LOVE ARTHUR LEE FOREVER CHANGES INSANELY RARE ORIG'67 ELEKTRA MONO TEST PRESSING

$

709

WE CURRENTLY HAVE  MORE THAN 1,200  LISTED ITEMS.   TO DISPLAY ALL OUR AUCTIONS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER (BY ARTISTS' NAMES)    ►CLICK HERE

►Click here to see ALL our ROCK auctions ►Our PSYCH & PROGRESSIVE  auctions ►Our PUNK & NEW WAVE  auctions ► Our  JAZZ auctions ►Our BLUE NOTE JAZZ auctions  ►Our BLUES auctions ►Our CLASSICAL auctions ►Our COUNTRY auctions ►Our FUNK auctions ►Our LATIN auctions ►Our METAL auctions►Our REGGAE auctions ►Our SOUL auctions ► Our STILL SEALED ITEMS  ►Our PROMO auctions  ►Our AUDIOPHILE auctions

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫

BEFORE YOU BID ON THIS ITEM, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING: (THIS IS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT!!!

1.If you are paying by PayPal, this item MUST be paid separately from any other items you may win (you will NOT lose any discount by paying for your items separately)

2. This item MUST be paid to a different Paypal address from the one we normally use. Please DO NOT , repeat: DO NOT pay for this item BEFORE we contact you and provide the valid PayPal address to be used.

Any payments that do not fully comply with these two express requirements will be refunded and the buyer will then be asked to re-effect the payment in a manner described above.

This requirement covers only about 10 of our featured items (these 10 are marked with a large notice on top you are now reading). All other items can be paid as usual and without any special measures or precautions.

PLEASE CONTACT US BEFOREHAND (DEFINITELY *** NOT *** AFTER THE AUCTION ENDS)  IF ANY QUESTIONS ARISE.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR COOPERATION.

·       LOVE - FOREVER CHANGES – ORIGINAL BRITISH PRESSING - ORIGINAL ELEKTRA RECORDS 1967 MONO LP EKL-4013 (THE RECORD LABELS DO NOT HAVE A CATALOG NUMBER, BUT THE MATRIX STAMP IN TRAIL-OFF VINYL CLEARLY SHOWS THE ORIGINAL CATALOG NUMBER: EKL-4013 A1/ EKL-4013 B1

·       ORIGINAL U.S. PRESSING

*** PREPOSTEROUSLY RARE ORIGINAL 1967 BRITISH MONO TEST PRESSING ***

·       MONSTROUSLY RARE MONO PRESSING – BY FAR THE RAREST LOVE ALBUM IN EXISTENCE !!!

·       ONE OF THE GREATEST ROCK ALBUMS OF THE LAST 50 YEARS – THE UNIVERSALLY RECOGNIZED MASTERPIECE

·       FOREVER CHANGES WAS THE LAST ALBUM BY LOVE TO BE RELEASED IN MONO IN BOTH U.S. AND U.K. AND IT IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND EITHER COUNTRY'S MONO PRESSING; WHILE THIS BRITISH TEST PRESSING DOES NOT APPEAR TO FEATURE ANY UNKNOWN MIXES OR ALTERNATE TAKES, THE ORIGINAL BRITISH MONO MIX IS INCREDIBLE CRUNCHY AND SPARKINGLY VIVID: LIGHT YEARS AHEAD OF ANY KNOWN STEREO VERSION

·       PLAIN, WHITE, GENERIC TEST PRESSING LABEL , WITH ONLY ARTIST, ALBUM TITLE AND TRACK LISTING WRITTEN ON THE LABELS

·       THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.K. (TEST(  PRESSING; THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING.

·       ORIGINAL, THIN CARDBOARD COVER (EUROPEAN STYLE)

·       ORIGINAL LAMINATED COVER

·       CLEAN, WEAR-FREE LABELS

·       THICK, HEAVY VINYL PRESSING

·       MONO version of this album has NEVER been available on legitimate Compact Disc or in any other digital format.

·       COPYRIGHT NOTICE: THIS TITLE IS BEING OFFERED FOR SALE AS IT IS DEEMED TO BE (OR HAVE BEEN) PUBLICLY AND COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE. IF YOU ARE THE OWNER OF THE COPYRIGHT AND HAVE QUESTIONS, COMMENTS OR DOUBTS, PLEASE CONTACT US DIRECTLY THROUGH EBAY.

(►PLEASE SEE THE IMAGE OF THE COVER, LABEL OR BOTH, SHOWN BELOW)

(Note: this is a REAL image of the ACTUAL item you are bidding on. This is NOT a "recycled" image from our previous auction. What you see is what you'll get.  GUARANTEED!)

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫

Amazing !!! An unbelievable piece: What we have here is an unheard-of TEST PRESSING of this MONUMENTALLY important and influential Love album, a proverbial MILESTONE of the West Coast Psychedelia, and - according to many, yours truly included - its most brilliantly shining moment.. While many test pressings often have alternate or demo- versions of known, later released songs, and while it is possible that this particular test pressing contains demo or alternate versions of some of the tracks, this copy does not appear to have any, but it is possible that the lifelong collector or Love and Arthur Lee will find some telling differences between the test pressing and the commercially released version. Please contact us if you have any questions and we will gladly respond. The generic white test pressing label is (almost) entirely blank and without any details whatsoever.

***

Love's Forever Changes made only a minor dent on the charts when it was first released in 1967, but years later it became recognized as one of the finest and most haunting albums to come out of the Summer of Love, which doubtless has as much to do with the disc's themes and tone as the music, beautiful as it is. Sharp electric guitars dominated most of Love's first two albums, and they make occasional appearances here on tunes like "A House Is Not a Motel" and "Live and Let Live," but most of Forever Changes is built around interwoven acoustic guitar textures and subtle orchestrations, with strings and horns both reinforcing and punctuating the melodies. The punky edge of Love's early work gave way to a more gentle, contemplative, and organic sound on Forever Changes, but while Arthur Lee and Bryan MacLean wrote some of their most enduring songs for the album, the lovely melodies and inspired arrangements can't disguise an air of malaise that permeates the sessions. A certain amount of this reflects the angst of a group undergoing some severe internal strife, but Forever Changes is also an album that heralds the last days of a golden age and anticipates the growing ugliness that would dominate the counterculture in 1968 and 1969; images of violence and war haunt "A House Is Not a Motel," the street scenes of "Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hillsdale" reflects a jaded mindset that flower power could not ease, the twin specters of race and international strife rise to the surface of "The Red Telephone," romance becomes cynicism in "Bummer in the Summer," the promise of the psychedelic experience decays into hard drug abuse in "Live and Let Live," and even gentle numbers like "Andmoreagain" and "Old Man" sound elegiac, as if the ghosts of Chicago and Altamont were visible over the horizon as Love looked back to brief moments of warmth. Forever Changes is inarguably Love's masterpiece and an album of enduring beauty, but it's also one of the few major works of its era that saw the dark clouds looming on the cultural horizon, and the result was music that was as prescient as it was compelling.

 (EXCERPT FROM AN ONLINE REVIEW BY MARK DEMING, ALL MUSIC GUIDE  /ALLMUSIC.COM/)

Probably one of the very few albums that can invoke a total, universal consensus: this is one of the most beautiful - and important - albums of the rock era. Recorded in mid-1967, just as LOVE's original line-up was about to disintegrate, Elektra’s house producer and engineer, Bruce Botnick (who went on to record and produce virtually every Doors’ album) assembled a stellar studio band - which included, among others, Hal Blaine, legendary studio drummer - to support the faltering "Love" members while they were bickering in the studio. The impact of this "parallel" group of musicians was swift and massive: the band somehow perceived them as a competition and a threat, and managed to regain its composure and creativity and  to create one of the most enduring minor-key masterpieces ever committed to vinyl. If you have never heard this album, take my word: you are missing a lot. The album aged better than 99% of its contemporaries and attained a genuine cult status. Cited by many rock stars as their source of inspiration (various members of Led Zeppelin and Fairport Convention come to mind), the impact this majestic album still exerts on rock music (and aesthetics) cannot be overestimated. Finally, the cover art for this album is one of the most memorable and recognizable visual presentations in all of contemporary music, and a great artistic accomplishment to boot.

For its extraordinary contribution to the modern music, superb production, craftsmanship, fine musicianship,  revolutionary significance and influence it exerted on numerous generations of musicians, writers and general public, this album was voted one of top-200 albums of all time in one of the largest poll of critics, music reviewers, professionals and producers ever organized: the poll, which was conducted by Paul Gambaccini, legendary BBC Radio A&R man, surveyed more than 50 top music professionals (including Roy Carr, Jonathan Cott, Robert Christgau, Cameron Crowe, Chet Flippo, Ben Fong-Torres, Charlie Gillett, Greil Marcus, Murray the K., Lenny Kaye, Bruce Morrow (a/k/a "Cousin Brucie"), Tim Rice (of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Evita" fame), Lisa Robinson, Robert Shelton (who wrote liner notes for Bob Dylan's first album), Ed Ward, Joel Whitburn, Pete Wingfield, etc.). For more details, see: "Critics Choice: Top-200 albums" compiled by Paul Gambaccini, Omnibus Press, Library of Congress Catalog No.7855565 (or  click here  for the complete album listing)

For additional historical or discography information on this album, including track listing ►click here

TO SEE IF WE HAVE OTHER LISTED ITEMS BY THIS GROUP OR ARTIST ►  CLICK HERE

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫

·                               CONDITION:

·                               RECORD

(IMPORTANT NOTE: unless otherwise noted, ALL records are graded visually, and NOT play-graded!; we  grade records under the strong, diffuse room light or discrete sunlight)

(a)          WE GRADE THE VINYL AS EXCELLENT. This is one of those albums that are somewhat difficult to grade. It is somewhere between VG++ and NEAR MINT, just a notch below NEAR MINT. A few light abrasions ARE visible, but they are extremely shallow, superficial  and only moderately visually distracting (nothing significant).For the most part, the vinyl looks impeccable without any MAJOR visual flaws or imperfections. Much of the original luster is intact, and the vinyl shines and sparkles almost like new.

(b)          The record is pressed on a beautiful, thick, inflexible vinyl, which was usually used for the first or very early pressings. Usually, the sound on such thick vinyl pressings is full-bodied, vivid, and even dramatic. Do not expect to obtain such a majestic analog sound from a digital recording!

(c)           Mono pressing of this title is much rarer, and by far more  preferable to its stereo counterpart. We think that the mix is more natural, humane, "organic" and that the mixes are somewhat different than on the stereo version. We estimate that stereo copies of this album outnumber mono pressings by a ratio of at least 10:1.

(d)            The record comes in a poly-lined inner sleeve, which has - apparently with success - shielded the vinyl from the harmful impact of elements over many years!

(e)           Of course, this is a full-bodied ANALOG recording, and not an inferior, digital recording!!!

·       COVER (THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, LAMINATED, GLOSSY COVER):

THE COVER IS NICE --- ABOUT EXCELLENT OR VERY GOOD+++.

The following flaws or imperfections are noted on the cover:

-        Cover has a few tiny wrinkles along the seams (nothing significant)

-         Cover shows JUST A HINT of yellowing on both sides, apparently from aging.

-         Minor shelf wear noted on the seams (nothing significant)

-         Cover has JUST A HINT of ring wear (nothing significant); On the scale from 1 to 10 (1 being the least, and  10 being the most severe), we assess the severity of ring wear as 1.

NO OTHER IMPERFECTIONS ON THE COVER:

-        No split seams

-        No cut-out (drill) holes.

-        No cut-out corners

-        No saw-marks or indents

-        No dirt/dust rubbing stains (friction marks caused by rubbing against other covers)

-        No writing

-        No stamps

-        No tearing: no chips, dents or nicks on the seams

-        No peel-off marks

-        No stains

-        No mold or mildew spots

-        No stickers or labels

-        No water damage

-        No razor marks, scratches, pressure marks, lines, streaks, or  cuts.

-        No warping

-        No wax, glue, paint or liquid drops on the cover

-        No glue traces or wax residue.

-        No bar codes

-        No RIAA stamps or stickers. 

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫

POSTAGE & SHIPPING:

We offer THREE postage rates for both Domestic and International Mail: Media Mail, Priority Mail and Express Mail for domestic, and First Class, Priority International Mail, and Express International Mail for international orders. INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS PLEASE NOTE: WE RECOMMEND that you pay for USPS International Priority Mail OR International Express mail when making a payment in order to obtain tracking information, which is NOT available for First Class International shipments.

INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE rates vary from country to country. For SPECIFIC international and domestic postage rates ►click here. While you can be rest assured that ►our packaging is careful, sturdy and impact-proof, please note that damage, loss or theft in transit is always possible, and in the case of some countries even PROBABLE. To discuss this potential problem and ensure flawless delivery, please contact us thru eBay BEFORE placing a bid.

WANT A DISCOUNT ?!? 

IT’S EASY: CLICK ►HERE TO see HOW!

(please note recent changes in our policy)

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫

FOR OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION, CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW:

►OUR VOLUME DISCOUNTS AND POSTAGE REBATES ►OUR GRADING POLICY ►ITEMS WE DO NOT GRADE ►HOW TO ACKNOWLEDGE WINNING BID OR RESOLVE A DISPUTE ►OUR PAYPAL “CHARGEBACK” POLICY ►ACCEPTABLE PAYMENT METHODS ►OUR REFUND POLICY ►POSTAGE RATES AND DISCLOSURES ►PAYMENT DEADLINES ►FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫

OUR REFUND POLICY :

WE OFFER UNCONDITIONAL MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE WITHIN 7 DAYS FROM THE RECEIPT OF THE MERCHANDISE, NO QUESTIONS ASKED (THE BUYER PAYS FOR THE RETURN POSTAGE); Still sealed items MUST be returned sealed in order to be eligible for a refund Some restrictions apply. Please read our complete refund policy before placing a bid. ►Click here  for the full text of our policy

© 2001,2007 MDJ. All rights reserved.