History Of Prestige Reissues In Japan Revealed

Prestige Reissue in Japan has the oldest history compared to the other labels like Blue Note, Verve and the rest.

In the early 60's Victor Music Japan started producing Prestige reissues with their label, called "TOP RANK". I guess, they didn't use the original Prestige label due to the licensing issue.

TOP RANK MONO titles were manufactured as MONO groove (After 70s, all MONO reissues have STEREO groove with MONO sound). When it comes to 70's, the license was transferred from Victor Music Japan to Toshiba EMI and they started manufacturing Prestige reissues with their serial using, LPR or LPP. The label design was like Fantasy, later Prestige Green Label.

The late 70's, the license was brought back again to Victor Music Japan and they started producing the series called SMJX series, later on they started using SMJ instead of SMJX.  The label design was yellow original label.

In the 80's, the license remained with Victor Music Japan but they started using the serial with VIJ series. They used the high quality thick paper for the sleeve. But the sound to me, there is no difference.

Later 80's, Victor Music Japan manufactured the cheaper series called PJ series. They used a red OBI and the price is cheaper than the usual series. Please note that the sound quality is the same as the other series, good.

In the early 90's, Victor Music Japan manufactured the series called, VIJJ series. They used this VIJJ on OBI and on the Inserts but not on the label and sleeve. They wanted to make it like the original US pressing, haha. It is a kind of semi-premium using golden OBI and high quality paper for the sleeve. But, the sound quality is the same as the other normal reissues.

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