CANADIAN A&M LABELS
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BROWN LABELS
The first album to be released in Canada is believed to be Just A Collection Of Antiques And Curios in 1970 (possibly early 1971). Whilst Canada seems to have adopted silver labels earlier than anyone else, the earliest releases were brown labels, like the rest of the A&M world.
NB. Two versions of Antiques. On the second below, all tracks publishing credits match the UK second release (Strawberry Music, Arnakata and Writers Workshop) except for "Where Is This Dream" which is credited to Irving Music. On the first all tracks publishing credits other than "Where Is This Dream" (also Irving) are Thruppence Music. Not really certain which was earliest, but the early Silver label release matches the second brown release exactly, so that may have been the later. The second brown release also came in an A&M company sleeve which also had From The Witchwood and Fairport Convention's Angel Delight on it, which indicates a release of later than summer 1971. (Same inner sleeve also came with a US copy of Grave New World, so was obviously still in use in 1972. Or it may be a complete red herring ....)
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Antiques 1st release?? |
Antiques 2nd release?? |
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From The Witchwood |
Grave New World promo |
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Bursting At The Seams promo |
Bursting At The Seams |
SILVER LABELS - INITIAL DESIGN
The earliest silver labels are those from Canada, using a slightly spiky typography. Cousins' solo Two Weeks Last Summer was the first to use this in late 1972 (possibly early 1973 by the time it came out in Canada). Hero And Heroine followed and the Canada only Early Strawbs, a pairing of the first two albums in a 2LP package.
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Two Weeks promo |
Two Weeks |
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Hero And Heroine |
Early Strawbs |
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Ghosts |
Nomadness |
Some reissues Antiques, Witchwood and Grave New World on this silver label in use around 1973/74 (same design and lettering as Early Strawbs, 1974) and may well have been issued at the same time as a set of four.
Reissues
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Antiques And Curios |
From The Witchwood |
Grave New World |
SILVER LABELS - LATER VERSIONS
A variety of silver label designs followed, without the earlier consistency shown by A&M Canada. Mainly used for re-issues, but collections Classic Strawbs and Best Of belong to this period - and may have had reissues as well. It's not clear which of the labels below were original releases and which were reissues (other than the Classic promo, which I'm betting was original).
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Classic Strawbs |
Classic Strawbs |
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Best |
Best |
Reissues
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Antiques And Curios |
From The Witchwood |
Two Weeks Last Summer |
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Hero And Heroine |
Hero And Heroine |
Ghosts |
BLACK LABEL REISSUES
Reissues came out on this 1980s/1990s label style
Reissues
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Antiques And Curios |
From The Witchwood |
Grave New World |
WHITE LABEL REISSUES
This label may have been used for budget reissues at a lower price. Certainly Grave New World had a different catalogue number and the packaging was scaled down to a single sleeve, no booklet.
Reissues
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Antiques And Curios |
From The Witchwood |
Grave New World |