JOHN LENNON Imagine RARER ORIG UK 71 COMPLETE EX++ 156g LP, HARDLY PLAYED/POSTER

	£		74
	$		98

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Postage: UK £4.95. Europe (including Russia) £12.95 (£1 per extra record). Rest of World £19.95 (£2 per extra record). 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: JOHN LENNON

Album Title: Imagine

Producer(s): John and Yoko and Phil Spector

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Imagine; Crippled Inside; Jealous Guy; Its So Hard; I Don’t Want To Be a Soldier.

Side 2: Give Me Some Truth; Oh My Love; How Do You Sleep?; How?; Oh Yoko!

Label/Format and Conditions: Apple – Customised format with matt smooth surfaces. These have inner ring ridge. Both very clean, fresh and attractive with hardly a spindle trace to be seen, this record appears hardly even played and sounds fantastic. The one owner from new put his records directly to tape and handled or used them little thereafter.

Catalogue Number: PAS 10004

Country of Manufacture: England

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Weight of Record: 156 grams. A heavyweight pressing that is way above average for this popular album. Later ones especially were pressed much thinner.

Rarity: Moderate in terms of numbers sold, less easy with a clean, hardly played record with all the contents included in very fine condition.

Original Year of Release: 1971

Matrix Nos: YEX 865-1U / YEX 866-1U

Mothers: 5 GAD / 2 COG

Run-Out Text: ‘PORKY’ / ‘PECKO’

Brief Artist & Album Info: Regarded by many as Lennon’s first proper solo album, although the labels still credit the Plastic Ono Band, and a very powerful album it was too – a landmark recording in his career. Here he veered from splitting anger in ‘How do you Sleep’, ‘Give Me Some Truth’ and cruel humour with ‘Crippled Inside’, yet the man was capable of intense romanticism as highlighted in ‘Jealous Guy’ and ‘Oh My Love’. Those who resented Lennon for being part of the Beatles break-up finally forgave him and began to love him again with this classic release. The title track alone will stand as a classic of popular song forever. This phenomenal album charted at 1 in both the UK and US. Quite lavishly packaged when first issued, all contents are included – giant poster, graphic/lyric inner sleeve and the often elusive post card – the fully laminated cover with the deeply pinched manufactured ends. Often let-down by pressing quality, I have heard a number of noisy copies in the past that I will not offer. This has little to fault and all elements are of high or top quality, the record of exceptional weight at a vast 156 grams, and appearing little played with lovely clean sound. One of my finest to date.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT: a single fully laminated format. Printed and made in England with the deeply pinched spine ends, later ones were straight/square. Includes the poster, lyric inner sleeve and post card, all guaranteed original.

Cover Lamination: Early prints of this famous cover are quite thinly made and fragile, my excellent grading is arguably conservative as this is more often seen in quite poor condition, and even often manufactured crooked with the card misaligned. This one beautifully square and crisp with no card overhang – the small things make a big difference between average and exceptional in that respect. The laminate retains excellent shine, freshness and clarity, any dulling seen under light, gentle and mild around the rim. That can be regarded as a surprise with such a thick record inside all these years, and this pressing is a real heavyweight, any pressing to the card almost as light as it gets. This record to date, the thickest and heaviest I have held. A few light marks on the laminate that have modestly light and minimal visibility against the quite pale front artwork, also few creases with only fine and faint traces near the sides. What really makes this stand out is the lack of lifting with barely any at all bar the odd tiny trace on a corner tip. The manufacture pinched spine ends make laminate lifting common and it often ruins the beauty of this subtle front cover especially. Even with a few light visual blemishes to politely remind of age, it remains one of the best first print ‘Imagine’ covers I have seen in quite a while.

Top Edge & Bottom Edges: Both are typically thin, but still very straight and virtually unworn with smooth unpeeled laminate.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean with any thickening little, patchy and light as seen viewed end-on, this is made with thin card. Record enters on this edge.

Spine and Text: A superb neat spine, the deeply pinched spine ends crisp and retaining impressive definition with no bending or dinks. Later ones were totally straight end-to-end. This is solid and straight with any compression traces minuscule. The text is perfect and unworn under the solid, smooth and clear laminate. Being a naturally thin spine, this often becomes misshapen and tatty, this I am happy to call ‘exceptional’.

Corners: Again these are fragile, but all are very impressive being neat, crisp and barely worn. Avoiding dinks and better than excellent shape retained.

Cover Summary: A very strong and attractive all-round example of this deceptively fragile early cover. This should please many collectors.

The Poster: MINT(–): this is large and folds up perfectly square and precise as can be seen in my picture. Printed on high-quality textured, thick watermarked paper, seen when held to light, later ones were on smoother, thinner whiter paper without the watermarks. Worth viewing under light, these watermark details are intricate and exude the quality the later prints lack. These originals have very matt surfaces as this. It has crisp edges and strong, unweakened folds, this has no tearing or damage. Importantly, this has never been wall mounted e.g. there are no pin holes, tape or tack marks, it looks very close to as new and clearly hardly ever handled or unfolded. Any creasing little, very gentle and faint, the white plain back is as clean as the front, they simply do not get much better than this and gives scant clues of age. Never underestimate how challenging finding a first print poster like this is, with the popularity of the former Beatle, this poster was often wall-mounted, torn down, damaged and even discarded. This is a gem.

The Post Card: CLOSE TO MINT: with barely any blemishes. The front especially is immaculate as-made, the plain white back with just a couple of traces of discolouration (being ultra critical). This has a matt finish and printed one side only, the card as clean and fresh as when printed with no creasing or thickening. What really sets this one apart, apart from its condition, is the famed Lennon and pig graphic is printed very well centred on the card. So often the white margins are uneven on what is a fairly small piece of card. The top and bottom margins are close to the same, the more critical side edges are also, and so few are. This really makes for a neater and attractive example.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT(++): an unlined graphic/lyric inner sleeve with no edge splits or repairs, that somewhat unusual, especially with this copy holding such a thick heavy record for over 50 years. The paper still clean and fresh, lacking the usual discolouration, damage and creasing most seem to acquire. Just a fine mild crease near the botton fold and little else with any record impression slight. This original has outside flipback construction and also gives scant clues of age. It has the ‘Made in Great Britain’ with the PATENT No. 1,125,555 code. With so many of these very tatty and torn, or even missing altogether, this inner has fared exceptionally well again.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(++): with a gentle light surface mark on side one that does nothing. A superb visual copy that is very clean with equally fine shine and heavily pressed being way over average. A copy appearing hardly played on all the evidence with any other surface traces minuscule, even 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, 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 classic album plays up to 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 sounds – that so often not the case. Pressing quality for this often proved variable, it was quite mass-produced and many offer crackle, unwanted noise or even distortion. That fragile piano opening on the title song rarely plays without some crackle or contact sound, but this has hardly any and actually is one of the finest all-round copies I have heard. I doubt if any will ever play truly ‘silent’, this has some quiet and challenging passages, but this was a genuine pleasure to play-grade. A heavier than average sample and one I really enjoyed. The detail and presentation of the music from this was a thrill and it will take a near remarkable copy to better it. Few available copies will match or outperform this early pressing I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played very lightly and has been carefully stored and handled within a non-smoking environment. Nothing of any note spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record. It will prove 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.