From the middle sixties to late eighties 99% of Russian vinyl records were issued on Melodiya label. I have seen occasional records on Akkord label, probably more of them existed but too few to be considered.

First it should be mentioned that from early 60-ies to mid 70-ies not all records had their "personal" picture sleeves. 7", 10" and even 12" records were housed in standard Melodiya factory sleeves. Personal sleeves are found only on few sixties LP's. And even by the mid-eighties there were LP's in such factory sleeves. Soviet economy was a strange thing... So don't be confused when offered a Russian 1980 pressing LP in factory sleeve - it's OK. Some records (both 7" and LP's) had never got their own, picture sleeves.

Determining the year and pressing

Below please find a table of Melodiya catalog numbers for LP's. After each year you'll see the first MONO LP issued this year and first STEREO LP issued this year.

year MONO STEREO           year MONO STEREO 1961 9965 101       1977 39551 8267 1962 10927 235       1978 40507 9901 1963 12246 473       1979 41387 11593 1964 13149 793       1980 42279 13333 1965 14939 911       1981 43015 15231 1966 16093 1161       1982 43923 17003 1967 19069 1411       1983 44813 18983 1968 21253 1629       1984 45689 20729 1969 24023 1663       1985 46081 21293 1970 27047 1865       1986 46621 22915 1971 29491 2417       1987 47417 24301 1972 31565 3057       1988 48023 26129 1973 33489 3755       1989 48477 27787 1974 35207 4593       1990 48971 29059 1975 36849 4593       1991 49417 31759 1976 38213 6607

This table lets you determine exactly when was a particular album issued (NOT PRESSED!) - please keep in mind that usually LP's reissues had original numbers (see above). A few more clues may help you to find out if your record is a first pressing or a re-issue:

These clues are:

1. manufacturing standard () with 6 digits placed on the label near the spindle hole. Throughout 1961 to early 1969 Melodiya records had ГОСТ 5289-61
   Throughout 1969 to early 1974 Melodiya records had ГОСТ 5289-68
   Throughout 1974 to early 1980 Melodiya records had ГОСТ 5289-73
   Throughout 1980 to early 1989 Melodiya records had ГОСТ 5289-80
   From 1989 and on Melodiya records had ГОСТ 5289-88
2. label color
3. label design.

Here's the overview of Melodiya labels:
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

1961-68 There's ГОСТ 5289-68 on label, label color is yellow, black or dark blue (some earlier - white or multicolored)

late 1968 - 71 Label color is yellow, black or dark blue, there's ГОСТ 5289-68 on label and the word MELODIA is written in an "OUTLINE" or CONTOUR style on the l

1971-73 Label color is yellow, black or dark blue, there's ГОСТ 5289-68 on label and the word MELODIA is written in "SOLID" or BOLD style on the label (see picture). Last detail is very important - only by this you may tell a 1969 pressing from a 1972 pressing.

1974-79 There's ГОСТ 5289-73 on label, Label color is yellow, black or dark blue. PINK, WHITE and RED labels were added around 1974-75.

1974-79                         1974-79

1980-88 There's ГОСТ 5289-80 on label. Labels are white or red (a few - pink). Around 1982 Melodiya changed its label style - see pictures.

1980-82                         1982-88

1988-94 There's ГОСТ 5289-88 on label. Labels are white or red. Different record plants used different label designs.

Pressing plants

In the USSR there were several record plants. Records' labels are slightly different for these plants although all the rules mentioned above are true. It's curious that often record plants used different sleeve artwork versions for the same album.

• Aprelevsky plant (Moscow)
   
• Leningradsky plant (Leningrad)
   
• Riga plant (Riga, Latvia)
   
• Opytny plant "Gramzapis'" (test plant - Moscow)
   
• Tashkent plant (Tashkent, Uzbekistan)
   
• Tbilisi plant (Tbilisi, Georgia)
   
• Leningrad, Moscow and Riga pressings are most common and Tbilisi pressings are the rarest.

IMPORTANT STATEMENT. All the information above (except for the table) was gathered and brought to a system by me. There surely may be mistakes and exceptions. Nobody's perfect…

Other record labels

In late eighties when Perestroika in the USSR was running new record labels began to appear. Presented here are the most significant ones.

Antrop (often misspelled as Anfon due to the stylized emblem placed on the sleeves)

Was founded by ANdrey TROPillo. The one great Tropillo who is responsible for producing the greatest Russian underground albums by Aquarium, Kino, Zoopark, Televizor to name a few. He started his vinyl business with semi-legal and absolutely illegal pressing of western rock classics beginning with the Beatles. Antrop also issued some great Russian rock music, most of which was recorded by Tropillo himself .

Around 1993 Tropillo used the SANTA label (numbering the same as ANTROP) and some LP's were "no label" - complete pirate pressings but again having the same numbering beginning with ATR or RAT.

SNC

Second significant label - SNC records was founded by Stas Namin, the leader of the band Tcvety (Flowers) that was very successful in the seventies. Among SNC releases I can mention best albums of Uriah Heep, Black Sabbath, some Aquarium, DDT and Kalinov Most.

Worth mentioning are also the following 90-ies labels: COBWEB, RUSSIAN DISK, RITONIS, SINTEZ, FEE LEE.


TO BE CONTINUED...