Miles Davis BITCHES BREW Columbia GP 26 1970 1/1/1/1 Press (PROMO?) NM/EX 2LP

$

29

One of many JAZZ LPs from a fanatically well-kept collection of a long-time former DJ
Mostly 1st PRESSINGS, including a large amount of PROMO LPs.
Many others still in SHRINK WRAP. Several STILL SEALED
Quite a few WLP, Sterling, RL and Masterdisk pressings in the mix!
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International Shipping Worldwide at EXACT POSTAGE Only cost

This auction is for:
Miles Davis
BITCHES BREW
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.COLUMBIA Records GP 26
1970 1st Year issue • Stereo 2LP
1C/1J/1B/1J PRESSING

VINYL is NM/EX
Extremely clean full gloss vinyl all 4 sides. Side 1 (Pharaoh's Dance): EX+ with a few very light inaudible sleeve marks. // Side 2 (Bitches Brew): NM appears unplayed, Like New. // Side 3 (Spanish Key, John McLaughlin): EX faint sleeve scuff at beginning of side only. // Side 4 (Miles Runs The Voodoo Down, Sanctuary): EX faint sleeve scuff at beginning of side only, viewed under hard bright light. LP plays superb EX+ to NM throughout. Labels are pristine all sides.
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COVER is VG+
Thick gatefold cover is bright, vivid and clean with light ringwear on, front; a little more on back, still much better than most for this title's cover that is prone to quick wear. Red promo stamp on back, top right. No creases, writing, soil or other marks. Inside gatefold is pristine. Sharp corners and straight edges all around. Seams and flat, even spine completely intact with no wear or splits.

STRICT CONSERVATIVE GOLDMINE GRADING
NM / EX(VG++) / VG+ / VG



POSSIBLE PROMO ISSUE:
Red stamp on back cover, partly obscured by being half stamped over black background. Readable portion reads "ORD-NOT FOR SALE"
This collection had several other MILES DAVIS and other Columbia Promo releases with fully readable stamp: "PROMOTION RECORD-NOT FOR SALE"
stamped on back - both 360 SOUND "2-EYE" and early Red/Orange labels. (examples, my ended listings: eBay #s 361617825531 + 361617825194).

VERY early Press with 1C/1J/1B/1J matrix numbers.
2nd labels - Columbia introduced the "Orange/Red" label the exact same
year (1970) that Bitches Brew was issued. Very few actually got the 2-eye
labels - very interesting and informative discussion on this below*
...brought over from the Discogs forum

MATRIX NUMBERS
?Side One: XSM152412-1C
?Side Two: XSM152413-1J
?Side Three: XSM152414-1B
?Side Four: XSM152415-1J

Miles Davis' iconic, groundbreaking 1970 Electric Jazz/Rock/Funk fusion masterpiece.
Miles and stellar crew simply turn the jazz / rock world upside-down on this mind-expanding set!

Featuring
Miles Davis
Wayne Shorter
John McLaughlin
Jack DeJohnette
Joe Zawinul
Larry Young
Chick Corea?
Dave Holland
Harvey Brooks
Benny Maupin
Lenny White

Produced by TEO MACERO
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a Beautiful original 1970 copy of this extraordinary record!

Discs inside anti-static poly inner sleeves
Album kept in a protective, poly outer-sleeve


*Re. 2-Eye and Orange/Red labels on earliest 1970 pressings
from Discogs MILES DAVIS BITCHES BREW discussion:

Columbia introduced the "Orange/Red" label the exact same year (1970) that Bitches Brew was issued.

Here is something that many inattentive collectors will miss: When record companies retired a label format, the earliest titles [to get the new label] - especially those that were pressed in large numbers by a giant such as Columbia Records with pressing plants from Santa Maria CA to Terre Haute IN to Pitman NJ and numerous small houses (Monarch, Specialty, Precision et al) that would handle their overflow for huge jobs - would frequently have a number of LATER initial "first" pressings bearing the just-retired label - and a number of EARLIER initial "first" pressings bearing the new format label. [due to varying label stock at company pressing plants throughout the country].

When an order and plates arrived at a plant, the mix of label / matrix depended greatly on how many of the older labels were still in-house. If very few "2-Eyes" were present, they were onto the "Orange/Red" labels very quickly - or vice versa if they had a lot of 2-Eyes still in stock to use up. BITCHES BREW is a fairly famous case of this happening. I have seen the 2-Eye label on pressings with Matrix #s as late as XSM 152412-3G - and (like the one in front of me right now) Orange/Red labels on a pressing as early as XSM 152412 1-C.

When you take into account that this was a double LP (4 plates to press per album) with such a huge market expectation as Bitches Brew, it is really no great surprise that this happened. Another well-documented case for Columbia was the 1955 "Charlie Christian With The Benny Goodman Sextet" album (Columbia CL-652) that was the very first LP slated for release to bear the new-in-1955 "6-Eye" label. Some were pressed also on the former "Red" label, (for reasons as above) with similar matrix results.

Re. BITCHES BREW:
If you are the kind of collector who feels most comfortable looking at a 2-Eye label in your collection, that's fine. But ALWAYS keep those matrix #s in mind. As the saying goes: "MATRIX DON'T LIE". If you really, truly want that revolutionary, amazingly expansive, wide-open feel and sharp soundstage separation that Miles and Teo Macero achieved here you want nothing later than "-1J" ending all 4 matrix #s on your copy. They had begun crafting this sound with "Filles De Kilimanjaro" and even more with "In a Silent Way" but it reached an auditory zenith with Bitches Brew.

For very precise info on start-dates and much more in-depth info on hundreds of major and smaller USA labels, check out VINYLBEAT.com. Also, scattered across the web are many forums and blogs where a huge amount of historical vinyl pressing information, lore and even anecdotes from the old-timers who worked or ran the plants can be found. Fascinating and illuminating material that will tell you everything you would ever want to know about those "funny marks on the vinyl around the labels": Mastering houses, engineers' initials (WAY beyond "RVG" and "RL"!), job #s, prefix codes and much more.
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