Records come in all colours, shapes and sizes, especially with the advances of modern technology, enabling for ever-more colourful pressings.
In this blog, we'll be focusing on a specific kind of record pressings - Tranco Pressings - which have a unique quality to them - a hidden colour, buried in the black vinyl!
How can you identify a Tranco Press?
Along with looking out for the reddish tinge when the record is held up to a bright light, there are a few records which are best known for being pressing at the Tranco pressing plant. Among these, are Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures. If you have a copy of these records, try holding it up to the light and seeing if it turns red, or even purple!
Other artists known for having their records pressed by Tranco are The Police, The Cure, AC/DC and Strawbs, along with some copies of Carole King's Tapestry.
The Tranco pressing plant was responsible for pressing much of the Pye Records' catalogue, so if you have any records on the Pye record label from the 1970s-1980s, they may be hiding a colourful secret.
What makes a Tranco Press different?
Tranco Limited were a pressing plant active in the 1970s-1980s, based in Mitcham in Surrey. While they were in operation, they used a different vinyl formulation than other pressing plants, which gave the records a more translucent quality. They used a mix which had a higher proportion of virgin vinyl, and added less carbon to the mix, naturally making the record less of a saturated black.
Does the redness affect the audio quality?
The audiophile pressing 'Quiex pressings' use a similar vinyl formula to Tranco pressings, which means that yes, Tranco pressings can have a better sound quality if they have been looked after well. Quiex pressings were favoured by the record label Classic Records, but it is clear to see why Tranco also favoured this type of pressing - a superior quality record for new pressings at the time, to give the listener the best experience when spinning their record.
The Tranco Pressing Plant has closed, have I missed out?
No! That's where we come in. Second hand record stores are like a treasure trove for unique pressings, if you know what you're looking for.
For us, anything listed online may have an identifier of 'Tranco' in the listed extras, as shown below.
Not all Tranco pressings will have this identifier, so if you're looking for a particular pressing, you can enquire about a record by getting in touch with us, we'd be happy to help.
If you're looking for Tranco pressings in your own collection, you can hold the records up to a bright light, and you'll see the colour shine through. These aren't always red, sometimes they can be orange, purple, blue or even green!
At time of writing, we don't have many Tranco pressings in stock, but keep an eye on our new arrivals page for more!
If it's not a Tranco Pressing, is it still valuable?
Potentially! The value of records will depend on the demand for them, and Tranco pressings are often first or early pressings, which have a higher demand for them. However, value of a Tranco pressing will generally depend on the demand for the artist's discography, and how many of the records were pressed at the time, which is why Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures is at a higher price point.
What differences can be seen in later pressings?
The main difference when looking at later pressings is the lack of colour. When held up to a bright light, later pressings will remain black. Specifically for Joy Division, the Tranco pressings were first pressings, which also had a textured sleeve, and an elavated ring around the outside of the label - a defining characteristic of Tranco pressings, due to their pressing equipment. When the Tranco pressing plant closed, their equipment was transferred to the Damont plant, so you may find simliar raised edges on their pressings from 1981 onwards, but later pressings of records with early Tranco versions won't have this.
Modern Red Pressings:
Creating a full circle moment in 2019, Joy Division released a limited edition red reissue of Unknown Pleasures, introducing the album to a new generation, and inverting the colour scheme, so the main colour was white rather than black. We'd like to think that the red colour choice was a homage to the early Tranco press, and this pressing was made so that everyone could see the red in all its glory.
3 comments
I’d heard that the translucent Pye pressings were made from inferior cheap vinyl. And not pure black vinyl. Is there any truth in this statement?
Not to be confused with Styrene, predominantly used on American 45s, but often listed on some sites by unscrupulous sellers as rare Red vinyl, both of which they are not and some say degrade in sound quality the more they are played.
Donna Summer’s 1970s iconic disco hits were released in the UK on the small UK label GTO.
When Casablanca gave the license to PYE, from 1977s ‘Once Upon A Time…’, I started to notice the reddish hue of the vinyl when held up to the light.