Mar 23, 2013 - Billy Stewart's second album, 1966's Unbelievable, and the posthumous, 1974 odds-and-ends collection Cross My Heart are combined onto.

Chess Album Discography, Part 1 (1956-1965) Chess Album Discography, Part 1 LP-1425 to LPS-1553 and CHV-400 Vintage Series by David Edwards, Mike Callahan, and Randy Watts Last update: April 3, 2009 The original Chess LP series started with LP-1425 and included albums on both the Chess and the Checker labels. After 1437, the series was used exclusively for the Chess label; the Checker label switched to a 2970 series. A note about label design changes.

Label design changes are a messy operation, not usually a clean break between one design and a newer one from one album number to the next. Often, the old label blanks are used until they are depleted. Sometimes, when several pressing plants are used, some run out later than others, so we see things like the first black label showing up on LP-1500, when two label changes have already occurred since then. In the case of Chess, Checker, and Argo, different color labels with the first design were used, often for the same album, so for instance 'original pressings' of a Chess album might show up with either a blue or a black label.

And of course, newer labels often show up on older albums. This is more easily explained by later pressings of an album still in print. For all these reasons, it is hard to pinpoint when a new label starts for a company like Chess. Certainly the orange GRT label on a 1962 album indicates a later pressing or a reissue, but in looking at the 1960s labels, as we say, it's messy, and it's why we usually say, 'about this point, the label changes.' Those albums for which we have reason to believe were issued in mono only are listed with the mono ('LP-') prefix. Those for which we have indication of a stereo issue are listed with their stereo prefix ('LPS-'). For those where we do not have information on stereo issue, we have used an asterisk in the prefix (LP*-') [obviously the asterisk was not in the original label number].

Many of the early albums were reissued later, using the later label styles. Some albums were reissued in electronic stereo. We have listed the albums' stereo availability when first issued.

We know of no albums originally issued in mono only that were subsequently reissued in true stereo; Chess was notoriously prone to rechanneled stereo, both before and after the sale to GRT. The first Chess label (far left) was black with silver printing, 'CHESS' vertically on the left side of the label. On stereo releases, a gold label with black printing was used, with the same graphics. During this time, some issues used dark blue labels with silver printing (near left); graphics were the same. These were the original labels on 1425 to approximately 1482, but also appeared sporadically on original albums as late as LP-1500. Promotional labels were white with black printing, the graphics were the same as the black label. Many of the early promotional offerings also were pressed in limited-edition multi-color vinyl, as shown at near left.

At about LP-1482, Chess began transitioning away from the old label style. The first step was a change to a label with 'CHESS' across the top instead of down the left side, with a chess knight used as a crest. At first, this label was black, with gold letters and a red-white-blue-gold color scheme for the crest. These 'crest' labels were used for a very few issues, from about LP-1482 to about LP-1495.

Possibly when they ran out of the label blanks for the multicolor crest labels, an all-blue label with silver print was used, with the crest design but without the full color. These silver-and-blue labels were probably used in lieu of having the expensive crest multicolor labels reprinted, since they were changing the label design soon anyway, to the 'fade' design shown below. Just after the blue and silver crest label, an aqua and white 'transition' label was used (far left) on LP- 1496, with the same design that would become the standard starting in late 1965, but without the multicolor letters in the label name. This 'fade' design was also used for the Checker and Cadet labels, virtually the only difference being the label name.

It was blue (or purple) on the top, fading to almost-white at the bottom of the label. Printing was black. The 'CHESS' name was in block letters above the center hole with the top of the letters red, the middle white, and the bottom blue.

A stylized chess knight horse logo appeared on the right side under the label name. Various promotional issues used a few variations, but most just used the same label with the notation 'D.J. Copy - Not For Sale'. This new label was used from LP-1496 to the end of the series, LP-1553. This label was also used on the 'Vintage Series' to CHV-415 and on the early issues of the 50000 and 60000 series. At far left, a purple variation of the label used from LP-1500 to 1553. Shortly after Chess was purchased by GRT, the label was changed to orange with black printing (near left).