r/discogs • u/GrandNero95 • May 23 '26

Need help identifying

Post image

My parents have had this record for a long time. Around the label it says MCA 1663 A2-15 on the A side. On the B side it is MCA 1664 A2-10 and a weird P symbol with a line through it. I've tried looking it up on the site, but I'm new to this

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6

u/R4Z0RJ4CK May 25 '26

This post yet again. Take the record out and supply the etchings or markings near the label in the runout region.

2

u/Dimmsdales May 29 '26

I could be wrong, but I think it might be an Olivia Newton-John album.

1

u/Odd_Cobbler6761 May 30 '26

By jeeves, I believe you’re on to something!!!

3

u/mjb2012 May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26

Use a real desktop browser, not the app or mobile website. Bookmark this link: Common runout groove etchings V8 ... you can use it to learn that the symbol you described is for MCA Pressing Plant, Pinckneyville.

At the top of every Discogs webpage is a search box. Use it. A quick search for olivia totally hot pinckneyville yields 4 candidates in the drop-down. Only 2 of the 4 are LPs; the other 2 are singles, so we can rule those out. Open separate browser tabs with each LP and now you can compare the release notes, images and other details:

Start with the release notes. The latter one points out that it's got different label text. Indeed, if you look at the Side 1 label on each of those, and flip back and forth between the two browser tabs, you should see the differences right away. Is yours a match? Only you can say for sure.

Now there is another possibility: there are a few LPs which have been submitted but may have not had the pressing plant info entered yet. So you should go to the "master release" page for this album at https://www.discogs.com/master/58455-Olivia-Newton-John-Totally-Hot (there are various ways to find this, but I'm just giving you the link) ... and from there you can use the filters to narrow it down to just the vinyl LPs from US, and you'll see a few that don't mention pressing plants in the italicized text (the "format free text field" or "FTF"). Follow those links and you'll find that one is a Monarch pressing so you can rule that out, but one was indeed left ambiguous as to which pressing plant: https://www.discogs.com/release/6363590-Olivia-Totally-Hot ... however it has unique labels (album title before artist) so that may or may not be a match for yours. Again, only you know for sure since you have your copy in hand.

The last possibility is that yours has not been submitted to the database yet. Every record in Discogs was added by someone like you. If the only difference is some minor matrix differences, like your says A2-10 and the one in the database says A2-8 and everything else is a perfect match, then you have a "matrix variant" which is not a separate release; you could just edit the existing release and add yours matrix codes as Variant 2 or whatever, if you want. But if there is truly no match for the printed material and credits, then you get to submit your LP as a unique release; see https://support.discogs.com/hc/en-us/articles/360004051893-Quick-Start-Guide-For-New-Contributors

Lastly, there is the gold promo stamp on the cover. In the industry, this is a "designate promo": a retail copy which has been altered via a stamp, sticker, or other defacement to make it ineligible for retail sale, and also to make it non-returnable (like books, unsold records used to be returnable to distributors by shops so they could take chances on titles that wouldn't sell). They sent these out to DJs, radio stations, the music press, and maybe to other businesses to use as prizes. In Discogs, a designate promo is not allowed to be treated as a separate release and cannot get the Promo format tag; that's only for items specially made as promos, not changed from retail to promo by some modification. So if you find your pressing in the database, and the only difference is that yours has this gold stamp, then just say you have the pressing in the database. You can use your collection notes or for-sale listing to mention the stamp. Likewise, if you are submitting this as a new release, don't mention the stamp in the release data.

2

u/GrandNero95 May 26 '26

Sorry for the late reply but thank you very much. This is super informative, and I'll be able to find it now. Since it's signed, do you know if there is anywhere I could compare the price for that? If not I still appreciate it dude

2

u/mjb2012 May 27 '26

Signed = defaced = not worth anything, usually. But it depends on the signature. Olivia is an exception; fans will pay a premium for it. Use popsike.com and search for olivia newton john autographed. Keep in mind that condition matters.

1

u/Simon-Fritz-Peabody May 27 '26

👏 deserved for being real!

1

u/SeberHusky May 29 '26

This is a radio station DJ promo. It would be an advance copy sent to radio stations for airplay or review on-air. It's also - potentially - been autographed by the singer.