Artists
Album Info
Release Date: 1959Label: Riviera Records
Title: World's Greatest OverturesNumber: R0004
Artist: Studio Group
Performer(s): Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Other Orchestras
Release Date: 1959
The Riviera label was a short-lived budget subsidiary of Modern/Crown that operated from 1959 to 1963 or so, although all their albums were first issued in 1959 and 1960. (In early 1961, Modern decided to use the Modern label instead of Riviera for this purpose, although they kept reissuing old Riviera LPs until at least 1963, and possibly later.)
The address for Riviera Records is given as 9317 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, Calif. Both the address and the similarity of label design are enough to indicate it is part of the Modern/Crown Records empire, but the cheap packaging and bumps in the vinyl leave no doubt that it was a Bihari Brothers product. Of course, they had the gall to put a blurb on the generic back cover of these albums crowing about their high recording standards. Hmmm. They forgot to mention the pressing process and the packaging.
The first label on this series, used in 1959 and 1960, was a silver background with black printing. "Riviera RECORDS" in printed in black above the center hole, "HIGH FIDELITY" in black on the left side and "LONG PLAYING 33 1/3" in black on the right side. (THIS IS THE VERSION OF THIS LISTING).
The second label, used starting in 1961, was black with silver printing, with "Riviera RECORDS" in white above the center hole with a three-color logo, "HIGH FIDELITY" in white on the left side and "LONG PLAYING 33 1/3" in white on the right.
Stereo albums had "STEREO" in red around the bottom of the label. These labels were very similar to the Crown labels used during the same time periods.
Mono albums were issued in the R0001 series, while stereo issues used the STR001 series. The stereo issues had a generic jacket back that gave technical "data" on stereo, a new concept in 1959.