Latest Database/Website Updates
PLEASE NOTE: This site is for information/research purposes only. The records listed here are not for sale. This database driven design went online March 5, 2008. Current updates of the work on this website and database are listed below so please check here regularly for recent additions. Thanks to contributions from MANY of you, individual records in the database should easily reach 5000 listings by the end of 2008. Of course, it will never be complete as more information is always turning up. If you have comments, corrections or information you wish to share, please contact: dan@45rpmrecords.com. If you enjoy this website please click on some of the Google ads! Thanks, Dan DeClark |
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 Database is now up to: 912 record labels, 4620 individual records and 3315 images of labels, sleeves, artists, etc. Rite pressings are now at 1506 listings and growing steadily thanks again to Michel Proost, Malcolm Chapman, Step Baker, Udo Frank & others. Many of the new additons include photos. Over 200 new photos have been added so far this month. Current labels with significant additional listings and/or photos include Rusty York's Jewel label (thanks to Matt Baker again!), Adco, Admiral and Blue Eagle. New labels added since the last posting include: ASR, Awake, Bo-Ka, Bonnie, Conn, MJW, Parr, SIR, Skifful, Triple A, Triumph (OH), Triumph (IN), Tuff-Nuff, Twilight (OH), Twin, Unicorn, USA, Valli, Vetco, Velvet Inc, Wife and Your-Pick. Be sure to check out the new Rite Custom Pressings Blog - That's All RITE Mama - obscurity at it's best! Thanks again for your interest and assistance! Dan |
Friday, October 31, 2008 - Happy Halloween! Database is now up to: 868 record labels, 4468 individual records and 3105 images of labels, sleeves, artists, etc. Worked mostly this week on documenting and adding to the listing of RITE Pressings. The RITE pressing discography currently stands at 1411 listings but is not even close to complete. It should reach at least 2000 listing by the end of the year. Should have over 1000 record labels in the database by then also. Check out the major additions to Clay Eager's Karl Label from London, Ohio. Thanks, Matt! Also check out these labels related to the Karl Label - Anna May Johnson, Coda, Clay Eager, Crawford Bros and Sunny-Lee. Here's some other labels added since the last posting: Bovi, Hollywood New World, Opus, Roll Call, Seaway, Scoot, Stang, Starrett, Top Hit, Tri City, Unity, Vance, Wright-Tone, W.E.C. and Woody. Thanks again to all the contributors to the site! Sincerely, Dan |
Thursday, October 23, 2008 Database is now up to: 812 record labels, 4280 individual records and 3006 images of labels, sleeves, artists, etc. Great progress has been made in all areas including additional labels, listings and images as well as website improvements. The discography of RITE pressings has grown dramatically and will continue to thanks specifically to contributions from Michel Proost as well as Step Baker, Malcolm Chapman and others. The RITE pressing discography can also now be sorted by Artist and Record Label as well as Matrix # and Account #. Some of the new labels added since the last posting include: B & C, Bluegrass (IN), CEI, Cenna Tawni, Chardo, Clock, Dana, Del-Mar, Edg-e, Enola, Ermo, Essgee, Faux Pas, Geauga, India, Indiana, Kentucky (KY), Knoll, Kondas, Kryslar, Kustom, Marconn, Myth, Now!, Pacer, Pal, Palisade, Pampa, Parade, Partner, Pat, Pearl (KY), Pilgrim, Ran-Dell, Right Now!!, S S S, Shenandoah, Sherman, Shirley, Shoremen, Shorty, Shott, Space, Spin, Stripe, Tel Star, Trusty and Wel Burn. MANY existing labels have additional listings and images. It is not easy to pick them out and list them but a few of them include: Bluegrass (Indy), Elgest, Finch, Jalyn, Jewel, Karl, Kasper, Prix and Whirl. Thanks again to recent contributors including Matt Baker, Step Baker, Andrew Bohan, Malcolm Chapman, Steve Foehner, Jim Gray, Udo Frank, Joel Maslin, Michel Proost & Al Turner. Feel free to join the club and add some info! As always, thanks for reading this! Dan |
Friday, October 10, 2008 Database is now up to: 746 record labels, 4093 individual records and 2782 images of labels, sleeves, artists, etc. Wow! Remarkable new information has been added to the website this week. Special thanks to all of you who contributed information recently! Check out the original company materials for the following companies (letterhead); Rite Record Productions, Royal Plastics (King Custom Pressings), Hilltop, Mills/Maarc, (business cards); B & 4, Cabut, V.A.C., (original ads / photos): Athena, Lee, Emerald and Owl. These labels have significant new listings, images and/or artist info: Bramble, Cabell, Canton, Coda, Concept, Esta, Hark, Jalyn, Jewel, Jodda, Johnnycake, Karl, Martin Blue-Grass, Pix, Vangee and Wam. New labels added recently include: Abner, Blugras, Clock, Frolic, Globe Star, Harp, Homestead, KBK, Melody Guy, Nashville North, Out-House, Owl, Peppermint, Rena, Saru, Seven Star and Shaw. Also, many labels and record listings have been added from out of the featured area (OH, IN, KY & WV) as they add to the data on Rite pressings, King pressings, etc. Thanks again to all who have contributed their time, expertise and information to make this site more accurate and complete. You guys are amazing! Sincerely, Dan |
Wednesday, October 1, 2008 The database is now over 4000 listings! Statistics: 733 record labels, 4006 individual records, 2605 images of labels, sleeves, artists, etc. Record Labels by State:
Record Listings by Pressing Plants:
Thanks again to all of you who added information and images from your collections to help build this rare collection of data. I look forward to working with all of you as we seek to reach 5000 listings! Sincerely, Dan |
Friday, September 19, 2008 Database is now up to: 701 record labels, 3824 individual records and 2448 images of labels, sleeves, artists, etc. Largest labels added since last update were Ohio's Wam (18 listings) and West Virginia's Wheeling label (42 listings). Other labels added include Action, Blue Eagle, Co-Co Cleveland, Eldee, H And K, One-Way, Panics, Pennant, Star Trek, Surf, Trim and Way-Vee. Also added more images to Kentucky's Acme label. Due to high winds from the remains of Hurricane Ike last Sunday, much of Southwest Ohio lost power including yours truly. This computer / internet connection was dead from Sunday to Thursday but is now up and running. As always, thanks for reading this! Dan |
Sunday, September 7, 2008 Database is now up to: 691 record labels, 3679 individual records and 2343 images of labels, sleeves, artists, etc. I believe this is one of the most complete discographies in print or online of Harry Glenn's Mar-Vel, Glenn & H And K labels including a photo and brief biography of Glenn. It contains 137 of Glenn's approximately 140+ releases and lists all Mar-Vel, Glenn & H And K releases combined in record number order. Glenn's unusual record numbering system was mixed between labels while giving a consecutive chunk of numbers to each artist. Listing the releases in chronological order would be more confusing. Other than Indiana's Mar-Vel & Glenn labels most database work in the last few weeks has been on adding images and releases to existing labels. Thanks again to all who have contributed info recently! Dan |
Tuesday, August 19, 2008 Database Statistics:
Work on adding new labels has slowed recently as I've tried to keep up with increased submissions from contributors. Your input is highly valued and exciting as I enjoy seeing new labels and releases from this area as much or more than anyone! Contributions are welcome and encouraged, please contact me with any additions or corrections. Of course, a huge thank you to those who are already emailing on a regular basis. One of the keys to this website is the integration between the local artist / labels and the pressing plants where these records were created. Here's what's in the database currently:
Of course, this is just scratching the surface as RITE alone pressed about 20,000 different records during it's 30 years of custom pressing! Look for about 2000 RITE pressings on this website by next spring. Updated Ark with additional info and many more label scans, added Alpat, Alpha Omega, Dean, Kale, Lucky (KY), Pelpal, Raddix, Rockcastle & Wil-Met. Thanks again for reading this, Dan |
Monday, August 4, 2008 Database is now up to: 670 labels (Ohio - 341, Indiana - 97, Kentucky - 76, West Va. - 23), 3459 individual records. This was Mus-I-Col week. Restructured the database to accomodate a recording studio / pressing plant that had records pressed by another pressing plant (Rite) during the first couple years before adding record pressing to their services in 1969. So you can now see the output of the Mus-I-Col Recording Studios separately from releases on the Mus-I-Col label. Other labels added this week include: New Day (Toledo), Imperi & Al, 3-J, Ironbeat, Hull, New Day (Columbus), Brandt, Vernon, Prix, Columbus and Gangland. Enjoy! Dan |
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 Database is now up to:
Recent labels additions include: A & B, Acton, ACTS, Country Sound, Double Dee, Emperor (KY), Mace, Q-Cue, Raven, RoX, Roy, Royal, RS, Showboat, Showcase, Ski, Southtown, Staff, Tip Toe, Town And Country, Tuff, Viola, Wildwood, and Wolf-Tex. Also added many additional listings and images to previously posted labels! |
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 Database is now up to: 626 labels (Ohio - 318, Indiana - 87, Kentucky - 71, West Va. - 19), 3328 individual records. Unveiled a new look yesterday at the top of each page. Who can name the three artists/groups pictured at right? Labels added since the last posting include: Appro, Beetle, Catalina, Dolphin, Emmes, FD Arnold, Injoy Life, Nassau, Nu Sound, Peck, Plaid, Pla Me, Raven (WV), Red Bird, Redda, Relation, RoJam, SAS, Savage, Sunshine, The Ravens, Three Diamonds and Wonder. Check it out! |
Monday, July 7, 2008 Database is now up to:
Labels added this week include: FAF, Oak, Official, Metropolis, Pearl, Penguin, Luau, Nash, Ndugu, New American (check out the improved layout for ep's), Nemfres, Nettus, Pine Tree, Skyline, RCT, Thunderbird, PAQ, Studio, Sterling, GC, Nosnibor, SAB, Sunrise and Vox. If you enjoy the site, send me an email or click on some Google ads. Thanks, Dan |
Monday, June 30, 2008 Database is now up to: 576 labels, 3135 individual records. Now over 3000 listings! Thanks again for all your emails and huge thanks to those who have made significant contributions to the site including Al Turner, Andrew Bohan, Reg Bartlette, Udo Frank, Tim Kays, Tom Arkle and many others. The eventual completeness of this site can only be achieved by a shared effort and I sincerely thank those who are sharing from their collections. Summer is here and that means I'm painting the porch, working in the yard and tinkering in the garage as well as digging through records in the basement and typing on the computer. However, progress is still being made not just in new listings but also in updating existing info and adding more images. Labels added since the last posting here include: Campfire, Clay Eager, Jimmie Williams Sings, Komet, LeRoy's, LTD, Maestro, Master, Melody, Midnight (Mansfield), Midnight (Toledo), Midwestern, Perry, Ralph Johnson, Redbug, Revello, River Witch, Pix, Pixie, Simpson and a few others. Major label additions (thanks to Al Turner) include Arc, Alcar, Brite Star, REM and Kentucky. RITE Record's Kentucky label went from 18 listings to well over 100 with documentation on every release. Enjoy! Dan |
Sunday, June 15, 2008 Database is now up to: 556 labels, 2917 individual records. New labels added include: Way Out, Big Jim, Big Country, VAC, Violet, VLM (Ohio), King Bluegrass (KY), Lincoln, Solid Gold and completed Nabor (IN). Also am constantly adding listings and images throughout the website that are contributed by many different collectors. If you have corrections or additions you'd like to add please send them to my email address above. Please provide the same details you see in the website including matrix numbers, pressing info, etc. Thanks, Dan |
Sunday, June 1, 2008 Database is now up to: 545 labels, 2789 individual records. Busy weekend: added 14 more labels plus completed the Tammy Label with many interesting images. The new labels include: Lawson (Indiana), Lesley, Mir-A-Don, Mac, Mae, Zin-A-Spin (Kentucky), Lanjo, Leaf, Liban, Marylin, Maarc, Mills, Leisure Time and Vous (Ohio). |
Thursday, May 29, 2008 Database is now up to: 531 labels, 2673 individual records. Newest labels on the website include 3 Ohio and 3 Kentucky labels: Reserve, Warwick, Queen-B, Tilt, Trophy International and Bob Mooney's very active REM label from Lexington Kentucky. Check them out! Thanks, Dan |
Friday, May 23, 2008 Database is now up to: 525 labels, 2540 individual records. KING Custom Pressings Identification and Dating info is now posted on the website! Although I've collected data and researched this for about 25 years, it is still a work in progress and subject to future tweaking. Check it out and as always, additional information is always welcome! Recent new listings include: Prudential, Seascape, K & H, Kala, Kalko, Kasko, Kasper, Kay-Gee, WLC, Town-Crier, Tippi, Keet, Keldon, Crystal, Empirestate, Zipp and ZZ. Here's a nice 1987 interview with Jimmie John (James D. Fullen) who recorded a number of interesting tunes for Emperor and his own ZZ label from 1957 to 1961. Enjoy, Dan |
Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Database is now up to: 506 labels, 2477 individual records (Still less than half way but getting interesting!) *** This week I added an Alphabetical Artist Listing of all the artists in the database. Now you can look for information by artist, label, pressing plant, musical style, state and more! Saxony is one of my favorite Cincinnati labels. Great vocal harmony doowop (Rollie Willis & The Contenders, Cabarets) and one of the best girl groups ever (Teardrops) plus some soul and garage releases! Gifted songwriter and Saxony co-founder, Paul Trefzger, still has some original releases available plus cool 45 rpm reissues of hard-to-get Saxony favorites as well as unreleased material. CD's are available too! Click Here for a complete discography of all Saxony originals and reissues. Please visit the Saxony Record Company website to purchase Saxony material! New labels added this week include Jodda, Johnnycake, Juke, June, Jurny, JD, JRE, K, K-W, Ken-H, Walton and Dayton's garage and soul label - Prism. I'll be adding more labels this week that start with "K" and "L". |
Monday, May 5, 2008 Database is now up to: 493 labels, 2363 individual records Received many more emails in the last week. I've enjoyed corresponding with other researchers, label owners and collectors, thanks! Please remember, this website is still in it's infancy. Over the next year it will expand and improve in many ways. Thanks again for your patience as I continue to add individual releases and labels to the database. Most recent additions include Arvis photos, additional Jewel releases plus Jewel subsidary labels Teen and Log Cabin, Ark subsidary Tela-Star plus Tam, Jet (WV) and Lemco. Thanks again, Dan |
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 Database is now up to:
The weather is getting nicer and my wife wants me to do something besides type on the computer. In spite of that, there are some interesting additions to the database in the last week. Most significant are Jack Lynch's Jalyn Label and the start of Rusty York's Jewel Label! Jalyn is complete for now and I'll finish the rest of my current data on Jewel this week. Other interesting labels added this week are Fabar, Hi-Note, Hi-Point, Jamboree, Janet, Jerrlen, Jet and Joni. Enjoy! |
Monday, April 14, 2008 Database is now up to:
Added 25 record labels in the last week including larger labels like Sun-Ray, R D Globe, Goldenrod, Great Scott, Gregory, Atila, Kim, Island and smaller ones including Randolph, Terry-Gregory, Goldcrest, Gra Low, Saga and Honey. There are now over 1200 local label images including record labels, picture sleeves and photos and I'm still just scratching the surface. Currently working on the more significant labels starting with the letter "J". Thanks again for all your emails! Dan |
Monday, April 7, 2008 Database is now up to:
This week Columbia, Capitol and American Record Pressing (ARP) pressing info was expanded and enhanced. King pressing info has also been percolating in the background and is nearly ready to be posted. Recordwise, added a dozen new labels including; Top Dog, Rene', Skoop, Sparkel, White Star, Buz, Jam, Holiday (Columbus, Ohio), Holiday (KY), Glass City, New Song and Nikko. Fraternity Records is now up to 150 listings and continuing to grow. 100's of labels left to go - I'm having fun, I hope you are! |
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 Database is now up to:
Over the weekend completed Finch and Capsoul, added Fujimo, Flying V, Gary, Plato, Flo-Roe. Sunday morning I found 9 different Capsoul 45's in an odd box in my basement so that info is much improved and lots of pictures added! Indiana's Fujimo label is a special one so I took my time and made it as detailed as possible with lots of photos. Working currently on Cincinnati's Fraternity Label. Lots of great records were released on this label that spanned over 25 years and upwards of 400 releases. I don't know of a definitive discography of this label on the web or in print so check it out as it progresses! |
Friday, March 28, 2008 Database is now up to:
This week - completed Blue Onion and Farrall, added - Ebony, Colony, ESV, Emerald, M erald, M Records, Dupree, MC, Glee, DKR, Elysian, Fabar, Falcon, Fan and Fig. A stack of Finch 45's are sitting next to me so they'll be next! |
Monday, March 24, 2008 Current status of the database:
Instead of going slowly through the alphabet, I'm switching to working on completing some of the labels that are already on the site and adding major labels that are the most interest. So here's what's happened over the weekend: completed the following labels; Poor Boy, Karl, Yolk and added; Deco, Donna, Name, Olimpic, Note and Tyme. |
Friday, March 21, 2008 Major labels that start with "C" are in the database so I'm now working on labels that start with "D". The most interesting labels I added or filled out this week are: Emperor, Cozy, Hilltop, Huron and I started on Fraternity. Fraternity will have about 400 listings when complete so for now I listed some of the cool, early ones. Also check out "The History of King Records." |
Monday, March 17, 2008 Modified the Labels table so the state index pages (OH, IN, KY & WV) now show how many individual listings there are for each label. Not all labels had equal output so this shows which labels issued more records.
Added 12 more labels that start with "C" including Clearhill and Counterpart (77 listings!) Should get well into the D's this week. Yes, I do go to work everyday so I can only do this when time is available. I've received a number of very nice e-mails from some of you. A sincere thank you to those who took time to tell me what you think (all positive so far!) Please tell your friends so more may enjoy the information! |
Friday, March 14, 2008 Took a break from the "C" labels and did Larry Short's Ruby Label from Hamilton Ohio. 40+ listings and nearly 40 photos including a picture sleeve (with no picture) and a photo of Arnold Van Winkle in the Ruby Recording Studio. Check it out! |
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Added 20 more labels, most of which start with the letter C, including these favorites: Capsoul, Cardinal, De'Besth and Cinemasound. Probably have 20 more "C" labels to go before I'm up to the D's. Enjoy! |
Sunday, March 9, 2008 A big snowstorm allowed some extra updating the last couple of days. I added a RITE Discography sorted by Account Numbers. This is interesting as it shows which labels are related. Check it out here! Added over 100 new photos plus added or made major updates to about 25 labels including Carlco, Spangle, Terry, Savoy, Tammy, Clover, Early Bird, Drive, Debonair, Vincent, Vangee, Dani, Dale, Daysel, Dess, Duncan, Tally, Elgest, Claudra, Cherry, Cherokee and more. The ones in bold can be clicked on to go there. The old website used standard HTML and all the pages ended in .htm. The new site depends on PHP scripting so all the pages end in .php. If I didn't preserve the old site it would have no continuity in search engines and basically be a completely new site. I've spent a great deal of time the last few days modifying the old website so people could still find it. |
Wednesday, March 5, 2008 Today is the day! I've switched this website over to the new database driven design that's been in development for over three months. I hope you find it interesting, but keep in mind the database is less than 10% complete! |
Monday, March 3, 2008 Current status of the database:
Added the following labels: Blue Dot, Blue Giant, Blue Grass Special, Blue Jay, Bobby, Bold, Boone, Bonzana (OH & KY), Boss, Bounty, Bowery, Box, Brock, Bluegrass (IN), Bryte, Buckeye, Bur-K, Burdette, B-W, Blue Onion, Hard Times and Saxony. The ones I like the best are in bold (check out Saxony!) and you can click on them and go there from here. All major labels that start with "B" are now on the website. Over 100 more images have been added! |
Friday, February 29, 2008 I made one page today but it took all day, it's the Rite company owned labels information. Check it out here. Also I posted a letter to Carl Burkhardt, owner/founder of Rite records from early 1950. This is part of the stuff Carl gave me a long time ago. It's interesting just for being so old! |
Thursday, February 28, 2008 The last few days have been spent getting the website ready to launch. Created new pages and content for picture sleeves, ep's and company sleeves. These have temporary content so they are attractive but will eventually have their own separate databases of information. Also have converted links page, 45 rpm history, RCA record players & individual dating information pages for RITE, RCA, QCA, KING, Monarch, Musicol and RITE's in-house labels to new php scripted pages. Plus lots more details that are too boring to list. |
Sunday, February 24, 2008 Current status of the database:
Added 18 images and completed the following labels; Fern, Patrice, Kernel and Whispering Pines. Rite listing is complete through the end of 1960. Revised Rite account numbering so the 1st appearance of a new Rite account number is now marked with an asterisk * instead of being bold. (HTML coding for bold caused it not to sort properly.) |
Saturday, February 23, 2008 Added 22 images and the following labels: Mandingo, B & 4, Ban Com, Baron, Bay Shore, Bel-Kay, Ben, BES, BFM, Amos Johnson, Big Bang, BiM, Blackcrest, Blank and Blue Angel. |
Friday, February 22, 2008 Current status of the database:
Added 14 Ohio labels including Early, Eastwood, Harvey, Hilltop (Cin), Jeanie, Lads, Lemon Lime, Oh My, Pattie, PJ, Reese, Shawnee, Sure Play and The Livin' End plus photos for most of those labels. Also completed the Lee label. |
Thursday, February 21, 2008 Completed the Destiny label. Worked on completing the Rite discography through 1960. Major labels that start with the letter A are now on the website. |