The Zombies Odessey and Oracle US Orig'68 Date TES-4013 1st Press Promo Copy

$

557

ORIGINAL 1st US DATE RECORDS PROMOTIONAL RELEASE

THE ZOMBIES ~ ODESSEY AND ORACLE (1968)

“COLUMBIA RECORDS RADIO STATION SERVICE NOT FOR RESALE TES 4013” TIMING STRIP BANNER

“FEATURING OF THE HIT SINGLE TIME OF THE SEASON TES 4013” HYPE STICKER

1st MISPRINT WITHDRAWN COVER INDICATING “ODESSEY” INSTEAD OF “ODYSSEY”

COLUMBIA RECORDS, TERRE HAUTE, IN PLANT PRESSING

VERY EARLY 1st -1B / -1B PRESSING

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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Original Date Records promotional release of The Zombies’ 2nd studio album “Odessey & Oracle” released in June, 1968. Considering that the band’s 1st album was a compilation of hit singles, “Odessey and Oracle” can be called their true and only studio album. The bottom of the 1st print cover contains the original “Columbia Records Radio Station Service Not For Resale TES 4013” timing strip. The original “Featuring the Hit Single TIME OF THE SEASON TES 4013” hype sticker affixed to the top left corner of the front cover can be considered quite rare as it was placed only on a handful of very early 1st pressing copies. 1st print cover with a black border features the psychedelic artwork created by Terry Quirk, a friend of the band’s bassist Chris White. The artwork has a noticeable error indicating “Odessey” as oppose to the correct spelling “Odyssey”. For a long time, the band members maintained that the misspelling in the title was intentional and only recently, they admitted it was a mistake. It’s quite surprising that at the time of the album’s release neither the band members nor the Date Records staff members noticed the error. It’s also surprising why this cover variation was withdrawn with the later variation using the enlarged version of one of the original artwork’s elements. The back cover contains the “A” identifier which is mistakenly considered to be the feature of the 1st print cover. In reality, the “A” identifies the pressing by Columbia Records, Terre Haute, IN plant. All of the promotional copies of this pressing, including the currently listed one, have the green commercial release labels with a large white Date logo, 2.75” pressing ring and “TES 4013” catalog number. 1st pressing vinyl with the very early 1st -1B / -1B matrix numbers and the Columbia Records, Terre Haute, IN plant “T” identifier in the runout grooves on both sides. The full matrix numbers including the “o” symbol identifying the mastering by Customatrix, a subsidiary of Columbia Records, are as follows: Side 1 - o XSM137383-1B I T A5; Side 2 - o XSM137384-1B I T A4. This rare promotional copy comes with the original Date Records plain white die-cut inner sleeve.

★

Beautiful promotional cover is graded as Excellent and would be Near Mint Minus if it wasn't due to some light age shelf scuffing along the bottom of the back cover. Usually, the covers of this issue have a significant wear on the black border. However, the black border of this copy's cover is in pristine condition. The cover doesn't have any splits, wear, writing, residue or soiling. I grade the vinyl as Near Mint Minus for Side 1 and Excellent for Side 2 due to the presence of a couple of very light non-feelable surface hairlines as well as few scuffs from the original inner sleeve, which is in Neat Mint condition and doesn't have any splits or tears. The vivid green labels are in stunning Near Mint Minus condition with only a couple of very light spindle marks that are visible under a strong light. The vinyl sounds great only having some very light occasional static. Track 6 of Side 2 has a series of very light pops, which probably will disappear if you change the balance of your tonearm. Most likely, the static also would go away if the record was professionally cleaned using a VPI cleaning machine.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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