Renaissance Novella impossibly RARE CBS test pressing

	£		37
	$		49

Renaissance - Novella Vinyl 12" LP

UK

Original UK pressing.
Clean, near mint vinyl and crisp white labels in a blank period card sleeve and standard paper inner sleeve.

TEST PRESS ONLY???! Ultra mega-rarity by Renaissance?

This could be the rarest of all Renaissance titles...

As far as I can tell, This album was never released on CBS! Yet this test pressing bears all the hallmarks of a 1977 UK pressed CBS album.
If this album had ever been released on CBS, then surely someone, somewhere would have included it in a discography, yet I can find NO trace of it. That would be like discovering a Rolling Stones album had been released on Polydor. Surely an impossibility that such a thing would go unremarked?? This must be rare precisely because I can find virtually no reference to it's existence.

'Novella' normally comes on UK Warner Brothers or US Sire labels & Japanese Warner / Pioneer. Sundry other EU releases all on Warners.
I can find no proven reference to this title being a CBS issue, and believe me I've tried!!
Check this and this and this and this etc. However there is an entry in Wikipedia... here

I remember getting the original Warners UK LP as a birthday present,... that's why I have been aware of this album for so long.
This test pressing found it's way to a small record shop in North London where I found it. Knowing this title was normally a Warners title and that Warners test pressings are highly prized by collectors, I was excited when I saw 'Renaissance Novella' hand-written on a blank sleeve. Upon examination of the vinyl I saw something I really didn't expect and I was much more intrigued the closer I looked: The album has a very identifiable CBS matrix number??? It just shouldn't be.

From what I can piece together, towards the end of 1976 Renaissance had just finished recording their 7th studio album, to be entitled 'Novella'. The recording was done and the master mixdown performed at De Lane Lea studios, Wembley, London. At about this time, the band's mother label 'BTM' went bust after a disastrous tour of their artists roster failed to make enough money.
Suddenly the band had no label, distributor, manufacturer or contract.
Talks were held with CBS in the UK and the band tentatively agreed a deal with them, but couldn't sign anything because there was a snag:
The album had already been approved for a release in the USA through a distribution deal agreed previously between BTM in the UK and Sire Records in the USA. However Sire records were a Warner Brothers subsidiary and therefore in direct competition with CBS. The two companies were not in the habit of sharing artists, even across the Atlantic.

In 1977 Renaissance were an established band with a large fan-base so CBS, it seems, decided to go ahead and cut lacquers and make test pressings before negotiations had been completed (at no great cost to them of course, in the decadent 70's!). However the band then agreed a deal with Warner Brothers UK, (which had the advantage of being compatible with the existing arrangement with Sire USA) so CBS were no longer in the picture.

So, I guess, only a few test pressings were made by CBS. Who knows how many? perhaps less than 20? If a large(r) number had been made surely some would have surfaced by now? If so, I can't find any trace of them... It was not normal to make more than 20 TP's but there is no record anywhere (that I can find) of the total made. I can find no evidence of a sale on eBay, the 'Popsike' website, which tracks and records old rare vinyl auctions has no entry at all for this pressing so it's very likely never been on eBay before and the only reference I can find to another copy anywhere at all is a defunct Japanese site's auction listing from 2 years ago which cites the catalogue number. The link to the actual item is dead so I don't even know what it sold for! It was described as 'mysterious test pressing'. Mysterious indeed.

So, all the available evidence (and to be honest the unavailable evidence!) seems to suggest that there are very few of these pressings in existence and this is indeed a very rare item.

Comparing the audio with the original Warner Brothers pressing reveals one striking and rather obvious difference. The channels are reversed! Left is right and vice-versa. A sure sign that it was mastered in a diferent studio. It wasn't unusual for stereo recordings to be switched around like this because believe it or not there was no industry standard for identifying channels.
Warners pressing sample
CBS test pressing sample

The matrix numbers:   
(Sorry the scanner can't pick up the image without maxing out the contrast...)
Slightly confusing because the B side shows 'B-2' which would normally mean it's the second mastering after the first one has been worn out and no more mothers can be produced from it, but that would only happen after pressing several thousand copies! So it more likely means that it's the second mastering due to the first one having been found to be faulty - which is what test pressings are for anyway. It was unusual but not unknown for the first issues of a new record to have mastering numbers higher than 1.
Both matrixes are visually 'clean' and 'crisp' and show all the tell-tale signs of being the first process with no 'smearing' of the characters which happens when further mothers are made from a master, after a polishing technique was used to maintain a 'sheen'. This LP has none of that.
Also, the style of the matrix numbers mirrors the hand-scribed type, with slightly oblique and wide characters, joined by dashes (hyphens), found on several UK CBS pressings from the 1976-79+ period (and, it must be said, several Warners pressings!)
Further specific markings: CBS pressings from this era usually have a > symbol which denotes the rotational direction of the cut, as this LP has on both sides, and another number that sits more or less opposite this symbol, and denotes the 'mother' number, meaning the sequential number of the negative metalwork taken from the original mother. Different companies had different standards about how many could be made from one mother, and CBS were less than strict in any case. but... On both sides the numbers on this disc are '1'!! This means that it's made from mother # 1 and it's more than likely there isn't a # 2!

The sleeve is blank, with pen markings to note the title etc, but in all other respects looks and feels exactly like a standard 'Shorepak' single LP sleeve such you'd find on UK LP releases from both CBS and Warners in the 1970's.
The labels, and their respective topography, with certain areas raised and others lowered, and a tell-tale 'ring' about 1.5 cm from the centre hole mark it as a CBS pressing from the era 1976 - 1981 and trust me I know what I'm talking about. Seen thousands. It should be noted that at about this time, Warners (Kinney) pressings also used exactly the same plant to manufacture several of their late 1970's issues, and the raised areas and 'ring' are the same.

The Catalogue number: S CBS 82137 The most notable pressing that comes 'nearest' in terms of age and style is the Clash's 1st album S CBS 82000 also from 1977 (april), the next one being S CBS 82178, also 1977 by Tyrone Davis 'Let's Be Closer Together'. So this one would have come somewhere between the two. I cannot find any trace of the catalog number on any of the otherwise well-researched CBS discographies and the trail goes cold...

OK that's the best I can do to identify this. I believe this is a real rarity, based on what I have been able to find out.

Think about it, if I'm wrong about this, it means that nobody has bothered to mention on any discographies, any blogs, web sites, or listings, that CBS ever released this album. I just can't see it being the case. Can you?
If I'm right about this, and plenty of anecdotal and physical evidence suggests I am, then this represents a very rare item indeed. ANd even if it wasn't rare, the condition alone would be a reason to acquire it, it is very nearly perfect mint - just a tad short due to tiny very hard to spot flawss and one or two clicks on playback (although they really don't spoil the show).

Of course I'd love this to be very valuable! However if anyone out there has any information to the contrary I would be very grateful for it (and so would bidders!), If it turns out to be bog-standard, then I might pull the auction. I have no intention of mis-selling this LP.
If further info arrives during the auction I will post it below as additional info below this panel.
Please remember I will not be able to add information on the last day of the auction (due to eBay restrictions).

Oh well, whatever the true history of this inexplicable pressing, it will sell for the highest bid. There's no reserve.

Why am I selling this perfectly good vinyl? I specializes in hi-resolution vinyl transfers made on audiophile equipment. I record the music and sell it on.
The recordings can be listened to on dvd-audio discs or through hi-resolution sound-cards. Enquire for details.
If you want THIS recording on a CD or DVD-Audio back-up please let me know and I may be able to arrange it for you.