Superior Record Pressing Corp., Somerdale, NJ

A pressing company that operated in Southern New Jersey through the 1970s and 1980s. They pressed for Motown, Capitol and A&M, among others. It was partly owned by Motown Record Corporation; Esther Gordy Edwards was a named resident agent of the Michigan branch of the company. Many early Motown Lps were repressed by Superior using metalwork originated by one of RCA's three US manufacturing plants. Superior opened a sister plant, Superior Record Pressing Corp., Tempe, Arizona, in 1979. Identifiers for Superior's LP pressings include the following: - Pre-1971: 2.75" (70 mm) pressing ring, center labels on super-glossy (Kromekote) stock - Post-1972: moved to humped approx. 2.75" pressing ring plus smaller approx. 1.390625" (35.5 mm) pressing ring, with paper labels duller coating - Occasionally found with the letters "SRPC", accompanied by a three-pointed crown, adjacent to the spindle hole. Superior's 7" pressings can be identified by the following: - 1971-72 singles from Motown and sublabels, plus some other labels, alternated between the use of IBM Selectric Composer Univers fonts and those of Linotype Helvetica and Intertype Vogue Bold (example). - ca. late 1970s or 1980: Superior-pressed 45's contours, especially the label area nearer to the spindle hole, resembled those of Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Santa Maria, but were thicker and a bit heavier in comparison. Superior pressings are often found with a "TC", "TVC", "ATN" or "TVCA" etch in runouts, which signifies plating performed at Tracy-Val Corporation, a separately-owned electroforming company located adjacent to the Somerdale plant. Please credit according to instructions found in the profile. The location is now Flying Fish Brewing Co.