Warner Bros. Records

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NEW RELEASE - Release Information (October 31, 2020)

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Label Code: LC 0392 / LC 00392

Founded in 1958 by Jack Warner as a soundtrack factory for Warner Bros. movie studios, Warner Bros. Records and its family of subsidiary labels, which includes Reprise Records, Sire Records, Maverick Records, Warner Nashville, Warner Jazz, Warner Western, and Word Label Group encompassed a full spectrum of musical genres. After more than 60 years using the Warner Bros. name and logo (and following the end of a 15-year licensing agreement with AT&T/WarnerMedia, until 2018 Time Warner), the label was rebranded in May 2019 to simply Warner Records.

Warner Bros. is known to have used various companies pressing facilities, including but not limited to, Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Santa Maria and Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Terre Haute.

Label designs: Mono LPs: - 1958-62 - Grey label, black WB Shield and black 33 1/3 at bottom outlined in yellow. - 1962-66 - Grey label, black WB Shield and black 33 1/3 at bottom outlined in white. - 1966-67 - Gold Label, MONAURAL at bottom.

Stereo LPs: - 1958-65 - Gold label with VITAPHONIC LONG PLAY at bottom - 1965-67 - Gold label, VITAPHONIC wording deleted; boxed STEREO at bottom. - 1967-January, 1970 - Green Label, Warner Bros. - Seven Arts Records at top, with W7 logo beneath it. (After February the "W7" was replaced by the WB shield, but some Columbia plants had W7 labels they "burned off" well into the summer.) - February, 1970-73 - Green Label, Warner Bros. Records at top, with WB Shield underneath it. - April 1973, Q2-1975, Q3 - Burbank Palm Trees label with WB Shield at top without "Records" banner, introduced March/April 1973. No mention of Warner Communications in rimtext. - 1975, Q3-1978, Q3 - Burbank Palm Trees label with WB Shield at top, with "Records" banner. Warner Communications wording and WCI logo in rimtext. - 91505 zip code in rimtext used from 1974 - 1977 (Columbia Pressings) - 91510 zip code in rimtext used beginning 1976 (Capitol Pressings) - 1978, Q3-1983, Q1 - Tan label w/ narrow horizontal lines - 1983+ - White label, large WB shield at top and "ghosted" gray shields floating in the background.

Information about how to determine first pressings of US LPs on this label: Grey label, black WB Shield, WB in gold print # 1200 - approx. 1470 Same, but in white print # 1470 - 1615 Gold Label # 1616 - 1737 (last spotted gold label) Green Label, Warner Bros. - Seven Arts Records, W7 logo # 1738 - 1834 Green Label, Warner Bros. Records. w/ WB Shield # 1835 - 2694 (last spotted green label) Palm Trees Label NO ADDRESS at bottom # 2693 - 2865 Saul Bass W logo on label rim and sleeves are 1975 or later. Palm Trees Label 3300 Warner Blvd. # 2866 - 3180 Dark Cream Label w/Tan horizontal lines and address in perimeter since1978 # 3181 - up to 1982/1983 Light Cream (Off-white) Label w/no lines and w/Ghost WB logo's in the background - everything since 1983

~ Please note: A few select "WB" LPs pressed in 1983 also were issue with the pinstripe (previous) label [r=925017] as the 'ghost logos' were being introduced during the label design change. Releases with BSK and having 'ghost logos' labels should be considered a "reissue or repress" as they kept the same release # from the original 1970s #s but changed the label to the new version.

An example of label versions during the change: [r=4825085] [r=1291640]

Source: Joe Lindsay's Record Label Guide and Raymond Dumont's collection.

Please note that some US cassettes and 8-tracks have a WB or WAR code on the spine or elsewhere near or above the catalogue number. This is not part of the catalogue number and should not be entered as such. Instead, it's a label identification code and may be entered in the Barcode and Other Identifiers fields in Other.

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