LEONARD COHEN Songs From A Room VG+ '69 Columbia CS 9767 PROMO 1A/1A TERRE HAUTE

$

65

Vinyl:  VG+ Play Graded. Sounds Great!  Columbia Labels are Clean and Bright. This is the audiophile acclaimed 1969 Columbia CS 9767 PROMO 1ST PRESSING, Pressed at Columbia's renowned Terre Haute, IN Pressing Plant!  Terre Haute pressings are known for their warmer dynamics and sound signatures, especially in the low and midranges, which is perfect for a Leonard Cohen recording, who often sings in the low registers.  With 1A/1A in the matrices, this is a true 1st Pressing and as a Promo, this particular vinyl is among the very first pressings, making it a HOT STAMPER.  This is Cohen's 2nd album and continues from his groundbreaking 1st album with such well-known classics as Bird On The Wire and Story Of Isaac.  This is Leonard Cohen at his Best...  allmusic gives it 4 stars!!!

See Review Below!
In the Dead Wax:  Side 1:  (etched) XSM138929-1A  T  ((Pressed at Columbia's Terre Haute, IN Pressing Plant))
Side 2:  (etched) XSM138930-1A  T  ((Pressed at Columbia's Terre Haute, IN Pressing Plant))
Cover: VG+ (see photos)  PROMO Radio Strip on Front Cover.  The "room" itself is on the Greek island of Hydra and on the back cover is the room with the lovely Marianne Ihlen (yes, THAT Marianne!) at the typewriter... Nice high gloss on cover. Front and back of cover artwork and text are rich, clear and bright, with some ring and shelf wear.  Seams and spine are solid and clean, with minor wear.  No splits. No writing.  Spine print is mostly clear.
Goldmine Standards.   I play grade every record that I sell on eBay as I have found you can't rate a record accurately by just visually inspecting it.  I wipe the dust off of every cover with clean, unscented baby wipes.  I professionally clean the vinyl.  (I also operate a Vinyl Record Cleaning business for your dusty/dirty records--if interested, send me a message).
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All records are packaged securely with the vinyl outside the jacket (to avoid seam split in transit). The vinyl and jacket are sandwiched between two cardboard stiffeners and shipped in a custom cardboard record mailer box. 
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Why buy a first or early pressing and not a re-issue or a ‘re-mastered’ vinyl album? 
First and early pressings are pressed from the first generation lacquers and stampers. They usually sound vastly superior to later issues/re-issues (which, in recent times, are often pressed from whatever 'best' tapes or digital sources are currently available) - many so-called 'audiophile' new 180g pressings are cut from hi-res digital sources…essentially an expensive CD pressed on vinyl.  Why  experience the worse elements of both formats?  These are just High Maintenance CDs, with mid-ranges so cloaked with a veil as to sound smeared.  They are nearly always compressed with murky transients and a general lifelessness in the overall sound.  There are exceptions where re-masters/re-presses outshine the original issues, but they are exceptions and not the norm. 

First or early pressings nearly always have more immediacy, presence and dynamics. The sound staging is wider.  Subtle instrument nuances are better placed with more spacious textures. Balances are firmer in the bottom end with a far-tighter bass. Upper-mid ranges shine without harshness, and the overall depth is more immersive.  Inner details are  clearer.  

 On first and early pressings, the music tends to sound more ‘alive’ and vibrant.  The physics of sound energy is hard to clarify and write about from a listening perspective, but the best we can describe it is to say that you can 'hear' what the mixing and mastering engineers wanted you to hear when they first recorded the music.   

Songs from a Room Review

by Mark Deming

Leonard Cohen's first album was an unqualified triumph which announced the arrival of a bold and singular talent, and many who heard it must have wondered what Cohen could do for an encore. By comparison, Cohen's second album, 1969's Songs from a Room, was something of a letdown. While it's a fine LP, it ultimately feels neither as striking nor as assured as Songs of Leonard Cohen. Bob Johnston stepped in as producer for Songs from a Room, and his arrangements are simpler than those John Simon crafted for the debut, but they're also full of puzzling accents, such as the jew's harp that punctuates several tracks, the churchy organ line in "The Old Revolution," and the harsh synthesizer flourishes on "A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes." Johnston also had trouble coaxing strong vocal performances from Cohen; his singing here sounds tentative and his meter is uncertain, which regardless of how one feels about Cohen's much-debated vocal prowess is not the case with his other work. And finally, the quality of the songs on Songs from a Room is less consistent than on Songs of Leonard Cohen; as fine as "Bird on a Wire," "You Know Who I Am," "The Story of Isaac" and "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" may be, "The Butcher" and "A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes" simply aren't up to his usual standards. Despite the album's flaws, Songs from a Room's strongest moments convey a naked intimacy and fearless emotional honesty that's every bit as powerful as the debut, and it left no doubt that Cohen was a major creative force in contemporary songwriting.