BRIAN AUGER, JULIE DRISCOLL & TRINITY - Open - SCARCE ORIG UK 67 MARMALADE EX LP

	£		104
	$		138

ONEADAYRECORDS – Simply Delivering Quality Music to the World in Quality, Safe Packing.

Postage: UK £4.75 (£1 per extra record). Europe (including Russia) £12.50 (£2 per extra record). Rest of World (including ALL parts of the USA) £16.50 (£3 per extra record). All boxes signed for in quality, safe packaging – I NEVER use mailing envelopes that offer virtually no protection at all – in fact I think these things should be banned as records WILL arrive damaged in them at some time. Here, you get what you pay for – SAFE PACKING in BOXES using 7mm DOUBLE-WALL STIFFENERS. Full details nearer the end of the listing.

Posting to Russia: Yes, I do post to Russia. But delivery can take up to 4 to 6 weeks from the UK. So please be patient. I will submit a tracking number to the winning bidder, and when the packet arrives there it can be followed online using the Russian post website.

ALSO: I now apply the Ebay ‘2-day’ rule for non-payment to keep things moving – cash-flow is important for any small business. I will always keep my P&P prices as low as possible, and even after yet another Royal Mail price hike from April this year, I have NOT raised my prices and will never compromise on solid, safe packing that is invariably heavier than most you will get. My P&P offers probably the best value-for-money for vinyl records available, and I even will pay for full insurance on any record that sells for over £100 at NO extra cost – that is UK and abroad. Also I aim to post the very same day after payment is received. You WILL see the difference when my packet arrives.

FINALLY: Late payers will now be blocked at my discretion. As will any bidder who cancels a bid. I do not like this practice as it is most often used to phish out the price to beat. Ebay does not approve and neither do I – so only bid on my items if you want them.

Artist or Band: Julie Driscoll/Brian Auger & Trinity

Album Title: Open.

Producer(s): Giorgio Gomelsky.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: In and Out; Isola Natale; Black Cat; Lament for Miss Baker; Goodbye Jungle; Telegraph.

Side 2: Tramp; Why (Am I Treated So Bad); A Kind of Love In; Break it Up; Season of the Witch.

Label/Format: Marmalade – classic original format of one of my favourite label designs ever. These have matt, smooth surfaces.

Label Conditions: Both look very impressive with very clean and hardly aged surfaces. Clean, fresh with any spindle marks being few, very fine and faint. A mono original that offers top sound quality throughout.

Cat Number: 607002.

Speed / Mode: 33.3 rpm. / Mono.

Warps: Assume all records I offer have no warping of any significance and all tracking is easy and effortless and should play on all turntables and even ‘budget’ decks.

Weight of this Record: 143 grams. A very solid weight for this record.

Rarity: Scarce and much harder to find in mono in such fine condition. We all know the potential use and abuse these lovely single-channel mode records were subjected too and fewer remain looking clean and playing to the highest levels. The ultimate test of any mono record is to play it on a high-end stereo turntable – so few pass this stringent test – that’s exactly why I do it as standard – and this passed with flying-colours.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Original Year of Release: 1967

Matrix Nos: 607002 A 1 1 1 / 607002 B 1 1 1 3

Brief Artist & Album Info: Jazz keyboardist Auger teamed up with Julie (Jools) Driscoll to make one of the most inspired albums of the swinging sixties. Issued in 1967 - the summer of love - Open encaptures the sound of those times perfectly and for me is even better than the more acclaimed Streetnoise that came later. Miss Driscoll, for many was the face of that period. Live, she commanded the stage and her audience adored her. After watching a DVD of this band live on stage, I too was totally captivated by her stage presence. A lady who gave her all and left the audience spellbound. ‘Open’ brilliantly uses Auger’s considerable keyboard skills blended with scintillating horns, this has the perfect 1960s sound and captures the mood of that time perfectly with Driscoll’s vocals sublime thoughout. Side one is mainly instrumental, starting bizarrely with a saw-cutting sound before the music kicks in with great effect. Between tracks there are strange sound effects, I will not elaborate, I will let the winning bidder discover all. Driscoll’s talents are far more apparent on the more vocal side two climaxing with a fantastic long version of Donovan’s ‘Season of the Witch’. Elements of psych-pop, rock, jazz and folk intermingle to perfection and this truly unique sound and album are a delight from beginning to end. A very difficult album to find in mono that plays perfectly, the music is complex and loudly mixed, but this little played copy excels and will remind those around at the time, what a once new copy once sounded like. This is a quality and heavyweight pressing and the sound is fantastic and plays with barely anything unwanted. This I still feel does not get the accolades it merits, it is one of my personal favourite albums from this golden era of music.

Cover Grade and Format: NEAR EXCELLENT: a single, fully laminated cover, some were made unlaminated. Printed and made in England by the Upton Printing Group.

Cover Front & Back: The laminate retains fine shine with only gentle dulling seen under angled light. A little fine lifting on the spine edge with any of the few creases mostly fine and light. Fine surface marks under light and there are a couple of small scuffs on the Julie side bottom edge, all edges on this side bar the spine are unprotected fully as the laminate ends naturally short from the ends. So slightly aged, but still attractive for a cover of this great age.

Top Edge: Perfect: straight and totally smooth and unscuffed.

Bottom Edge: Almost as above, a mere fraction less straight being critical.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Superbly clean, very sharp with barely any hint of wear and remarkably, no thickening and guaranteed untrimmed. The fine unprotected laminate end strips fully wide and intact. Record entered on this edge.

Spine and Text: A near perfect spine: solid and thicker than the non-laminated version. Still straight with hardly any compression, clean and smooth. No laminate peeling or scuffs and all text perfect. The ends lightly pinched in manufacture.

Corners: The corners are in super shape with hardly tip rubbing or creasing at all. No dinks with better than excellent shape retained.

Cover Summary: A fully laminated early example in very fine condition, just enough blemishes to remind of the 47+ years age, but I have no qualms with that myself. One to please many collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: NOT GRADE: due to the original owner writing the band and title on one side, so any opinion is purely subjective. This being the original Polydor-style lined inner that is date coded 028 (February 1968), so clearly an early pressing. Both windows are ultra crisp and undamaged and the lining neat and clear. All edges unsplit with minimal creasing and no repairs. Lightly aged with some darkening to the edges, minus any writing an excellent grade would have applied.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT to EXCELLENT(+): with little more than a tiny few very fine and light surface marks. Hairline types that have NO sound at all. A lovely visual copy and few mono copies will survive much better I feel sure. When I see the state of many mono records, it puts a copy like this into true context. This is very clean with a very fine shine, intense black and a very solid top quality pressing made by Polydor. This has avoided the perils of old mono record players that often leave deep furrow scratches and often craters from form drops, we have all seen them. Even more importantly, the invisible dangers of groovewear and distortion, only a thorough play-grade reveals if this is present and delighted to state, NOT on this one. The sounds embedded in the deep, wide grooves is breathtaking. Few of these avoided abuse from vintage equipment of the day and still sound magnificent on modern high fidelity equipment. Visually a highly impressive Marmalade record and one I enjoyed to absolute maximum.

Album Played For Grading: Yes. [I play ALL records I offer before submitting to Ebay, also the record is played in its entirety unless clearly stated otherwise. I do NOT play snippets or joining grooves to check for sound quality and quietness – I play from the beginning to end via clinically revealing B&W speakers that include the legendary tweeter from their awesome Nautilus range that reveals every blemish or miniscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This lovely Marmalade classic plays even above it’s strong visual grading with practically nothing to fault. All frequencies are sharp and clear and sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound for the complex arrangements. A fantastic production that simply brings the 1960s sound memories flooding back, few albums of this type capture that mood better, this truly is a classic pop-psych gem. Any surface sounds are minimal to none, this plays cleanly, quiet and with precise sound with no clipping or high-frequency distortion. Both channels are clean and sharp with no mono noises – often when played on stereo equipment, noise can emit from one channel or the other, but not this one. Nothing spoilt my sheer joy when play-grading this possibly underappreciated gem, for those yet to discover ‘The Trinity’, there are few better places to start – I love this album, it has an addictive quality. This copy will not be beaten easily for beautiful sound and it’s a record I can strongly recommend.

Now one of the most established sellers on Ebay and still offering the finest and most accurately described and graded records I can find. I pride myself on offering a variety of genres to keep my site as interesting as possible. I will rarely offer any record that falls below a true Excellent grading, unless its of a certain rarity which will justify offering a lesser grade. I try, to the best of my ability to describe as accurately and as honesty as I can all items I offer for sale with all the relevant information I can think of to help any potential bidder and collector. You may notice I only submit records sparingly on Ebay as I Play-Grade every record I offer in their entirety – also on higher-end equipment – not just bits to guess a grade - visuals alone do not always tell a true or full story. I will mention any defects or flaws no matter how small that I notice to be fair as possible to any interested collector – I am very fussy and my buyers have the right to be too. Every record I offer, whether it be a common or rare item deserves the same respect as far as I am concerned and will be treated the same - just because an item is rare does not always mean it’s good. I get just as much pleasure offering a relatively common record in stunning near mint condition as the real rare items. All the pictures I use for your guidance are taken with a digital camera or scanned - they are NOT improved, cleaned-up or made better looking than they are with camera trickery or enhancing with digital programmes. Room light factors can make things vary sometimes, that is hard to control, especially in winter. If any picture I take looks more flattering than the actual item for any reason, I will clearly state the fact in the advert and vice-versa. I hope the item below is to your liking - any questions can be emailed and I will do my very best to answer you. I am enthusiastic, and have a fair degree of knowledge about many genres and I promise quality items - bid with confidence - excellence comes as standard and so does Near Mint regularly. Please assume all records I offer have NO jumps, sticks, warps or writing on covers or labels unless clearly stated to the contrary. Thanks for your interest and Good luck – MIKE.

Deck: Linn LP12/Hercules/Cirkus with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Blue moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2.2 grams). Amps: Naim Supernait 2 with Project USB phono stage and Tellerium Black interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired with Tellurium Black terminated cable). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional VPI-17 vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too. Pictures taken with a Nikon D5000 SLR Digital Camera.

PACKING - THIS IS WHAT YOU GET.

What You Get: To confirm to the strict Ebay rules on shipping, I must now send ALL my packets ‘Signed-For’ with NO exceptions. Both buyers and sellers want their packets to have a safer journey and this is not a bad thing.

I now offer the fastest possible posting, often the very next day after payment is received or within two to three days maximum (unless on holiday). I only use FIRST-CLASS Mail. The record’s cover will be placed within a BRAND NEW soft protective sleeve and the actual record will be professionally cleaned on my new VPI-17 Pro vacuum system to give ultimate clean grooves and playing surfaces and the best possible looks and ultimate sound quality. You will NOT get tired, dull looking, dust infested records inside worn and foggy covers with tatty inners from this seller and that’s a promise and guarantee. All records are posted in professional boxes (NOT Mailers, these do not offer any real protection). The record(s) are REMOVED from their main cover to avoid edge splits and placed within a brand new polylined inner. The record’s original inner will be included if available. The boxes are then reinforced with at least TWO, ULTRA THICK stiffeners for maximum extra protection – these are FOUR TIMES thicker than commercial stiffeners and are custom-made for oneadayrecords. Really rare and expensive albums will even be Double Boxed if deemed necessary and possible. When larger boxes are used, the thick record and stiffener ‘sandwich’ is then thickly embedded into bubble-wrap to bulk out the record inside the box to centre the item inside to reduce the risk of damage still further. Printed address labels are used for clarity as well as a sender label. Customers requests or special needs for P&P will be respected if at all possible but ‘Signed-For’ posting is NOT an option anymore. I do not profit on posting, better quality packaging costs, I offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible for ultimate confidence. The boxes and ultra thick double-wall stiffeners make a near impregnable fortress for safe shipping and this is used inland and overseas for ALL my records, not just the rare and expensive. I will invoice any winning bidder as soon as possible after the auction ends. My ‘loss’ or ‘damage rate’ is minuscule in over 14 years of Ebay trading and I consider that pretty exceptional. The only damage rate acceptable for this seller is ZERO and I think my packets will offer just that. It would take a vicious postman or postal service to damage these for sure. Oneadayrecords is a MAILER-FREE ZONE – they offer next-to-no-protection, and should be banned, no ‘professional’ should consider using them in my opinion. I discount of course for multiple purchases with a maximum of FIVE records per box (one double can sometimes be included subject to total weight). All postage costs are below and at the top of the listing.

NOTE: First Time Bidders: Please ask me first.

PLEASE NOTE: I now exercise my right to open a dispute after the Ebay rule of TWO days if no payment is received. I will then cancel the dispute to end the bid, again after the mandatory FOUR days and then offer the item to the runner-up or relist. The non-payer will also be blocked from my Ebay site as will any suspicious bids or bid withdrawals. Small businesses need prompt payment to trade and these strict rules WILL be applied.

SHIPPING COSTS & CONDITIONS – THESE comply with EBAY’S RULES - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:

Posting & Packing: UK & CHANNEL ISLANDS all now sent via Recorded Delivery:

1 LP (FIRST-CLASS Recorded Delivery with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) [Signed For] = £4.75

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7.50. (this includes insurance of £500). Add £1 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: EUROPE & SCANDINAVIA. (Airmail Only):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£50 maximum]) = £12.50 (enhanced Royal Mail insurance is an optional extra £3). Add £2 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: ALL OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. USA (ANY PART OF); South America; New Zealand; Australia; Canada; Japan and other Far East; (Airmail Only: I NEVER use Surface Mail):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£50 maximum]) = £16.50 (£17.50 for double sets). Add £3 per extra LP. (enhanced Royal Mail insurance is an optional extra £3)

Payment Conditions:

I prefer PayPal or cheque from UK winning bidders. I can accept PayPal from overseas bidders or direct payment into my bank account.

Potential Bidders: I will cancel any bids I feel are time-wasters. A maximum 3 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive - if not I will relist the item or offer to the runner-up. Fast deals get great feedback from me. Any questions - please ask and thanks for looking.

My Guarantee: If any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund. I will not refund if any defect detail is clearly stated on the advert and missed by the buyer, so read the item description carefully. If any overseas collector does not understand anything in my listing, please email and ask me to help. Thank You.

SOME GENERAL GUIDES TO WEAR AND CONDITIONS TO HELP YOU DECIDE

My Use of Description Terminology: Surface Marks = Superficial, usually light marks, hairlines or light scuffs that rarely sound. Scratch = a needle mark that goes below the record’s surface, some will sound, some will not, my play-grade will inform. Original = a record that has been pressed with the first label design which does NOT necessarily mean a very first pressed record. First Pressing = A record that I believe or know to be a genuine very first pressed record. I do not claim to always know for sure, and that’s why I state the stamper and matrix numbers if at all possible, for those who claim to know what they all mean, the information is there for the collector to decide. I prefer to use terms like ‘Early Copy’ rather than ‘First Pressing’ if I am not totally sure. Surface Sound = Mild, light sound, usually light crackle or similar. Distortion = Break up of the actual sound caused by groove wear or damage from a chipped stylus – the most undesirable form of unwanted sound, vintage mono records were the most prone to this happening but not exclusively so. The symptoms of distortion are high frequency clipping, moderate constant crackle or an echo type sound quality. Violin, piano and vocals are most prone to groove-wear distortion. Feathering = Fraying or softening of the entry edge of a cover. Covers with feathered entrance edges are more likely to have had the actual record inserted and removed more than a non-feathered, sharp-edged cover which are always far more attractive. Set Off, actually a printer’s term for dark ink leaving mild residue on pale or white ink when rested upon. e.g. when a gatefold cover has black ink closed against white, this can leave some black residue on the pale area – this is mostly unavoidable or course.

The Argument for Vinyl Original sound and mix (mono mixes are rarely available on CD), high quality sound on clean copies (played on a hi-end dedicated analogue system – breathtaking sound!), beautiful, large format covers, artwork, inserts and even full size posters etc; huge investment potential, and the pleasure of owning ‘the real thing’.