An intermittent series of three-track EPs, issued between 1971 and 1979. 'Record Retailer' of the 29th of May 1971 announced that the first four records in the RCA Maxi Millions series would be released on the 11th of June; subsequent records were expected to emerge in batches of three or four on a quarterly basis. As it turned out, issues weren't quite that regular, but Maxi Millions did tend to appear in batches, which were presumably easier to market. The tracks were all well-known hits, apart from those on RCA-2655 - the three recordings by various artists on that EP were not hits in the U.K. and seem to have been aimed at the Soul market. Catalogue numbers were taken from RCA's main series. Many of the records were re-pressed at different times, with differences in the typeface; one was reissued with a different number. Maxi Million seems to have been shelved briefly as a label in the Summer of 1976, as four three-track EPs which would have fitted well into the series were issued on the standard RCA label; the artists involved were Charlie Pride, Glenn Miller, Dolly Parton, and Jefferson Airplane. It was dusted down in the Autumn of that year, however, and made a couple more appearances before vanishing. Only one kind of label was used, the standard RCA one with an 'overprint' in the middle, but there were two different kinds of sleeve - the second seems to have been used on releases from 1975 onwards. Usually RCA's 7" records were pressed by CBS in the first half of the '70s, but for some reason they seem to have often pressed at least some of the first dozen Maximillion EPs themselves. Things to look out for on an RCA pressing from 1971 are a glossier label than usual and the 'motte' ring around the spindle hole being 25mm in diameter rather than the 32mm of the CBS pressings of that time. In addition, for singles with perforations the intentations at the pointed end of each prong are gentler on the RCA pressings than on the CBS ones, as shown below. The first picture is of a CBS product, the second of an RCA. By a happy chance the picture also gives in idea of the relative positions of the 'motte' rings:
RCA took over the manufacture of their own singles and EPs from CBS in the Spring of 1975. Pressings from that point till the end of the decade (and beyond) have narrower perforations, as shown in the third and fourth examples above; they also have an additional inner ring around 15mm wide on one side and around 19mm wide on the other. Armed with that information, if you happen upon a Maxi Million EP you should be able to distinguish between early RCA pressings (glossy label, 25mm ring, gentle indentations if any), CBS pressings (matt label, 32mm ring, sharper indentations if any) and later RCA pressings (narrow perforations, 32mm ring, inner rings at c.15mm on one side and c.19mm on the other). The situation with regard to singles on the main RCA label is more complicated, as the layout of CBS rings varied after 1971 and there were contract pressings to take into consideration; the 'glossy labels and gentle indentations for RCA pressings' rule seems to hold good there, however. ("Fascinating. - Good Lord, is that the time? I really must be going." - Editor.)
Copyright 2015 Robert Lyons.