How to tell if UK vinyl is Original Mix of Days of Future Passed?

So how can you tell? Do you only need to know the serial number SML 707? Is this site pretty accurate http://www.connollyco.com/discography/moody_blues/days.html ? Also, I know there are some variations on the cover, some having the "SS" and white on the top of the cover, some without the SS others without the white at all and having the lettering over the background. I get the feeling there must be an easy way to tell

Did I score an original mix here? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4863684364

Thanks!

 

I'm not sure how you would tell exactly, but I would imagine that MOST vinyl copies are going to have the original mix, unless they were purchased in the '80's. I bought a replacement copy of DOFP in the late '70's (with the London "Sunrise" inner sleeve) and that had the original mix.

 

Really? I thought by the late 70s the remix was standard? Unless your copy had been sitting on the shelves since before the remix came out?

 

I don't think the remix EVER came out on vinyl unless it was on the A&M Audiophile Masters or MoFi pressings.

My Holland 1/2 speed mastered lp is a late 70's-early 80's copy, pressed perhaps 10 years after the remix was executed.

 

Original Mono Version???

I,ve just checked out the connolly site mentioned above and it doesn't list the version I have, which I purchased second-hand late 60s/early 70s. The disc label is brown(?) on white and the serial number is DML.707.

The front cover has the word 'mono' in white letters on black background in the top left hand corner with the matching serial number DML 707.

The only other identifier is ARL.8078.

I haven't played this album in years and have just spotted a fairly nasty scratch - maybe that's why.

Best Wishes
David

 

Yeah, I guess I will just have to sit down with the vinyl and see if it is the real deal. Mono? hmm maybe I should track down these Moodies albums in mono: can't get stuck with the wrong mix there!

 

Isn't the mono LP of DAYS a fold-down?

 

Yeah there is some debate about that: Ed Bishop has a quote saying all the Moodies mono albums were fold-downs, while I think Steve Hoffman said that DOFP mono is a unique mix. Guess the only way to find out is buy them and listen

 

It was Tony Clarke over on the Mike Pinder forum that said that DOFP was only mixed for stereo. I think it was Ed who posed the question.

 

But then we still have SH's statement that DOFP has a unique mono mix. Is there anyway to confirm this stuff? If DOFP is indeed unique mono, is ISOTLC unique mono too?

 

I have UK mono LP's of DOFP and ISOTLC.

IMHO, the former is a real mono mix, the latter a fold-down. I would have preferred it the other way around.

 

Maybe Tony Clarke doesn't remember mixing DOFP to mono because he wasn't there for that mix (he doesn't say anything about a fold-down, only that he mixed it ONCE to stereo) - that would be one rare example of a '60's album where the stereo mix was the most important and the mono was an afterthought.

 

My Speakers Corner LP uses the remix. Too bad, too, otherwise it is such a great sounding piece of vinyl.

 

Here is what the original cover looks like...


It is my original 1st issue that was personally autographed by all of the Moodies.

Here is what the original vinyl looks like...


This was from 1967.

If you notice, there is no white band across the top of the picture on the cover of the 1st issues.
As for the mix, I don't know what the mix was on the subsequent issues, or when it changed, although I believe someone pointed that out earlier in this thread.

 

Thanks for posting that picture! I have the exact same cover (sans autographs) and label on my UK copy that I purchased about a year ago. I had my doubts that it was such an early pressing. I was really pleased to snap up this copy since it was in stone mint shape!

Cheers,
Chris

 

Very cool!

 

This was most certainly NOT an original cover! The cover with The DSS logo, which was semi duplicated IN 1967 by US Deram (replacing the DSS hype with "including NIWS"), which Deram was promoting IN THE SIXTIES, and was the entire reason the LP was recorded (to show off DSS). The full cover (which crops out tons of the original painting--fully visible on real originals--cropping a pic being another sign of a second issue), came out in 1973 in the UK, when DSS no longer was being promoted. I saw the white topped cover for sale as an import in THe House Of Oldies in Jan, 1968 (memorable because it was the first time I had ever been exposed to UK imports). They completely dried up in Europe in the mid '70's and, subsequently, all you would ever see was the non-white, cropped cover. I hardly think that US Deram developed this cover & then the UK label adopted it years later, only to abandon it again at an unnamed point, which is how this would have had to have played out if you truly got THAT sleeve in 1967. BTW, I have both covers, both with original mixes, & the white one has pinched sides, the smaller, thinner cover and Clairfoil reaching around the back about 1"--all signs of a 1967 UK cover. The full cover has only 1/4" of Clairfoil & NO pinched sides--sure signs of a later release. There is NO way that your sleeve came from 1967!!

 

Yeah I was of the impression also that the "SS" was the original design and the white lettering without the white banner and "SS" ontop was a later change, but still was the original mix

 

Also all mono copies have the white top cover. None have ever had the full color cover, so the white HAS to be the original sleeve.

 

Yep, the DSS cover is the original. Thought everybody knew that.

The remix made its vinyl debut on the MFSL LP, AFAIK. Excellent mix, just not the original, so mileages vary on that. (I like both ) FWIW, I recently got around to playing an early 1980s US pressing I'd had around for a long time and was surprised to find it's the original mix. Same for an early 1980s Japanese pressing. Identify the mix by listening to the record in question.

I like the guitar sound of the original mix. More jangly sounding, more harmonically correct to these ears. Just a tube vs transistors thing I guess. Not that the remix doesn't sound good...

 

BTW, they used that DSS label in the UK for ages (I have an early 1980s "In Search Of..." that still uses the DSS label), but it came in two different sizes (diameter). The early version was a regular size label while the 2nd version was a tad smaller. If it's of any help, my UK first pressing "A Question Of Balance" (1W/1W, incidentally) has the smaller label diameter, so by 1970 the switch had occurred. But that's a Threshold pressing, you say. Threshold, Deram, same difference. It's all UK Decca.

 

I've never seen a mono cover, but if the mono has the white top cover then it must be true that it is the original first issue (as mono in those days was only issued once, during the initial run).

This also makes a lot of sense. I stand corrected.

I always thought I had an original first UK issue with that one, as that is what I was told back in those days and, because it says 1967 on both the cover and the record's label, I fully believed it and have never questioned it.

I have the original 1st issue in the US version but was always told the full picture was the UK original. Just goes to show you can't believe everything you see and hear... now can you?

I still am glad I have it signed by the Moodies though. They were very gracious about it. If I had known the truth then, I would have brought them my US 1st issue to sign instead. Oh well, say la vee, blah blah blah...

Thanks again guys,
Steven.

 

No prob. The important thing is you have original mix UK vinyl--the best way to hear this album!

 

I'm still relatively new here - if anyone can point me in the right direction for uploading images, I'll try to put up a couple of pictures later.

Best Wishes
David

 

this is the original UK LP cover!

The same cover is used on the current CD issue I believe. Here is my UK LP. Scanner cropped some of bottom.