It’s often thought that 78 rpm and vinyl records were always issued black in color – but in reality, colored 78 rpms and vinyl has been around since the early 1900’s.
It is not a recent invention.
As one member of the 78-L discussion list noted recently:
Throughout the 78, LP, and 45 era, recordings were issued in various colors other than black. Color didn’t affect the sound. Common colors were yellow, blue and red.
As a general rule however, shellac and vinyl in their pure forms are often white/pale yellow and translucent, or semi-transparent. Lampblack was often added to give the traditional black color to vinyl and shellac. Different additive – different color.
However, not only were basic colors used for 78s and vinyl pressings. Multi-colored 78’s were also issued on some vertical-cut Vocalions as early as 1918 and Vogue issued a series of 78 rpm recordings featuring illustrations and photo of performers. [See photo for example]
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Colored records other than black go back to some of the FIRST records issued. Beyond the silvery tinfoil, the first wax records were yellow. Then otfen brown. Only after the turn of the 20th century did they become black to match Berliner’s discs. One of Victor and Columbia’s first disc competitors was American, and their discs were blue. The first celluloid cylinders (in the U.S.) were Lamberts and most were pink, but some were white. Of course Vocalion and Perfect records were pressed in red shellac, and in the 30s, there were the Columbia Royal Blues.
RCA Victor’s 45s were often issued in blue vinyl during the 1950’s and some of the first pressings on LP and 45 both were yellow (gold) vinyl.
There were also some 78s that were multi colored – with the wildest swirls imaginable. They are called “splash” records. Aeolian Vocalion put one of them out in red-white-and-blue to commemorate the “end” of of WW I. There was also a short-lived series of Pathes that mixed red and black shellac.
As for vinyl, Flexo; one of the first companies to issued colored vinyl records; issued discs in a whole range of colors, some transparent and some opaque. The 16-inch Flexo Brunswick ETs were transparent blue, and since the plastic was cellulose acetate, the labels told you to only use special acetate needles.
The vinyl that World Broadcasting System used for their non-flex ETs was slightly translucent purple. Victor used black for their Victrolac and vinyl pressings until the mid-40s when they put out the transparent Ruby Red Red Seal DeLuxe 78s and their color-coded 45s.
World Pacific or Pacific Jazz issued recordings on yellow vinyl. According to Goldmine’s book on jazz LP values, Fantasy’s 10″ LPs have been seen on red, blue, green, and purple vinyl. Some were on rainbow-like pressings of different colors. Beginning with their 12″ line in 1955, all new albums were pressed on red vinyl. There was often a mottling effect of the red dye in the vinyl. From 1958 on, pressings were in translucent red until the early ’60s.
In soundtrack collecting, the most famous example of a beautiful multicolor “splash vinyl” LP is the soundtrack on Dot to Jerry Lewis’ “Cinderfella. Actually the second pressing is black, and is probably rarer (thought not as pretty). For awhile in the 70s/80s Columbia issued blue vinyl 45rpm DJ pressings
Other color vinyl soundtracks:
- ‘The Color Purple’ 2LP set -a beautiful lavender.
- The 1978 reissue of “Silent Running” on Varese Sarabande is green vinyl
- ‘Lost Horizon’ on Bell label has a blue vinyl edition
- ‘The Deep’ has a blue vinyl issue
Many budget label studio tracks had color pressings as well, e.g. Royle, Mayfair etc
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