What is the earliest "Stereo" record, LP or 45 you own?

I have a Crapital copy of 'The King and I'. Sleeve has a large gold stick-on label proclaiming 'STEREO'. The 1956 movie was produced in both 4-track and 6-track stereo. Somewhere on the back of the sleeve is a year. Somewhere in my guest bedroom is the record to reference. Get back to you next year on that.
 
Stan Kenton's - Milestones. Capitol T190, 1955
Stan Kenton ‎– Lush Interlude. Capitol ST-1130, 1959

Stan Kenton ‎– Stan Kenton Encores. Capitol Reissue, ST1034
If you go by the catalog number, this one falls between 1957 - 1958.

T190 is mono.
 
I have a Crapital copy of 'The King and I'.

'60s Capitol pressings were indeed "Craptastic," but pre-c.1962 Capitol recordings and masterings were world class! Somewhere along the line they started dumbing it down by shaving off the top and bottom frequencies and compressing the dynamics, probably because retailers were returning too many "defectives." The majority of crappy record players of the era were largely unable to track full-range recordings.

But listen to a nice original west coast pressing of a '50s Sinatra LP and you will be wowed by the you-are-there sound!
 
Are you sure? According to Discogs, the T190 in 1954 was mono. This T190 is from 1955.

There could be discrepancy as far as recording date, but no discrepancy by release date. The first stereophonic Lp record released to the public was in November of 1957, by Audio Fidelity.
 
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Why no one mentioning any 45s? There could be some interesting ones. In my experience, 1970 was the year of turning. I have some from '69, Santana - Black Magic Woman, and Nilsson - Everybody's Talkin', for example, that are stereo. Most everything before that time is monaural. But any earlier ones that are in stereo would by very interesting.
 
I never got into 45s. But the oldest one I have is a bit unusual.

The stereo LP was release in 1964.
Alfred Apaka With Danny Stewart's Hawaiians ‎– Hawaiian Favorites. Decca 1964.

What I have are the Extended Play 45s. It’s two 45s with 8 of the 12 songs from the 12” stereo record. Other than this I can't find any info on this pressing. So I'm deducing that these 45 are in stereo. I could be wrong. I listened to it with headphones, but because of the type of music, I have some doubts.

Alfred-Apaka_Hawaiian-Favorites2x45s.jpg
 
I never got into 45s. But the oldest one I have is a bit unusual.

The stereo LP was release in 1964.
Alfred Apaka With Danny Stewart's Hawaiians ‎– Hawaiian Favorites. Decca 1964.

What I have are the Extended Play 45s. It’s two 45s with 8 of the 12 songs from the 12” stereo record. Other than this I can't find any info on this pressing. So I'm deducing that these 45 are in stereo. I could be wrong. I listened to it with headphones, but because of the type of music, I have some doubts.

View attachment 898170

Nope, those are mono. Until at least 1968, pretty much all stereo records have "stereo" or "stereophonic" indicated on the cover and label. Besides being a marketing phrase, it's also a warning against playing it with a non-compatible mono cartridge!

Are you sure there was a true stereo issue of the LP?
 
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BTW, based on the cover and label design, your EP set is from earlier than 1964, probably from the early-mid '50s. Definitely not a '60s pressing.

This is a '60s Decca 45:

the-who-i-cant-explain-1964.jpg


They had pretty much stopped issuing EPs in the USA by '64. During the "format wars" of the late '40s-early '50s, it was not uncommon for the same album to be issued as a set of 78s, a set of 45s, and on a 10" LP.
 
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"West Side Story" Columbia original Broadway cast recording: 1957. Later, Command Records "Persuasive Percussion" parts 1 & 2 (1959 & 1960).
 
BTW, based on the cover design, I believe your EP set is from earlier than 1964, probably from the early-mid '50s. Definitely not a '60s graphics style.

They had pretty much stopped issuing EPs in the USA by '64. During the "format wars" of the late '40s-early '50s, it was not uncommon for the same album to be issued as a set of 78s, a set of 45s, and on a 10" LP.
Thank you. I agree with the graphic style. My first impression was it was from the 50s. I'm still grappling on how these were recorded. Were these recorded in stereo and issued in mono and later issued in stereo? Or were they recorded in mono and the stereo version is another recording?
 
Thank you. I agree with the graphic style. My first impression was it was from the 50s. I'm still grappling on how these were recorded. Were these recorded in stereo and issued in mono and later issued in stereo? Or were they recorded in mono and the stereo version is another recording?

It appears to have originally been released in 1951, so it is a mono recording:
https://www.discogs.com/Alfred-Apak...-Hawaiians-Hawaiian-Favorites/release/2042906

Any "stereo" releases of this material are almost certainly fake stereo, ie: "electronically rechanneled for stereo" or some other such nonsense. But your EP set is definitely a '50s mono pressing, and might even precede the 1952 12" LP shown below.

R-2042906-1438719846-1019.jpeg.jpg
R-2042906-1438719846-8068.jpeg.jpg
 
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It appears to have originally been released in 1951, so it is a mono recording:
https://www.discogs.com/Alfred-Apak...-Hawaiians-Hawaiian-Favorites/release/2042906

Any "stereo" releases of this material are almost certainly fake stereo, ie: "electronically rechanneled for stereo" or some other such nonsense. But your EP set is definitely a '50s mono pressing, and might even precede the 1952 12" LP shown below.

R-2042906-1438719846-1019.jpeg.jpg
R-2042906-1438719846-8068.jpeg.jpg
Wow! I didn't see that one. That's pretty cool. Love the design. Mahalo!
 
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