CARPENTERS THIRD ALBUM RARE ORIG '71 A&M WHITE LABEL PROMO LP w/GIMMICK COVER

$

37

WE CURRENTLY HAVE  NEARLY 100 LISTED ITEMS

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·      THE CARPENTERS - CARPENTERS (THE SELF-TITLED THIRD ALBUM) - ORIGINAL 1971 A&M RECORDS STEREO LP SP-3502

·      ORIGINAL U.S. PRESSING

·      ORIGINAL U.S. PRESSING, WITH A UNIQUE “INVITATION CARD” COVER.

·      *** WHITE LABEL PROMO ***

·      IN ADDITION, THE NEAT, ROUND PROMO CUTOUT HOLE CLEARLY IDENTIFIES THE PRESSING AS PROMOTIONAL; NAMELY, ON CAPITOL AND AFFILIATED LABELS, A NEAT CUTOUT HOLE IN THE UPPER RIGHT-HAND CORNER SIGNIFIES PROMO PRESSINGS, NOT, REPEAT, NOT A CUTOUT ITEM.

·      COLUMBIA RECORDS, PITMAN, NJ PRESSING.

·      ORIGINAL A&M LABEL WITH THE SMALL CARPENTERS LOGO IN RED PRINT, LATE '60s/EARLY '70s STYLE, WHITE PROMOTIONAL VERSION.

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

·      ORIGINAL 'GIMMICK' COVER (LOOKS LIKE A LETTER, WITH AN ENVELOPE “FLAP” ON THE FRONT SIDE)

·      ORIGINAL "TEXTURED" (RAISED/EMBOSSED TITLE) COVER.

·      THIS ALBUM CONTAINS ORIGINAL MIXES OF THESE CLASSIC SONGS – NOT THE REMIXES DONE IN 2004 BY RICHARD CARPENTER

·      FAIRLY THICK VINYL PRESSING On the scale from 1 to 10 (1 being the least thick, and  10 being the thickest), we assess the thickness of the vinyl as 7.

·      CLEAN, WEAR-FREE LABELS

·      MATRIX NUMBER IN TRAIL-OFF VINYL (DEAD WAX) ENDS WITH '-P1/-P1'.  ON SOME LABELS,  SUFFIX '–1' DENOTES THE VERY FIRST, ORIGINAL PRESSING)

 (►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!)

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The Carpenters' radio-friendly soft rock virtually defined the genre in the early 1970s, and this album -- their third full-length -- was the group's ace card. Following on the heels of the wildly successful Close to You, Carpenters features more breezy melodies marked by rich arrangements and beautiful lead vocals, courtesy of siblings Richard Carpenter and Karen Carpenter, respectively.

The record is most notable for two of the duo's strongest and best-loved singles. "Rainy Days and Mondays," written by soft pop gods Paul Williams and Roger Nichols, is a bittersweet pop masterpiece fleshed out by Richard's string orchestrations and smoothly produced backing vocals, while Leon Russell and Bonnie Bramlett's "Superstar," from its melancholic verse to its dramatic chorus, is equally hard to resist. (Both songs showcase Karen's sultry alto.) The rest of the album includes Richard's bubble-gum pop originals, another Williams-Nichols tune ("Let Me Be the One"), and a medley of Burt Bacharach-Hal David tunes. Even more commercially streamlined than its predecessors, Carpenters is a classic of early-'70s pop.

 (EXCERPT FROM AN ONLINE REVIEW BY ALL MUSIC GUIDE  /ALLMUSIC.COM/)

Despite being dismissed as being lightweight and poppy, the music of Richard and Karen Carpenter aged with infinite grace and (at one point in early-to-mid seventies) even outsold the Beatles. Karen's untimely death in 1983 changed all this; people started realizing that Carpenters created one of the more lasting bodies of work; songs that were incredibly well crafted, composed, arranged and executed; songs performed with uncanny sense of "economy of sound". General public started longing for Karen Carpenter's wonderful, one-of-a-kind, bell-like voice which will NEVER be replicated and duplicated; Richard's songwriting and arranging skills are also being seen in a new, more friendly light these days. Lately, Carpenters have been enjoying a well-deserved renewal in popularity and interest - and even somewhat of a cult status - and are more likely to be seen as one of three or four  (along with Bee Gees, Abba and Fleetwood Mac) decade-defining acts of the 70's. This is one of the finest in the string of their million-selling albums from the early 1970's and virtually defines the Carpenters aesthetics and sound.

THE WHITE LABEL PROMO, RADIO STATION-, AUDITION OR DEMONSTRATION COPIES AND RELEASES (such as the one we have here) were often distributed to the radio stations before the record was released to the public, sometimes as much as four months ahead. These records are generally considered to be the "first among equals": the VERY FIRST generation and the VERY FIRST pressings of the particular title; a PROTOTYPE and the earliest known official pressing of the record.

TO SEE IF WE HAVE OTHER LISTED ITEMS BY THIS GROUP OR ARTIST ►  CLICK HERE

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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  NEAR MINT. Some VERY LIGHT AND SUPERFICIAL abrasions – mostly sleeve scuffs -  are (barely) visible, but are probably inaudible,  and do not affect visual integrity or beauty of the vinyl. The original luster is very much intact, and the vinyl shines and sparkles almost like new.

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

(c)          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!

(d)          White Promo Label version of this title is much rarer that a regular, commercially released, version of this title. We estimate that stock copies of this album outnumber promo copies by a ratio of at least 50:1.

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

·      COVER (THIS IS THE ORIGINAL “GIMMICK” COVER):

THE COVER IS ABOUT VERY GOOD+(+)

The following flaws or imperfections are noted on the cover:

-       Cover has a neat, round PROMO cutout hole in one of the corners

-       Cover has JUST A HINT of ring wear (nothing significant); 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 2.

-       Cover shows some light yellowing on both sides, apparently from aging  (nothing significant)

-       Cover has a visible 3-inch tear on the back panel; no part of the sleeve is missing (we repaired the ter as best as we could, but the tear is visible)

-       Cover has a visible "wrinkle"(crease) along the opening  (VISIBLE ON BACK SIDE ONLY)

-       Cover has two small  'bumps' (dents) on the opening side

-       Back cover has a small peel-off mark, probably from the careless removal of the price sticker (less than ¼ square inch in size)

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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