Ocean Colour Scene: 'B-Sides, Seasides & Freerides' 1997 vinyl album

	£		135
	$		179

You are bidding on the following:

Artist: Ocean Colour Scene

Release: B-Sides – Seaside’s & Freerides

Format: double 12” black vinyl single pressing plays at 45 rpm

Label: MCA

Barcode: 0 08816 00341 3

Release number: MCA 60034

Release date: 1997

Rarity: this record was pressed in a total quantity of 2,000 units on vinyl and supplied in the UK as the primary MCA market for OCS. (This quantity is in line with Moseley Shoals the previous year, and was confirmed to me by the band in person so please take this as ‘fact’). On this basis, this record rarely comes up, and when it does it is almost impossible to get a decent copy! An ultra-soft card gatefold sleeve,  instantly affected by ring wear and creasing and rubbing and edge splits, and booklet inside the gatefold and delicately attached by two small staples, so most have ripped out / fallen out! Ultra-thin vinyl’s and this copy suffered the same fate as ‘Moseley Shoals’ and I am 100% sure MCA used the same pressing plant. For some reason, the majority of copies have only what I can describe as a ‘milkiness’ in the vinyl pressing – this does not affect play but just looks a bit unsightly! On the basis I have been buying and selling all things OCS for twenty-five years, I would suggest that it is almost impossible to get perfection in this specific vinyl set – any copy classed as being nearto a  ‘final upgrade’ would indeed be a rarity!

Condition: so, the history of this copy is it was purchased on the day of release in 1997, and whilst coming shrink wrapped, at the time I could only secure the one copy, so I decided to remove the shrink wrap and marvel at this wonderful set. My ‘go to’ copies at this point were probably cassette and CD, and I think this was about the point in time my first car with CD player arrived …luxury! Also, all of these tracks had been released previously throughout 1996, there was nothing new, so this copy was minimally handled and played, put straight into a thick soft plastic cover and stored for over twenty-four years!

Please read the condition detail – I have been selling on eBay for nearly sixteen years, always grade to the international ‘Record Collector’ standard and am always ‘harsh’ with my grading, versus having the risk of an unhappy buyer questioning my judgement. Checkout my feedback!!

Outer cover: condition of this cover is superb!! No creasing, no rubbing or ring wear, all panels perfectly flat and true. Tiniest bit of feathering around the opening edges and a tiny bit of age yellowing stops me at grading this cover above Excellent plus (+) condition, and many would go much further! (When I put my records into the soft plastic, I remove the records from the sleeve, so the spine remains perfect, with absolutely perfect top & bottom edges….splits!!). Minor indentations towards the right-hand edge of the cover of the front panel, but no wear and unobtrusive. I am confident that you will never find a better cover! The booklet remains untouched and perfectly stapled within the cover. (When you see the cover, you will understand just how rare this is as there is no wear to the staples and most have split away or the booklet has completely come lose in the copies being sold! Harshly graded at excellent plus (+) condition.

Inner sleeves: both poly-lined sleeves are in minimum excellent plus (+) condition also, with a tiny, tiny amount of age yellowing and minimal if any creasing. Checkout the pictures!

Vinyl records: both vinyls have a deep black gloss, and do not have the pressing ‘milkiness’ that I noted the vast majority suffer from in the earlier part of my listing. Deep black gloss, they look stunning!! (The picturs are all taken under harsh kitchen fluorescent lighting which harshly expose any imperfection!). Both are thin pressings weighing around 135grms, and both have very minor edge warps that do not affect play. Side A has a very, very small and light scuff between tracks 3 & 4 and completely non-sounding, and side C has longer but extremely light handling mark that again does not affect pay. The side C&D vinyl has a minor edge defect where about a 1-2mm edge of the vinyl has a minor misalignment no doubt due to production machinery, and well away from any vinyl grooves. Again this is hard to spot (please excuse the Lego figure in the picture shot to give some scale!). I sound like I am being very critical, but taking these points into consideration I have no hesitation in grading the vinyls at a minimum excellent condition. Sonically they play brilliantly, with no defects to note, and I have probably played this copy on a high-end deck no more than 2-3 times in total from purchasing new in 1997.

I have owned this record since 1997, and since then has been handled with care and quickly transposed it into a soft, thick plastic protective cover. I promise you – I have seen many copies of this album come back onto the market over the last twenty-four years, and this is a really great copy on offer!

UK seller in stock for immediate despatch.

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