MACEO PARKER & THE J.B.'S US RARE ORIG '74 JAMES BROWN'S PEOPLE LP BOB LUDWIG 1A

$

74

WE CURRENTLY HAVE  NEARLY 100  LISTED ITEMS

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·      THE J.B’s featuring MACEO PARKER – US  - ORIGINAL 1974 PEOPLE RECORDS (JAMES BROWN’S  PROPRIETARY LABEL) STEREO LP PE-6601

·      ORIGINAL U.S. PRESSING

·      ORIGINAL PURPLE “PEOPLE” LABEL WITH WHITE RIM AND SILVER PRINT

·      SONIC SOUND PRODUCTS, HOLBROOK, LI, NY ("SON") PRESSING.

·      THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.S. PRESSING; THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING.

·      PRODUCED AND ARRANGED (AND WITH OCCASIONAL GRUNTS AND MOANS) BY JAMES BROWN

·      ORIGINAL, THICK CARDBOARD COVER (AMERICAN STYLE)

·      CLEAN, WEAR-FREE LABELS

·      THICK, HEAVY VINYL PRESSING

·      MATRIX NUMBER IN TRAIL-OFF VINYL (DEAD WAX) ENDS WITH '-1A/-1A'.  ON SOME LABELS,  SUFFIX '–1' DENOTES THE VERY FIRST, ORIGINAL PRESSING)

·      THE RECORD HAS A 'STERLING' / MASTERDISK STAMP IN THE TRAIL-OFF VINYL (DEAD WAX) AREA, WHICH IS GENERALLY CONSIDERED A PROOF OF AUTHENTICITY OF THE FIRST PRESSING.

·      The bidders should note that this is a rare Bob Ludwig-mastered “hot pressing” of this album, with his initials “RL” (Robert Ludwig) etched in the trail-off vinyl of the disc. All the wonderful elements of Bob Ludwig’s trademark mastering style are here: incredible clarity and balanced channel separation, vivid and spacious “ambience” sound, as well as wide dynamic and frequency range of the sound spectrum.  As is almost always the case with Bob Ludwig’s masterings, the Bob Ludwig-mastered pressings of this album are CONSIDERABLY rarer than the regular, non-Ludwig copies of this album.

 (►PLEASE SEE THE IMAGE OF THE COVER, LABEL OR BOTH, SHOWN BELOW)

(Note: this is a REAL image of the ACTUAL item you are bidding on. This is NOT a "recycled" image from our previous auction. What you see is what you'll get.  GUARANTEED!)

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Maceo Parker was one of the most revered and loved members of James Brown’s famed J.B.’s band from the late ‘60s to the mid-1970s. Alongside his instantly-recognizable alto saxophone solos, he occasionally performed as comedian before James Brown shows, in addition to playing MC. He was a true renaissance man. And while other members of The Godfather of Soul’s inner circle – most notably trombonist Fred Wesley – had solo albums at the advent of Brown’s People Records, Maceo had to wait his turn for a couple years. By the time 1974 rolled around, this talented musician and personality could not be denied, and he burst onto the scene as a group leader with one of the most impressive albums in the People catalog: the simply titled, but deeply felt, Us.

Maceo’s group (occasionally called The Macks) and Fred Wesley’s J.B.’s were essentially the same unit – including guitarists Jimmy Nolen and Hearlon “Cheese” Martin, drummer John “Jabo” Starks, saxophonist St. Clair Pinckney and of course Fred Wesley on trombone. Unsurprisingly, the material here is never-endingly funky. But as shown in the song selection (presumably by Parker, with heavy-handy assistance from the Godfather himself), there are as many ballads and soul groovers as there are straight-up funk workouts.

Cases in point include the mellow, Gamble & Huff-penned “Drowning In The Sea Of Love” (with organ, most likely played by James Brown, slithering in the background) and the syrupy “Show and Tell.” The album’s closer is also on the slower side, going very deep and striking a chord, as Maceo and Brown talk about conditions in the Black American landscape of the day over the course of 10-plus minutes.

And there is, of course, plenty of diesel funk here as well: singles like “Soul Power 74” and “Parrty” are downright nasty grooves, known well by James Brown fans old and new. “Soul Power 74” additionally features very early proto-sampling, with a baby’s cry as well as Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have Been To The Mountain Top” speech. And Maceo’s take on the J.B.’s classic “Doing It To Death” is a unique version, more muted and of course featuring Maceo’s gorgeous horn front and center.

Appearing at the apex of both James Brown’s and People Records’ power, Us is a treasured jewel in the J.B. catalog, and rightfully so.

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·      CONDITION:

·      THE RECORD

 (IMPORTANT NOTE: unless otherwise noted, ALL records are graded visually, and NOT play-graded!; we  grade records under the strong, diffuse room light or discrete sunlight)

(a)         WE GRADE THE VINYL AS EXCELLENT. This is one of those albums that are somewhat difficult to grade. It is somewhere between VG++ and NEAR MINT, just a notch below NEAR MINT. A few light abrasions ARE visible, but they are extremely shallow, superficial  and only moderately visually distracting (nothing significant).For the most part, the vinyl looks impeccable without any MAJOR visual flaws or imperfections. Much of the original luster is intact, and the vinyl shines and sparkles almost like new.

(b)         The record is pressed on a beautiful, thick, inflexible vinyl, which was usually used for the first or very early pressings. Usually, the sound on such thick vinyl pressings is full-bodied, vivid, and even dramatic. Do not expect to obtain such a majestic analog sound from a digital recording!

(c)         Of course, this is a full-bodied ANALOG recording, and not an inferior, digital recording!!!

·                          THE COVER

THE COVER IS NICE --- ABOUT VERY GOOD+(+)

The following flaws or imperfections are noted on the cover:

-       Cover has some ring wear.  On the scale from 1 to 10 (1 being the least, and  10 being the most severe), we assess the severity of ring wear as 2  (front side) and 5 (back side).

-       Back cover has circular tarnish (grayish, dust-covered sections, which closely follow the contour of the record),  probably caused by friction or by rubbing against other covers during the storage. The tarnish is similar in appearance to a common ring wear, but, UNLIKE ring wear, these grayish areas may be possible to clean up with a minor effort and with a right cleansing solution.

-       Cover shows some yellowing on back side, apparently from aging.

-       Back cover has a few yellowish dust speckles scattered here and there (these tiny spots are not overly obtrusive or distracting)

-       Cover has a few wrinkles along the spine   (VISIBLE ON BACK SIDE ONLY)

-       Cover has a tiny "wrinkle" (crease)  in one of the corners.

-       Minor shelf wear noted on the bottom seam (nothing significant)

NO OTHER VISIBLE FLAWS OR IMPERFECTIONS ON THE  COVER

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POSTAGE & SHIPPING:

We offer three postage rates for domestic orders: USPS Media Mail, USPS Priority Mail and USPS Express Mail and three rates for international shipments:  USPS First Class, USPS Priority International Mail, and USPS Express International Mail (in a small number of cases, we will, at our discretion and for purely technical reasons, substitute First Class Mail with eBay's Global Shipping, which is fundamentally the same service at about the same cost). INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS PLEASE NOTE: WE RECOMMEND (BUT DO NOT INSIST) that you select USPS International Priority Mail when making a payment.

INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE rates vary from one region of  the world to another. For SPECIFIC international and domestic postage rates, please click on " Shipping, returns, and payments" tab in the header of our listing.

please note: Effective august 15, 2023 we have ended our volume discount buyer incentive program; this was necessitated by circumstances beyond our control (a never-ending  increase in the cost of doing business, raging inflation and technical difficulties in sending our customers discounted invoices, a simple feature ebay still can't seem to FIGURE OUT even after 30 years of being in business. however, all significant orders will still receive a shipping discount: all orders over $1,000 will be shipped free of shipping charge, and all orders over $300.00 will receive up to $20.00 postage rebate (or free shipping, whichever is smaller) , irrespective of the shipping location. thank you for your understanding and continued loyalty.

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CRITICALLY IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

(A) All orders valued at $50.00 or more will be shipped fully insured against loss, damage or theft by ShipCover, eBay's contracted insurer, at our expense (B) Yes, we do combine items into a single shipment; in order to enable this feature, the winning bidders should WAIT until their last item of interest ends and ONLY THEN make a payment. Doing otherwise will result in multiple shipments to the same customer and forfeiture of multiple shipping charges already paid. (C) Because we do not play-grade our items, we do not know how the purchased item will play on the buyer's equipment. We can only make reasonable inference on the record's playing condition based on its visual appearance. (D) This seller will NOT cancel erroneous, frivolous and prank bids. The bidders can do so on their own, by visiting eBay's Site Map, then clicking on Bid Retractions link. (E) This seller does not specifically grade or describe certain items, such as: shrink (cellophane) wrap; accompanying inserts, booklets, inner sleeves, lyrics sheets, stickers, posters, booklets, newsclips, decals, press kits, publicity photos and similar bonus ephemera; however, the presence of these items WILL be noted and usually accompanied by the gallery photo(s). (F) Please do not submit any bids on our items if you have insufficient user history. We will summarily cancel any bids from the bidders with zero or negative user feedbacks. We will, however, exempt new users if politely asked. (G) Other than in very rare justified cases, failure to pay for the item you won amounts to a fraud and will result in a permanent ban on bidding on our future listings. (H) We will NEVER deliberately, knowingly or willingly provide a false, deceitful or misleading information. If you feel that we have inadvertently provided inaccurate, misleading or outdated information, or if you have any pertinent questions or comments, we encourage you to contact us through eBay soon as possible, and not later than 24 hours before the end of the listing

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OUR REFUND POLICY :

WE OFFER UNCONDITIONAL MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE (POSTAGE INCLUDED) WITHIN 30 DAYS FROM THE RECEIPT OF THE MERCHANDISE, NO QUESTIONS ASKED; STILL SEALED ITEMS MUST BE RETURNED SEALED IN ORDER TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR A REFUND.   NO EXCEPTIONS!

FINE (BUT IMPORTANT!) PRINT

 (1) The year indicated in the title bar is the year of the original release,  NOT necessarily the year of the actual pressing; for the actual generation of the pressing, please see our item description (top section, the text in red letters). (2) Please do NOT bid based on the title bar, subtitle bar or item specifics box alone; instead, please read the entire description and grading before bidding; (3) Absolutely NO order cancellations after the auction closes. ever, under any circumstances. We can ONLY cancel bids before the item closes. (4) We are unable and unwilling to cancel bids in the final 24 hours of the auction; if you need to do so, please contact eBay for help (5) We are unable to provide matrix-, stamper- or other pressing  information in the final 24 hours of the auction. If you require this information, please contact us well before the final day of the auction. (6) Absolutely NO haggling. This seller is not a bazaar. If you are unhappy with the merchandise you received, please return it for a full refund, postage included (7). Civilized people can disagree without accusing each other of being indecent or dishonest; if you need proof of this seller's personal integrity, please check our eBay feedback, which speaks for itself  (8) All disagreements and miscommunications can be - and will only be - solved in a civil and mutually respectful manner; please avoid puerile, offensive, abrasive or menacing language (attempted humor is generally fine and usually appreciated, although overused-to-death sarcasms can be really, really tedious. (9) This seller will accommodate all reasonable requests and - unless seriously molested - is usually a flexible and agreeable person (10) Our love & appreciation for your trust, loyalty and business, always and forever;  Thank You & Good Night!

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