Sound Experience Promo LP Variation Question

obscure_addict

I really don't have a good source for questions like this, so i might as well ask here, or someone point me in the correct direction elsewhere online to some heavy record nerds.Sound Experience Dont Fight The Feeling on SOULVILLE. This lp was exclusively distributed by Bell Records, i've always been a fan of the funky breakbeat track "devil with the bust" so recently found an extra spare copy and it's another case of why did this happen.Q#1. How many copies of this lp got pressed? promo & retail. Did the retail contain similar alternate labels?? I never see the "retail" copy anywhere, and during my days of digging i've found 3 promos and nothing more cept 45s.Q#2. This one i found contains an alternate label that i have never seen before as shown below, However the runout matrix are basically the same... frankford/wayne phila stamp... noticeable difference is one contains (hi stan) scribbed into the wax and the other says (the best). What happened here?? both sleves are identical, but i've not seen many promos that had totally different labels. (Sure the Hi Stan refers to "stan watson" production.)

johmbolaya

It may be possible that separate promo pressings were done, with the stock version being done first and the ones with the additional names ("Hi Stan") may have been done after the stock pressings were done. All it would require is writing that in the mother stamper. Sometimes the stock and promo copies may sound different from each other too, although if you said the matrix info is essentially the same, that may not be true in this case.

obscure_addict

Yeah, I failed to mention one does sound better. The picture on top is pressed on more of a thicker vinyl. The one pictured underneath has a bit more flex although not like the dynaflex vinyls. The thicker vinyl press sounds noticeably better.

The_Hook_Up

sorry to knock this thread off track for a sec...but were different promos pressed for different markets? Like if a city's main soul/urban station was an AM station, was a mono record with a sightly different EQ made for those markets as opposed to Stereo pressings for FM stations?

johmbolaya

sorry to knock this thread off track for a sec...but were different promos pressed for different markets? Like if a city's main soul/urban station was an AM station, was a mono record with a sightly different EQ made for those markets as opposed to Stereo pressings for FM stations?

Two different beasts. In the 70's, most mono mixes on 45's (and the few mono LP's that were pressed) were fold-downs from the stereo mix (i.e. the two stereo channels combined to make a mono mix). It is rare that a label would have an exclusive mono mix done for a hit song when it was easier to combine both channels.

In the 70's, stereo 45's became part of the norm, and in a lot of instances a unique stereo mix was done for a 45 which might emphasize the vocals, guitar, drums, or whatever. Or it might bring up things that aren't on the album mix, to make the song "radio friendly". A great example of this is Aerosmith's "Dream On", where there's female background vocals. Steely Dan's "Do It Again" is in a mix that is not so wide, and comes close to sounding mono. That was probably do to phasing that can happen with stereo mixes, so in this case a unique stereo mix was made so that it was suitable for AM and FM stations (if FM chose to play the 45). It completely removes the synth solo, and sounds a bit dry and "not as full", but when you consider it was meant for AM radio it really didn't matter.

johmbolaya

Yeah, I failed to mention one does sound better. The picture on top is pressed on more of a thicker vinyl. The one pictured underneath has a bit more flex although not like the dynaflex vinyls. The thicker vinyl press sounds noticeably better.

There we go, one major reason why white label promos from the 60's and 70's are desired, because the promos are (generally) better than what the general public got to hear. It's not unlike Blue Note collectors wanting the "deep groove" pressings and nothing but. Also important for a lot of albums that have never been reissued on CD, or if they were they were No-Noise'd and sound like shit.

In some cases, a promo pressing had a bit more quality control since less were pressed, which meant the person at the plant could watch out and maintain what was going on, opposed to an album that had second, third, fourth, etc. pressings and the guy went outside for a smoke and donuts.

bull_ox

If it were simply different looking labels I'd assume they were just pressed at two different plants in different parts of the country. But if they're using different materials and have different inscriptions that's probably not the case here.