DAVID BOWIE Aladdin Sane SCARCER EARLY UK 1973 PRESS, EX RECORD PLAYS SUPERBLY.

	£		43
	$		57

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, non-payers and ‘0’ bidders will now be blocked or cancelled 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: DAVID BOWIE

Album Title: Aladdin Sane

Producer(s): David Bowie & Ken Scott

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Watch That Man; Aladdin Sane (1913–1938–197?); Drive in Saturday; Panic in Detroit; Cracked Actor.

Side 2: Time; The Prettiest Star; Let’s Spend The Night Together; The Jean Genie; Lady Grinning Soul.

Label/Format: RCA Victor – early issue format with side two with the very smooth quite shiny surface. Side one is more matt.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and attractive with hardly a spindle trace to be seen. Importantly, and unlike so many, this copy is superbly pressed and plays beautifully throughout with no inherent manufacturing or usage faults. The record looks hardly played anyway.

Catalogue Number: RS 1001 (LSP 4852)

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Weight of this Record: 130 grams A very good solid weight for this album.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Moderate in terms of units made and sold. Harder to find with a lovely fresh, clean cover. Same for the inner sleeve with no edge splits. Although this does not have the fan club insert, by far the most important factor is pressing quality. After the huge success of ‘Ziggy Stardust’, this album was eagerly anticipated and failed to disappoint. So manufacturered in considerable numbers, and was pressing quality a factor? Well I have heard so many of these with inherent pressing noises and fault, often with distortion and crackle. Many early copies bought by teenagers of the time, and many played to destruction on the most basic of equipment, and few were cover-protected. Like practically all the Bowie albums I am currently offering (and others), this was stored with due care with protection, also out of the light. The record used very sparingly and with due care. This copy plays superbly with barely anything to fault, and nothing for me is more important. This copy delivers in all departments.

Original Year of Release: 1973

Matrix Nos: CPRY 4543-3T / CPRY 4544-3T [these matchine punched, not scripted]

Musicians: David Bowie – guitar, harmonica, keyboards, saxophone, vocals; Mick Ronson – guitar, piano, vocals; Trevor Bolder – bass; Mick ‘Woody’ Woodmansey – drums. Guests: Mike Garson – piano; Ken Fordham – saxophone; Brian ‘Bux’ Wilshaw – saxophone, flute; Linda Lewis, ‘Honey’ Franklin. G. A. MacCormack – backing vocals.

Brief Info: From 1969 to 1973 represented, for me anyway, Bowie at his brilliant best, and this album, his sixth, was the most astonishing climax to his, and the glam-rock era. This is a very strong early copy and they are not found so easily as may think. This is a beautifully recorded album with real high-fidelity sound values. Shame sometimes let down by pressing quality, probably rushed out to meet the demand of the fast rising superstar. This plays beautifully with barely anything to fault, never, ever, take that for granted, a play-grade is essential on this, and all records as far as I am concerned. All nine of the self-composed tracks are pure Bowie classics, the tenth being a cover of the Jagger-Richards ‘Let’s Spend the Night Together’ – a brilliant version it is too. Any fan of this great artist could hardly fail to treasure this quite magnificent early-pressing of this groundbreaking work. A lovely clean cover as seen, a fully intact inner sleeve, but no insert, but the record’s delivery of the music is far more important – that is priceless.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT: arguably better. An unlaminated gatefold format with a matt smooth surfaces. Made in England by Shorewood. Includes the lyric inner sleeve.

Cover Front & Back: A cover that does not wear well unless carefully stored and handled. A one-owner-from-new album, and cover-protected for most of its time. Hence any ageing or blemishes are few and light. Any rubbing light and very faint with any creasing the same. Seen up close, a few tiny machine gripper mark traces near the front spine edge and a fine line inside, this hardly registers, but being in the print-trade for best part of 40 years, I know what these look like. Being a predominately white cover, these hardly even show, the portrait of Bowie has little to fault at all and looks superb. No sticker issues and the white card is still mainly that, white, no yellowed or toned, any grubbiness or handling traces tiny and faint. Both sides could prove difficult to find better and remain attractive as seen.

Cover Inner Gatefold: An ultra fine gripper line, no thicker than a hairline that hardly registers, purely natural and nothing to do with wear, many covers have these traits. A superb inside with little really to fault.

Top & Bottom Edges: All four straight and flat, any hints of rubbing are gentle and light, the lack of discolouration to the pale surfaces is great news. One other noteworthy fact, this cover is perfectly folded, so all the edges are parallel and flush, these small factors the difference between average and exceptional.

Right Edge(s), and Type: All very clean and sharp and guaranteed untrimmed. Barely any hint of thickening or burring, the record is stored on the back, the front is closed.

Spine and Text: A superb spine, solid, robust and thick as the early ones were. Straight, uncompressed and folded square as mentioned above. Even this spine shows minimal traces of discolouration or ageing which again is unusual. All text is perfect and unworn, also superbly centred, there is hardly any surface wear or rubbing at all including the folds that are all unscuffed and clean.

Corners: All corners are in great shape with any evidence of tip rubbing tiny and light. All well defined and neat with excellent or better shape retained with no knocks or dinks.

Cover Summary: One of the 1970s most iconic and famous covers. Just holding one this clean will give pleasure, especially as many are so grubby these days. This highly attractive, little aged example should please many, if not most collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT: or very close to. Clean with most of any rubbing light, this near the top and bottom edges where the record rim invariably rubs a little. All edges are unsplit with no repairs, that is always nice to state. A small blemish is a light thumb crease near the entrance edge each side, this only small and minor.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT: a somewhat cautious grading as there is a scuff mark on the first track, the owner said it was present from new, but is has NO sound whatsoever. That apart, little else to fault with any other surface marks or traces very few, fine and faint as seen with more scrutiny under bright light. A very fine visual copy and one that has received very few plays. Many bought by teenage girls on issue and played into destruction on less-than-worthy record players, collectors my age will remember them well. But no such issues on this copy that has been more caringly looked-after and sparingly played on a quality system. This is clean with a nice shine and solidly pressed. Even slightly later pressings were much thinner and some even pressed on the dreaded Dynaflex, so thin it bends in the middle. There are NO penetrating marks on either side and the sound quality is fantastic throughout, devoid of pressing or inherent sound issues – never to be taken for granted on this, or other Bowie/RCA albums. Visually a strong 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 B&W speakers that include the legendary tweeter from their awesome Nautilus range that reveals every blemish or minuscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This classic record plays even above it’s visual grading with hardly anything to fault. Superb high fidelity sound with real depth, dynamics and detail. Any surface sounds barely even registered, a superb pressing that has a loud and forward – genuinely exciting sound with no tracking issues*. No rasping pressing noises or distortions, all the vocals and instruments are crisp, focused and sharp. Mention of the title track must be made with it’s famous, almost free-form piano break, this has in-the-room quality and realism that will leave any listener thrilled. Those tinkling keys have beautiful resonance and clarity, the details embedded in these grooves will never be beaten by the digital format and the details and separation are top-drawer. The depth and dynamics are less apparent on other formats as are the complex vocal parts. This album has the most perfect production and sound qualities, stereo imagery is faultless and this will make any worthwhile system sound amazing. With pressing quality variable, this one was the ultimate pleasure and does this classic nigh-on maximum justice. This too being played on a very sensitive system that reveals all what is good (as well as the bad) on any record and there is nothing bad on this one. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record, I enjoyed this immensely. It will prove difficult to find much better and merits my highest recommendation, one of my absolute favourite Bowie albums, this does it strong justice.

* 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 2.2 grams.

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 programs. 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 Black 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’.