DOORS-Did you buy "The Soft Parade" when it was new? What color were your labels?

I have a light tan label from '69 but I'm not sure where it was pressed. I also have a Monarch pressing with the red label. One of the US factories must not have switched over to the red when this album was first pressed. I think the light tan labels were pressed for Elektra between '68 and '69. I've never seen mono pressings of any Elektra albums with this colored label. Actually, that's wrong, as my mono Forever Changes has the light tan label.

 

FWIW, 2007 Japanese paper sleeve edition uses Gold one.

 

Dead wax info from my gold label Soft Parade:
S1: EKS-75005-A AL MMMD ARb 7-25-69
S2: EKS-75005-B AL LMLL ARC 8-13-69

Now I have to look for a CTH press with red label!

 

Mines sounds great, never heard a gold label version though.

 

I'm kinda late to this, but I think they're both first presses.
All the gold label SP copies I've seen have the same printing defect on the label - a blotch in the first 'O' in the Doors logo on both sides.
So I figure fortherecord is right - the gold pressing originated from one batch of old label stock around the time of the switch from gold to red labels.

 

I just got a gold label for like a couple of bucks!

It's DEAD SILENT! Cover's a little worn, but otherwise it seems like a steal!

 

I bought mine upon release in Chicago. MY matrix info is the same as yours except..my side two is etched B-2 .

I still have it, and it's as minty fresh as can be.

 

I have both... I always assumed GOLD was first.. but they may have been using old label stock? What about thickness of vinyl? Those reds are I seem to recall heavier..

 

I got mine when it came out but I have no idea what color my label is. When I get back home I'll check.

 

Not sure why this thread is getting bumped up so much lately, but I for one don't really care what color is used for the reproduction of the label in the liner notes. I'd just like to see it released next month.

 

I have the same one, it was originally my dad's so I can't be 100% sure of which pressing it is. Although he claims to have gotten it right away. He said he usually bought all Door's albums first day. It's also in perfect condition, looks/sounds like it was never played before.

 

I just purchased what was advertised as an original pressing of the Soft Parade, and it meets the descriptions in this thread: red label w/ a big E. It's a heavy pressing, and the cover even has a sticker touting "Touch Me" and a couple other songs. The one detail I am wondering about is the inner sleeve ... it's plain white, and it came with an additional insert containing lyrics on one side and pictures on the other. Did the original have the lyrics on the sleeve itself or on an insert?

 

Insert. However, if I'm not mistaken the proper inner sleeve is the black one with photos and blurbs about Jac Holzman and the Elektra building and studios on one side, and the Elektra logo on the other. (EDIT: not sure if that inner sleeve was in use until later in the red label phase.)

 

I got it in upstate New York and it was Red.

 

I have two "original copies". Both came with a custom lyric/photo inner sleeve. No song sticker on the cover.

 

I bought it when it came out, it was red. I was on the West Coast.

 

Plants using stock labels.

 

Red label. Inner sleeve with pics/lyrics.

 

You're of course thinking of red with the little 'E'. The red is a different color ink too, the later label with the smaller 'E' is a yellower red and the early red ones use a bluer red.

I had a gold label copy last year, bought used, that I flipped (so no matrix numbers available). Seems like there were indeed two original labels!

 

Found one last night. A red label in STELLAR shape so I couldn't pass it up.

Side one: EKS-75005-A-2 CP
Side two: EKS-75005-B CP

 

Purchased when released in New Jersey.
Red label.
Still, one of my favorite Doors albums.

 

Bought at Woolworths day of release and the are still red.

 

I was just at the used record store and picked up one of these in very shiny condition. The only difference is the matrix on side 2 is LMLL. I wasn't going to buy it because I have an early red label as well as the 45 rpm reissue, but it occurred to me that I hadn't seen a gold label Soft Parade before, so I snagged it since it was only $10. It has the custom inner sleeve with black and white photos of the band on one side, and the lyrics on the other. My red label has the black inner with the info about Elektra.

Also picked up a gold label Doors s/t still in shrink that looks nearly unplayed. Plus, found a gold label Waiting for the Sun last week. Not bad.

 

Purchased in the basement of Murphy's in Beckley WV. Red.