• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Not for sale record

fmueller

fmueller

Super Member
I came across an interesting record today - or at least I found it interesting. A-side is the Eurythmics song 'It's All Right - Baby's coming back'; B-side has 'Conditioned Soul' and 'Tous Les Garcones Et Les Filles'.

I think that's the first record I bought that isn't available on Amazon. While I am brand new to vinyl, I have long been a great fan of the Eurythmics, and I think 'Tous Les Garcones Et Les Filles' was only released on the B-side of this single, so it was kinda nice to get my hands on that. I also found it curious that this is a single in the size of an LP, but that's probably just showing my ignorance. The reason I am posting here is that the record is labeled 'NOT FOR SALE' and that's not just a sticker or a stamp, but seems to be printed right on the label. It also came in a plain black cover without any writing on it and without an inner sleeve. I am assuming that's original, but it's different from the regular cover of this single as shown on Wikipedia - white and with Eurythmics as well as the song title written on it. Can anybody shed some light on what the history of such a record might be?

Not-for-sale-LP-A.jpg


Not-for-sale-LP-B.jpg
 
Register to hide this ad
That's a promotional record, probably only sent out to radio stations to play on the air. Sometimes record stores would get promo records too.

12" singles were provided great fidelity and were often sent to radio stations in that time frame (I was a college radio DJ at the time that was released) but were also available commercially as well.
 
Ah, radio stations! I didn't think of that. I guess that makes sense. Wouldn't be that rare then, given the number of radio stations in the US. Actually, since 'It's Alright' wasn't a great seller at the time, especially not in the US, the number of promotional records might well outnumber commercial samples! :D

Still worth the $6 I paid to me though. Gotta love the Eurythmics, and I picked up virtually mint looking copies of 'Touch' and 'Sweet Dreams' as well :yes:

Frank
 
Besides radio stations, there were other promotions dreamed up by record companies back in the 60s.

Last year, I answered an ad for a bunch of LPs and the guy, who had recently retired and was moving, had about 200-300 LPs he wanted someone to take off his hands. Here's the story:

While in college in the late 60s, he answered an ad in the Village Voice offering free LPs to anyone who would promote them on a college campus. So, he signed up and began receiving early-release copies of all sorts of LPs but mostly rock. His job was to organize parties and other events on campus where these were to be played in order to gain exposure for the artists. The problem for this guy was that he was too busy trying to graduate and he never took them out of the box until he was well into his first job. Since then, he explained, they had been played a few times but otherwise he had just hauled them around until he settled down some 25 years ago. I took the whole collection for $100 and he gave me a bottle of wine just for not picking through it.

Yes, they say 'Not For Sale' and were from the same group that provided contnet to the radio stations. I remember seeing similar ads in late 60s Rolling Stone (when it was still produced in the newspaper format) back in the day but never took them up on the offer. Wish I had now.

Cheers,

David
 
Yep.. gotta love promo albums.. you can get some different mixes on them.. not just track listing, but even different mixes of songs. I've got a lot of promo albums, and I've found a a few real gems on some of them. Some versions I've never heard before. I always try and buy a promo copy over a standard copy if I can.
 
Years ago, in the dim ages, when I worked at a radio station spinning vinyl we got a memo from a label saying that they retained ownership of all promotional records and could reclaim them at any time. So hide that record! RCA may be back looking for it!
Only caveat with those records: if they were played at a radio station odds are they were not cared for particularly well. One music director I worked for would take a white grease pencil and color the tracks on the vinyl we were not to play. Some tonearms/stylus combinations were also quite heavy and of course there's the "cue burn" from dj's trying to find the beginning of the track. Sometimes with stuff that is less mainstream (see the XTC thread) the records will be near mint plus because they were only played once if at all. So good hunting!
 
Promo CDs and Records can be found on ebay quite easily. Some may go for extreme $$$, but most sell for less than the actual release. I stumbled upon a few, and now I'm into collecting all the "For Promotional Use Only" versions of LPs from my favorite bands. Adds a new twist to the hobby, especially since I have most of the regular releases and had veered into the US-release, UK-release, Japan-release territory.
 
fmueller said:
That puzzled me too, but the girl at the checkout was shameless about breaking that rule :wtf:
Click to expand...

It gets me when flipping through albums at a sale or GW where they might be $1 each and you see the left over price stickers from where they had been priced at a previous g-sale for a quarter or 50 cents.

Obligatory on topic comment... "promo/not for sale" are usually stamped onto the cover as well. Back in college (80s) one of the local used record shops seemed to have more than a few of these. They also sold month old magazines with the front covers torn off of them, albeit at a huge discount. These were obviously reported back somewhere to someone as no sales.
 
That's a 12" DJ single, they play them in the clubs, I have all kinds of 12" singles, they have special mixes on them that are not on the lp. Some of them even play at 45rpm even though it is a 12". The Disco 12" singles from late 70's have many collectors wanting them.:music:
 
Oh yes, I absolutely love 12" singles. Many that I have found at used record shops are promotional copies with different versions that I have never heard before. Also many of them come in a plain paper sleeve with a hole in the middle for access to read the label.

12" 45 RPM discs tend to sound the best because the signal is spread out along the groove more. Brand new or mint 12" 45s sound silky smooth to me :music:
 
cubby01 said:
It gets me when flipping through albums at a sale or GW where they might be $1 each and you see the left over price stickers from where they had been priced at a previous g-sale for a quarter or 50 cents.
Click to expand...

The price for records at GW around here is 30c :thmbsp::thmbsp::thmbsp:

graffias79 said:
many of them come in a plain paper sleeve with a hole in the middle for access to read the label.
Click to expand...

So does this one!

I can't wait to play it now! It looks in good condition, but lots of dust on there, and I am so new to vinyl that my discwasher has not arrived yet. Got one on eBay though and should be coming in soon!

Played my first record today - Eurythmics 'Touch'. The LP was mint and squeaky clean, so I could put it right on there. I never actually expected to find an improvement in sound over my CD player, but in a direct comparison the Touch record beats the Touch CD hands down :grnbounce

Frank
 
That B side song, Tous Les Garcon..., was written by the greatest female French singer of all time: Francoise Hardy. Track down the original version and you will be in pop heaven. Francoise was also one of the most beautiful 60's singers EVER. There is a great photo of her with Bob Dylan in the new Mojo magazine (the one with Neil Young on the cover).
 
walkandtalk said:
Promo CDs and Records can be found on ebay quite easily. Some may go for extreme $$$, but most sell for less than the actual release. I stumbled upon a few, and now I'm into collecting all the "For Promotional Use Only" versions of LPs from my favorite bands. Adds a new twist to the hobby, especially since I have most of the regular releases and had veered into the US-release, UK-release, Japan-release territory.
Click to expand...

Wait until you get in German-release, Netherlands-release, etc... territory. I picked up a chunk of a collection once that had multiple copies of several releases, and I was thinking, "Great! I can recoup my cost by selling off the duplicates!" ... until I realized that they weren't exactly duplicates: the person had collected the same album from different countries/pressings. Found a few more collections like that since, and just can't bring myself to sell off "dupes" that aren't from the same pressing. I now have six different releases of DSOTM!

I've also found a few of those "Not for sale" promo pressings, too. I keep them if they are songs I like, but otherwise don't bother getting them, since most of them I see are 80s-90s rap/techno/house type stuff, presumably ex-DJ/scratcher stuff. :thumbsdn:

Focusing on niches like promos and foreign releases is a slippery slope in itself, but at least it slows you down, because it is harder to find promo and foreign pressings than local general-release LPs. It's also fun to compare different releases. Generally Japanese releases sound great, European releases tend to be better for European groups and American releases are better for American groups, and I suspect the Promo copies would sound a little better than general release copies, if not abused, but I haven't done A/B comparisons to verify that. [Perhaps there is no difference but the packaging, but I'd suspect the record companies would want to "put their best foot forward" with promo copies, and get them out quickly, so they'd be very early pulls in good shape. Just a theory.]
 
John Hiatt Hangin' Around the Observatory 1974

Sample with Not For Sale sticker on outside of album.

Regular label on inside with bio insert and black and white photo of John Hiatt.
 

Attachments

  • hiatt.jpg
    hiatt.jpg
    126.8 KB · Views: 9
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom