DARIEN SPIRIT Elegy to Marilyn SCARCE ORIG UK 1973 EX LP + RARE 3D LIPS FEATURE.

	£		22
	$		29

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

Postage: UK £4.95. Europe (including Russia) £12.95 (£1 per extra record). Rest of World £19.95 (£2 per extra record). All my records are sent in boxes and the price of them has increased over time and these are my first price increases for nearly 10 years. Royal Mail prices have also gone up again. I will never compromise on 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: DARIEN SPIRIT

Album Title: Elegy to Marilyn

Producer(s): Steve Rowland

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Tailor; Elegy to Marilyn; Roads; If You’re Old Enough; For All the Years; It Isn’t What You Have.

Side 2: Hennessy Gunn; Long Long Way; Legacy; The Man I Am; Maude.

Label/Format: Charisma, original large mad hatter format with matt, smooth surfaces. These have the original B&C credits.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and attractive with barely a spindle alignment mark to be seen. Most evidence suggests this record has hardly been played. There is a very small ‘S’ on side one between the rim and hole at the 9 o’clock position.

Catalogue Number: CAS 1065

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 Record: 136 grams.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Scarce, hardly a major seller. Not only that, this copy cover includes the rare hologram ‘lips’ gimmick cover made in an Andy Warhol pop-art style and giving a moveable 3D effect with a smiling or pouting pose as I have tried to show in my pictures. The vast majority of these offered either have this feature missing or possibly never applied in the first place. Most covers seen have nothing where this gimmick feature sits leaving Marilyn without a mouth in real terms. And also this leads me to believe all bar the earliest copies probably did not have it as there is usually no evidence of any adhesive or marks where the feature should have been. This is not definitive, but purely my opinion based on the evidence. Possibly to save cost for a poor seller, this would not have been an uncommon decision. What is for certain, the cover without the lips looks terrible, and that’s not putting too finer point on it. I consider this album with the lips feature to be moderately rare.

Original Year of Release: 1973

Matrix Nos: CAS 1065 A-4U / CAS 1065 B-3U (machine punched)

Mothers / Stampers: 1 G / 1 R [the very first and second stampers in the sequence]

Run-Out Groove Etchings: ‘PORKY’ / ‘PECKO’

Musicians: Jack McAllister – guitar, vocals, harmonica; Harry MacDonald – guitar, keyboards, vocals; Dennis Cowan – bass guitar, vocals; Alan Waterson – drums; Frank Ricotti – percussion, vibraphone.

Brief Info: Darien Spirit were a brief band who produced just one album before folding. They played a melodic brand of folk-tinged rock in a similar style to Lindisfarne. The one album is famed for its Andy Warhol-style pop-art cover that included (on some), a 3D hologram gimmick graphic for the lips of Marilyn. As stated above, this is seldom-seen either by it falling off or, and possibly more likely, never been applied at all on all bar the first issues. It really is a superb gimmick cover that would not have been out-of-place on a Vertigo Spiral era album. Most seen simply do not have the lips feature and with scant to no evidence of ever having it. Without the feature, the cover looks horrible. As seen, this example includes the lips and looks fantastic. The feature in practically mint condition and the cover itself impressive and fully laminated. The record appears hardly playedand also plays great. An album increasing in rarity and not seen too often complete. The music is melodic and enjoyable to listen-too, they deserved more success, and it remains more than just an interesting curio for the famed and unusual cover, but certainly one for collectors of the unusual and relatively obscure.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(++): a single fully laminated format that includes the rare 3D hologram of the lips. A shaped feature that was stuck to the cover and moves to a happy or pouting position when the cover angle changes. Printed and made in England by the E. J. Day Group, includes the plain white inner sleeve.

Lamination – Front & Back: The laminate retains fine shine, freshness and clarity with minimal lifting (a mere sliver on the back spine edge) and any dulling mild under light on what clearly is a very revealing dark surface. Any marks or creasing very few and light and finding this intact lips cover better will never prove easy.

The Lips 3D Feature: PRACTICALLY MINT: never removed or tampered with, this shaped item is immaculate and works perfectly as my pictures clearly show. Finding this feature better will prove near impossible, and just nice to see it included as few examples of this cover ever has it now.

Top & Bottom Edges: Both straight, smooth and unworn.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Still impressively sharp with any thickening traces minuscule. Record enters on this edge.

Spine and Text: A virtually perfect spine as-made. Solid, straight with barely any compression. The text is unworn under the solid and uncracked, fully intact laminate.

Corners: Any tip rubs tiny and light with better than excellent shape retained with no knocks.

Cover Summary: A very strong all-round example of this quite prized, fully intact gimmick cover, one that will prove very difficult to find much better. This beautiful item should please many, if not most collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT: a plain solid white unlined inner with the patent number 1,125,555, text. Gently darkened with age but hardly creased with all edges now intact after a neat repair to a bottom edge split which barely registers.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT: arguably better. A very fine visual copy that is very clean with equally fine shine and solidly pressed. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence with any surface marks few, very light. wispy and faint as seen critically under bright light. No penetrating stylus scratches, viewed in average room light, hardly anything even registers. Visually a super record that should please many 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 one-off album plays even above it’s high visual grading with little 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 and very light, this is a relatively quiet album and this is a clean pressing with no tracking issues* or inherent pressing noises. Few available copies will outperform this genuine 1G/1R first pressing I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played very lightly and has been generally well stored and carefully handled within a non-smoking environment. Nothing of note spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this lovely record. 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.

Payment Conditions:

I prefer PayPal from­ 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.