 Melodiya Single-Pocket Sleeve |
INDEX
|
|
|
TITLE
|
A TASTE OF HONEY ВКУС МЁДА |
||||
| CATALOG NUMBER | С60 23581 008 |
||||
|
RELEASE DATE
|
27th January 1986 / First Press? |
||||
| TRACK LISTING | SIDE 1 | SIDE 2 | |||
| P.S. I Love You P.S. Я люблю тебя Lennon–McCartney |
I Don't Want to Spoil the
Party (*on the back cover) Не хочу испортить вечер Lennon–McCartney |
||||
| Do You Want to Know a Secret? Хочешь узнать тайну? Lennon–McCartney |
Rock and Roll Music Рок-н-ролл Chuck Barry (*on the back cover) |
||||
| A Taste of Honey Вкус мёда Scott–Marlow |
Please Mister Postman Мистер почтальон Holland |
||||
| I Saw Her Standing There Я увидел её Lennon–McCartney |
It Won't Be Long Это не надолго Lennon–McCartney |
||||
| Baby’s in Black Она в трауре Lennon–McCartney |
Till There Was You Пока была ты Willson |
||||
| No Reply Ответа нет Lennon–McCartney |
Little Child Детка Lennon–McCartney |
||||
| I'll Follow the
Sun Я пойду за солнцем Lennon–McCartney |
Devil in Her
Heart Злое сердце Drapkin |
||||
| Eight Days a Week Восемь дней в неделю Lennon–McCartney |
I Wanna Be
Your Man Хочу быть твоим Lennon–McCartney |
||||
| FRONT --> Click! | BACK --> Click! | SIDE 1 --> Click! | SIDE 2 --> Click! | DISC --> Click! | |
| |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| INNER SLEEVE | FRONT COVER CLOSE-UP | ||||
| Sorry, I don't
have it. |
Sorry, I don't have it. |  |
The EMI and Melodiya logos are shown together at the top right. | ||
| FRONT COVER CLOSE-UP | BACK COVER CLOSE-UP | ||||
 |
The Russian titles “БИТЛЗ” (“The Beatles”)
and “ВКУС МЁДА” (“A Taste of Honey”) are printed on the
front cover. |
 |
The Melodiya logo and the Cyrillic names
of the USSR Ministry of Culture and All-Union Record Company
appear at the upper left of the back cover. |
||
| BACK COVER CLOSE-UP | |||||
 |
The back cover credits “Rock and Roll
Music” to “Chuck Barry” (instead of Chuck Berry) |
||||
 |
The back cover gives “I DON’T WANT TO SPOLL
THE PARTY” (instead of “SPOIL”). |
||||
| BACK COVER CLOSE-UP | |||||
 |
The back cover retains the
bilingual “Художник Ю. Лоев / Cover design by Yu. Loev”
credit and the article code “АРТ. 11-1.” BeatlesVinyl
identifies this as the earliest documented Leningrad sleeve
variant. |
||||
 |
Printing date and article code. The Leningrad printing line reads 27.01.86 / З.136-о-20000 (27th January 1986). A second early variation, 1a-2, bears the same date but has article code “АРТ. 11-5.” The “АРТ. 11-1” code on the present sleeve is considered a printing error. The figure “20000” in the printing/order line is not evidence of the vinyl pressing quantity. | ||||
| LABEL CLOSE-UP | |||||
 |
 |
||||
| Both labels
have an off-white background with black print. The upper
half features the boxed Melodiya emblem, “МИНИСТЕРСТВО
КУЛЬТУРЫ СССР” (USSR Ministry of Culture), “ВСЕСОЮЗНАЯ ФИРМА
ГРАМПЛАСТИНОК” (All-Union Record Company), “МЕЛОДИЯ”, and
“ЛЕНИНГРАДСКИЙ ЗАВОД” (Leningrad Plant). |
The lower left
shows "СТЕРЕО", the linked-circle stereo mark, "33", "ГОСТ
5289-80", and the respective side catalog number. The
right-hand side carries "Гр. 3. 3-25" and the side number. |
||||
| LABEL CLOSE-UP | |||||
 |
 |
 |
|||
| The album title
is printed as "Битлз. Вкус меда"; track titles are in
Russian and the four musicians’ names are listed beneath
them. |
The Side 2 label shows the
side catalog number “С60-23582” and the side number “2”. |
||||
 |
"Manufactured under license of
EMI Records, Великобритания" (Great Britain) occupies the
lower rim area. |
||||
| OTHER ITEM | |||||
| - | |||||
| LABEL | Melodiya / off-white labels with black print; Type 1 (without DMM indication or a printed release year). | ||||
| MIX | STEREO |
||||
| MATRIX No. | SIDE 1 | С60-23581/4-2 | |||
| SIDE 2 | С60-23582/4-2 | ||||
| VINYL COLOR | BLACK | ||||
| RECORD COMPANY'S NAME | Melodiya (Мелодия), the state-owned All-Union record company under the Ministry of Culture of the USSR. | ||||
| PRESSING PLANT | Leningrad Record Plant
(Ленинградский завод), as printed prominently on both labels
and on the sleeve. |
||||
| EMI LICENSE CREDIT | "Manufactured under license of EMI Records, Великобритания" (Great Britain) appears on both labels and on the lower back cover. | ||||
| COVER FORM | Single-pocket sleeve; non-laminated. | ||||
| PRINTER CREDIT | “ЛЕНИНГРАДСКИЙ ЗАВОД
ГРАМПЛАСТИНОК” and “Тип. завода” (plant printing works)
appear in the lower panel, with 27.01.86 and the
printing/order line “З.136-о-20000”. |
||||
| COVER DESIGN/ PHOTO/ NOTES | Sleeve design credited to Yu.
Loev. The cover incorporates four Beatles portraits associated with the 1968 White Album, while the recording selection is from 1962–1964. |
||||
| INNER SLEEVE | Original inner-sleeve type and
original sleeve/disc pairing not established. |
||||
| PRODUCER | George Martin (producer of the original recordings; not credited on this release). | ||||
| COMMENTS | RELEASE BACKGROUND / COMMENTS Melodiya released A Taste of Honey in January 1986, alongside its Soviet edition of A Hard Day’s Night. It comprises sixteen early Beatles performances in a sequence assembled for the Soviet market. The title is taken from "A Taste of Honey", a song composed by Bobby Scott and Ric Marlow and recorded by the Beatles for Please Please Me. The track program differs from their original British LPs. The two Soviet LPs were also issued together as a two-record set. A study of Soviet record production identifies this LP among the early Beatles releases associated with Melodiya’s introduction of Direct Metal Mastering (DMM) in 1986. However, not every sleeve, label, or matrix carries a DMM marking, and this particular pressing is not marked DMM. BeatlesVinyl documents multiple Melodiya pressing plants and matrix suffixes. The С60-23581/4-2 / С60-23582/4-2 pair is Combination 3 on its Leningrad Plant page and Combination 12 on the combined catalog page. The Melodiya labels and sleeve identify the Leningrad plant. Although this copy has the earliest documented sleeve printing and an early white-label design, there is no evidence establishing that the disc itself came from the very first pressing batch or was originally packaged in this specific sleeve. The bilingual "Manufactured under license of EMI Records" statement distinguishes this Melodiya issue from the later AnTrop releases. Here the wording is physically printed on both the sleeve and labels. JACKET & ARTWORK The front cover features a brown, fabric-like graphic background with bold red English lettering "THE BEATLES" and "A TASTE OF HONEY". A tilted square contains four portraits of the Beatles arranged in a two-by-two grid. The portraits are associated with the 1968 White Album era, although the recordings on this LP date from 1962 to 1964. At the lower left, the Cyrillic group name БИТЛЗ appears above the title ВКУС МЁДА . The EMI and Melodiya trademarks are shown together at the top right. The back cover repeats the brown background and album title. A photograph of honeycomb with dripping honey occupies the center. The right-hand side lists all sixteen selections, first in Russian and then in English, together with songwriting credits and running times. The four musicians’ names appear in English and Cyrillic at the upper left. The licensing, factory, price and print-order information is grouped in an orange panel near the bottom. BACK COVER & PRESSING VARIATIONS 1st Sleeve / Leningrad Variation 1a-1. The back cover retains the bilingual “Художник Ю. Лоев / Cover design by Yu. Loev” credit and the article code “АРТ. 11-1.” BeatlesVinyl identifies this as the earliest documented Leningrad sleeve variant. Printing date and article code. The Leningrad printing line reads 27.01.86 / З.136-о-20000 (27th January 1986). A second early variation, 1a-2, bears the same date but has article code “АРТ. 11-5.” The “АРТ. 11-1” code on the present sleeve is considered a printing error. The figure “20000” in the printing/order line is not evidence of the vinyl pressing quantity. Misprints. The back cover credits “Rock and Roll Music” to “Chuck Barry” (instead of Chuck Berry) and gives “I DON’T WANT TO SPOLL THE PARTY” (instead of “SPOIL”). Later sleeves.
LABEL DETAILS Both labels use an off-white paper background with black print. The upper half carries the stylized Melodiya emblem in a rectangular box, "МИНИСТЕРСТВО КУЛЬТУРЫ СССР" (Ministry of Culture of the USSR), "ВСЕСОЮЗНАЯ ФИРМА ГРАМПЛАСТИНОК" (All-Union record company), the large "МЕЛОДИЯ" name, and "ЛЕНИНГРАДСКИЙ ЗАВОД" (Leningrad Plant). A horizontal dividing line runs immediately above the stereo/speed information. The lower left shows "СТЕРЕО", the linked-circle stereo mark, "33", "ГОСТ 5289-80", and the respective side catalog number. The right-hand side carries "Гр. 3. 3-25" and the side number. The album title is printed as "Битлз. Вкус меда"; track titles are in Russian and the four musicians’ names are listed beneath them. "Manufactured under license of EMI Records, Великобритания" occupies the lower rim area. Label classification: This record has the documented Leningrad White Label Variation 1, the only recorded Leningrad white-label variant without a DMM marking. Neither label carries a release year. The printed ГОСТ 5289-80 (1980 state standard) is consistent with the approximately 1986–1988 period assigned to undated labels carrying this standard; it is not a manufacture date. The disc bears the verified 4-2 / 4-2 matrix pairing, listed as Combination 3 for Leningrad Plant and Combination 12 in the multi-plant table. References:
|
||||
