as it had already been released, hit No. 1 and left the charts...
This was CBS/Epic's very first forray into injection moulded single centres, looking for a way to cut production costs.
Manufactured at the CBS pressing plant in Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire, UK.
Thier intitial concept was to copy Polydor's releases in Germany... 'but not too copied...'
Placing title at the top, artist at the bottom meant there was no prominent place for the square company logo itself.
1. Parent company CBS, were unhappy with the Epic Logo not having a box around it (they'd have to register this logo as a new one), and that the white circles were missing as from their orange solid centre designs.
2. CBS were also unhappy in that they could NOT get the Epic logo at the top of the single itself as were normal with previous solid centre releases.
With the singles information being North and South, there was no preferred and prominent place, (north, south, east or west), for the Epic company Logo.
Having the Epic logo offset at a south easterly position on this test pressing was deemed to be totally unacceptable.
3. Epic liked to add as much information to their singles as possible, (eg: Taken from the album... etc).
This test copy of an Injection Moulded centre meant they could not do this to their satisfaction. They deemed the text as 'not prominent enough'.
Therefore free advertising for the album the song was taken from was out.
The whole concept of this test pressing was unacceptable to CBS.
This 'test' was therefore 'dumped' in favour of the regular Orange Paper solid centres.
A shame as they perfected the backward B Abba Logo to perfection on this test pressing and were never able to reproduce it correctly on any other future injection moulded releases in the early 80's.
Only 25 copies were pressed. Many ended up in the waste bin.
CBS/Epic were never able to perfect any of their injection mouldings to any satisfactory standard.
I know. I worked for CBS Marketing from 1974 to 1979”
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Post by 19mark62 on Mar 30, 2024 14:06:00 GMT
Oh my god , missed out big style this morning ABBA ANGELEYES/VOULEZ VOUS red vinyl test pressing sold for £145 !!!! Somebody got the deal of year on eBay today 😩😩 take a look guys , the seller obviously didn't know what he had in his hands to let it sell so cheaply .
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Post by Alan on Mar 30, 2024 18:49:07 GMT
Oh my god , missed out big style this morning ABBA ANGELEYES/VOULEZ VOUS red vinyl test pressing sold for £145 !!!! Somebody got the deal of year on eBay today 😩😩 take a look guys , the seller obviously didn't know what he had in his hands to let it sell so cheaply . I didn’t see that listing either! Just seen it and a bit confused by the description: “ABBA Angeleyes / Voulez-Vous 7” single on red vinyl - recent pressing. Cover is in used condition.” How can a 45-year-old single be a “recent pressing” unless it’s a fake? The red seems slightly darker than on other photos I’ve seen online, unless it’s just the lighting and background.  Discogs states: “Unique pressing - only ONE copy known to exist! Believed to be a factory custom pressing from the CBS plant when they were testing various colours for future releases. There is also one known copy on yellow vinyl.” Of course, the above might not be accurate though, and there is no mention of the purple vinyl pressing. |
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Post by DaronJulian23 on Jul 11, 2024 14:12:58 GMT
I didn’t see that listing either! Just seen it and a bit confused by the description: “ABBA Angeleyes / Voulez-Vous 7” single on red vinyl - recent pressing. Cover is in used condition.” How can a 45-year-old single be a “recent pressing” unless it’s a fake? The red seems slightly darker than on other photos I’ve seen online, unless it’s just the lighting and background. Discogs states: “Unique pressing - only ONE copy known to exist! Believed to be a factory custom pressing from the CBS plant when they were testing various colours for future releases. There is also one known copy on yellow vinyl.” Of course, the above might not be accurate though, and there is no mention of the purple vinyl pressing. I have both the transparent red vinyl, but the one shown is a deeper tone of red to the one I have. The other thing is how can it be recent, this must be a test pressing created especially for somebody. I also have the orange vinyl of this release with a feint black marble design running through it. Don't know much about it, although it could be a fake. |
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Post by Alan on Nov 20, 2024 15:35:22 GMT
What was I saying about fakes? The font and text size is wrong but I wonder just how many are out there? The Angeleyes/Voulez-Vous ones seem to turn up with remarkable regularity considering they’re meant to be test pressings. I’m assuming this one really does play No Doubt About It. The 1970s orange Epic label looks alarmingly authentic. Custom-made apparently, and £140 on eBay if anyone’s got money to burn on a fake.  |
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Post by HOMETIME on Nov 20, 2024 16:09:31 GMT
Having seen (and heard) the two Frida bootlegs that had the unreleased tracks as B-sides, I wouldn't be surprised if NDAI was on this either. Any idea what's on the A-side?
Part of me wonders if it's just a mock-up. The font size and placement is amateurish and rushed-looking. It could be the way the photo is taken, but everything is off-centre too. The running time is almost two minutes longer than the actual track, so it looks like some copy/paste activity was involved. I presume the catalogue number was created to suggest a release in 2025?
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Post by Alan on Nov 20, 2024 16:17:55 GMT
Oh, sorry, I hadn’t realised I’d posted side B. The A-side has the same label.  |
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Post by HOMETIME on Nov 20, 2024 16:22:16 GMT
At least the running time is right on the A-side. Maybe the B-side is some kind of fan-made extended version...? If you buy it, you'll have to let us know!
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Post by Alan on Nov 21, 2024 1:36:43 GMT
If it was £14 I might have been tempted, but not £140.
I’d put money on there being other fakes out there, particularly the Angeleyes ones. I very much doubt there were many issued, and certainly not two types of red (as described by someone earlier in the thread).
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