Finding the correct company sleeve for the Verve singles can be a bit tricky. I know that some were issued with a MGM company sleeve and some issued with generic brown sleeves. I had contact with a couple of guys who found some old warehouse stocks and these fabric new singles came with both MGM sleeves and generic brown sleeves. How Could I Be Such A Fool?/Help I’m A Rock, 3rd Movement: It Can’t Happen Here, Southern Plastic, Nashville pressing is one of those singles that came with the square logo MGM sleeve new from fabric. Check these warehouse find singles on Popsike, all with generic brown sleeves.
I do believe that the MGM company sleeve with a square lion logo was used from 1966 to early 1967 and the one with a round lion logo and New York address was used sometime from early 1967. Some round lion logo sleeves have the New York address on the front and some sleeves have the address on the back.
My theory is based on the sleeves found in MGM/Verve Celebrity Scene/Series 7″ box sets, released in 1966 and 1967. A lot of the Celebrity Scene/Series sets are complete and therefore a good indication of what company sleeve MGM/Verve used at the time.
The ones from 1966 and early 1967 have the square logo and the ones from later in 1967 have the round one. The Celebrity Scene Verve boxes are issued with generic brown sleeves, which strengthens my theory that generic brown sleeves were used for a lot of the Mothers Of Invention Verve singles.
The Lainie Kazan (1966) and Julius La Rosa (February 1967) sets have the square lion logo sleeve, Connie Francis (March 1967), Roy Orbison (June 1967) and Eric Burdon & The Animals (August 1967) have the round Lion New York Address front and back sleeves, all the Celebrity Scene/Series Verve sets like Willie Bobo and Jimmy Smiths that I have seen has generic brown sleeves.
Go to Popsike and Ebay, search for “Celebrity Scene” and “Celebrity Series” and you will see a pattern regarding the sleeves.
According to Discogs, MGM Records had a New York address until 1972 before they were bought by PolyGram. When MGM was bought by PolyGram in 1972, they changed to the Hollywood address, so the sleeves with the Hollywood address should not be used together with the Frank Zappa/Mothers singles.
The Mothers/Frank Zappa Verve singles were never issued with Verve company sleeves. They were used before Verve was bought by MGM Records.
In conclusion, I believe some Mothers Of Invention Verve singles came with MGM sleeves, but that the majority came with generic brown sleeves. Pressing plants can also have an impact on the kind of sleeve that was used. There are still a lot of unsolved mysteries regarding the correct sleeve for Verve singles.