PICNIC - 1st UK Press DOUBLE Harvest PINK FLOYD SHSS-1/2 1969 Bakerloo 2LP

	£		38
	$		50

PICNIC -

A Breath of Fresh Air

 HARVEST

SHSS 1/2

1st UK Press 1970

Machined matrices: Matrix Nos: SHSS 1 A-2, SHSS 1 B-1 and SHSS 2 A-1, SHSS 2 B-1 .  Also first stampers making this the very earliest possible copy!!

Album Title: Picnic (A Breath of Fresh Air)

Track Listing: 1. Into the Fire (Deep Purple); 2. Mother Dear (Barclay James Harvest); 3. Embryo (Pink Floyd); 4. Twisted Track (The Battered Ornaments); 5. Glenlogie (Shirley & Dolly Collins); 6. The Good Mr Square (The Pretty Things); 7. Song of the Ages (Roy Harper); 8. The Worried Feeling (Bakerloo); 9. Eleanor’s Cake Which Ate Her (Kevin Ayers); 10. Again and Again (The Greatest Show on Earth); 11. Water (The Third Ear Band); 12. Terrapin (Syd Barrett); 13. A Glade Somewhere (Forest); 14. Golden Country Kingdom (Pete Brown and Piblokto); 15. Round and Round (Panama Limited Jug Band); 16. Black Sheep of the Family (Quatermass); 17. Postcards of Scarborough (Michael Chapman); 18. Maybe My Mind (Tea & Symphony); 19 Old Gopher (Edgar Broughton Band).

Cat Number: SHSS 1/2.

Label/Format: Harvest – Orig Pre-EMI format with ‘The Gramophone Co Ltd’ text on rims.

Label Conditions: All four are in supreme condition and the cleanest I have ever seen on this title. Spindle marks are the lightest you could imagine on a records this age: Side one (one small, very light indeed), Side two (possibly one but look very hard to see it), side three (one faint one only) and side four (three or four, very light again). Try finding these original Harvest labels better.

Cat Number: SHSS 1/2.

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Weight of these Records: 134 / 142 grams. [These days, many modern Audiophile reissues are pressed on super-heavyweight 180 gram vinyl. Only a small percentage of ‘vintage vinyl’ was ever pressed this heavy. Records pressed in the 1960s averaged around 140 to 150 grams. Records pressed in the 1970s were usually lighter and averaged more around 115 – 125 grams. 

Rarity: Scarce. I would think this was only available a fairly short time and never (as far as I know anyway) issued on CD. This classic Harvest sampler with it’s bizarre artwork is almost certainly unique to the vinyl format.

Original Year of Release: 1970

Matrix Nos: SHSS 1 A-2, SHSS 1 B-1 and SHSS 2 A-1, SHSS 2 B-1

Stampers: 1 P / 1 A / 1 RR / 1 GH

Brief Artist & Album Info: No, not just another sampler, far from it, this picnic serves up a feast of entertainment from beginning to end. Every collector will know those interesting black and white Harvest advertising inner sleeves with those rather more obscure (and magnificent) early Harvest bands album covers printed on them. All the super rare ones that sold modestly (or less) between 1969-1970. This double sampler set has a track by them all and many actually feature the best track too from the representative album. 

It has a wonderfully unique Hipgnosis designed gatefold cover too, and like the early and elusive albums, this one shows up all too rarely these days. Not only great bands here, there are some mighty fine producers too, including: Norman Smith, Andrew King, Peter Jenner, Gus Dudgeon and Jonathan Peel (yes the great John Peel). Apart from some superb progressive music by all the band’s, serious prog collectors want this set because it includes a rare Pink Floyd track - ‘Embryo’ - that was unique to this double set. It must rank as Floyd’s rarest song, never a single (or B-side), and not issued on any official album. It’s a lovely song too, written by Roger Waters, this would have been perfect on the More or Ummagumma albums, it was produced by Norman Smith. Delicate and atmospheric, I promise this elusive song will never be heard better and surpasses all the other copies of this album I have offered in the past. 

This track and all the others too for that matter play to perfection from two records that look hardly ever handled or played. The bands featured on this superb and highly collectable Harvest sampler are listed above with their appropriate track. Impressive eh? – I wish I had this lot to offer, but they show all too infrequently and usually trashed when they do. - I am a huge fan of this classic progressive label and I search for any item that is available. Don’t take this as an ordinary sampler, this is a very collectable set and should be included in any serious Harvest collection. This example is a very fine one: it has a cleaner, less worn cover than average. The two heavy pressed records are in fantastic condition and play brilliantly – easily the best sound I have heard from this title with every song playing clean and devoid of distortion – and this is never easy on this title. The Kevin Ayers, Floyd and Collins sisters always prove particularly difficult. Both could almost pass for new with just one small surface mark just visible on one side that has no sound, not bad for a 44-year-old double set is it?

The record labels are in SUPERB condition (see pictures) with NO wear, NO writing, and barely ANY spindle marks AT ALL!!!! !!!!  The vinyl is in GREAT condition!!!!  Most of these 60s/70s LPs had been to a lot of wild parties and are usually found totally worn out, and almost unplayable. This one is NOT and has NO scratches, only wispy light hairlines, NO scufflines, and only a VERY few of the lightest paper scuffs only visible under light!!!!  ITS AS SIMPLE AS THAT!!!!  THE RECORD STILL RETAINS ITS ORIGINAL 'JUST PRESSED' LOOK AND LOOKS AMAZING!!!!  It is also great to find that the record plays as STUNNINGLY as the visual with NO pops, NO sticking, NO jumps, and NOT ANY crackle AT ALL!!!!  The sound quality is simply SUPERB with NO distortion and NO groovewear either!!!!  The record must grade EX!!!  AWESOME RECORD!!!!  Believe me this record is NOT overgraded in ANY way!!!!  I use STRICT RC grading standards - it is not in my interest not to!!!! Brilliant!!!!    . The cover is VERY flat looking indeed!), NO ringwear, NO writing!!!!  The opening edges are beautifully straight !!!!  Even the inside of the cover is in BRILLIANT condition with NO grubbiness, NO ringwear, NO rubbing AT ALL, NO yellowing, and NO writing!!!!   The cover must grade EX!!   BRILLIANT COVER!!!! This fantastic copy was only ever sold in minute quantities and is nowadays a major collectible, try find another one!!  THIS LP IS SERIOUSLY RARE AND VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND LIKE THIS - SO DONT MISS OUT ON THIS INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY!!!!

SO HARD TO FIND THIS ALBUM IN THIS FANTASTIC CONDITION . THIS WILL BE AN UPGRADE FOR MOST SERIOUS COLLECTORS. IT IS VERY HARD THESE DAYS TO STILL FIND THIS GEM IN THIS SMASHING CONDITION. IT WILL BE A LONG TIME BEFORE THIS TURNS UP AGAIN IN THIS SPLENDID CONDITION WITH AGAIN MORE TAKERS THAN EVER BEFORE. THIS IS AN EXCELLENT INVESTMENT PIECE.

Vinyl: EX.   Audio is A++and this vinyl sounds out of this world, a majestic album that went unnoticed at the time with some fantastic tracks like Pink Floyd's "Embryo". The audio has beautiful separation and there is hardly ever any background noise. I played this twice in full and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a crime so few people know about this gem!! I was even tempted to keep this as it will be impossible to find this again, it is indeed megarare now and always has been. Needless to say NO jumps, clicks or ticks. This will be a fantastic upgrade for most long time collectors!!

 Sleeve: EX.  Fantastic looked after fully laminated gatefold sleeve without any major damage.  Beautiful deep unfaded colours. Impossible to find this very scarce album in this well preserved condition. Light edge wear. Fully legible spine. The inside gatefold is a dream. No writing, no splits, a hard find now and the only one on Ebay!!

This is a unique investment opportunity!!! The next prog album to go completely through the roof. Finding this album in any condition at all is nearly impossible so late in the day. Get this while you still can. This value of the album is only going to go one way ... up and up ... until it will be totally unavailable at all for a reasonable price.

Important : International postage will be registered and insured if over GBP 20.00.  Please wait for my invoice before paying. Postage will be according to Royal Mail rates. Postage is NOT a money spinning exercise for me.

Though there are rarely ever any problems with my items, I always try my very best to describe everything exactly!  PLEASE REMEMBER to contact me FIRST,  if you have any problems at all, before you leave feedback and star ratings, so I get a chance to turn any negative experience into a positive one!  I can always happily sort anything out for you, if you let me know you have a problem!  This way no one has to leave Negative/Neutral feedback - and we both walk away happy! Similarly with the amount of stars, anything less than a full 5 * rating is effectively detrimental to a seller's rating as lower ratings will incur higher Final Value Fees  and lower priority in the bidlists eventually making it unattractive to list items on Ebay at all. I know of at least one major previous Ebay seller who has decided not to list via Ebay again. Please do NOT bid if you cannot give me at least 1 chance to sort everything out to your FULL satisfaction in the unlikely event of a problem.  Thanks again!!

This an excellent investment opportunity!!! Any questions please ask me and I will try to answer soon.