Love Her Madly / You Need Meat

The Netherlands pressing of Love Her Madly / You Need Meat (Don't Go No Further) on Elektra, catalog number EKS 45726, came out in April 1971 as a standard commercial 45p release distributed through Dutch retail channels. This is not a promo copy, not a test pressing, and not a limited run; it is a legitimate regional single that distinguishes itself from other international variants of this release primarily through the inclusion of a picture sleeve, which was by no means universal across every territory that received this single.

The picture sleeve is the first thing any collector notices, and the attached photo confirms what the description suggests: a close-up black and white band photograph dominates the front. All four Doors, Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore, are framed together in what reads as a doorway or shadowed architectural opening. The shot is tight, catching their faces and upper torsos, with the high-contrast, slightly gritty quality that characterized early 1970s rock promotional photography. A clean shaven Morrison is immediately recognizable at far right, the group arranged in a loose cluster without any formal posing. There is a lived-in, candid quality to the image that suits the material well. The classic The Doors logo sits along the bottom left in the familiar bold serif typeface, printed in white so it reads cleanly against the dark photographic background. Love Her Madly appears in smaller type nearby, and running vertically along the left edge of the sleeve you can make out the B-side credit for You Need Meat (Don't Go No Further), the full title intact rather than truncated. The Elektra logo appears in the upper left corner. The overall graphic treatment is spare and functional, consistent with how European Elektra sleeves of this period were designed: the photograph carries the weight, and the typography stays out of its way. The copy shown displays light corner and edge wear, which is exactly what you expect from a sleeve that has been around for over fifty years. The image area itself remains readable and presentable. The reverse would carry standard label and catalog information per the Netherlands Elektra house style of the era. No inserts are associated with this release.

Love Her Madly was the lead single from L.A. Woman, the band's sixth studio album, and it performed well commercially in early 1971, giving the band one of their stronger chart showings in the period. The Netherlands pressing on EKS 45726 sits in a crowded field of international variants; collectors building a complete regional singles run will also want to reference the Love Her Madly +3 EP release and the Love Her Madly / Changeling pairing, both of which represent distinct configurations of this material worth tracking separately. The B-side pairing here, You Need Meat (Don't Go No Further), is consistent with other international pressings of this single, and the full B-side title printed on the sleeve is a small but cataloging-relevant detail that distinguishes this sleeve from copies where the title appears abbreviated on the label or sleeve copy. The track is a straight R&B-influenced cut from the L.A. Woman sessions, and its presence here is unremarkable in terms of rarity but correct and complete. What separates this Netherlands copy from the original US pressing or UK Elektra issue is primarily the picture sleeve itself; domestic US copies routinely shipped in generic Elektra company sleeves, making picture sleeve copies from European territories specifically attractive to collectors targeting visual documentation of the single's release history. Collectors pursuing Roadhouse Blues / Albinoni Adagio and similar Netherlands Elektra 45s from this run will find the label and catalog formatting consistent across pressings from this period. On Discogs, 403 collectors report ownership against 93 on the want list, a ratio that confirms this is a single that moves through the market with reasonable frequency but sustains consistent demand. It is not a pressing that turns up every weekend at record fairs in presentable condition; sleeve survivability at a decent grade requires some patience.

This Netherlands Elektra EKS 45726 pressing is a solid, legitimate regional 45 with genuine collectible value tied directly to the picture sleeve. It is not a scarce item in absolute terms, and collectors should not expect to pay grail-level prices. But a clean copy with the sleeve intact is not a trivial find either. For anyone building an international singles run of The Doors on Elektra, or specifically targeting Love Her Madly variant pressings by country, this Netherlands copy earns its place in the collection. Recommended without reservation for that purpose.