Main  Pressing plants  Pennyroyal Tea  Test pressings  Collection

Mexican counterfeit test pressings/ promos
Images, matrices, detailed info on the individual items:  Come As You Are  Sliver  Smells Like Teen Spirit Standard issues made in USA, with added text in the run out grooves and new labels. Before we tear them apart, let us take a look at the story from the counterfeitor. He claims to be a more or less important figure in EMI Capitol Mexico, or rather, he was at the time. Geffen was looking for someone to distribute Nirvana in Mexico, and they went to three labels: Warner, RCA (later BMG), and EMI Capitol. When they did that, they sent them some promos, so that the three labels could come up with a marketing and promotion plan. This happened around September 29 1991, as seen by a fax he has (image below). The fax was from the A&R director of EMI Capitol, to the A&R department, describing what you just read above (we will look closer into this fax later). They would meet next Monday, and Geffen would decide who to go with. EMI Capitol wanted to go their own "Mexican" way, with exclusive artwork and whatnot. Geffen must've taken a disliking to that, because they went with RCA. Let us look deeper into the items. The matrix codes are those of the standard issues made in USA (see individual pages for more details), with the added text in Mexican: PRUEBA TEST PRESSING EMI CAPITOL MEXICO 1991. That code was hand-etched into the vinyl they received from Geffen USA, just for archival purposes ("prueba" means "proof"). Further, the vinyls came without labels. They just had some stickers detailing what's on the record. This person was not happy with that, though. Imagine getting many of these, from all kinds og bands/ labels. It sure gets messy. So, our friend ordered those below him to make some nice sticker labels, so they became more "managable". All that is, of course, complete bullshit. If the story isn't dodgy enough already, let us take a look at the facts. First, the fax has a number listed in the letterhead, and this would be the number from the A&R director, who sent the fax to our friend. However, the fax was forward faxed, as you can see on the top of the fax, to a potential buyer. The number is exactly the same as that of the A&R director (you can't see that, I edited out the number). Our friend no longer works there so he shouldn't have access to that fax. He obviously included his own number in case someone would check it. Not that that makes sense. Further, no version of Come As You Are was pressed in 1991. According to his story, he got these at the same time, September 1991. The label also states 1991. He explained it with that "Mexican dates are often wrong". Sure, the date on the label could be wrong, but as he got them in September 1991 they must've been made before 1992 in some way. And no version of Come As You Are ever was. One of the Sliver 7" also appears to have the year 1992 listed. How could he receive something made in 1992 in 1991? Up until now, our friend hasn't been that dumb. But the inclusion of Sliver is just funny. Geffen had nothing whatsoever to do with Sliver at that time. He even added the L-36293 part from the Sub Pop matrix code as some sort of catalog number, and also SP73 mixed with other letters to make it look "Mexican", or something similar, I'm sure. I would guess the matrix codes are the same as the Sub Pop version, with the PRUEBA text carefully added by our friend. To add to it, he has been selling similar Elvis Presley items on eBay. He claim that they were "...made specially for the Artistic Director of RCA Mexicana to see how the records and covers were printed and pressed before they were released", and feature nice test pressing stickers. Like they would print a sleeve and a record, and even stickers, just so some company big wig could see if they were done properly. They wouldn't do that in USA, UK, Germany, or any other place, but I am sure they spend lots of money on that in Mexico. The test pressings were supposedly on RCA (he never worked for them, but I am sure he had his contacts), and feature the exact same PRUEBA text. Fine, it could be common practice in Mexico, but.. Haha. (And if it actually was, I doubt the text would be completely identical from company to company.) So what are these shiny records? Quite simple, they are American issues which he has bought (his eBay record shows that he has bought plenty of Elvis Presley records, and recently a Sliver single - not too bright if you ask me), and cleverly removed the original labels from. Even more clever, he added his own beautiful, orange labels, with promise of such delights as "test pressing", "promo", and "PRUEBA". The fact that they came from Geffen USA with only some ugly stickers sure backs up the story when a buyer notice the less excellent quality of the sticker labels. He also mentioned that he had a Nevermind picture disc. This one is probably in the making and will be available soon.
1. The fax A joint Pennyroyal 3/ sliver.it/nirvana production. © 1991 Mexico.

Main  Pressing plants  Pennyroyal Tea  Test pressings  Collection