Rocket To Russia – the record club releases

A newspaper ad for Columbia Record Club from 1978. CRC sold 8-track 

tapes until 1988 and vinyl albums until 1992.

Columbia Record Club, CRC, was formed in 1955 by CBS/Columbia Records. The idea was to distribute records directly by mail. By 1975 the record club had over 3 million members.

In 1977 Rocket To Russia was offered to the these members. The copies I have seen has all been pressed at the Columbia pressing plant in Santa Maria, CA (identified by the code S1 handwritten in the dead wax).

The labels of these CRC releases have a different look compared with the normal Sire/Warner release. The typesetting is different and the Columbia pressings has a bigger circular indent on the labels. This is the easiest way to identify them. But the Columbia staff had problems marking the labels with the correct distributor. Some copies have "MARKETED BY ABC RECORDS" in the outer rim (wrong, it was Warner by the time of the release of Rocket To Russia), other have the correct information "MARKETED BY WARNER" and a third version have no info at all.

The sleeve marked with "CRC" on the spine.

The only sign on the sleeve that this is a record club release is a small "CRC" printed on the spine (see picture). But I have also seen copies without the mark, if these records have ended up in a wrong sleeve somewhere or if CRC printed sleeves without the mark, I don't know. Same goes for the printed inner sleeve with lyrics. Some copies have the inner, some don't.

But if you find a copy of Rocket To Russia with this label design, at least the record is a CRC pressing:

Matrix number: SR 6042 - A - 1A   SXT   STERLING S1  /  SR 6042 - B - 1A   SXT   STERLING S1

Year: 1977 (?).

Notes: Pressed at the Columbia Santa Maria Pressing Plant (S1) for Columbia Record Club. No info in the outer rim.

Matrix number: SR 6042 - A - 1A   STERLING S1  /  SR 6042 - B - 1A   STERLING S1

Year: 1977 (?).

Notes: Pressed at the Columbia Santa Maria Pressing Plant (S1) for Columbia Record Club. Marked with Warner in the outer rim. The sleeve has CMC on the spine.

Apart from the CMC mark the sleeves are the same as on the ordinary retail version. The same goes for the inner sleeve.

Rocket To Russia part 1 – the US pressings