Artwoods - Art Gallery, classic UK RnB album

	£		72
	$		95

Hello and thank you for choosing to read this advert.

A word of introduction about myself first of all. My name is James and I’m 45 years old living in the North East of England. I’ve been collecting records for the best part of 30 years now and have amassed a vast amount of music of all genres during that time. Now however, it’s time for a bit of clear out. I’m not selling all of my collection but there are some titles I have duplicate copies of and others that I just can’t find time to listen to as much as I’d like to so these are the things that will be offered for sale here.

I’ve now been advertising on Ebay for about a year and for the most part everything has gone pretty smoothly and I haven’t been given any negative feedback which I guess means that people were happy with the deal they got. Ebay aside I have been buying and selling records mail order for over 25 years now and have satisfied customers and trading partners all over the world so I like to think that I have at least an idea of what I’m doing with regard to both the rarity and condition of the records I sell (and unlike a lot of ebay dealers I actually know something about the music too!). At least 3 well known ebay dealers (all with 4 figure feedback figures) buy their stock from me regularly and I have had no complaints from any of them in fact all of them regularly grade the records with a higher grade than I gave them!.

All records which I offer here are play graded all the way through on top class equipment and any faults I find no matter how small will be mentioned. All photos will be of the actual item for sale and will not be doctored in any way. Sleeves will be graded to the same exacting standards with any faults or anything else I think you need to know mentioned, remember that I am primarily a collector myself and I know what it’s like when that eagerly awaited parcel containing the record you’ve just paid a lot of money for arrives and when you open it the record looks and sounds like something the dog’s been eating his dinner off, I’ve been there too many times and I try my best to avoid that happening with anything I sell. I want you to be happy with your purchase so that you’ll but more from me in the future! Obviously though I’m only human so if I do make a mistake then any disputes will be settled to your satisfaction and I will give a full refund to anyone who buys anything and isn’t one hundred per cent happy with their purchase (although this obviously applies to condition only - I can’t guarantee that you’ll like the music!).

There’s one thing you definitely won’t find on any of my adverts though: there seems to be a real problem with ebay dealers overgrading their records (both the condition and the rarity). You know the sort of thing I’m talking about where everything is “STUNNING!!!!!!!” or “AWESOME!!!!!!!!” or “MASSIVELY RARE!!!!!!!!!!!!”. I just think that this sort of hype is funny. Does the inclusion of some buzz words and a load of exclamation marks make what are in most cases very ordinary records better and rarer than they actually are? - of course not. Are people actually taken in by this dishonest practice? - of course not. Record collectors are generally pretty clued up about how rare or otherwise the records they’re after are and don’t need a load of exclamation marks to tell them whether something is rare or not. I actually sell to a couple of these people so I know what sort of condition these records are in and I can guarantee that in the majority of cases there was nothing “stunning” about them. So, none of that on any of my adverts instead you’ll get honestly graded records presented in a way in which I would like to see items I buy graded.

Any comments I might make about musical content are entirely my own opinions so if I don’t like a record then I’ll actually say that I don’t like it but that doesn’t mean that you won’t! People like different things, which is a good thing you know, otherwise we’d all be listening to Kylie! Listen to the music for yourself and make your own mind up - don’t be swayed by anyone else’s hype!

Postage and packing: I don’t charge you for packaging. This is because I just make the packaging myself from recycled cardboard boxes. Sounds primitive I grant you however my packaging is way stronger than anything commercially available. I always laugh at the people who say that they use “professional” mailers - what they mean is that they use some card stiffeners inside one of those useless paper thin mailing envelopes which are no protection at all. I refuse to use that sort of mailer although I will sometimes reuse a cruciform box if it seems up to the job. I’ve been trading records all over the world for over 20 years now and I’ve never had a record damaged in transit so rest assured that if you win this item it will be packaged in a way that ensures it reaches you in the same condition it left me in (baring something extreme, of course, I can’t foresee fire, flood or an attack by an enraged hippo).

Feedback: I don’t consider a deal concluded until you’ve told me that you’re happy with your purchase so feedback will be left when you have left positive feedback for me. If for any reason you’re not happy with your purchase then please get in touch, I’m a reasonable sort of guy and things can be worked out amicably without any need for negative feedback. At the end of the day I would prefer you to return any item you’re not happy with, I’d rather give you a refund than have an unsatisfied customer.

Terms Of Trade:

Postage:

UK: 1 LP £2.00 then 50p for each additional LP.

Europe: 1 LP £3.00 then £1 for each additional LP

Rest of the World :1LP £6.00 then £2 for each additional LP.

Payment:

UK: Cheque, Postal Orders or cash sent at your own risk by registered mail.

Rest of The World: I’d really prefer paypal but will accept IMOs or UK cash as long as it’s sent at your own risk by registered mail but please be aware that IMOs take ages to reach me (usually about 4 weeks) and I will not accept any responsibility for cash sent through the post - if it doesn’t arrive here then that is your responsibility.

Registered (insured) Postage is an extra £3 per package in the UK or £4 for the rest of the world and is recommended for valuable packages. If an item is not sent by insured mail and does not arrive at it’s destination or is damaged en-route then I can’t be held accountable.

Any record which sells for more than £60 will be sent post free in the UK, any record which sells for more than £80 will be sent post free anywhere in the world. Any record which sells for more than £100 will be sent post free by registered mail in the UK, any record which sells for more than £125 will be sent post free by registered mail anywhere in the world.

Right then that’s the boring stuff out of the way so now the bit you’re really interested in:

The Item For Sale Is:

Artist: Artwoods

Title: Art Gallery

Release info: Decca Eclipse (ECS 2025) 1970 UK Issue

Condition (Sleeve 1st) : EX/EX

Track List: Can You Hear Me?

   Down In The Valley

   Things Get Better

   Walk On The Wild Side

   I Keep Forgettin’

   Keep Lookin’

   One More Heartache

   Work Work Work

   Be My Lady

   If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody

   Stop And Think It Over

   Don’t Cry No More

Classic UK RnB band which was an early home for both Keef Hartley and Jon Lord as well as Art Wood. Extremely popular live they released half a dozen singles as well as the super rare “Jazz In Jeans” EP and this album. The album was originally issued in 1966 and that version is now one of the most sought after (and expensive) LPs of it’s era. It’s easy to see why it’s so sought after because this easily holds it’s own musically against the more popular bands of the time with a slightly heavier sound than usual for the mid sixties achieved by powerful drumming, fine guitar and a roaring keyboard sound backing Wood’s vocals giving an overall sound somewhere between the Animals and mid sixties Stones. Possibly the reason why they didn’t do so well with their records as they did live is the reliance on cover versions. At a time when bands were starting to include more and more of their own material on their records it’s very obvious that there isn’t one self composed track on this album, it’s almost all covers of US RnB material, good cover versions but still cover versions and not many bands could survive by releasing albums containing nothing but covers.

This is the 1970 issue of the album in a totally different sleeve to the original 1966 issue. The original version is extremely rare but in my experience this version is if anything even rarer, after all this album failed to sell in 1966 when this style of music was very popular, who on earth did they think was going to buy it four years later in 1970 which was a totally different musical climate?

Condition:

Sleeve: Pretty good. It’s a typical Decca sleeve made of thin card laminated on the front only. The front is very clean with no tears, creases or writing anywhere. The lamination still has a nice shine but there is the usual line down the open edge where the lamination has shrunk over the years. There’s also a small amount of lamination bubbling down the spine edge. The rear is unlaminated white card which is always going to show a few dirty marks after 36 years, that said it’s not bad, it just has some slight dirty marks, not really anything specific, just 36 years of handling marks. The mono/stereo hole is present in the top right corner, this being a stereo copy someone has crossed out the mono cataloguie number with a black marker, there’s also a black ink line coming in from the spine about half way down, it’s only about an inch long, can’t imagine why anyone would do that on purpose, it just looks like someone had an accident with a pen! Both top and bottom seams are totally unworn as is the spine which has all of the writing clearly readable.

Both labels are perfect, very clean with no writing, tears or stickers and no visible spindle wear.

Record: Very very strong. It’s very clean and still has that nice dark shine that only rarely played records have. When held under a harsh lamp there are no visible marks at all not even of the hairlines caused by taking the record in and out of the sleeve. It plays great too with no nasty surface noise to spoil your enjoyment, totally silent between tracks and with a nice clear sound I can’t imagine you’re going to find a better copy than this easily.

All in all, well, obviously the original 1966 version would be more desirable but I’ve only ever seen half a dozen of those and they were all very expensive (my own copy cost me more than I like to think about) but I have a theory that this version is even rarer because this copy aside I’ve only ever seen one copy of this issue and that was many years ago. If you want an early copy of this album then this would be a good one to go for.

If you do decide to bid for this item I wish you luck and if not, well, thanks for looking and remember to look at my other items for sale you may find something more to your taste there.