PETE BROWN & HIS BATTERED ORNAMENTS A Meal You Can Shake Hands With… RARE UK EX.

	£		157
	$		208

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 will now be blocked 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: PETE BROWN and HIS BATTERED ORNAMENTS

Album Title: A Meal You Can Shake Hands With in the Dark

Producer(s): Andrew King & Dick Heckstall-Smith.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Dark Lady; The Old Man; Station Song; The Politican.

Side 2: Rainy Taxi Girl; Morning Call; Sandcastle; Travelling Blues.

Label/Format: Harvest – matt surfaces and with a very gentle hint of texturing. No EMI logo and with the ‘Gramophone Co Ltd’ rim text.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and attractive with only light, mostly quite fine spindle marks and no wear around the hole area.

Cat Number: SHVL 752.

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps: Assume all records I offer have no warping of any significance and all tracking is easy and effortless and should play on all turntables and even ‘budget’ decks.

Weight of this Record: 135 grams. A very fine solid weight.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Quite a rare album – another of those poor selling very early Harvest albums, this one of the earliest in the catalogue as well. A very slightly later pressing – probably within weeks – which I have actually seen less of than the very first that was only pressed in tiny numbers, the only difference being some text near the top left area. An album not pressed in any great number anyway, this sold poorly and is not seen or offered often

Original Year of Release: 1969

Matrix Nos: SHVL 752 A-2 / SHVL 752 B-2

Mothers / Stampers: 1 P / 1 O

Musicians: Pete Brown - lead vocals, trumpet, slide whistle, talking drum; Nisar Ahmed Khan - tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, flute; Chris Spedding - lead guitar, slide guitar, piano, Portuguese chittarra; Charlie Hart - organ, mourth organ; Pete Bailey - congas, African drum, assorted percussion; Butch Potter - bass guitar, banjo; Rob Tait- drum; Dick Heckstall-Smith - tenors saxophones.

Brief Info: An absolutely brilliant and one of the earliest Harvest ‘rock’ albums in the elustrious catalogue. It sold in tiny numbers and both label variant pressings are equally difficult to find. Inventive and totally unique, no other album sounds anything like this. Brown, the famed Cream lyricist is let loose with The Battered Ornaments, but only briefly, he was dismissed soon after this legendary recording and joined Pibloko. Not a great singer, but adds even more ‘charm’ to this gem. His use of words is wonderful and at times very amusing and at times, risque. His love of the word ‘baby’ for his woman is very 1960s and he certainly uses if often. The track ‘Politician’ is simply hilarious and topical. Easily in the top three or four rarest Harvest albums ever and still vastly undervalued. Quite a long album too, but you simply will not want it to end – this is Brown at his excentric, bizarre best and my personal favourite of his – YEAH BABBBYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT: or very close to. A gatefold format with front and back laminate. The inside is smooth and matt finished. Printed and made in England by Ernest J. Day and includes the Harvest promotional inner sleeve.

Lamination – Front & Back: Both sides retain very fine shine with a high degree of freshness and clarity. Any dulling minimal and light as seen mostly under angled light. As usual on these types, a little around the rim shape on the back being hard to avoid. There are several fine, mainly edge creases and marks minimal, few and light. A little corner tip rubbing, this mainly on the back on the lower ones. There is no lifting or peeling, adhesion is very impressive and little detracts from the superb graphics which retain deep intense colour – the front especially is superb. Not seen often, this is a very fine example.

Cover Inner Gatefold: Traces of age toning, but little more than very light near the hinge and top edges. The white cartoon strip is nigh-on perfect and again, this will not prove easy to find much better.

Top Edges: Unworn, smooth and parallel, a little natural curl being critical.

Bottom Edges: Largely the same, with just a smallish rub to the back right corner.

Right Edge(s), and Type: The front edge is closed, both have a gentle curl. Few of these vintage gatefold laminated covers will remain dead flat, that is simply being honest. The back opening edges are quite clean, reasonably sharp and guaranteed untrimmed. The outer one with a little thickening near the centre. Both the fine exposed strips where the laminate ends gently darkened a little with the one minute chip on the front.

Spine and Text: A fine spine which is solid, straight with any compression minimal. This has retained better shape than most of these types. Often they form a central recess and the text matter sinks into it, also the laminate has a tendancy to flake and peel. This retains practically all laminate and has no recess. A couple of fine creases, one passing through the ‘r’in ‘Ornaments’, but all other text is perfect and still protected by the secure laminate. A little toning and minor peel near the very top only. Folded square so the edges are flush and parallel.

Corners: Light to moderate tip rubbing, the bottom back right has the most, that nearer heavy I suppose. That one apart, all others retain very fine shape with no knocks.

Cover Summary: A strong all-round example of this rare late 1960’s cover, one that could prove difficult to find much better. With some reminders of it’s considerable age – but this has far more positives than negatives – this elusive Harvest classic should please many collectors, but not the perfectionists.

The Inner Sleeve: NEAR EXCELLENT: this fractionally later copy includes the Harvest promotional lined inner sleeve. The very briefly available small first run included a plain white inner. A little aged with the usual seam adhesive darkening. This natural ageing aside, not a great deal else to fault bar a five digit reference number on the top right corner of the back. Minimal creasing, the lining attached and no edge splits or repairs.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT: or again, very close to. A very fine visual copy that is clean with equally fine shine and solidly pressed. A copy with modest plays on all the evidence with any surface marks mainly light and faint as mostly seen more critically under bright angled light. A tiny mark at the very beginning of side one emits one moderate click, there after on the same track, a couple of other one-offs, but little else on the rest of the set which in fact plays superbly. So not pristine perfect, but still an impressive 45-year-old record visually and audibly – it should please many, if not most collectors, but like the cover, not the perfectionists. Finding a copy of this rare Harvest album will prove beyond difficult to say the very least.

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 bizarrely brilliant, somewhat off-the-wall album plays even above it’s solid visual grading with little else to fault bar the aforementioned clicks. The one within the first rev or two of side one may have a milli-second skip, but if so, it registers little being on a trumpet part and almost goes with the ‘flow’. There are NO other tracking issues*, this played superbly for almost the rest of its quite long entirety. It offers 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 an exceptional clean pressing. Few available copies will outperform this still very early pressing significantly I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played very lightly and has been generally well kept with minimal mishaps or issues. The odd tiny blemish on such old records who were rarely bought by hi-fi connoisseurs of time almost have to be expected – that being purely realistic and honest. The one tiny blemish at the start apart – blink an eye and you will miss it – little else spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record. This is Pete Brown unleashed and at his excentric best. Strong elements of bizarre humour, a little crude and vulgar at times, but a wonderfully entertaining original set. Far too ‘out-there’ for most record buyers at the time, no small wonder it sold poorly. But amongst the playful mayhem, this is lyrical genius and the Battered Ornaments offer brilliant backing. Elusive and sort-after, it will prove difficult to find significantly better and can be strongly recommended if the odd minor blemish is acceptable.

* As played-graded on a high-end Linn LP12 Sondek turntable with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Blue 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 programmes. 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 Blue 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’.