Dire Straits - Lover Over Gold - LOOK

Posted by: Bob the Builder on 13 October 2018

This is for all of the Dire Straits aficionados, above is a photograph of the back cover of my copy of Love Over Gold in every other way it is a standard UK 1st press but it has this gold leaf disc just below the Vertigo logo it is not a sticker and is actually impressed into the cover the small black marks within the gold are just age related.

I have asked on other forums but with no luck so if anyone has a similar impression on either a Love Over Gold or any other LP for that matter or who has any other ideas please let me know.

Posted on: 13 October 2018 by Richard Dane

Bob, I've never seen one like that - or at least not noticed it. I have about 6 copies (Don't ask - was really tricky to find one with totally silent vinyl) of Love Over Gold and none of them have this. It looks like the kind of gold and embossing that certain labels used to use to indicate promotional copies, not for resale. Most would actually have a gold box with "Promotional Copy Not For Resale" printed inside. Maybe this was a similar sort of indicator. I take it you've done the usual trawl of the internet for info.

On a related matter, have you heard any news about the long rumoured MFSL LoG release?

Posted on: 13 October 2018 by ewemon

If you give me the info of where the album jacket was made, where the label says the vinyl was made and also the runout details I maybe able to help. Not guaranteed though.

Posted on: 13 October 2018 by Loki

Never seen it like that. I have 2 copies and at the time was party to several others on LP and cassette. Could it be promotional? Is it DMM or some such? Is it from a different country? My first is from Andorra! Is it an experimental cover: the gold being in visual juxtaposition to the smoke which is a thin metaphor for love/sex, and therefore illuminating the album title? What is the provenance of the LP? Have you tried contacting Vertigo?

Sorry I only have questions, not answers.

Posted on: 13 October 2018 by Bob the Builder

ewemon posted:
If you give me the info of where the album jacket was made, where the label says the vinyl was made and also the runout details I maybe able to help. Not guaranteed though.

No indicator of where cover was printed but vinyl was made in England

RUN OUT A etched in 6359109 - A - UK and then also imprinted 6359109 A II 1 (UPSIDE DOWN TRIANGLE) 13 0 MASTERDISK and etched signed HW 9 1

B side is the same apart from B instead of A and then B II 2 (UPSIDE DOWN TRIANGLE) ** 130 1 7 1 4 MASTERDISK etched signed HW

Posted on: 13 October 2018 by ewemon

Phoned a friend who worked at the Polygram when this came out and did a lot of promotion work on the album but he cannot ever remember seeing a copy like this. To be honest I also sold shed loads of them and never saw a copy like that either. The disc was obviously mastered by Howie Weinberg and you would have thought there would have been more copies around with the stamp on the back cover as the album went Platinum in the UK around 84 which used to be around 300,000 copies.

The gold stamp is also in a strange place as if it was to promote the album then it would have been on the front cover.

I wonder if the cover was part of a test that had the gold stamp depicting a moon and they found it was not practical and pulled it from production.

Wouldn't be the first time it happened

Posted on: 13 October 2018 by Bob the Builder

Richard Dane posted:
On a related matter, have you heard any news about the long rumoured MFSL LoG release?

I've only heard the rumour earlier in the year when Amazon gave a date of the 31st of July as a release date and nothing since.

Posted on: 13 October 2018 by Bob the Builder

ewemon posted:
Phoned a friend who worked at the Polygram when this came out and did a lot of promotion work on the album but he cannot ever remember seeing a copy like this. To be honest I also sold shed loads of them and never saw a copy like that either. The disc was obviously mastered by Howie Weinberg and you would have thought there would have been more copies around with the stamp on the back cover as the album went Platinum in the UK around 84 which used to be around 300,000 copies.
The gold stamp is also in a strange place as if it was to promote the album then it would have been on the front cover.
I wonder if the cover was part of a test that had the gold stamp depicting a moon and they found it was not practical and pulled it from production.
Wouldn't be the first time it happened

We'll the mystery continues I don't suppose I'll ever find out and I suppose only the weird collectors amongst us would be remotely interested anyway.