CREAM Disraeli Gears SCARCE UK 67 Reaction Stereo EX LP

	£		34
	$		45

ONEADAYRECORDS – Delivering the Psych-Rock Classics to the World

Please see my Detailed Packing Description Further Down and All Shipping Rates.

Artist or Band: CREAM

Album Title: Disraeli Gears

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Strange Brew; Sunshine of Your Love; World of Pain; Dance the Night Away; Blue Condition.

Side 2: Tales of Brave Ulysses; SWLABR [She Was Like a Bearded Rainbow]; We’re Going Wrong; Outside Woman Blues; Take it Easy; Mother’s Lament.

Label/Format: Reaction – Early deep mauve and silver format.

Label Conditions: A highly impressive and very attractive looking pair, both very clean and showing only a small few, mainly light spindle marks. There is no wear around the hole rims whatsoever and this beautiful stereo record has clearly been hardly played. This was a highly popular album and its a delight to find one with playing surfaces and sound that could pass for new.

Cat Number: 594003.

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Weight of this Record: 147 grams. A very impressive weight for this record and somewhat above average.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: The actual title itself is moderate, but finding any Reaction copy in such clean visual and playing conditions with superb sound is far harder. This is a second press copy with the single sided laminated cover, these are a little easier to find but many offer covers in well-worn condition.

Original Year of Release: 1967. This one would have been pressed around 1968-69.

Matrix Nos: 594003 A 1 1 1 1 5 / 594003 B 1 1 3 3 1. (a few digits are a little unclear).

Musicians: Eric Clapton - guitar, vocals; Jack Bruce - bass guitar, harmonica, vocals; Ginger Baker - drums, vocal.

This Cover’s Potential for Wear: More wear-prone on the back due to the lack of protection.

Album Information: Arguably, the world’s most famous blues-rock power trio’s greatest album - a massive issue which still sounds wonderfully fresh, even today. Clapton, Bruce and Baker’s most consistently perfect studio album. The Reaction copies are something to treasure, with its superb psychedelic cover artwork (by Martin Sharpe) and wonderful dynamic mix. When found in such clean condition, they are a thing to behold. The stereo mix is superb and very different from the mono version – both are essential. ‘Disraeli Gears’ peaked at 5 and 4 respectively in the UK and US, very commendable in a year that saw the issue of so many truely wonderful records - still for me the greatest ever year in music. The stunning dayglo cover matched the feel for the times perfectly for a psychedelic London. The blues feel of the band was slowly slipping away and the brilliantly surreal lyrics by Pete Brown suited Jack Bruce’s finest vocals. The words ‘classic’ and ‘essential’ are definitely not over-used on this album. Early copies of this record, when found in either mono or stereo are so often trashed, simply played to destruction, with unlistenable distortion, groove wear and scratches, what a joy to find and offer a copy that looks very nice and plays beautifully and a cover in very pleasing visual condition – the colour so bright, intense and vivid, you almost need ‘shades’.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT, marked down a fraction because of spine text rubbing which few escape totally. A single format and laminated on the front, the back is matt-finished. Printed and made by Ernest J. Day & Co Ltd and includes the ‘Patents Pending’ text.

Lamination and Front: Supreme artwork and one of the landmark covers of its era. So famous and desirable, only strong, little worn examples will do for discerning collectors. The laminate retains a lovely shine and is very-fresh. The intensity of the cover’s artwork is seen to absolute maximum advantage and shows barely any marks or dulling. Even under light there are no traces of any friction rubs or dulling and any record impression is minuscule. Another crucial factor is the total lack of lifting or blistering, yes every single part is fully adhered. Being made with thin card makes creasing another factor, and this does have three or four mainly light ones. One on the bottom right corner area being the most noticeable, but even this has very modest visibility only, all are practically ‘lost’ over the densely bright artwork. A classic front cover of genuine beauty and it blows-away its years and will prove quite difficult to find much better.

Cover Back: The back, given it’s unprotected, is arguably, in even better condition with little to fault at all. Clean, fresh with no ringwear, rubbing, creasing or marks of any real note. Never easy like this but great news of course. Both front and back are virtual eye-candy.

Top Edge: A fairly small chip near the left corner, nothing else.

Bottom Edge: Practically as made.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, quite sharp with little wear and guaranteed untrimmed. Slight burr traces when viewed end-on. Record entered on this edge.

Spine and Text: The lack of laminate protection on this thin and vulnerable spine means few will ever escape rubbing to the small text. Here it was centred high of centre and the bottom has rubbed leaving little discernable text. Still solid and straight, but always prone to wear, this is a fairly typical example on the single laminated version.

Corners: Light tip rubs, realistically how many will not have such tiny blemishes over all these years? All retain very fine shape.

Cover Summary: A really nice looking and attractive example of this beautiful and early-made cover, one that will prove difficult to find much better with the single-sided laminate. This beautiful vintage item should please many collectors but the spine rubbing will detract from the very discerning or connoisseur collector, if you have doubts, do not bid.

The Inner Sleeve: The Polydor-style lined inner is in very fine condition. Mildly aged with some mildish discolour but all edge secure and a supremely neat window and clear, intact lining. This one is dated coded 18/049, looking like a 1969 issue.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT, even with very fine surface marks under light and a mild and totally insignificant small scuff on side two. Any minor visual blemishes on this record have NO sound whatsoever and it plays beautifully from start to finish. A very fine visual copy that I am certain, has only been played very lightly indeed and never exposed to any damaging old stylus from the distant past. Intensely black and very clean indeed with a lovely shine and lustre. This record usually gets well played and why not?, it’s a classic, so a refreshing change to find a very modestly played example that plays even better than it’s fine good looks. The record’s weight is quite unusual, it’s even heavier than most-all first issue copies I have ever had and this will be immediately apparent to any winning bidder.

Record 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 psych classic plays with wonderful clean sound - play-grading was a pleasure. Mono or stereo best? - always one for debate. I could not be asked to choose for this album - both are truly essential, the mono mix has a very different sound which is solid punchy sound. The stereo images better and many prefer the psych albums in the two channel mode, it has incredible detail, power and dynamics: listen to the real slam on ‘Tales of Brave Ulysses’ at the start of side two. Bruce’s bass really pounds out of the speakers as does Baker’s drums. Clapton’s guitar is clear and distortion-free as are all the vocals with no high frequency clipping whatsoever. Disraeli Gears is sublime blues-rock with a real psych edge. A copy I enjoyed immensely, that lack of any groove-wear distortion is always a massive bonus for any album this great age of course and essential for all records to glean maximum pleasure. No worn-out mono stylus stubs have been let loose on the one, that will be immediately apparent as soon as your pick-up makes contact with these totally unworn grooves. So many still used mono record players at the back-end of the 60s and often well into the 70s. A copy that has survived totally unscathed musically and the light visual blemishes seen under light have no effect on audio quality. This will play for countless years with the full dynamic range and clear sound given the full care and respect it deserves. This is a very strong overall copy and with that attractive cover too, this again deserves high recommendation. Neither cover or record are visually pristine, but both look attractive and the record gives an impressively strong account of itself, even on my critically revealing LP12.

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 - on average ONEADAY, a couple more at weekends if time permits, hence the name - time rarely allows for more as I Play-Grade virtually every record I offer in their entirety, 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 its 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. What you see is what you get and scanned labels will give a more accurate representation of the genuine colour than flash photography where light is variable. I cannot guarantee total accuracy for colours however but most will be very close. 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 Rondo Red moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2 grams). Amps: Naim Nait 5i with Project USB phono stage and Chord interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired with QED Silver terminated cable). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Moth vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too.

First-time, zero-rated bidders, who do not ask permission to bid, will be cancelled immediately and blocked – NO exceptions. For winning bidders who I consider excessively slow to make contact or submit payment, I will use my right to block future bids. If any bidder who wins in the final seconds is present to do so, surely they can at least email me to inform of intention and payment method? If swift or promp payment is a problem, please do not bid.

PACKING - THIS IS WHAT YOU GET - PLEASE SEE MY TYPICAL PACKING BOX PICTURE.

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 Moth 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 thick boxes (NOT Mailers or Cruciforms, these do not offer maximum protection). The record(s) 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 THREE or EVEN FOUR 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. 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. Please see my picture of a typical finished box packet that will now be used on ALL transactions as from now. I do not profit on posting and the cost of this lavish packing is NOT even charged for, I offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible for ultimate confidence. These boxes and ultra thick double-wall stiffners and bubble wrap 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 less than one in two thousand based on over 6,000+ items sold in over 8 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. Even one of these stiffners cannot be bent by hand, so what chance 3 or 4 inside a box? Oneadayrecords is a MAILER-FREE ZONE. I discount of course for multiple purchases with a maximum of FOUR records per box (one double can sometimes be included subject to total weight). I will not respond to questions on shipping costs as all the details are included here and on ALL of my adverts. Details below:

NOTE: First Time Bidders: I will cancel ALL first-time bidders with no feedbacks or excessive negatives who do not ask me if its OK to bid first – NO EXCEPTIONS.

Please Note: I will now offer any item to the runner-up after the mandatory Ebay 3 days if no contact is made by the winning bidder unless prior notice of any delay is given beforehand. The same applies if no payment is received within the mandatory 7 days so any bidder who has just lost out can still email me to reserve the item as priority second chance – it’s always worth asking.

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.

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7.50. (this includes insurance of £500). Add £2 per extra LP.

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

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£40 maximum]) = £9. (insurance optional extra £3). Add £2.50 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: ALL OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. USA (ANY PART OF); 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 [£39 maximum]) = £13. Add £4 per extra LP. (insurance 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: Please do not bid if you have negative feedback unless checking first, I will cancel any bids I feel are timewasters. 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 neccessarily 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’.