GENESIS From Genesis To Revelation 1st UK Unboxed Decca EX/EX/VG+
£
450
$
596
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Description
For sale is an incredibly rare, fully complete and great condition genuine First Press copy of Genesis’ debut album ‘From Genesis to Revelations’.
These first press copies are so rare as according to various sources only 650 were sold. The story goes that many were mis-shelved in the religious section of record shops as there had been so little pre-marketing.
These first press copies are distinguished by four main components. 1) the first issue sleeve. This is front laminated and the rear has a small ‘peephole’ on the top right (see my photo of this). This peephole allows the 2) appropriate original inner sleeve to show through - red for Mono and blue for stereo. Component 3),and one you rarely see, is the original first issue lyric inner. To be a first issue inner it has to have the catalogue numbers for both Mono and stereo issues. All later issues only have the stereo number. Component 4) is the record which should have the ‘unboxed’ Decca labels. These Unboxed labels were being phased out by Decca from 1968 - 1969 . The second issue from later in 1969, and all subsequent Decca presses had the boxed labels.
It is astonishingly rare to see a First Press copy with all these components. Even rarer to see them in decent condition. Of the few I have seen on eBay, most are incomplete or have at least one component from later issues.
So to this copy.
The original front laminated sleeve is in excellent condition with almost pristine lamination. The edges and spine are fully intact. There is some ringwear to the unlaminated rear, but this is the only issue. The other first press copies I have seen have all had creases and lifting to the lamination.
The blue coded original lined inner sleeve is excellent with only a couple of minor creases as issues.
The original first issue lyric inner, which has the catalogue numbers for Mono and stereo has only one small fold in one corner as an issue. Otherwise it is excellent.
The record, with the 1W/2W matrices and the mother/stampers of 1U/1C (Decca used the word BUCKINGHAM to code their stampers) has the all-important Unboxed labels with only minor spindle marks as an issue. No writing or scrapes.
Visually the record surface is VG +. There are a few minor scuffs and a couple of non-feelable scratches to each side. Otherwise it has a good sheen. No major issues considering this is a 50 year old record.
Sonically, to be conservative, is on border of VG and VG+. I have not been able to do a professional clean, so a deep clean might improve further. Both sides play through very well with occasional light crackles and maybe a handful of quiet clicks on each side. The sound is clear and resonant, and I detected no surface noise. Definitely no sticks, skips or jumps or anything that detracts from the listening pleasure.
Therefore this is an extremely rare complete copy in great overall condition.
Reasonable offers considered.
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