Hi and welcome to the latest Squire newsletter where, having been inspired by recent posts on Facebook discussing rare items, we're going for our own second deep dive!
A few weeks ago we had our own rare stuff newsletter where we looked into the Squire archive and found some very interesting singles and artefacts.
Indeed, we even found an original proof of the No Time Tomorrow sleeve, which was planned to be pink colour (actually 30% of warm red in printers parlance) back and front! and the pink tone remained on the back cover, after we changed our mind and decided the front was more striking in 100% solid warm red. We also found a box of the original label ‘No Time Tomorrow’ singles, so produced a limited edition of the original label in the original pink sleeve!
These seemingly minor details tend to inspire the greatest stories, and we realise that many of you are avid record collectors as well as Squire fans, so it was fun to read on the Squire Facebook members page about your treasured Squire artefacts! For example white labels scored high on the list. Someone even had an acetate copy (these are even rarer than white labels since they are cut one at the time, at the vinyl mastering studio) of My Mind Goes Round In Circles! Ive never seen one, never mind owned one, even though I was there on the day it was cut!
I presume they were taken to radio stations for pre release promo, and given to publishers, etc. This copy was perhaps from an ex Stage One employees private collection? Who knows for sure?!
While on the subject of early singles, Ive also never seen an acetate copy of 'Walking Down The Kings Road', though there were 100s of ‘DJ use only' shorter version records pressed, (the version faded out before the epic ending!) so maybe this was a substitute for cutting more acetate promo copies?
But one of the more fascinating items posted by Dave Edwards was this ‘DJ use only' copy of ‘Kings Road’ with the handwritten message on the sleeve - Another mod ‘label’, and band we’ve signed - The Mod Renewal!
This looks like a promo copy sent to a radio station, with a handwritten note to guide the DJ. The phrase ‘Another mod label’ suggests it wasn’t written by anyone at I-Spy Records, since they were Arista’s only ‘mod label’. My guess is it came from Secret Affair’s publisher, Brian Morrison, who had signed all the mod bands to his two companies — Bryan Morrison Music (for Secret Affair and Squire) and And Son Music (for The Chords, Purple Hearts, Back To Zero, and The Jam). Using ‘The Mod Renewal’ was likely their way of countering the ‘mod revival’ tag that was emerging in the press.
I’ve also never seen or heard of an acetate copy of The Face Of Your Today! So if anyone has seen one, let us know! Both were cut by Denis Blackham at Tape One in London.
There was also mention of the unusual double sided Get Smart white label which is actually side one of Get Smart backed with side one of the Every Trick 12 inch on the B side! There were 6 pressed especially for a fan club competition!
But there are some other fascinating items in our collection as well! For instance, every year we think of writing a newsletter that discusses the 1979 Secret Affair Tour, because it would give us the chance to feature the original 50 page itinerary which we still have. It lists all the live dates, all the hotels, all the contact details, and everything about the tour. Here is the front cover!
It is mundane information, but also a historic artefact that really describes the scale and breadth of the UK tour and how different it was compared to the dates we were playing only a few weeks earlier. One fascinating detail I recall is the PA sound system was hired in from Status Quo, and their crew came with it!
I also have a copy of the original street poster. They were everywhere at the time but I think I have the only remaining copy in existence! We could reproduce it if there is interest, but the creases from decades of being rolled up will need some expert editing.
But perhaps the one thing that we still have, which is a total one off, is the original rubber stamp set from the Official Squire Fan Club album! There are two stamps, and they sit in a box, together with the original green ink stamper pad ,and bottle of green ink, both from 40 years ago, and still working! There is also a bottle of red ink with red stamper pad, and blue ink with matching blue pad!
It is perhaps the rarest of the Squire items because not only is it the one and only original, but because it is so tied to the spirit of the Squire Fan Club.
It shows the value and endurance of old analogue processes. If the sleeve had been professionally printed, every copy would look identical. But because we had to physically hand‑stamp each sleeve, no two were exactly the same — making every copy a unique artefact in its own right.
Digital processes make it even harder to reproduce, since the print processes are different, ink colours are different etc. and digital files do not last forever! A good example is the inside sheet of the white vinyl reissue, which is a close facsimile of the original typewriter produced 1982 version, but whereas the typewriter font was a given, one fixed font per typewriter, trying to match it with a digital equivalent was a nightmare! Hence we reproduced it on another typewriter and have never bothered to try and update it since! Note the ‘latest version’ still references Myspace because of it!
That’s it for now. Let us know if you have any really rare items that we haven’t mentioned.
All the best from Squire!