Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep with the record.

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Aretha Franklin

Live At Fillmore West

2003 · Rainbo Records (plant test pressing for 4 Men With Beards) 4M115 · Stereo · US · LP, test pressing (180g, no jacket, plain white sleeve) · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Rainbo Records (plant test pressing for 4 Men With Beards)
Catalogue number	4M115
Year	2003
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	US
Format	LP, test pressing (180g, no jacket, plain white sleeve)
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Soul/Funk - Soul
Producer	Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin
Performer / Orchestra	King Curtis and the Kingpins, with The Memphis Horns and The Sweethearts of Soul
Musicians	Aretha Franklin (vocals, electric piano), King Curtis (tenor & soprano saxophone, bandleader), Billy Preston (organ), Cornell Dupree (guitar), Jerry Jemmott (electric bass), Bernard 'Pretty' Purdie (drums), Pancho Morales (congas), Truman Thomas (electric piano), Ray Charles (vocals, electric piano on 'Spirit in the Dark' reprise), Memphis Horns: Wayne Jackson, Roger Hopps (trumpet), Andrew Love, Lou Collins (tenor sax), Jimmy Mitchell (baritone sax), Jack Hale (trombone), Sweethearts of Soul: Brenda Bryant, Margaret Branch, Pat Smith (backing vocals); horn arrangements by Arif Mardin

Availability

This record is currently listed for sale: view the listing on Discogs or view the listing on eBay.

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  4M-115 A
S-59426
Side B:  4M-115 B
S-59267

Condition

Cover: NIL
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

1971 - US Atlantic SD 7205 original, red/green 1841 Broadway labels, gatefold
c. 2003 - 4 Men With Beards 4M115 180g reissue, gatefold, Rainbo-pressed
c. 2003 - Rainbo Records plant test pressing of 4M115, blank TEST PRESSING labels, no jacket  <- this copy
c. 2012 - Speakers Corner SD 7205 180g all-analogue, Kevin Gray cut, Pallas-pressed

This Pressing

2003 Rainbo Records plant test pressing of the 4 Men With Beards 180g reissue (4M115) - blank generic Rainbo labels, etched 4M-115 A/B matrix with S-prefix stamper codes; bottom of the title's pressing hierarchy.

The Album

Aretha Live at Fillmore West captures Franklin's three-night stand of March 5-7, 1971 at Bill Graham's San Francisco rock palace, a booking producer Jerry Wexler pursued to bridge the Queen of Soul to the Fillmore's rock audience. Wexler paired her with King Curtis and the Kingpins - Cornell Dupree, Bernard Purdie, Jerry Jemmott and Billy Preston - augmented by the Memphis Horns and her own Sweethearts of Soul, yielding one of the hardest-driving bands she ever recorded with. The set straddled worlds deliberately: signature hits like "Respect" and "Dr. Feelgood" alongside radical soul reworkings of Stephen Stills, Simon & Garfunkel, the Beatles and Bread. Its legendary, unplanned highlight came when Ray Charles, sitting in the audience, was called onstage for an extended jam reprising "Spirit in the Dark." Released in May 1971 on Atlantic, the album topped the Billboard R&B chart, reached #7 pop, and became Franklin's first gold album since 1968's Aretha Now. It is routinely ranked among the greatest live soul albums ever made, capturing Franklin at her creative peak, and carries added poignancy as one of saxophonist King Curtis's final recorded triumphs before his murder later that year.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Respect
2. Love The One You're With
3. Bridge Over Troubled Water
4. Eleanor Rigby
5. Make It With You
6. Don't Play That Song

Side 2

1. Dr. Feelgood
2. Spirit In The Dark
3. Spirit In The Dark (Reprise With Ray Charles)
4. Reach Out And Touch (Somebody's Hand)

The Label

Both sides bear Rainbo Records' generic white 'TEST PRESSING' plant labels (gold script logo, '1738 Berkeley Street, Santa Monica, California 90404', unfilled Customer/S-/Matrix#/Date fields, marked SIDE A / SIDE B) - no 4 Men With Beards branding appears anywhere on the disc. Rainbo occupied the Santa Monica address from 1974 to 2006 and pressed the 2003 retail edition for 4 Men With Beards, the budget reissue imprint run by Berkeley distributor Runt LLC under Atlantic license. The etched 4M-115 A/B runout matches the retail matrix used for this title, and the S-59426/S-59267 codes are Rainbo's standard S-prefix stamper numbers. As a proofing pull from the same lacquers/stampers as retail copies, this disc predates commercial pressing but sits at the bottom of the title's overall label hierarchy, well below the 1971 Atlantic original and the Speakers Corner audiophile pressing.

Fidelity

The 4 Men With Beards edition credits no mastering engineer or tape source, and Runt/4MWB reissues of this era are widely regarded by collectors on the forums as inconsistent and often digital- or CD-sourced, with surface-noise and QC complaints frequently tied to Rainbo pressings. Expect a flat, somewhat compressed transfer in which the 180g weight is cosmetic rather than sonic. In the album's overall fidelity hierarchy, the Speakers Corner 180g edition (all-analogue, Kevin Gray cut at Cohearent Audio from the original tapes, Pallas-pressed) sits at the top, followed by a clean US Atlantic SD 7205 original; this 4M115 pressing ranks at the bottom alongside other budget 2000s reissues. As a test pressing from the same lacquers as retail copies it offers no sonic upgrade, and unapproved trial stampers can occasionally run noisier than final production pressings.

Notes

2003 Rainbo Records factory test pressing of the 4 Men With Beards 180g reissue 4M115 (Runt LLC, under Atlantic license) - not a 1971 Atlantic SD 7205 original and not the Speakers Corner audiophile edition. Etched '4M-115 A / 4M-115 B' matches the 4MWB retail runout, and the S-59426/S-59267 codes are Rainbo's standard S-prefix stamper markings, fixing the plant. Blank gold-logo Rainbo 'TEST PRESSING' labels with all fields unfilled are the plant's generic proofing labels, so this disc predates retail copies from the same stamper run while sharing their lacquers. Loose vinyl only, no jacket or insert, housed in a plain white paper sleeve.

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