Folder 134

Venezuela

Venezuela, pressed by Rodven. Three Venezuelan pressings share one matrix, so for once the deadwax settles nothing; the price printed on the back cover, P.V.P. Bs. 70,00, is what picks out the original.

Catalogue: EMI-25120 - printed 25120 on the sleeve · EMC 3512 (labels)
Label: EMI - manufactured by Rodven Discos, distributed by Sono-Rodven
Released: 1986
Confidence: Confirmed
Why this grade
Venezuela is certain from DEPOSITO LEGAL NB-86-7187, the Hecho en Venezuela por Rodven Discos line and the Spanish rights notice, all printed on the back cover. Three Venezuelan LPs sit under this master and all three carry the same matrix, so the run-out fixes the country and the plate family and discriminates between none of them. What separates them is printed elsewhere: Discogs records P.V.P. Bs. 70 for 2496306 and P.V.P. Bs. 350 for 4890046, and describes 3721224 as the reissue with cream EMI labels. This copy's back cover carries P.V.P. Bs. 70,00 and its labels are the dark international Eddie artwork, not cream - so one candidate survives, on a detail that is not the one already matched on. One thing does not sit flush and the grade is stated knowing it: this back cover reads distribuido por Sono-Rodven, where Discogs gives the distributor as EMI Rodven for every Venezuelan candidate. That disagreement points away from all three equally rather than toward any other one, so it does not move the identification - but it is the shape an uncatalogued fourth pressing would leave behind, and the section at the foot of this page says so at length
Reference: Discogs 2496306
Median sale: DKK 254
Sale range: DKK 112-449
On sale now: 3, from DKK 314
Last sold: 30 November 2023

What the record says

Every line below was read off a native-resolution crop of the photo named beside it, except where the source column says otherwise - those rows come from the record itself, by reading it or by playing it, and each says which.

Run-out photographed on both sides across some thirty frames, and read off the record by eye as well. Side A reads 25120 A EMI A J 6 WILLIAMS R.V. 10 J U and side B 25120 B EMI MAIDEN B WILLIAMS R.V. 10 J U as read from the record. It is hand-etched in a loose cursive and two groups are genuinely ambiguous by eye: 25120 could be 25/20, and the J U tail could be 5 U. Discogs records the same run-out for all three Venezuelan pressings as 25120 A EMI A JG IRON MAIDEN WILLIAMS R.V. 10 J.U. and 25120 B EMI IRON MAIDEN B JG WILLIAMS R.V. 10 J.U. - the same string with JG where this reading has J 6, and with IRON MAIDEN where this one caught only MAIDEN. Root, side letters and the WILLIAMS R.V. 10 J.U. tail all agree. Since every Venezuelan candidate shares it, it corroborates and decides nothing.

Barcode and Other Identifiers: Matrix / Runout

As Discogs records them for release 2496306. Green: in my collection (2 of 2). Red: missing.

✓	Matrix / Runout (Side A)	`25120 A EMI A JG IRON MAIDEN WILLIAMS R.V. 10 J.U.` — this copy
✓	Matrix / Runout (Side B)	`25120 B EMI IRON MAIDEN B JG WILLIAMS R.V. 10 J.U.` — this copy

Every line of small print, and the photograph it came from — 16 of them

Front cover: single sleeve, IRON MAIDEN / SOMEWHERE IN TIME

IMG_2694

Rear cover, printed into the artwork: P.V.P. Bs. 70,00

IMG_2696

Rear cover: …Discos y distribuido por Sono-Rodven · …servados todos los derechos de los autores de las obras y del productor de fonogramas · ℗ 1986

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Rear cover: Hecho en Venezuela por Rodven Discos y distribuido por Sono-Rodven

IMG_2698

Rear cover: DEPOSITO LEGAL NB-86-7187

IMG_2698

Rear cover: Prohibida la reproducción, locación (alquiler) y préstamo de este ejemplar y su radiodifusión o ejecución pública

IMG_2697, IMG_2698

Rear cover: Selecciones de color y montaje: FOTOLITO GAMMA, C.A.

IMG_2696

Rear cover, catalogue number: 25120

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Rear cover, foot: EMI Records Ltd. · Direct Metal DMM™ Mastering · DMM is a trademark of TELDEC

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Label, side one: EMC 3512 · EMC 3512A · SIDE 1 · STEREO 33⅓ RPM

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Label, side one, perimeter: MANUFACTURED IN THE UK BY E… - the UK boilerplate, left in place on a record made in Venezuela

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Label, side two: EMC 3512 · EMC 3512B · SIDE 2, tracks THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER … ALEXANDER THE GREAT (356-323 B.C.)

IMG_2700, IMG_2701

Run-out, side two, in fragments: 25120 B · EMI · MAIDEN · WILLIAMS · R.V.

IMG_2702, IMG_2703, IMG_2704, IMG_2705, IMG_2710, IMG_2711

Run-out, side one, in fragments: 25120 A · EMI · MAIDEN · WILLIAMS R.V. · 10

IMG_2713, IMG_2714, IMG_2730, IMG_2731, IMG_2732

Both run-outs, off the record itself, quoted as written: Side A - 25120 A EMI A J 6 WILLIAMS R.V. 10 J U / Side B - 25120 B EMI MAIDEN B WILLIAMS R.V. 10 J U, with the same note recording 25120 could be 25/20 and J U could be 5 U

read by eye by the owner; filed in this folder as runout - eye.txt

The photographs

IMG_2694.jpg1 of 39READ FROM

The object, and what marks it out

Sleeve, labels and inserts

Single sleeve, the international artwork with the Venezuelan legal block and the price set into it - edge wear and a rubbed bottom corner.
No inner sleeve or insert is in this folder. Discogs records a folded inner sleeve for this release; whether this copy still has one is not something the photographs answer.
Labels - the international dark Eddie artwork, EMC 3512 and EMC 3512A/EMC 3512B, with the UK MANUFACTURED IN THE UK BY EMI RECORDS… rim text left in place. Not the cream labels Discogs describes for the reissue sharing this catalogue number.
Vinyl - black, both sides.

What distinguishes this pressing

P.V.P. Bs. 70,00 printed on the back cover. Discogs records P.V.P. Bs. 70 for this release and P.V.P. Bs. 350 for the later repress sharing the catalogue number - the one figure that separates them.
Dark international labels, not cream, which is how the other repress under this catalogue number is described.
DEPOSITO LEGAL NB-86-7187 and FOTOLITO GAMMA, C.A. - the Venezuelan legal deposit and the plate-maker, both printed on the sleeve.
The run-out is not a discriminator here. All three Venezuelan pressings carry the same 25120 … WILLIAMS R.V. 10 J.U. matrix, so it establishes the country and the plates and nothing finer.
The labels say the UK and the sleeve says Venezuela. The international label artwork is here unaltered, MANUFACTURED IN THE UK BY EMI RECORDS… and all, on a record whose sleeve and run-out both place it in Venezuela. Worth knowing before that rim text is read as a country marker.

Eight tracks, two sides, and the recording credits

Side A

A1Caught Somewhere In Time
A2Wasted Years
A3Sea Of Madness
A4Heaven Can Wait

Side B

B1The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner
B2Stranger In A Strange Land
B3Deja-Vu
B4Alexander The Great

Bruce Dickinson - vocals · Dave Murray - lead and rhythm guitar, guitar synthesizer · Adrian Smith - lead and rhythm guitar, backing vocals, guitar synthesizer · Steve Harris - bass, bass synth · Nicko McBrain - drums.

Produced, engineered and mixed by Martin Birch. Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound. Bass, bass synth and drums recorded at Compass Point Studios, Nassau; guitars, vocals and guitar synth recorded at Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum; mixed at Electric Lady Studios, New York. Sleeve illustration by Derek Riggs; sleeve concept by Derek Riggs and Rod Smallwood. Inner sleeve photograph by Aaron Rapoport. Published by Zomba Music Publishers Ltd.

Personnel and studio credits are sourced from Discogs release 1701390, the UK original, and apply to the recording rather than to this pressing. The producer, publisher and copyright lines are independently corroborated by this copy's own label, quoted above.

Condition, from the photographs

A photograph cannot grade a record - this is a description of what is visible, not a grade.

Sleeve: general handling wear with some edge and corner softening; no splits or seam separation visible in these shots.
Vinyl: light surface marks and handling sheen catch the light. No visible deep scratches, warping or edge damage in these photographs. The labels are clean and unmarked.

No Goldmine grade is claimed for it, or any other. I have no record of where this copy came from.

What is settled, and what is not

Confirmed, on the price rather than on the deadwax.

Venezuela and catalogue 25120 are certain from the back cover. Three Venezuelan LPs under this master share that number and share one matrix, so the run-out narrows nothing further. Two printed details do:

How the other candidates were ruled out

Candidate	Verdict
2496306 - original	Matches. Discogs records `P.V.P. Bs. 70` for it; this back cover reads `P.V.P. Bs. 70,00`. Its `DMM is a trademark of Teldec` back-cover note is here too.
4890046 - later repress	Ruled out on the price. Discogs records `P.V.P. Bs. 350` for it; this sleeve carries `Bs. 70,00`.
3721224 - reissue	Ruled out on the labels. Discogs: “Reissue with EMI cream labels”. These labels are the dark international Eddie artwork.

One thing does not sit flush, and it is worth saying so. The back cover reads distribuido por Sono-Rodven, where Discogs' notes give the distributor as EMI Rodven, C.A. for 2496306 and EMI Rodven for 4890046, and all three candidates carry EMI-Rodven, C.A. in the structured field. That mismatch points away from every candidate equally rather than toward any one of them, so it does not move the grade - but it is exactly the shape of thing an uncatalogued fourth Venezuelan pressing would leave behind, and the standing caveat below is not a formality here.

Standing caveat: this method cannot exclude a pressing absent from Discogs. The version list is incomplete by construction, so a single surviving candidate is a best match, not a proof of uniqueness.

What would settle the rest. A square-on frame of the full back cover rather than the four overlapping details here, so the distributor line can be read whole and compared with what Discogs records.