Righteous Brothers - SOUL & INSPIRATION (Rare Alternate Version) - United Recording - (1965)

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED - (Verve Sounds of Fame VK142) In late 1965 after the Righteous Brothers left Philles Records and signed with M~G~M, Bill Medley called upon husband and wife songwriting team, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil and asked them to finish a tune that they had began working on but was not yet completed. The tune would be the debut single for the duo at their new record label, Verve. The song was recorded and then re-recorded a short time later with a slightly different but much larger 'Wall Of Sound' arrangement. The second version would eventually be the one chosen for the 'Blue-eyed Soul' duo's first release for the label. The original first version however, would be mistakenly pressed on both the Japanese and West German releases. The original version was shelved and remained in the M~G~M vaults until 1968 when it was once again mistakenly pulled and pressed onto Verve re-issue singles with 'Little Latin Lupe Lu' on the other side. A small quantity of the incorrectly pressed re-issue discs left the plant before the error was corrected. Apparently, the alternate first version was also issued on a 1966 Italian, Canadian, French, German and Japanese Verve single and again on a 1990 German Verve re-issue disc as well. Hopefully a proper Righteous Brother retrospective will surface with both versions along with any unedited versions.

A big 'thank you' goes to PETER RICHMOND for the wealth of information he has painstakingly compiled at his wonderful website, 'Righteous Brothers Discography'
( www.righteousbrothersdiscography.com ) regarding all things vinyl and styrene that feature Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. It is he who provided the following information on how to locate a copy of this elusive alternate release of 'Soul & Inspiration':

".....There is a definite way of establishing whether it is the alternate version without having to play the record. Etched in the deadwax (the run out before the label) is the master number. If this is "65 VK 634-M" it is the original alternate version - IT MUST INCLUDE THE "M". The second 'hit' version doesn't include the "M" etched in the deadwax".