STARLINE - The Beach Boys on 45

	Southern Rhodesia & Zimbabwe
Capitol	Reprise	CBS

An introduction

If you thought collecting South African vinyl is tough, collecting Rhodesian 45's is even harder. The (white) market was even smaller than the South African one. (For more information on South African vinyl, go here). Therefore (probably) in the 60ies Rhodesian 45's were pressed in South Africa. And based upon the few 45's we have, this happened until at least the mid 80ies, as both the Capitol and Epic singles we show here have identical registration numbers as the South African ones.

Problem with Rhodesian/Zimbabwan 45's is the lack of information on the releases. When it comes to the 60ies Capitol releases, the Rhodesian labels of the Capitol 60ies releases are identical to the South African ones. Most probably the vinyl was also made in S.A.. But one is able to identify a Rhodesian 45 by checking the run out grooves where it says (machine stamped): MADE IN S. RHODESIA. A few singles in our collection have this mentioned. But it should also be mentioned that in the past several 45's were offered to us being Rhodesian pressings, although there was no mentioning of it in the run out grooves. To the dealers credits it must be said though that these 45's were (a) bought in Rhodesia and (b) a Rhodesian 45 usually was released with a tri-star center piece. Not that a South African 45 could not have been released with a tri-star (I've seen enough samples that are 100% South African), but it's worth mentioning it. It could very well be that the specific "MADE IN S. RHODESIA" mentioning was only added for a short amount of time. But that's pure guessing.

Based upon information we could find (on labels and from dealers), for now this is our theory:

1. Early 60ies: Until 1964 the country was known as Rhodesia (or: Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland). Rhodesian Capitol singles from that time frame that we're offered to us didn't mentioned "MADE IN S. RHODESIA". Unless you'd use the theory "all tri-star 45's are Rhodesian", it's impossible to determine whether a Capitol 45 is Rhodesian or South African.

2. In November 1965 Southern Rhodesia declared itself independent as "Rhodesia". Although this name was widely used, 'Southern Rhodesia' remained the colony's formal name in United Kingdom constitutional theory. The few Singles we have from 1965 do mention "MADE IN S. RHODESIA". Is there a connection perhaps? Anyway, a Rhodesion pressing from this time frame is easy to determine.

3. Late 1965-1968: See (1.). Singles with a tri-star that were found don't mention "MADE IN S. RHODESIA". Again - some of these were offered as being Rhodesian 45's.

4. Between 1969 and 1978 there's an information-gap, as we don't have any Beach Boys 45's that hint towards being a Rhodesian pressing. No idea if Stateside and Warner-Reprise made any pressings for the Rhodesian market at all.
5. The few 45's we can show from 1979 & 1985 (CBS) and 1981 (Capitol) contain identical catalogue numbers as the South African ones, but with much simpler label layouts. Are these really Rhodesian 45's? Well, the seller was very clear in saying these were Rhodesian/Zimbabwan 45's as he bought them there.
6. In 1980 the Republic of Zimbabwe was recognised by the United Kingdom. Apparently this didn't have any influence (yet) on vinyl production and logistics. (see (5.)).

It should be noted that in the mid-1970s the quality of Rhodesian-pressed vinyl took a dive (oil crisis and a war ...) and the vast majority of the record labelling (on the vinyl) became plain white with blue to dark blue (or sometimes black) text, regardless of the publisher/recording company. Album covers, although still printed in full colour, lost their usual sheen because they no longer had a laminated top layer - just plain cardboard (kind of like a cereal box). It was a rare joy at the time to obtain a South African pressing of anything because they still had colour labels on the vinyl and that 'luxury' sheen on the album cover, plus the vinyl pressing was usually pristine and free from audio defects.