Imperial Release Number Question

[Denbo]

Just out of curiosity, does anybody know why some US Imperial 45rpm releases have an 'X' in front of the release number, eg X5945

[Robbk]

12 hours ago, denbo said:

Just out of curiosity, does anybody know why some US Imperial 45rpm releases have an 'X' in front of the release number, eg X5945

I'm not with my US 45s now, so I can't check.  I know I have some with the X, from within the range of about 5400-5900 series.  The Xs appeared both on designated DJ issues as well as on full-coloured store stockers.  I don't remember the Xs appearing on both sides, so I always assumed that the X stood for the "hit" or "play" side, as the small marking (diamond) seemed to indicate the NON-hit side on US Decca/Coral/Brunswick 45s.  But I never had that explained to my satisfaction.  So, I'll be curious to find out the real answer.

[Denbo]

Hi RobbK,

Thanks for responding.

I have both the issue and the Demo of the same record here and it's only the issue that has the X preceding the release number, eg X5955
The X is on both sides of the issue.

That said, I do have issues and Demos of other 5400-5900 series releases where some of the Demos, but not all, have the X and some of the issues also have the X.

By the way, all the Demos and issues that have the X, the X appears on both sides.

So, it would appear to be quite random, which doesn't help us get to the bottom of the problem.

Dennis.

PS - I also have one Imperial release from the 5300 series with an X preceding the release number.

[Robbk]

1 hour ago, denbo said:

Hi RobbK,

Thanks for responding.

I have both the issue and the Demo of the same record here and it's only the issue that has the X preceding the release number, eg X5955
The X is on both sides of the issue.

That said, I do have issues and Demos of other 5400-5900 series releases where some of the Demos, but not all, have the X and some of the issues also have the X.

By the way, all the Demos and issues that have the X, the X appears on both sides.

So, it would appear to be quite random, which doesn't help us get to the bottom of the problem.

Dennis.

PS - I also have one Imperial release from the 5300 series with an X preceding the release number.

This is all quite puzzling.  Sometimes companies had small staff, just working on the fly, with one arm not knowing what the other was doing.  There were lots of ad-hoc actions and people not really knowing what they were doing.  Imperial had Lew Chudd and only a few workers handling all of Imperials duties before they were bought out by Liberty Records.  Just like Tamla(Motown), Chess, VJ, Modern, Aladdin, Specialty, etc. they were single entrepeneur, or family-owned business with a handful of workers handling all the various duties.  And most were highly unorganised.  No surprise that so many errors were made and there was so much inconsistency in policies and actions, and how the labels and company representations were.

[Denbo]

Yes, I can well imagine all that. But, there had to be some reason why the X makes appearances, or not, as the case may be?
I guess we'll never know. Thanks for your insight nonetheless