The Doors Strange Days US Orig'67 Elektra EKL-4014 Mono 1st Press Shrink Promo

$

1,225

ORIGINAL 1st US ELEKTRA RECORDS EKL-4014 MONO PRESSING PROMOTIONAL COPY

THE DOORS ~ STRANGE DAYS (1967)

INCREDIBLY RARE MONARCH RECORD MFG. CO., LOS ANGELES PRESSING WITH AN “MR” IDENTIFIER AND DELTA “△” NUMBERS

1st MONO “EKL-4014” COVER WITH THE MISPRINT STEREO “EKS-74014” CATALOG NUMBER ON THE SPINE

ORIGINAL “PROMOTIONAL COPY NOT FOR SALE” STICKER

1st PRINT GOLD ELEKTRA RECORDS COMMERCIAL LABELS

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Original 1st US Mono pressing promotional copy with the commercial labels of The Doors’ 2nd studio album “Strange Days” released by Elektra Records on September 25, 1967. It’s practically impossible to find a copy of this album that would be pressed at the Monarch Record Mfg. Co., Los Angeles plant. The majority of the copies were pressed at the Columbia Records, Pitman, Allentown and Terre Haute plants. As a rule, after the playback, the Monarch copies tend to remain in private collections due to its well-balanced mix. Original 1st print Mono cover with the Mono “EKL-4014” catalog number on the front and back cover contains a misprint indicating the Stereo “EKS-74014” catalog number at the top of the spine. Original 1st print Monarch gold Elektra Records labels, not brown or tan as found on the East Coast pressing, with the 2.75” pressing ring and characteristic Monarch font with the “EKL-4014” catalog number and side number located together on the right from the spindle hole. Pay attention to one more unique feature of the Monarch pressing. Unlike the other Mono pressings, the Monarch pressing not only has the gold background but also contains the “®” trademark not on the left but on the right side of the large “E” logo. Very early 1st Monarch pressing vinyl with the following matrix numbers:

Side 1 – EKL 4014A (Mon) “MR in a Circle” Δ11089 Ray Hagerty's signature; Side 2 – EKL 4014B (Mon) “MR in a Circle” Δ11089-X Ray Hagerty's signature. The vinyl of this copy contains all of the identifiers of the Monarch plant including the “(Mon)” abbreviation, “MR in a Circle” stamp and Delta (△) numbers in the runout grooves on both sides. This promotional copy comes with the original custom inner sleeve with a photo of the band on one side and song lyrics on the other with the misprint stereo catalog number “EKS-74014” at the bottom right corner which also has the Elektra Records promotional punch hole.

★

We grade the cover as somewhere between Very Good Plus and Excellent Minus. It doesn’t have any splits, residue or writing. The front and back cover have some light age shelf wear as well as a light hint of ring wear. The sturdy spine contains a fully readable text. Very nice cover, especially considering the fact that it’s incredibly hard to find a 1st print Mono cover of “Strange Days” nowadays as the majority of them have a severe wear. We grade the vinyl as Strong Very Good Plus for Side 1 and Very Good Plus for Side 2. The vinyl retains its beautiful factory gloss but has some very light non-feelable surface hairlines and marks as well as scuffs from the original inner sleeve which is in Excellent condition without any split or tears only having two creases at the top right corner. The Monarch gold labels are super clean and in Near Mint Minus condition without having any scuffs or wear, just a couple of very light spindle marks on Side 2 (with the Side 1 label being clean) that can be seen under a strong light. The vinyl plays great having a distinct Monarch mix sound with just some very light occasional static which most likely will go away if the record is professionally cleaned using a VPI cleaning machine.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

We don't accept bids from the accounts created during the auction or the ones created by the blocked bidders. The buyers with a low rating, please contact us prior to placing a bid. In order to assure a safe transit and prompt delivery we prefer shipping our items with Priority Mail, it concerns the domestic shipping as well as the international. You can be sure that your purchased item(s) will be professionally packed as we don't save on the packing materials. 100% of our buyers are satisfied with our packaging. We guarantee an exact and professional description of each item. If for some reasons something escapes our attention, please let us know. Please do it before you make the decision to open a return request. We'll put our best effort into providing the best customer service. We 100% guarantee a full refund and issue a partial refund only in certain rare cases. We're a Top Rated Plus seller and an opened return request would negatively affect our seller performance. Who would like that? Opening a return request is your right, however, we're sorry but we'll have to block you and it's our right. We're not going to hide the fact that we prefer to see among our customers the intelligent, decent and kind people. If you don't possess these qualities, you won't like dealing with us. We don't list items for an auction often and when we do it's a small quantity as these items are highly collectible and very rare.

FOR INTERNATIONAL BIDDERS' CONSIDERATION

Due to the high risks involved when it comes international shipping, we’ve recently stopped sending our items with USPS First-Class Mail International and now use only USPS Priority Mail International Express. However, if your order exceeds the amount of $5000, we’ll have to ship the package with FedEx as oppose to USPS.

We don't have information concerning the existing customs regulations and policies in your country. Before placing a bid, please find out more details about it yourself. We don't take any responsibility for the length of customs clearance process. We also don't have any ability to influence the work of postal carriers abroad in any way. For this particular reason, we ship internationally only with expedited shipping service that includes signature confirmation. Our capabilities are limited to professional packing that assures a safe transit throughout the way and fastest shipping dates. After shipping the package, we don't accept any claims related to the work of postal carriers or problems related to the absence of knowledge related to the customs clearance in your country. If you have any negative experience related to the postal service and you'd like to insure the purchased item please contact us about it beforehand. Keep in mind that just like you, we’re interested in our transaction being concluded successfully but our abilities are limited to the service we describe above.