Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85-92, Promo

Hello community!

A few months ago I bought the promo vinyl of the original version of Selected Ambient Works 85-92 in VG+ (almost NM condition). the source seems to be legit and I don't think, that it is a fake. The matrix info is correct and written by hand, which could indicate that is might even have been a test press.

Does someone of you have this version as well? Does someone know how many exist?

The matrix infos are:

Vinyl 1:

- Side 1: AMB LP A2

- Side 2: AMB LP 3922 B2

Vinyl 2:

- Side 1: AMB LP C2

- Side 2: AMB LP 3902 D2

Are the labels (all) printed solid black?  Or perhaps no labels at all?

There's no Discogs entry for a pressing like that - the closest being a white label in full picture sleeve

The matrices indicate an initial pressing, but you'd have to confirm visually to be 100% sure of that (I have a day-1 non-barcode copy, and the matrices are hand-written btw).  The pressing ring around the centre hole looks, at a glance, to be correct for an initial release too.

One thing I can say with almost complete certainty - the sleeve is not original.  That particular gold promo stamp was a feature of American-made major label releases going back to at least the early 1980s.  Here's a US Madonna promo with the same stamp:

  On 1/4/2023 at 4:41 PM, xy_politics said:

Are the labels (all) printed solid black?  Or perhaps no labels at all?

There's no Discogs entry for a pressing like that - the closest being a white label in full picture sleeve

The matrices indicate an initial pressing, but you'd have to confirm visually to be 100% sure of that (I have a day-1 non-barcode copy, and the matrices are hand-written btw).  The pressing ring around the centre hole looks, at a glance, to be correct for an initial release too.

One thing I can say with almost complete certainty - the sleeve is not original.  That particular gold promo stamp was a feature of American-made major label releases going back to at least the early 1980s.  Here's a US Madonna promo with the same stamp:

 

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Thank you a lot for those interesting insights.

All labels have this "shaded" black as you see on the picture behind the transparent plastic. 

What do you mean with initial pressing? Same as first pressing?

What does the pressing ring indicate?

  On 1/4/2023 at 4:53 PM, the-lazy-light said:

Thank you a lot for those interesting insights.

All labels have this "shaded" black as you see on the picture behind the transparent plastic. 

What do you mean with initial pressing? Same as first pressing?

What does the pressing ring indicate?

initial pressing = first pressing, yes

pressing ring just indicates the pressing plant the record was made in, most plants have a unique configuration for this.  I can often tell where a record is made just by looking at it - for example, the MPO pressing plant has a series of faint concentric rings that no other factory has.  Looking at published photos for the initial AW release (my records are in storage atm unfortunately) it has a ring that looks very similar if not identical.

by the way, I was looking at some contemporary R&S releases around 1992, and R&S quite often issued promos with blank labels in various colours - pink, green, blue, grey - and also black (see Mantrax – Scarlet Circus (1992, Vinyl) - Discogs for an example of a black-label release) so that is a very good indicator your AFX LP is a genuine item - and as there's not even a Discogs entry for it, it's likely to be extremely rare if genuine.

also, don't worry about that non-genuine sleeve - it's very likely that this promo was not distributed with any sleeve at all, and was just put in this sleeve by a previous owner to protect it.

  On 1/4/2023 at 5:07 PM, xy_politics said:

initial pressing = first pressing, yes

pressing ring just indicates the pressing plant the record was made in, most plants have a unique configuration for this.  I can often tell where a record is made just by looking at it - for example, the MPO pressing plant has a series of faint concentric rings that no other factory has.  Looking at published photos for the initial AW release (my records are in storage atm unfortunately) it has a ring that looks very similar if not identical.

by the way, I was looking at some contemporary R&S releases around 1992, and R&S quite often issued promos with blank labels in various colours - pink, green, blue, grey - and also black (see Mantrax – Scarlet Circus (1992, Vinyl) - Discogs for an example of a black-label release) so that is a very good indicator your AFX LP is a genuine item - and as there's not even a Discogs entry for it, it's likely to be extremely rare if genuine.

also, don't worry about that non-genuine sleeve - it's very likely that this promo was not distributed with any sleeve at all, and was just put in this sleeve by a previous owner to protect it.

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Okay, that sounds good! The previous owner told me, that he bought it directly from a distribution back in 1992 and that there are like 20-40 more of them somewhere.

  On 1/4/2023 at 5:18 PM, the-lazy-light said:

Okay, that sounds good! The previous owner told me, that he bought it directly from a distribution back in 1992 and that there are like 20-40 more of them somewhere.

That number is very plausible!

You should create a Discogs entry for it - and bask in the envy of thousands of aphex collectornerds such as myself 

  On 1/4/2023 at 5:24 PM, xy_politics said:

That number is very plausible!

You should create a Discogs entry for it - and bask in the envy of thousands of aphex collectornerds such as myself 

Hehe I might do that soon!

I've been listening to this on vinyl this weekend. So good!!