STEPPENWOLF SELF-TITLED 1st ALBUM ULTRA-RARE ORIG '67 MONO LP w/DIFFERENT MIXES

$

59

WE CURRENTLY HAVE  NEARLY 100  LISTED ITEMS

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·      STEPPENWOLF - STEPPENWOLF (THE SELF-TITLED FIRST ALBUM) - ORIGINAL 1968 DUNHILL RECORDS MONO LP D-50029

·      ORIGINAL U.S. PRESSING

·      MONSTROUSLY RARE MONO PRESSING, MANY TIMES RARER THAN STEREO (PLEASE NOTE: BOTH SIDES OF THIS RECORD PLAY MONO; MOST "MONO" COPIES OF THIS ALBUM HAVE ONE SIDE MASTERED IN MONO, ONE IN STEREO)

·      ORIGINAL BLACK DUNHILL LABEL WITH MULTICOLOR LOGO ON TOP

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

·      ORIGINAL, THICK CARDBOARD COVER (AMERICAN STYLE)

·      ORIGINAL MIRROR-LIKE (ALUMINUM FOIL) FRONT COVER

·      RARE FIRST VERSION OF THE COVER WHICH DOES NOT HAVE A LARGE ORANGE "BLOTCH" HYPING THE HIT-SINGLE "BORN TO BE WILD"

·      THICK, HEAVY VINYL PRESSING

·      CLEAN, WEAR-FREE LABELS

·      THE RECORD HAS A 'BELL SOUND' STAMP IN THE TRAIL-OFF VINYL (DEAD WAX) AREA, WHICH IS GENERALLY CONSIDERED A PROOF OF AUTHENTICITY OF THE FIRST PRESSING.

·      The record has ►SAM FELDMAN'S  initials (SF) clearly stamped or hand-etched in the trail-off vinyl (dead wax)

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

(►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!)

Please note: original silver foil cover is difficult to capture faithfully due to light reflection.

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Steppenwolf entered the studio for their recording debut with a lot of confidence -- based on a heavy rehearsal schedule before they ever got signed -- and it shows on this album, a surprisingly strong debut album from a tight hard rock outfit who was obviously searching for a hook to hang their sound on. The playing is about as loud and powerful as anything being put out by a major record label in 1968, though John Kay's songwriting needed some development before their in-house repertory would catch up with their sound and musicianship. On this album, the best material came from outside the ranks of the active bandmembers: "Born to Be Wild" by ex-member Mars Bonfire, which became not only a chart-topping high-energy anthem for the counterculture (a status solidified by its use in Dennis Hopper's movie Easy Rider the following year), but coined the phrase heavy metal, thus giving a genre-specific name to the brand of music that the band played (and which was already manifesting itself in the work of bands like Vanilla Fudge and the just-emerging Led Zeppelin); the Don Covay soul cover "Sookie, Sookie," which, as a single by the new group, actually got played on some soul stations until they found out that Steppenwolf was white; two superb homages to Chess Records, in the guise of "Berry Rides Again," written (though "adapted" might be a better word) by Kay based on the work of Chuck Berry, and the Willie Dixon cover "Hoochie Coochie Man"; and Hoyt Axton's "The Pusher," an anti-drug song turned into a pounding six-minute tour de force by the band.

(REVIEW REPRINTED COURTESY OF BRUCE EDER, ALL MUSIC GUIDE  /ALLMUSIC.COM/)

The first - and by far the greatest - of all albums by this legendary Heavy Metal/Psych/Hard Rock band, one of the most prominent 1960’s white electric blues/heavy metal bands. Unlike the heavy metal bands that would come in their wake, Steppenwolf always practiced the economy of sound, the lean, mean electric blues (just listen to their resplendent cover of Muddy Waters’ classic Hootchie Kootchie Man from this album). Plus, their judgment and songwriting could not be beat. Not to mention that this first pressing brings out the very best of their sound, as in "The Pusher" which simply sparkles, as if just having taken an acoustic shower. And then, there are such period gems such as "Born to be wild" which will have you play the air guitar in your living room in no time. Miss this awesome album now, and you will soon discover that these original MONO pressings are now near-impossible to find. 

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·      CONDITION:

·      THE 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 STRONG VERY GOOD+ . CAUTION: The vinyl is NOT MINT or NEAR MINT, but is nevertheless in a very nice and clean condition. There are some surface marks and abrasions, mostly light and superficial, although some may be longer than 1.1/4 inches (1 inch = 2.5 centimeters). PLEASE NOTE: A SIGNIFICANT GROOVE WEAR IS VISIBLE ON THE FINAL THIRD OF (OF ALL TRACKS!) - BORN TO BE WILD. THE GROOVE WEAR IS BOTH VISIBLE AND AUDIBLE AND MAY (OR MAY NOT, DEPENDING ON YOUR EQUIPMENT) CAUSE THE RECORD TO SKIP OR STICK ON THIS TRACK. THE WEAR CAUSES SIGNIFICANT SURFACE NOISE ON APPROXIMATELY 1/3 OF THE TRACK)

(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)         The record comes in the original stock inner sleeve.

(d)          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 20:1.

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

·      COVER (THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, REFLECTIVE “SILVER FOIL” COVER):

THE COVER IS ABOUT VERY GOOD (VG).

The following flaws or imperfections are noted on the cover:

-       Cover has some visible ring wear; 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 6  (front side) and 5 (back side)

-       Cover shows some light yellowing on back side, apparently from aging.

-       Cover has a tiny circular sticker on the back panel, which may be possible to remove with a little effort (we did not attempt to)

-       Cover has some fraying/wear along the lower seam

-       Minor shelf wear noted on the top seam and spine (nothing significant)

-       Cover has a few tiny wrinkles along the spine

-       Cover has a tiny, barely visible cutout hole in one of the corners

-       The cover has a tiny scratch marks on the front side

-       Cover has a minor 'bump' (dent) on the bottom seam (VISIBLE ON FRONT SIDE ONLY)

NO OTHER VISIBLE FLAWS OR IMPERFECTIONS ON THE  COVER

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POSTAGE & SHIPPING:

We offer three postage rates for domestic orders: USPS Media Mail, USPS Priority Mail and USPS Express Mail and three rates for international shipments:  USPS First Class, USPS Priority International Mail, and USPS Express International Mail (in a small number of cases, we will, at our discretion and for purely technical reasons, substitute First Class Mail with eBay's Global Shipping, which is fundamentally the same service at about the same cost). INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS PLEASE NOTE: WE RECOMMEND (BUT DO NOT INSIST) that you select USPS International Priority Mail when making a payment.

INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE rates vary from one region of  the world to another. For SPECIFIC international and domestic postage rates, please click on " Shipping, returns, and payments" tab in the header of our listing.

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CRITICALLY IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

(A) All orders valued at $50.00 or more will be shipped fully insured against loss, damage or theft by ShipCover, eBay's contracted insurer, at our expense (B) Yes, we do combine items into a single shipment; in order to enable this feature, the winning bidders should WAIT until their last item of interest ends and ONLY THEN make a payment. Doing otherwise will result in multiple shipments to the same customer and forfeiture of multiple shipping charges already paid. (C) Because we do not play-grade our items, we do not know how the purchased item will play on the buyer's equipment. We can only make reasonable inference on the record's playing condition based on its visual appearance. (D) This seller will NOT cancel erroneous, frivolous and prank bids. The bidders can do so on their own, by visiting eBay's Site Map, then clicking on Bid Retractions link. (E) This seller does not specifically grade or describe certain items, such as: shrink (cellophane) wrap and accompanying extras (inserts, booklets, etc.); however, the presence of these items WILL be noted and accompanied by the gallery photo(s). (F) Please do not submit any bids on our items if you have insufficient user history. (G) Other than in very rare justified cases, failure to pay for the item you won amounts to a fraud and will result in a permanent ban on bidding on our future listings. (H) We will NEVER deliberately, knowingly or willingly provide a false, deceitful or misleading information.

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OUR REFUND POLICY :

WE OFFER UNCONDITIONAL MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE (POSTAGE INCLUDED) WITHIN 30 DAYS FROM THE RECEIPT OF THE MERCHANDISE, NO QUESTIONS ASKED; STILL SEALED ITEMS MUST BE RETURNED SEALED IN ORDER TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR A REFUND.   NO EXCEPTIONS!

FINE (BUT IMPORTANT!) PRINT

 (1) The year indicated in the title bar is the year of the original release,  NOT necessarily the year of the actual pressing; for the actual generation of the pressing, please see our item description (top section, the text in red letters). (2) Please do NOT bid based on the title bar, subtitle bar or item specifics box alone; instead, please read the entire description before bidding; (3) Absolutely NO order cancellations after the auction closes. ever, under any circumstances. We can ONLY cancel bids before the item closes. (4) We are unable to provide matrix-, stamper- or other pressing  information in the final 24 hours of the auction. (5) All disagreements and miscommunications can be - and will only be - solved in a civil and mutually respectful manner; please avoid puerile, offensive, abrasive or menacing language (6) This seller will accommodate all reasonable requests and - unless seriously molested - is generally a flexible, pragmatic and agreeable person.

Our love & appreciation for your trust, loyalty and business, always and forever;  Thank You & Good Night!

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