From looking at my old original pressings of albums from Factory Records, there are many engraved with cryptic words in the dead wax run out area. Porky in the examples below was the lacquer cutting and mastering engineer George Peckham (see Wikipedia). If he was particularly proud of his work he'd sign off as "A Porky Prime Cut". I understand that if didn't like a record he'd mastered, he'd sign it 'Blair's', to make everyone think it had been done by Chris Blair at Abbey Road.
The meanings in the ones below are pretty easy to guess, with lyrics from Joy Division's music, and one re-arranged to (probably) refer to Ian Curtis. Here are a few to start us off if there is any interest about this, noting that due to laziness I've ignored the identifier numbers and letters and not included them. That's what Discoggs is for.
Joy Division “Unknown Pleasures”
OUTSIDE A PORKY PRIME CUT
STEP INSIDE! A PORKY PRIME CUT
Joy Division “Closer”
OLD BLUE (marked on one side only)
Joy Division “Still”
STUDIO 301 (side 1, record 1)
Joy Division “Transmission / Novelty” 12 inch single
IVE SEEN THE REAL ATROCITIES A PORKY PRIME CUT
BURIED IN THE SAND A PORKY PRIME CUT
Joy Division “Love Will Tear Us Apart / Love Will tear Us Apart” 12 inch single
SPECTACLE IS A RITUAL A PORKY PRIME CUT
PURE SPIRIT A PORKY PRIME CUT
Joy Division “Atmosphere / She’s Lost Control” 12 inch single, dark red vinyl
WHERE ARE THE YOUNG MEN A PORKY PRIME CUT
BUT WHERE HAVE THEY BEEN A PORKY PRIME CUT
New Order “Ceremony / In A Lonely Place” 12 inch single
WATCHING LOVE GROW TOWNHOUSE GP (might actually be GA, hard to tell)
HOW I WISH WE WERE HERE WITH YOU NOW TOWNHOUSE SG
There are many on my original New Order collection but I haven't the time to yank them out and peer at them.
The internet revealed that he worked on many Beatles records too. Apparently, while he was a cutting engineer at Apple, Peckham would often include a message on the dead wax. For instance on ‘You’, the A side of George Harrison’s September 1975 release, the message is ‘A PORKY PRIME CUT.’ The message on the flipside, ‘World Of Stone’ is ‘PECKO.’ When he mastered the ‘Extra Texture (Read All About It)’ album for George Harrison,on the ‘A’ side is a message ‘A PORKY/TONY PRIME CUT’. The other side features the message ‘OOH GEORGE, YOU’RE SUCH A DARK HORSE LUV GEORGE.’ On mastering ‘This Guitar (Can’t Keep From Crying)’ his message was ‘A PORKY PRIME CUT.’ The message on the flipside ‘Maya Love’ was ‘ONOTHIMAGEN YERRITIZ LA!’
On George Harrison’s ‘This Song’ single the message reads ‘A PORKY PRIME CUT’ and on the flipside ‘Learning How To Love You’, ‘PECKO.’
Anyone else seen any cryptic words from the members of the "society of lathe trolls" on dead wax recently?