CHICAGO III SCARCE ORIG UK 1971 EX++ LPs, LOVELY SOUND + RARE UNMOUNTED POSTER.

	£		26
	$		35

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, and records WILL arrive damaged in them at some time as most record buyers will already know. Here, you get what you pay for – SAFE PACKING in BOXES using 7mm DOUBLE-WALL STIFFENERS including full side protection and bubble wrap, the records removed from the covers of course. All this very safe packing means I lose money on every box I post, but safe delivery is, and will always be paramount. You WILL see the difference when my packet arrives. Also, I will pay for 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 if possible. PLEASE NOTE: I will NOT send any item, no matter what its value without a Royal Mail or courier tracking number. ALL my items must be signed and trackable to comply with Ebay delivery rules. Please do NOT ask me to make any exceptions to this rule as no country offers 100% reliable service without it.

Posting to Russia: Yes, I do post to Russia. But delivery can take longer 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.

ANY ITEM or ITEMS TO BE PAID WITHIN A MAXIMUM OF 6 DAYS or they will be cancelled – NO EXCEPTIONS.

FINALLY: Late payers, non-payers and ‘0’ bidders will now be blocked or cancelled at my discretion, as will any bidder who cancels a bid. Please only bid on my items if you want them.

Artist or Band: CHICAGO

Album Title: Chicago III

Producer(s): James William Guercio

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Sing a Mean Tune Kid; Loneliness Is Just a Word; What Else Can I Say; I Don’t Want Your Money.

Side 2: Travel Suite – Flight 602, Motorboat to Mars, Free, Free Country, At the Sunrise, Happy ’Cause I’m Going Home.

Side 3: Mother; Lowdown; An Hour in the Shower – A Hard Risin, Morning Without Breakfast, Off to Work, Fallin’ Out, Dreamin’ Home, Morning Blues Again.

Side 4: Elegy – When All the Laughter Dies in Sorrow, Canon, Once Upon a Time…, Progress?, The Approaching Storm, Man vs. Man: The End.

Label/Format: CBS with deep orange colour and matt, quite smooth surfaces.

Label Conditions: All very clean, fresh and attractive with only very light, fine and faint spindle marks and no wear around the hole area. This pair look hardly played.

Catalogue Number: 66260

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps or Lateral Movement: Assume all records I offer have no significant warping or lateral movement to cause sound or tracking issues. All should play fine even on budget turntables.

Weight of Records: 142 / 142 grams.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Moderately scarce, especially little used and including an unmounted original poster.

Original Year of Release: 1971

Matrix Nos: S 64162 A1 S 66260 A1 / S 64162 B1 S 66260 B1 / S-64163-A1 S-66260-C1 / S 64163-B1 S-66260-D1

Musicians: Peter Cetera – bass, lead and backing vocals; Terry Kath – guitar, lead and backing vocals; Robert Lamm – keyboards, lead and backing vocals; Lee Loughnane – trumpet; James Pankow – trombone; Walter Parazaider – saxophone, flute; Danny Seraphine – drums, percussion.

Brief Info: The third Chicago album and third consecutive double set. Following on from the success of the previous two, this was more heavy jazzy rock and far less commercial than either earlier and later material that was to follow. Initial sales of this were encouraging, but fell away and it proved less successful to date overall. It again emphasised the versatility and skill of the musicians and is a fine album, this a lovely UK original appearing little used and including the graphic/lyric poster.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(+): arguably better. An unlaminated gatefold format with matt smooth surfaces. The front made with single thickness card, and entry for the two quite heavy records via the inside fold area into the back, making this a fragile and very wear-prone cover. Printed and made in England by Shorewood and including the matching CBS promotional inner sleeves and the large poster.

Cover Front: Known as the ripped flag cover, this one is in very impressive clean condition and cover-protected for many years. The thin card front has little to fault, any rubbing little and very light, hardly any creasing and no sticker issues or fading. The best I have seen to date.

Cover Back: Similar again, slight rim impression but minimal rubbing or creasing, this unusual to see with two records stored against this card.

Cover Inner Gatefold: Again, any rim impression or rubbing traces gentle and very light. The fragile entrance area is superb with barely anything to fault.

Top Edges: Any rubbing to the back fold minimal and faint, both edges are straight with hardly any thickening to the front card.

Bottom Edges: A fraction more rubbing to the fold, but still very light overall, then as above.

Right Edge(s), and Type: This virtually as per the top edges.

Spine and Text: Solid, straight with minimal compression and folded square, so the edges meet up very closely together and parallel. The spine is again single thickness, so a little tilt is near unavoidable over nearly 50 years. The text is unworn and the main surface largely the same.

Corners: Any tip rubs small and light, mostly excellent shape retained with no knocks.

Cover Summary: A very strong all-round example of this very fragile early 1970’s cover, one that will prove very difficult to find much better. This attractive item should please many, and maybe most collectors.

The Inner Sleeves: EXCELLENT: again, arguably better. Mild discolouration only and any creasing little and light, one with hardly any. The promote CBS albums from the early 1970s and Simon and Garfunkel in particular, they are a matching pair and unlined with no edge splits.

The Poster: EXCELLENT(++): and in fantastic condition, worthy of Mint minus really, this a stark poster of the band dressed for combat and text gives the American casualty rates of wars it had fought up to the still ongoing Vietnam war of the era. This is clean, fresh, untorn or mounted (e.g. no pin-holes or tape marks). Also very neatly folded with all manufactured creases strong. The other side includes the song lyrics and also very clean. This will prove very difficult to find better.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(++): a very fine visual pair that are very clean with equally fine shine and very solidly pressed. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence with any surface marks few, very light and faint as seen critically under bright light. No penetrating stylus scratches, viewed in average room light, hardly anything even registers. Visually super records that should please many, if not most collectors.

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 equipment, all listed further down.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This quality jazz-rock album plays up to and most even above it’s high visual grading with hardly anything to fault. Offering strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear – sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. Any surface sounds are minimal indeed and this is a very clean pressing with no tracking issues* or inherent pressing noises. Few available copies will outperform this early first pressing I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this has been played very lightly and has been generally well stored and carefully handled, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. Nothing of any note spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this lovely album. It will prove very difficult to find significantly better and can be strongly recommended.

* As played-graded on a high-end Linn LP12 Sondek turntable with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Black moving coil cartridge tracking at 2 grams. Records are a ‘contact’ format, and few will avoid the odd minor sound blemish.

I am one of the most established sellers on Ebay, trading since 2001 and offering the finest 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 all elements of the items I offer for sale. You may notice I only submit records quite 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 story. I will try to 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 near mint condition as the real rare items. All the pictures I use for your guidance are the item being offered with no digital enhancements. Room light factors can make things vary sometimes, that is hard to control, especially in winter. I hope the item below is to your liking – any questions can be emailed and I will do my best to answer you. I am enthusiastic, and have a fair degree of knowledge about many genres and I promise quality items. Please assume all records I offer have NO jumps, sticks, major 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 Black moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2 grams). Amps: Naim Supernait 2 with Project USB phono stage and Tellerium Black interconnects. Speakers: B&W 805 Nautilus (bi-wired with Tellurium Black terminated cable) with REL subwoofer. All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Nessie 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 D7500 DSLR 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.

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 bid retractions. 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 only 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 2 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive – if not I will relist the item or offer to the runner-up.

My Guarantee: If any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund if the item is returned in the same condition is was sent e.g. as per the listing pictures.

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, 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.