Record Club of America

I recently came across copies of Buffalo Springfield's Retrospective and Led Zeppelin's , both of which are early copies with "1841 Broadway" addresses on the Atlantic or Atco labels.

In very small text near the bottom of each label are the words "Manufactured Under License Issued By Atlantic Recording Corporation to Record Club of America, Inc." The Buffalo Springfield album also has a label on the back cover that says the same thing.

What was the Record Club of America, and when was it active? How do Record Club of America pressings of albums typically compare in quality with their retail counterparts?

 

I *think* Michael Fremer devoted a column or two to this a few years back. If I'm remembering correctly, there were thousands of NOS records discovered in a warehouse in central PA somewhere, produced years ago by or for the RC of A. You might try googling that with Fremer, or going to his site or to Stereophile. I know I don't have the issue it was in any longer, so it's probably pre-1999.

 

I was an RCOA member as a kid, and was buying cassettes at the time (I know, what was I thinking??!!), but the quality of the tapes was quite bad on a regular basis. Can't speak to the LPs, but my initial reaction would be that it could be an iffy proposition.

RCOA folded in 1975 or so, as I recall. There's a site where someone is selling old RCOA still-sealed albums and getting hefty bux. Don't have the URL handy.

 

Never had one. That company came back to life a few years ago for a short time offering overpriced vinyl that was leftover. Don't know whatever became of it after that.

 

Oh yeah, I remember that. They had this old stock, and wanted to sell each LP for huge bucks, like $50+ per LP. All pretty standard stuff.

I wonder what happened to them. They could not have sold that many LPs!

 

Thanks for your quick replies.

The two records I have appear to use normal Atlantic stampers, and in fact look almost identical to retail copies aside from the text on the label.

 

I was a member back in the '70s and purchased a bit of vinyl and 8-track tape. (Woohoo!) My turntable was unsophisticated, but I remember thinking that the vinyl from the Record Club of America seemed to wear out pretty quickly. It's hard to remember for certain after all these years.

 

I also joined up way back when... I remember that RCOA appeared to be at least a mild bargain on the surface... got maybe a couple dozen LPs before I bailed out... every last one was noisy and/or warped.

 

I had a Buck Owens tape from RCOA (Arms Full of Empty) that was by far the worst cassette transfer I ever heard. Extremely low level, with un-Dolbyized hiss that was unbelievably high. It came in a plastic case, the style of which Ampex also used for their blank cassettes back in the early seventies.

 

They had relatively strange offerings, sometimes, like The Insect Trust, "Hoboken Saturday Night."

BSN thread, by the way, at: http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/bsnpubs/vpost?id=87267&highlight=record+club+america

Posts on Bomp, too:

http://bomplist.xnet2.com/0009/msg00062.html

 

They would send a digest size catalog to choose from every month. I started with albums through my brothers membership. Seems to me they were never shrink wrapped. Early 70's for sure.

 

I remember the LPs were about $1 each with membership deals. Their LPs seemed to be 2nd rate pressings.

 

Pressings varied. Some were standard issue LPs with RCoA sticker attached, others were pressed BY RCoA. The RCoA pressings were generally inferior.

I have a RCoA pressing of the first Raspberries album has a low level ground loop buzz running throughout the album...which is not on the real issue of the album.

Kwad

 

I was a RCOA member also. I can't remember anything about the quality of the vinyl, but I do remember buying cassettes from them that were of dubious quality.

I always got quite excited when the monthly (I think it was monthly, for the most part) catalog would show up so I could go over it with a fine tooth comb and order.

 

I, too, joined when I was about 14.

If I recall correctly, it was $5 to join and you get 5 records. Nothing more was ever required, so it was a great deal for a kid with no money. Lets see....I got Deja Vu, ELP, Machine Head, Never a Dull Moment, and some "obviously-forgetable LP". Each sounded reasonable on my first stereo.

All of the records I purchased had RCOA stickers on them. They looked like those small return address labels you put on envelopes. Even at 14 I was wondering what the deal was with that outfit.

 

They became Red Trumpet. I forget what Red Trumpet used to be called, but they worked out of an address at Dulles Airport in the DC suburbs; then moved up to PA and oversaw the distribution of those sealed records mentioned above.

 

Worst vinyl ever! Recycled vinyl mixed with ground up labels. I always avoided these pressings when they turned up in used bins & would never join the club, because their pressings STANK!

 

I never joined any record clubs (none of 'em offered anything like Karlheinz Stockhausen or Amon Duul, so I fugured; why bother?), but I was always tempted as a kid, just because they (well, some of 'em) used to offer albums on reel-to-reel tapes (long after they stopped selling 'em in the stores), and that just seemed so much cooler than run-of-the-mill records.

anyone know if the 4-tracks were as bad as the LPs?

 

The clubs shipped two types of reels: Standard retail copies with a sticker applied to the box to indicate it was a club issue and (later, in the case of Columbia House) reels that were manufactured BY the club for the club. The retail issue tapes can be great to poor, depending on the speed, manufacturer, and planet alignment. The Columbia House manufactured tapes are mostly inferior. With few exceptions (mostly classical) the club tapes played at 3 3/4" ips and were duplicated at very high speeds from questionable duplication masters. The Columbia House issues are mostly desirable as collectables (when no other issue exists, such as early '80s titles). Most club issues can be distinguished by a 1R---- release number.

Kwad

 

I joined up about 35 years ago or so. I remember getting a Schwann catalog and envelopes to mail my request(s). One LP I remember getting was "ARE YOU EXPERIENCED". Seemed like it took a real long time to arrive. I still see these pressings from time to time in the used vinyl bins.

 

As a kid, I got most of my albums through RCOA in the early 1970s. I started my Who collection with Who's Next, Tommy and Meaty Beaty from the club. The pressings seemed fine to me and I only remember getting one album (Led Zep III, I think) with a RCOA sticker on it.

Steve

 

My cousin was a member for a short period in the early 70's.
He bought 8 track tapes at the time.

The ones from the club was THE WORST 8 tracks I have ever heard!

Lots and lots of tape hiss. Low sound levels. And cartridges that easily jammed.

I heard pirate 8 tracks from Truck Stops that were better quality.

 

I guess in their later years, Record Club of America didn't have much going for themselves in terms of quality.

 

They were the worst ever from Day 1. :thumbsdn:

 

Record Club of America?

I just purchased Herbie Mann's Push Push. Embryo label but in fine print 'Manufactured under licence from Atlantic Records'. Cover in great shape but not sure about the vinyl. Less dynamic. Some distortion on percussion. Are Record Club of America considered inferior pressings?