Electric Light Orchestra - Out Of The Blue - First issued 24th October (promo) / 3rd November 1977 on Jet Records label in the USA
Due to the size of the USA and various pressing plants around the USA, it is nearly impossible to collect and show all the different label variations. So instead, listed below are the main found issues of ELO's "Out Of The Blue" album on LP & CD in the USA.
Single Releases
Turn To Stone JT-XW1099
Sweet Talkin' Woman JT-XW1145
Sweet Talkin' Woman JT-XW1145 - Purple Vinyl
Mr Blue Sky ZS8 5050
Its Over ZS8 5052
Out Of The Blue
Title
Format
Vinyl
Label
Jet Records
Catalogue
JTLA-823-L2
Issue Date
24 October 1977
Notes
USA First Promotional & general sale issue of 10.000 Translucent Blue Vinyl editions in a gatefold cover were made for promotional issue and sent to Radio DJs & members of the "Press".
Issued: 24 October 1977, prior official USA release date 3 November 1977.
The Blue Vinyl issue was also sold to the public in regular record shops.
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Included was a fold out poster with the band member pictures, a double sided ELO Souvenir / Fan Club Special Offer Insert with Fan Club Membership Fees, options to order a ELO poster and T-shirt via mail order.
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Plus a cardboard ELO Space Station Insert (the Individual Parts "punch-out") to make a Cardboard Space Station with ELO Logo and band name on It.
With the first editions of “Out Of The Blue” JT-LA 823-L2 in the USA, there was an insert of 17.3 x 12.1 cm, in colour printed on both sides for an offer of the mylar print poster of “Out Of The Blue”, printed on a mylar sheet.
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As per the first black vinyl issue, the LP label has small track text, bigger UA logo and bigger Jet records tower.
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Plus Louis Clark name is spelt wrong as "Lewis" Clark
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There was an ad in Billboard talking about the US promo campaign for Out Of The Blue on 22 October 1977 setting the original release date to 24 October 1977. In this add the 10.000 blue vinyl promo copies were mentioned.
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Then on 5 October Billboard wrote that the US release date was set back to 3 November 1977. BUT the promotional campaign had already started. So they must write something about “some leaked” LP’s.
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The US test-pressings for “Out Of The Blue” were made on 29 September 1977, so from that date the manufacturing of the 2 million pre-ordered US-only advanced copies of “Out The Blue” could started. (This was another proof that it was impossible to release the album (on the wrong date 3 Oct) just 4 days later… )
According to Discogs the US albums of JT-LA 823-L2 were pressed in (almost) every pressing plant in the US (from October 1977 to 5th May 1978)
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Richmond, IN at PCR (black vinyl and all the US blue vinyl pressings)
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Roselle, NJ at All Disc's
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Los Angeles, CA at Research Craft
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Santa Maria, CA
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Scranton, PA at NAMI
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Terra Haute, IN
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Olyphant, PA at Speciality
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Hauppauge NY at Keel
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Compton, CA at PCR
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Pitman NJ
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So, when they decided to make blue vinyl copies for promotion, probably almost a huge amount of the 2 Million advanced ordered copies were already pressed. It seemed that the “first” to be released of the 10,000 blue vinyl copies were pressed at a very late stage.
Credit & all words & notes above - Patrik Guttenbacher - FTM Germany
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Title
Out Of The Blue
Format
Vinyl
Label
Jet Records
Catalogue
JTLA-823-L2
Issue Date
3 November 1977
Chart Position
4
Notes
USA 1st Issue in Gatefold Cover with Glossy Heavy Stock Paper Lyric Sleeves
There are three versions : -
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First version with smaller track text, big UA logo and big Jet records tower. Plus Louis Clark name is spelt wrong as "Lewis" Clark
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Second version with larger track text, big UA logo, big Jet records tower and Louis Clark name is now spelt correctly.
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Third version with bigger track text, smaller UA logo, smaller Jet records tower issued on a bright label.
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Because the track list on the first issue could not be read clearly, hence the larger text re-prints.
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Included was a fold out poster with the band member pictures and a double sided ELO Souvenir / Fan Club Special Offer Insert with Fan Club Membership Fees, options to order ELO Poster and T-shirt via mail order.
Plus a cardboard ELO Space Station Insert (the Individual Parts "punch-out" to make a Cardboard Space Station with ELO Logo and Band Name on It.
With all first editions of “Out Of The Blue” JT-LA 823-L2 in the USA, there was an
Insert of 17.3 x 12.1 cm, in colour printed on both sides for an offer of the mylar print poster of “Out Of The Blue”, printed on a mylar sheet.
​
In the later editions it was replaced by a blue printed white paper sheet of the same offer of 9 x 21 cm size
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There is a printing error on the "Out Of The Blue" Side 1 LP lyric inlay sleeve.
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The "Across The Border" song title is printed in orange coloured text, where as it should be shown in white coloured text. See images below, under lined with a white line.
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This printing error occurs on various UK, Canada, USA, Holland and Europe issues. Some 1980's editions seem to have corrected the error, but the orange text error can be seen again on 1990's Epic Re-issues and even on the Epic 2012 and later issues.
Spotted by Chris Harvey
Format
Vinyl
Label
Jet Records
Catalogue
R-223719 / JTLA-823-L2
Club Edition
Issue Date
November 1978
Notes
Black Vinyl "Club Edition" in Gatefold Cover with band poster thick paper inner lyric sleeves
Missing From My Collection
Format
Vinyl
Label
Jet Records
Catalogue
KZ2 35530
Re-Issue Date
1980
Notes
Re-issue in 1980 by Jet Records.
It came with 2 paper inner sleeves with printed lyrics.
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The inner sleeves have printed at the bottom right corner on one side each: "Sleeve 1" & "Sleeve 2"
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At some point in the mid 1980's, there was a re-issue as part of the CBS "Nice Price" range and had a bar code on the top right corner of the rear gatefold cover.
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This issue did not include the band poster and had a "Nice Price" sticker on shrink wrap, but there was no change to the cat.no or price-code on the sleeve or record labels.
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See images below.
Format
Vinyl
Label
Jet Records
Catalogue
Promo KZ2 35530
Re-Issue Date
1980
Notes
Promo re-issue in 1980 by Jet Records, with paper inner sleeves with printed lyrics.
Missing From My Collection
Missing From My Collection
Missing From My Collection
Missing From My Collection
Format
CD
Label
Jet Records
Catalogue
ZGK 35530
Re-Issue Date
June 1987
Notes
CD issue in June 1987 by Jet/CBS records, no lyric booklet, just inlay cover with inside of space ship printed in side of it.
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All CD’s in the USA were released in long boxes, until in 1993 when the US record industry turned against it. Because of ecological reasons & decreasing the costs for a CD.
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The USA version has "2-Record Set on 1 Compact Disc" across the top front of the booklet.
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There are four CD issues, including "Nice Price" issues, with two different track layouts.
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First Two from 1987
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Two later issue from around 1990 - 1994 that have the DIDP code printed on the CD below the Cat. No. ZK 35530
There was also a Canada issue with the same Cat Number and booklet design.
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A South African issue (CDCOL 3660 S) used the same CD booklet design, with a few text changes, Image is below
Format
CD
Label
Epic
Catalogue
82796 94272 2
Re-Issue Date
2007
Notes
Re-Master CD issue in 2007 by Epic. With full colour booklet with album/band info and original sleeve photos/images.
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Was issued in a hard back cardboard folder/case and a normal jewel case.
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The first issues were mistakenly issued with the tray card from the initial ZGK 35530 CD release, with the bonus tracks only being mentioned in the booklet.
Format
Vinyl
Label
Epic / Legacy
Catalogue
88875152421
Re-Issue Year
18 December 2015
Notes
Epic/Legacy Music - Reissue on double 180g Clear vinyl in gatefold sleeve.
Including full colour poster and inner lyric sleeves.
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Issued in the USA on 18th December 2015 & the UK & Europe 8th January 2016.
These are limited to 5,000 (of each) worldwide, with around 1,000 or so allocated to the UK market.
