Perfect (3)

The Perfect label was a US label. It was introduced in June 1922 by the financially strained Pathé Frères Phonograph Co. to compete with other budget-priced labels of the day and boost record sales. The Perfect Record Company was created as a Pathé trade-name to market Pathé Actuelle pressings under the less-expensive Perfect (3) label. New releases on both Pathé Actuelle and Perfect (3) labels were issued concurrently. Perfect (3) also served as a reissue vehicle for some older Pathé material. Releases on the Perfect label were pressed on standard lateral cut 78 rpm disc records. Many of these records were red-brown shellac as opposed to the more common black shellac of the era. Audio fidelity was about average for the era, but being a cheap label, the records tend to wear easily. Artists who recorded on Perfect included Cliff "Ukelele Ike" Edwards, Annette Hanshaw, The Ponce Sisters, Willard Robison, Cab Calloway, Gene Autry, Vernon Dalhart, Lee Morse, Boyd Senter, Al Bernard, Tito Schipa, and Morton Downey. In July 1929 the Perfect label became part of the American Record Corporation and was discontinued in 1938 when the latter was acquired by CBS Inc. In 1993 the label was revived by Dean Blackwood who used it for recordings pressed on 78 r.p.m. vinyl by Sun City Girls, Charlie Feathers, Junior Kimbrough, the Balfa Brothers, and John Fahey.