First record
Also appears as first only.
First record (第一唱片) is a label of questionable
legality from taiwan, catering to soldiers (mostly from the US) stationed
there. They also did sell to locals. Some sources claim the records were legal
in that country, but this is still a controversial point of view. The releases
are mostly copies from US or japanese releases, often with altered colors,
and include a wide array of styles.
Pressed
in taiwan to cash in on the 35,000 or so GI's that were stationed there between
the 1950s and 1970s. The albums were usually pressed in batches of about 500,
with no two batches looking or sounding the same (ie different covers, vinyl
colors). Covers were usually recycled, meaning art for a totally different
album was on the reverse side of the paper (covers were thin paper wrapped
in cellophane). For context, Taiwan was the pirate capital of SEA (followed
closely by thailand and the philippines). In Taiwan circa 1970 there were
reportedly over 45 (modern equipped) pressing plants churning out 200,000
pirate albums per month (that's just the number pressed for export to other
parts of SEA!), up from 150,000 per month back in 1963. Pirate pressings outsold
legit pressings 5 to 1. They were sold openly in legit record stores alongside
equivalent legit pressings...usually for 1/5 or 1/4 of the price of the legit
copy (in 1970 a pirate LP cost around US$0.70 whereas a legit singaporean
EMI pressing of the same album cost around US$3.50).*
*Source= Billboard article 3/14/1970.
The
release year can often be determined from a number on the labels. The date
format is: YY.MM.DD. Add 1911 to the year number for the release year. Sometimes
the day is not listed but the same rules apply. If these numbers are not present,
the release date should always be left blank unless stated on the front cover,
etc
So
how did pirates get hold of the master tapes?
The
pirate would buy a copy of the album and record it onto tape and this would
serve as the master tape. Up until the late 1960s the sleeves and labels were
printed in taiwan, but afterwards most were printed in the philippines.