Preferred pressing of The Doors: LA Woman LP


I have the opportunity to buy an very early pressing EKS-75011 A-1, side 1  EKS-75011 B-1, side 2.

This would co-exist with my QRP 45, but perhaps replace my later standard pressing. It's from a trusted source, who play graded it, so that's all solid. I am leaning against spending the $75 for the following reason. I heard the standard pressings of LA Woman can veer to the lean, because the bass was thin. I went on to read LA-W was a perfect candidate for 45 RPM, because the running time was on the long side, which my be the reason it sounds this way. I like the 45's very much, but frankly I find myself reaching for my early press Strange Days and S/T more often. The former on 45 is superb IMO. I will be dusting off my later 33 RPM, and playing it to get an idea. If memory serves, it is indeed on the leaner side. In the mean time, I figured why not get some opinions. I have to admit, my 45's don't get much rotation these days.

fjn04
sudont- I ended up sitting tight with my standard (later) pressing, and the QRP. I think the LAW 45 will be tough to beat. Especially with the long run time, it really seemed to benefit from the 45 treatment. That said, I would also love to have a great sounding version on 33rpm.
I was just on Discogs, looking at first pressings, and came across this note: "This issue is a 'Terre Haute' pressing. See Santa Maria pressing issue". Makes it sound like there's an "issue" with the Santa Maria pressing, but I think it's just an unfortunate sentence composition. A search for "Santa Maria pressing" brought me to this thread, so I may as well ask you guys whether you know what's up with these two pressings? Does one have a particular problem, or is one simply considered better than the other, or what? Incidentally, I do have the Analogue Productions version. It's really the best I've ever heard this particular album.
Thanks- It was tough, but I passed on this. I have no complaints about my standard pressings of the first 3, and Morrison Hotel. LA Woman is close to 50 minutes, where as MH is less than 40 minutes. Perhaps there is a correlation with LAW running time, and the bass being  a bit light.
For a long time I actually preferred the DCC CD as it had bass and dynamics that I could not find in various LP pressings, including the DCC that sounds bland and undynamic like almost all DCC pressings.  I recently bought an Elektra white label promo pressing with A and B2 matrix and it is the best I have heard.  The bass is still a little light but much better than any other vinyl pressing and the midrange and treble are really good.

Kurt_tank, I sold all 3 of my Door's DCC  titles. I found the 45's to have more of everything. I also really like my Brown label early pressings of the first 3 albums, and my Red label Morrison Hotel. I could see the DCC's being a nice balance in a different system, but I found them a bit thick sounding.  Cheers -Don

Have you tried any of the DCC pressings of the Doors LPs?
They are OOP unfortunately, which makes them pricey, but I have found them to be excellent pressings.
(I have not compared them to the 45 rpm versions though.)

My two cents worth.

A bit more detail I left out. This is a Pitman Press, not Monarch or Santa Maria. It's the second US LP, as  listed on Discogs. So while very early, the Monarch seems to be most sought after.