Noticed the other day at the used record store that they have a promo copy of the Jimmy Webb album. Is it any different than the general public release of the album?
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Noticed the other day at the used record store that they have a promo copy of the Jimmy Webb album. Is it any different than the general public release of the album?
I've never seen a promo copy of the Jimmy Webb album, but generally speaking, promo copies are usually the same as a regular copy. How did you know it was a promo copy? Usually. promo copies of Motown had white labels. This was to prevent retailers who obtained these promo copies from returning them to their distributor or one stop for credit.
Perhaps someone else here knows the answer specifically about the promo Jimmy Webb album, but my guess is that it contains the same songs as the regular album
I have it. It's identical to the consumer release. Mine doesn't even have a white label. Just embossed stamp "For promotional use only, Property of Motown Records".
I have quite a few items in my collection labeled Promo one way or another. I always took that to mean that they would be less valuable than other copies, but now I am not so sure.
How about those LPs back in the day that had cut out corners? I always took those to be "seconds" or "defects." Am I right about that?
the one I saw is the white label. Didn’t know if it had alternative takes.Quote:
Originally Posted by thanxal
No. The cut out corners, or a little hole in the corner of the cover means that they are cut outs. They are brand new and have no defects. A retailer is allowed to send back a certain amount of his purchases to the label or distributor. If they get too many of them back, they may cut the album from their catalogue and/or sell the returns at a cheap price to a cut out distributor. Many times, retailers will buy these cut outs and either sell them at regular price or sell them in a "Cut out Bin".Quote:
Originally Posted by daviddesper
To prevent retailers from buying these cut outs at cheap prices and then trying to return them to the distributor or label, they are marked with the hole or cut out corner.
Speaking of cut outs, I remember Johnny Carson being presented a gold record on the Tonight Show for his album. Back then, RIAA certified albums by how many were shipped. Tons of the LP were shipped to retailers with terms and many were shipped at no charge [[ex: Something like buy 5, get three free) as an incentive for the retailers to buy more. Sadly, even with Johnny reluctantly promoting the album on his show, the LP did not sell well and tons of the album were eventually returned to Casablanca including the free albums, and wound up in cut out bins with the hole or cut on the album. It created an industry joke - which is now even on Wikipedia,
"The return rate from retailers of unsold copies was high which initiated the industry joke that Casablanca "shipped the LP Gold and it was returned Platinum."
The album sold so poorly, that retailers sent back the albums that they purchased and the ones that they got for free. But Johnny got a gold record presented to him on THE TONIGHT SHOW
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...27s_Johnny.jpg
I've never seen a promo that wasn't an exact copy of the consumer release. The point was to give to radio stations for air play, swag to promote the label, etc. Having alternative releases would have defeated the purpose entirely. Now that I wrote that, I'm sure someone will find a promo with an alternate track [[there need be just one). But no, I've been collecting records of all sorts and genres for 30 years and I've never come across a promo that had any different track. Decca had the best promo labels back in the day. Pepto-bismal pink! Motown's were almost always white. Toward the end they gave up the white label and just stamped them, like my copy of Jimmy Webb.Quote:
Originally Posted by fightingirish46
the only difference i'm aware of [[and going off of memory so it could be fuzzy) is a promo 45 MIGHT have the A side on both as opposed to the originally released B side. or maybe an instrumental on B side.
Now if a single was remixed after initial release to improve something, then there might be 2 promo versions. I believe Bayou on here had mentioned that BW was quickly re-released with some edits to the mix to improve it. so there's a chance there are some subtle differences
and Touch and Driving Wheel have "promo 45 release mixes" according to the cd sets we've received and the GH&RC.
^^^ Sometimes one side of a promo 45's a-side would be the stereo version and the other side the mono version. On rare occasions this would be done for the b-side as well.
Promo 45s are a whole other story, as indicated by Sup_Fan and 144Man. I have all kinds of variations on those. I have a promo of Bad Weather [[I think, that or Touch) with the mono on one side and stereo on the other.
The Supremes have white label album promos for all their releases from late 68 to the 74 anthology set. The final three Scherrie albums were commercial copies stamped by the label as Motown seemed to drop the white label concept until 1980. The only unique promos were Talk Of The Town & Funny Girl as they were folded to mono for radio station airplay. A poster on here has claimed they saw a mono promo of the Love Child album but I’ve never seen proof of it. Join The Temptations surprisingly got an extremely limited mono commercial release but not a mono promo to match.
there is 1 album were a special promo version was recorded
Touch
the girls did that interview promotional copy where a portion of the album tracks were left off. the girls answered questions that were provided on an sheet to the dj, talking about the album and all
still the songs themselves aren't any different that the released album versions.
anyone aware of any other really special promotional albums like this from Motown?
I have a promo album for LADY SINGS THE BLUES, with a script for a dj to insert himself in to ask Diana questions. But I don't think it has any songs on it and it might have been released by Paramount, as opposed to Motown.
Audiophiles like the white label promo copies because they are usually the first ones off the plates...which means clearest sound....later promo's from most labels use the standard commercial label and have stickers or stamps on the jackets
I had a copy of Cream of the Crop which I believe was a Mono White label promo...it had the longer tambourine intro to Someday We'll Be Together....in my early ebay days when $ got tight, I sold it off