Label Scan
Number - Release Date - Artist - Songs
Columbia started issuing stereo singles in October, 1969, and typically they were clearly marked. The first two used the same catalog sequence as mono singles, but in December, 1969, until April, 1970, an "S" was inserted in the catalog number after the initial "4", making the prefix "4S-" instead of just "4-".
Columbia started pressing mono/stereo promos in January, 1970. Typically, the promos before this had a
white label with red print, with the "A" side marked with a large blue "A". The new stereo side of the
promos had a turquoise label with yellow and black print, as shown at right.
Columbia had long used a solid red label with black print (shown top left). From April to July, 1970, two of the three Columbia pressing plants (Terre Haute, IN and Pitman, NJ) used a label design with a repeating "Columbia Records" in white around the edge (shown middle left). These two plants shifted for a short time in July-August, 1970, to a label design with "Columbia Records" used more-or-less as wallpaper in the background (shown bottom left). These two plants reverted to the solid red Columbia label in late August. The Santa Maria, CA, plant used the solid red Columbia label throughout this time, so original pressings from this period may have different label designs depending on where they were pressed.
4-45048 - 11/69 - Spiral Starecase featuring Pat Upton - She's Ready/Judas To The Love We Knew [see note 1]
4S-45072 - 12/69 - Barbra Streisand - Before The Parade Passes By/Love Is Only Love
4S-45073 - 12/69 - Tony Bennett - Coco/Little Green Apples
4S-45082 - 1/70 - Raiders - Just Seventeen/Sorceress With Blue Eyes
4S-45097 - 2/70 - Gary Puckett & The Union Gap - Let's Give Adam And Eve Another Chance/The Beggar
4S-45099 - 3/70 - Charlie Byrd - I'll Walk With The Rain/I'll Never Fall In Love Again
4S-45104 - 2/70 - Johnny Mathis - Odds And Ends/For All We Know
4S-45109 - 2/70 - Tony Bennett - Something/Eleanor Rigby
4S-45106 - 2/70 - Jerry Naylor - But Fpor Love/Angeline
4S-45110 - 2/70 - Ronnie Dyson - (If You Let Me Make Love To You Then) Why Can't I Touch You?/Girl Don't Come
4S-45114 - 3/70 - Percy Faith - Airport Love Theme/Theme For Young Lovers (Where Is My Someone)
4S-45117 - 3/70 - Mac Davis - Whoever Finds This I Love You/Half And Half (Song For Sarah)
4S-45118 - 3/70 - Jerry Vale - Hello And Goodbye/Look Homeward Angel
4S-45123 - 3/70 - Denny Belline - Living Without You/Forget About Me
4S-45125 - 3/70 - Mark Lindsay - Miss America/Small Town Woman
4S-45126 - 3/70 - Jim Nabors - Tomorrow Never Comes/It's My Life
4S-45127 - 3/70 - Chicago - Make Me Smile/Colour My World
4S-45128 - 3/70 - Janis Joplin - Maybe/Work Me Lord
4S-45129 - 3/70 - Good News - Speakin' The Unknown Tongue/Open The Gates
4S-45130 - 3/70 - The Mash - Song From M*A*S*H [see note 2]//Johnny Mandel - The M*A*S*H March
4S-45131 - 3/70 - Jerry Fuller - I Know We Can Make It/Could It Be
4S-45132 - 3/70 - Carl Perkins - State Of Confusion/My Son, My Son
4S-45134 - 3/70 - Johnny Cash - What Is Truth/Sing A Traveling Song
4S-45135 - 3/70 - Chuck Woolery - Heaven Here On Earth/The Pleasure Of Her Company
4S-45138 - 4/70 - Freddy Weller - Listen To The Young Folks/That Little Boy
4S-45146 - 4/70 - Chambers Brothers - Let's Do It (Do It Together)/To Love Somebody
4S-45149 - 4/70 - Tom Rush - Drop Down Mama/Child's Song
4S-45150 - 4/70 - Raiders - Gone Movin' On/Interlude (To Be Forgotten)
Label changes to red label with "Columbia Records" repeating around the edge for pressings at the Terre Haute, IN, plant and the Pitman, NJ, plant. The Santa Maria, CA, plant continued using the solid red label..
4-45157 - 4/70 - Tony Bennett - Think How It's Gonna Be/Everybody's Talkin'
4-45158 - 4/70 - Pacific Gas & Electric - Are You Ready [see note 3]/Staggolee
4-45159 - 4/70 - Patti Page - I Wish I Had A Mommy Like You/He'll Never Take The Place Of You
4-45160 - 4/70 - O.C. Smith - Primrose Lane/Melodee
4-45166 - 5/70 - Illinois Speed Press - Sadly Out Of Place/Country Dumplin'
4-45169 - 8/70 - Diane Kolby - Holy Man/Hallelujah, Baby [see note 4]
4-45171 - 5/70 - Miles Davis - Miles Runs The Voodoo Down/Spanish Key
4-45174 - 6/70 - Eddy Jacobs Exchange - Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)/Can't Seem To Get You Out Of My Mind
4-45180 - 5/70 - Mark Lindsay - Silver Bird/So Hard To Leave You
4-45185 - 6/70 - Tom Rush - Lost My Drivin' Wheel/Old Man's Song
4-45192 - 6/70 - Mac Davis - I'll Paint You A Song/Closest I Ever Came
4-45193 - 6/70 - Crossroads featuring David Liska - Shannon/Cherry Berry Baby
4-45195 - 6/70 - Jerry Hahn Brotherhood - Captain Bobby Stout (2:59 edit)/Thursday Thing
4-45198 - 7/70 - Peter Nero - Great Hits Of Summer Medley/Something
4-45199 - 7/70 - Bob Dylan - Wigwam/Copper Kettle (The Pale Moonlight)
4-45204 - 7/70 - Blood, Sweat & Tears - Hi-De-Ho/The Battle
4-45205 - 7/70 - Tony Bennett - Something/Think How It's Gonna Be
Label changes to red "wallpaper label" for pressings at the Terre Haute, IN, plant and the Pitman, NJ, plant. The Santa Maria, CA, plant continued using the solid red label.
4-45211 - 7/70 - Johnn Cash - Sunday Morning Coming Down/I'm Gonna Try To Be That Way
4-45215 - 8/70 - Marty Robbins - Jolie Girl/The City
4-45218 - 8/70 - Earl Scruggs - Nashville Skyline Rag/Train Number Forty-Five
Label reverts to the solid red label for all plants.
4-45219 - 8/70 - Al Capps Band - Odyssey Park Rock/Sissy Strut
4-45221 - 8/70 - Pacific Gas And Electric - Father Come On Home/Elvira
4-45224 - 11/70 - Chuck Woolery - Hey Baby/Soft Velvet Love
4-45229 - 9/70 - Mark Lindsay - And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind/Funny How Little Men Care
4-45235 - 9/70 - Blood, Sweat & Tears - Lucretia Mac Evil/Lucretia's Response
4-45236 - 9/70 - Barbra Streisand - Stoney End/I'll Be Home
4-45237 - 8/70 - Simon & Garfunkel - El Condor Pasa/Why Don't You Write Me
4-45239 - 10/70 - Our Brothers Keeper - You Been A Long Time Comin'/Sunday People
4-45246 - 9/70 - Andy Williams - Home Lovin' Man/Whistling Away The Dark
4-45249 - 9/70 - Gary Puckett - I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself/All That Matters
4-45261 - 10/70 - Jerry Vale - You Gave Me A Reason (To Believe)/It Won't Hurt To Try
4-45263 - 10/70 - Johnny Mathis - Evil Ways/Until It's Time For You To Go
4-45264 - 11/70 - Chicago - Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?/Listen
4-45266 - 11/70 - John Cale - Big White Cloud/Gideon's Bible
4-45267 - 11/70 - Ray Conniff And The Singers - Loss Of Love/Everybody Knows
4-45269 - 11/70 - Johnny Cash - Flesh And Blood/This Side Of The Law
4-45270 - 10/70 - Santana - Black Magic Woman/Hope You're Feeling Better
4-45273 - 11/70 - Marty Robbins - Padre/At Times
4-45276 - 11/70 - Freddy Weller - The Promised Land/Goodnight Sandy
4-45277 - 11/70 - Chambers Brothers - Funky/Love, Peace And Happiness
4-45285 - 12/70 - Hershel Bernardi - Pencil Marks On The Wall/In My Own Lifetime
4-45286 - 12/70 - Mark Lindsay - Problem Child/Bookends
4-45312 - 12/70 - Ballin' Jack - Super Highway/Only A Tear
Columbia Notes:
1. Original pressings of 4-45048, crediting only "Spiral Starecase," were pressed in mono. Second pressings, in addition to adding Pat Upton to the credits, were clearly marked "Stereo."
2. Some copies show side 1 as "Suicide Is Painless."
3. Promo 45 is mono/stereo with stereo side the full 5:49 album version, while the mono side had a 2:40 radio edit. Commercial copies had the full version.
4. Columbia 4-45169 was issued after the change to the "wallpaper label".
During 1968-1970, Epic did not put out many stereo singles; we have only found four commercial singles over that time.
Epic did issue quite a few stereo promotion copies, however. In addition to the four commercial singles listed below, the following had stereo promo copies (mono/stereo A-sides) with mono commercial copies: Kak (10383), Kaleidoscope (10500), Hollies (10532), Charlie Rich (10585), Jason Cain (10600), Velvet Hammer (10617), Edgar Winter (10618), Jimmy Payne (10620), Carp (10632), Jody Miller (10641), Bobby Vinton (10689) and David Houston (10696). Epic started pressing mono/stereo promos in September, 1968.
5-10634 - 6/70 - Mashmakhan - As The Years Go By/Days When We Were Free [see note 2]
5-10640 - 7/70 - Georgie Fame - Fire And Rain/The Movie Star Song
5-10649 - 7/70 - Donovan - Riki Tiki Tavi/Roots Of Oak [see note 2]
Epic Notes:
1. Mono master numbers started with "ZSP-", while stereo master numbers started with "ZSS-". Promo copies had a "J" before the regular master number, e.g., "JZSP-" or "JZSS-".
2. Not all pressings of "As The Years Go By" or "Riki Tiki Tavi" were marked stereo, but all had the stereo master numbers on the label.
Barnaby was Andy Williams' label, distributed by Columbia. We could find no commercial stereo singles during 1968-70, but it is possible that 2020 might be stereo if a commercial copy exists. There were several promotional stereo singles in 1970, and more starting in 1971. They issued a few commercial stereo singles in 1971 (see lower left), and by late 1971 commercial stereo singles became common.
ZS7 2020 DJ - 9/70 - Ken Berry - Lonely Street/Ain't That A Shame [see note 1]
ZS7 2022 - 10/70 - Claudine Longet - Broomstick Cowboy (M/S) [see note 1]
ZS7 2024 - 12/70 - Ray Stevens - Bridget The Midget (Queen Of The Blues) (M/S) [see note 2]
Barnaby Notes:
1. Possibly promo only; we have not seen a commercial copy.
2. Commercial single is mono.
Date was a subsidiary of Columbia. Their first stereo single was a mono/stereo promo issued in May, 1969. They began releasing stereo commercial singles in April, 1970.
2-1671 - 4/70 - Magnet - Everything/Something To Remember Me By [see note 1]
2-1672 - 5/70 - Arbors - Okalona River Bottom Band/Julie, I Tried
2-1673 - 5/70 - Everybody's Children - The Time Is Now/Abide With Me
2-1675 - 8/70 - Terry Rice-Milton - You're My World/Sure Enough Baby
2-1676 - 10/70 - Peaches & Herb - Soothe Me With Your Love/We're So Much In Love
Other promotional stereo singles:
2-1645 - 5/69 - Arbors - I Can't Quit Her (M/S) [see note 2]
Date Notes:
1. Promo is mono.
2. This song includes parts of the Paul Simon song "For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her." Some commercial labels also include that in the title, and some don't. The mono/stereo promo just used "I Can't Quit Her" as the title. The commercial copy is mono.
Gamble Records was run by Gamble and Huff out of Philadelphia. We found no promotional or commercial stereo singles from 1968-1970, Gamble began releasing stereo singles (both promotional and commercial) in 1971.
Immediate was a British label, distributed in the US by Columbia/Epic to mid-summer, 1969. During this time, there were no stereo singles, either commercial or promotional.
In August, 1969, Immediate issued a stereo single (both promo and commercial) after going independent with promotion.
IMOC 001 - 8/69 - Humble Pie - Natural Born Woman (M/S)
Commercial stereo single:
IMOC 001 - 8/69 - Humble Pie - Natural Born Woman/I'll Go Alone
Okeh was a longtime subsidiary of Columbia Records. We found no stereo singles, either promotional or commercial, between 1968 and 1970.
Thunder was the label for Nils Lofgren's debut with his Washington, DC bandmates Grin. "We All Sung Together" was released in September, 1970. It was a local hit if nothing else, as the group was quite popular in the DC area. It was distributed by CBS. But unfortunately, another label had used the name in 1967, so the owners of the label changed the name to Spindizzy for future Grin releases. The lone release on this label was mono.
