DEEP PURPLE/BOOK OF TALIESYN HVL 751 EU MONO VS. SHVL 751 UK STEREO

For info on first UK release check   http://monolover.blogspot.se/2012/08/deep-purplethe-book-of-taliesyn-shvl.html   . When the album was recorded in 1968 both a mono and a stereo tape were prepared for the UK market, but by the time it was released there - june 1969 - the band had moved from Parlophone to Harvest - a label that didn't do mono at all. As the story goes the tapes were "trashed" or at least forgotten till a few years ago when tracks started to show up on CD. Now, in connection to "Record Store Day", the lost tapes has been issued on vinyl. After comparing with a first press UK stereo I'd like to say edits or even versions differ, but I don't hear it. Still the balance is different with sturdier bass and more prominent guitars, making it sound like a good old powerful UK mono. So even if not all a separate mix, since the stereo isn't a perfect compatible all the way they'd probably pitched in for adjustments here and there to get an evenly good result - a rather common procedure in those last days of mono. In any case the audio on this is beautiful - big, strong with perfect separation - making it the best version of the album I've heard so far. The packaging is very 1969 - laminated fold/out cover with classic EMI mono fonts and contemporary label design, made as if it actually was released back then. Not 100% exact, but good enough. I'm usually not much for late reissues with newly rediscovered stuff, but the history here makes it a must for this old monolover. Issued on Warner Brothers in North America and Japan and Harvest in the rest of the world. Label shown has BIEM and NCB, which would mean a EU press for the Scandinavian market (?) and it's pressed on thick quality white vinyl. (HÄVL*) (DHÄ*) (CPYC*)(MÅW*)