Hidden messages in run-off grooves...you have to be pretty desperate to seek them out, let alone write about them, so here goes (matrix number collectors need not pay much attention, this is like easy listening in your world).

Everyone knows about 'Porkys Prime Cuts', scratched into the run-off grooves of Beatles masters by Apple cutting engineer George Peckham to check the pressing plant were using the right masters...but did you know George used to be in The Fourmost, and now lives in Walton-on-Thames, just down the road from wolrd-famous record label, Fruits de Mer? OK, I'm getting a bit sidetracked here, let's try again....

George Peckham is the leading exponent of run-off groove messages, his 'Porkys Prime Cut'sign-off, and variants thereof, being best known; but he didn't stop there, his comment on The Falls' 1980 album 'Totale’s Turns' being particularly cutting - “You’ll Never Work Again”.

Other messages from lesser cutting engineers that are worth seeking out include:
'KILL ME NOW' (Peter Andre's Greatest Hits)
'WE'VE NEVER HEARD OF SPIRIT' (Led Zeppelin IV)
'BET YOU DON'T GET THIS FAR' (Best Of The Smiths)

...while the artists themselves have been known to sneak in a message of their own...
'VINYL IS DEAD' (KLF)
'I WROTE ALL THE BEST ONES, YOU KNOW' (all Paul McCartney albums)

editor's note: some or all of this might not be true