Mike Oldfield Oldifeld's Single one sided UK test pressing 1974 ridiculous rare
$
543
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Description
Mike Oldfield's Single © 1974 Virgin · VS 101
Froggy Went A-Courting (04:27)
"Mike Oldfiled's Single" by Mike Oldfield, "Froggy Went A-Courting" trad., arr. by Mike Oldfield.
Produced by Tom Newman.
Originally released on June 28th, 1974.
With the success of Tubular Bells continuing well into 1974, prominent film director William Friedkin decided he wanted to use part of the album as the musical score to his horror film "The Exorcist". This, more than anything, gave Mike the all too important foothold in the American market. With Mike's permission, but with no say in what section was used, Virgin's US distributor, Atlantic Records, edited the piece and the single Mike Oldfield's Theme to the Exorcist was released. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart on February 23rd 1974 eventually peaking at No. 7. This, for a short period, anyway, established Mike as a major artist in America, helping to sell nearly 8 million copies of the LP Stateside. On being informed of Friedkin's use of Tubular Bells, Roy Carr of NME was first to note that; A look of fear replaced the tranquility of his placid blue eyes; his frail body trembled ever so slightly as he mumbled, "I wish you hadn't told me that". This American single was then countered by Oldfield himself, who edited the piece the way he wanted, with the final product being released in the UK under the title Mike Oldfield's Single (VS101) on the 28th June. The B side was the strange and humorous Froggy Went a-courting in which Mike and Bridget St. John sang a quaint child like traditional song with Mike also playing guitar and mandolin. This single eventually peaked at a disappointing No.31 in the charts which, after the intial success of the LP, was rather disappointing.
So, now that we have heard about this speicifis release, let's look at the item itself:
Sleeve: generic white cut out sleeve
Vinyl:
Blank side: White label with solid centre, and rigid ring edge, blank groove with stamped numerics: 45 (stamped backwards at 3 o'clock location), LPFB (at 6 o'clock location), 2 (at 9.30 o'clock location)
Song side: White label with solid centre, and rigid ring edge, hand written (writer unknown): FROG WENT A' COURTING MIKE OLDFIELD with stamped numerics: KT (at 12 o'clock location), C (or G) (at 3 o'clock location), VS 101 B-1U (at 6 o'clock location), 1 (at 9 o'clock location)
Condition: some minor scuff marks (i would excessively count 5 or conservatively say three) which do not affect sound quality whatsoever, with slight hint of surface noise in the first two revolutions of the disc, before the track starts.
This was cleaned using high quality Nitty Gritty 1.5 Record Cleaner, played for grading on a fully automatic, direct drive turntable with a Sumiko Blue Point #2 moving coil cartridge. The unbiased source whom cleaned and tested this record for sound quality gave the disc an 8/10 rating.
Buy with confidence, eBay account since 1998!
This will be mailed in reinforced packaging, suitable for this set, via Canada Post. Sorry, shipping will be only with some form of registration, so please be aware of postage expenses. Paypal accepted as the only form of payment.
