Blew

12" (black) / test pressing / Tupelo Recording Co. / TUPEP 8 / made in France (MPO) / 1989.09.22

Black vinyl test pressing with Mayking Records labels. There is a handwritten catalog number and a rubber stamped A/ B and date, "22 SEPT. 1989", on the labels. Some copies came with release sheets from Revolver, the distributor. One copy came in a white cardboard sleeve and an inner sleeve with "NIRVANA" and "BLEW" written on it in thin pen. Most MPO test pressings have handwritten titles on the inner sleeves, I don't know if this was written by MPO, Mayking, or the distributor. Another copy came in a Rough Trade promo sleeve with a release sheet. Rough Trade was one of the distributors in the Cartel, along with Revolver [1].

The records were pressed by MPO in France, as they had a partnership with Mayking. Mayking subcontracted all black vinyl orders to MPO, while colored vinyl pressings were mostly subcontracted to Orlake. [2] The lacquers were most likely cut at Utopia where all the other Nirvana records released by Tupelo have been confirmed to have been cut, but the matrix codes were written into the lacquers by MPO before plating. The cutting engineer only wrote some information in the outer area of the lacquers to keep track of them during processing. This area is trimmed off of the stampers before pressing, and is obviously not transferred to the records. [3]

Depending on how well they thought the EP would sell, 12 or 25 test pressings would have been made [2]. The test pressings were used to gather advance orders from retailers throughout the UK [1]. It was also common to keep one in the Mayking offices for reference, although this copy was usually discarded when the record was released [2]. So far, four or five copies have been found, two with release sheets.

From the release sheet:

Released to coincide with tour. LP tracks featuring 'Blew' from LP, 'Love Buzz' ('A' side of 1st US single) and two brand new tracks - 'Been A Son' + 'Stain'. Expect mega press + radio (Sounds cover guaranteed). Should be huge.

Sounds was a weekly British music newspaper, now defunct [4].

Tracklist

Side A
  • Blew - 
  • Love Buzz
Side B
  • Been A Son - 
  • Stain

Matrix

Side A
MPO   TUPEP 8 A¹
Side B
MPO   TUPEP 8 B¹

Copy 1, side A
1. Copy 1, side A

Copy 1, side B
2. Copy 1, side B

Copy 1, inner sleeve
3. Copy 1, inner sleeve

Copy 2, Rough Trade sleeve
4. Copy 2, Rough Trade sleeve

Copy 2, side A
5. Copy 2, side A

Copy 2, side B
6. Copy 2, side B

Copy 3, side A
7. Copy 3, side A

Copy 3, side B
8. Copy 3, side B

Copy 3, release sheet
9. Copy 3, release sheet

Copy 4, side A
10. Copy 4, side A

Copy 4, side B
11. Copy 4, side B

References