norman Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 (edited) From looking at my old original pressings of albums from Factory Records, there are many engraved with cryptic words in the dead wax run out area. Porky in the examples below was the lacquer cutting and mastering engineer George Peckham (see Wikipedia). If he was particularly proud of his work he'd sign off as "A Porky Prime Cut". I understand that if didn't like a record he'd mastered, he'd sign it 'Blair's', to make everyone think it had been done by Chris Blair at Abbey Road. The meanings in the ones below are pretty easy to guess, with lyrics from Joy Division's music, and one re-arranged to (probably) refer to Ian Curtis. Here are a few to start us off if there is any interest about this, noting that due to laziness I've ignored the identifier numbers and letters and not included them. That's what Discoggs is for. Joy Division “Unknown Pleasures†OUTSIDE A PORKY PRIME CUT STEP INSIDE! A PORKY PRIME CUT Joy Division “Closer†OLD BLUE (marked on one side only) Joy Division “Still†STUDIO 301 (side 1, record 1) Joy Division “Transmission / Novelty†12 inch single IVE SEEN THE REAL ATROCITIES A PORKY PRIME CUT BURIED IN THE SAND A PORKY PRIME CUT Joy Division “Love Will Tear Us Apart / Love Will tear Us Apart†12 inch single SPECTACLE IS A RITUAL A PORKY PRIME CUT PURE SPIRIT A PORKY PRIME CUT Joy Division “Atmosphere / She’s Lost Control†12 inch single, dark red vinyl WHERE ARE THE YOUNG MEN A PORKY PRIME CUT BUT WHERE HAVE THEY BEEN A PORKY PRIME CUT New Order “Ceremony / In A Lonely Place†12 inch single WATCHING LOVE GROW TOWNHOUSE GP (might actually be GA, hard to tell) HOW I WISH WE WERE HERE WITH YOU NOW TOWNHOUSE SG There are many on my original New Order collection but I haven't the time to yank them out and peer at them. The internet revealed that he worked on many Beatles records too. Apparently, while he was a cutting engineer at Apple, Peckham would often include a message on the dead wax. For instance on ‘You’, the A side of George Harrison’s September 1975 release, the message is ‘A PORKY PRIME CUT.’ The message on the flipside, ‘World Of Stone’ is ‘PECKO.’ When he mastered the ‘Extra Texture (Read All About It)’ album for George Harrison,on the ‘A’ side is a message ‘A PORKY/TONY PRIME CUT’. The other side features the message ‘OOH GEORGE, YOU’RE SUCH A DARK HORSE LUV GEORGE.’ On mastering ‘This Guitar (Can’t Keep From Crying)’ his message was ‘A PORKY PRIME CUT.’ The message on the flipside ‘Maya Love’ was ‘ONOTHIMAGEN YERRITIZ LA!’ On George Harrison’s ‘This Song’ single the message reads ‘A PORKY PRIME CUT’ and on the flipside ‘Learning How To Love You’, ‘PECKO.’ Anyone else seen any cryptic words from the members of the "society of lathe trolls" on dead wax recently? Edited May 2, 2016 by npeters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EV Cali Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 I remember looking for the Porky Prime cut messages on records released by Stiff Records, in the early days of Punk and new wave in the late 70s . Will have a look through a few when I get home tonight. Will need a magnifying glass and good light to see them now though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterbean Posted June 23, 2019 Share Posted June 23, 2019 My copy of the Church's Heyday has some weird stuff- side 1 there is reference to smoking something..and side 2 is "young English knob....". The light is bad here at the computer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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