Major label generic sleeve designs
Below is a work in progress. There are at least a couple more Decca sleeve designs that were used on multiple records, which will be added as soon as decent images become available.
EMI - "His Master's Voice"
The red sleeve design is a 12", though the 10" sleeve designs were the same. The other two are 10" LPs, though, again, 12" LP sleeves were the same design. The colour scheme for the middle generic design tended to have either blue, as per example, or pink backgrounds.
Early 1950s sleeves comprised two sections of card, front and back, with taped edges, as per the Haydn/Brahms sleeve. The later generic sleeves were manufactured as one piece 'flipback' sleeves as per the two issues of the same Ralph Vaughan Williams/Elgar LP.
Early 1950s sleeves comprised two sections of card, front and back, with taped edges, as per the Haydn/Brahms sleeve. The later generic sleeves were manufactured as one piece 'flipback' sleeves as per the two issues of the same Ralph Vaughan Williams/Elgar LP.
Early 1950s sleeve
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Redesigned mid-1950s sleeve
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Redesigned late-1950s sleeve
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EMI - Columbia
The Walton/Bach is a 10" LP, though 12" sleeves were the same. The other two were 12" LPs, though, again, 10" sleeve designs were presumably the same (this needs to be verified!).
Early 1950s sleeves comprised two sections of card, front and back, with taped edges, as per the William Walton sleeve. The later generic sleeves were manufactured as one piece 'flipback' sleeves as per the two 1950s issues of the same Bartók LP.
Early 1950s sleeves comprised two sections of card, front and back, with taped edges, as per the William Walton sleeve. The later generic sleeves were manufactured as one piece 'flipback' sleeves as per the two 1950s issues of the same Bartók LP.
Early 1950s sleeve
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Redesigned mid-1950s sleeve
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Redesigned late-1950s sleeve
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EMI - Parlophone & Parlophone-Odeon
Generic sleeve designs for Parlophone LPs. The red/black logo is Parlophone Odeon and the gold/black logo is Parlophone. These are both 10" LPs, though the 12" sleeve designs were the same.
These generic sleeves were used from the very first Parlophone LP releases, those remaining on catalogue, not receiving a bespoke sleeve design until much later - the Eric Coates release did not receive a bespoke sleeve until either 1964 or 1965, over ten years after release.
Early 1950s sleeves comprised two sections of card, front and back, with taped edges, as per the Ralph Vaughan Williams sleeve. These were later manufactured as one piece 'flipback' sleeves as per the late 1950s pressing of the Eric Coates LP.
These generic sleeves were used from the very first Parlophone LP releases, those remaining on catalogue, not receiving a bespoke sleeve design until much later - the Eric Coates release did not receive a bespoke sleeve until either 1964 or 1965, over ten years after release.
Early 1950s sleeves comprised two sections of card, front and back, with taped edges, as per the Ralph Vaughan Williams sleeve. These were later manufactured as one piece 'flipback' sleeves as per the late 1950s pressing of the Eric Coates LP.
Parlophone-Odeon sleeve
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Parlophone sleeve
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Decca
From 1950, Decca used several generic sleeve designs, mixing on both 12" and 10" LPs. The three examples shown were also printed in different colours to add variety. In 1952, Decca's LPs wee housed in a special Coronation sleeve design, as per the Delius LP.
Unlike the EMI group of companies, Decca also used bespoke sleeves for many LPs from the start, phasing out generic designs in the early to mid-50s by the look of it.
There were other generic sleeve designs used on Decca's classical output, and these will be added as and when I find decent enough condition sleeves (and some of these shown will be updated ditto).
Unlike the EMI group of companies, Decca also used bespoke sleeves for many LPs from the start, phasing out generic designs in the early to mid-50s by the look of it.
There were other generic sleeve designs used on Decca's classical output, and these will be added as and when I find decent enough condition sleeves (and some of these shown will be updated ditto).
Early 1950s sleeve
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Contemporaneous early 1950s sleeve to first example
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Contemporaneous early 1950s sleeve to first two examples
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1952 Coronation commemoration sleeve
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Nixa
Most Nixa generic sleeves were the light grey and white colour scheme, though a few (slightly later?) releases had different colour overprinting with altered Nixa logo and sleeve elements.
Nixa was quick to learn from the US labels that it licensed and distributed in the UK and soon moved away from generic sleeve designs, though many of the early bespoke sleeve designs were deemed sub-standard and updated later in the decade.
Nixa was quick to learn from the US labels that it licensed and distributed in the UK and soon moved away from generic sleeve designs, though many of the early bespoke sleeve designs were deemed sub-standard and updated later in the decade.
Early 1950s sleeve
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Early 1950s sleeve, though whether this came first or second is unknown
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