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This label guide covers album labels by Columbia Records from their beginnings in 1948 until the phasing out of the LP. Several classic label styles were tried and used during the early period, as you will see below.
If a colored link appears around a photo, you can click on that photo to view the "Masterworks" version of the same label style.
    
| This first of all Columbia labels took on at least three varieties.
A mainstream 10" LP series began with GL-100.
The mainstream 12" LP series began in September, 1951, with GL-500.
At first, the mainstream 12" LP's were prefixed "GL," and all labels were black.
In 1953, after 12" album GL-524, the mainstream series prefix for both 10" and 12"
albums switched to CL, and the labels
appeared in at least four colors: red, blue, green, and gold. The other color
labels already existed among the series of 10" LP's. This label style
lasted from 1948 until 1955, when it was phased out between mainstream
LP CL-620 and CL-650. At the bottom of the label is one of four possible variants:
Apart from the GL-100 and GL/CL-500 series, other series of albums from Columbia exist: The CL-2500 series originally contained 10" LP's of non-pop recordings. That series was eventually withdrawn, but not until after the advent of the "6 eye" label. The highest number I've seen is CL-2598. The ML-2000 series contained 10" Masterworks recordings and began in 1948. Did this evolve into the CL-2500 series? The ML-4000 series contained both soundtrack recordings and other "Masterworks" series records. Occasionally, an additional "5" is found preceding the number; these are thought to be record club issues. This series began in 1948. The CL-6000 series contained mainstream 10" LP's and began back in 1948. Perhaps 350 LP's were made in this series. |
 
| In 1955, Columbia introduced the "6 eye" label. There are six camera/eye logos on the label, and the "Lp" logo is at the bottom. This label continued on all (mono) pressings until 1962. Masterworks albums (ML series), including soundtrack albums (OL and KOL series), were placed onto a gray and black "6 eye" label. Mono mainstream numbers from about CL 600 through about CL 1800 were pressed on this label style originally. |
| In 1958, stereo was introduced, and so a stereo version of the "6 eye" label was created. The prefix for standard stereo LP's was CS. A black and gray version was created for Masterworks and soundtrack albums (MS, KS, OS, and KOS series). Stereo mainstream numbers from CS 8000 to about CS 8579 were pressed on this label style originally. |
 
| In 1962, Columbia switched to the "2 eye" label, which lasted in
one form or another until 1970. The first variety (1962-1963) featured
the words "Guaranteed High Fidelity" at the bottom for mono LP's and
"360 Sound" twice around the word "STEREO" at the bottom for stereo LP's. In Fall, 1963, arrows were added to the stereo logo. A similar change was made for Masterworks/soundtrack albums. This variation covers mainstream numbers CL 1780-CL 2379 (mono) and CS 8580-CS 9132 (stereo). |
 
| In 1963, the print on both mono and stereo copies -- for mainstream and Masterworks albums -- was changed to white, which contrasted better with the red (or gray) label. This change began at about mainstream number CL 2380 (mono) and CS 9133 (stereo). The print on the mono copies was changed to conform to the stereo labels, now reading "MONO," flanked by "360 Sound." |
| At about the end of 1967, at approximately mainstream number CL 2490, the "360 Sound" references were removed from the mono label. Thus, albums like Bob Dylan's "John Wesley Harding" (CL 2804, from 1968), have only "MONO". Mono albums were discontinued for regular distribution in 1968, at about album number CL 2811. Typically, LP's from that point on were pressed in stereo only, with some exceptions being pressed in mono only. "Mono or stereo" ceased to exist as an option at that point. However, special mono pressings for radio stations (and possibly for some stores) continued to be made until about the beginning of 1969 (with approximately LP number CL-2920); these albums were on red labels but were not available commercially.The stereo label continued to have the same design ("360 Sound") until 1970. |
| The stereo albums continued to be pressed on the "360 Sound" "two eye" label
from 1965 into 1970. In 1970, Columbia ran out of four digit stereo numbers
when they reached CS 9999, so they dropped back to CS 1000 and continued a CS
10** series temporarily. Now that there were no mono LP's, this was possible.
However, that proved quickly to be a problem, numerically. So, albums like
"Marrying Maiden" by It's a Beautiful Day have numbers such as CS 1058, even
though they have no connection to mono album CL 1058. Next, still in 1970, Columbia jumped their numbering up to 30000, still keeping with the "360 Sound" stereo label. After about 50 such albums, still during 1970, they abandoned the label style...finally. The design was switched to what I call the "Columbia Columbia..." label. A variant label has "CBS CBS CBS..." around the rim. Mainstream labels (C, KC, JC, FC series) and the later budget line labels (PC series) were red and black; Masterworks (M or S series) labels were gray and orange; Quadraphonic records (CQ or PCQ series) were gold and red. This label design continued well into the 80's. Eventually, Columbia began to experiment with using label styles somewhat similar to their old 78 labels, but the "Columbia Columbia Columbia..." version still remained their "official" label. In about 1990 (some time after album C 45000), they stopped pressing LP's on a regular basis. 12" singles and "special projects" were made after that time and to an extent continue to be made; these usually appear on custom labels. |
© 2002, 2005 Frank Daniels