Cast your mind back to October of 1973, those of you who are old enough to do so.

I was only seven years old at the time but I do remember a few things from that fall of ’73 –  trick or treating (which was a big thing for me at the time), grade school and Scholastic book orders (remember those?) and of course new music from The Partridge Family.

Even at the tender age of seven I watched “The Partridge Family” television show religiously and collected their records.

It just so happens that the last Partridge platter came out in October 1973, “Bulletin Board”, and much to my surprise it featured a more mature sound for the group. This last Partridge album had more in common with David Cassidy’s recent solo work which had Cassidy singing in a more soulful style.

(Note: By this time David Cassidy wasn’t getting along with producer Wes Ferrell who had produced all the Partridge recordings up until now. Respected background singer John Bahler supposedly produced and arranged the “Bulletin Board” album so that may account for the more adult approach that Cassidy preferred at the time.)

Songs like “Money, Money”, “Roller Coaster”, “Looking for a Good Time” and “Where Do We Go From Here” sounded more adult and less poppy than previous Partridge discs. There was also a little bit of added funk to the mix which was something new from the famous TV family.

Of course there were enough poppy songs on the album like “Oh, No, Not My Baby” and “How Long is Too Long” that the new style wasn’t a total shock but one could definitely feel things were different with the songs on this album

Truth be told sales for Partridge Family albums were rapidly falling as the television show was switched to Saturday nights opposite “All in the Family” in the fall of 1973 which caused the Partridges ratings to plummet.

Of course I received a copy of “Bulletin Board” that fall and at first I wasn’t too sure I liked this new sound but gradually the album became one of all-time my favorites and I rank it in my personal top five by the group. I think a lot of fans of the group still find the album less Partridge sounding and tend to not like it but I love this album and play it still to this day.

So why all this reminiscing now about a nearly fifty-year-old album? Well this week I happened to stumble on a promotional copy of the “Bulletin Board” and I must say it’s a beauty.

I often look for promotional copies of Partridge Family albums because they tend to be better pressings than regular stock copies and they sound much better as well.

(Note 2: Promotional copies were sent out to radio stations to gain airplay for the songs on the album. Promo copies were pressed in very limited quantities and since they were marked not for sale they are harder to track down. Plus promo copies tend to be beat up or marked up by radio stations so finding pristine ones can be tough.)

It’s fairly rare to find promo Partridges these days so I was more than thrilled to not only locate a promo copy of “Bulletin Board”, which isn’t even that common to find as a regular stock copy, but the fact that this copy looks like it has never been played is a wonderful bonus!

The other interesting thing about this copy of the album is that it comes with a terrific inner sleeve promoting of Bell Records releases including two other Partridge Family albums (“At Home with Their Greatest Hits” , “Crossword Puzzle”) as well as a solo David Cassidy album (“Rock Me Baby”).

I have never seen an inner sleeve like this and I own original copies of all the Partridge Family and David Cassidy Bell Records albums. Maybe it was just available with promo copies? Or maybe they were only on pressings from certain regions of the country? Interesting.

Anyway, because I rarely see promotional Partridge Family albums I thought it might be fun to show this gem off here. I know I’ve posted about the “Bulletin Board” previously on this blog but this groovy promo copy is too nice not to do a repeat post about it.

As usual take a gander above at photos of the album and inner sleeve.

That’s all for now. Until next time, be well and safe and see you soon!