RICHARD & LINDA THOMPSON I Want to See the Bright Lights… SCARCE ORIG UK EX LP.

	£		33
	$		44

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, 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: RICHARD & LINDA THOMPSON

Album Title: I Want to See The Bright Lights Tonight

Producer(s): John Wood and Richard Thompson

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: When I Get to the Border; Calvary Cross; Withered and Died; I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight; Down Where the Drunkards Roll.

Side 2: We’ll Sing Hallelujah; Has He Got a Friend For Me; The Little Beggar Girl; The End of the Rainbow; The Great Valerio.

Label/Format: Island – Original pink rim format with matt gently textured surfaces.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and attractive with only relatively light fine and faint spindle marks.

Catalogue Number: ILPS 9266

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps or Lateral Movement: Assume all records I offer have no significant warping or lateral movement to cause sound or tracking issues. All should play fine even on budget turntables.

Weight of this Record: 126 grams.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Scarce as an original. Almost universally ignored on issue.

Original Year of Release: 1973

Matrix Nos: ILPS - 9266 - A-1U / ILPS - 9266 - B-1U

Mothers / Stampers: 1 L / 1 A

Run-Out Groove Etchings: ‘STERLING’ [in tiny punched type both sides]

Musicians: Richard Thompson – guitar, vocals, hammered dulcimer, mandolin, whistle, piano, electric piano, harmonium; Linda Thompson – vocals; Timmy Donald – drums; Pat Donaldson – bass guitar; John Kirkpatrick – accordion, concertina; Simon Nicol – dulcimer; Brian Gulland – krummhorn; Richard Harvey – krummhorn; Royston Wood – harmony vocals; Trevor Lucas - harmony vocals; The CWS Silver Band.

Brief Info: A magnificent album, and arguably the best post Fairport Convention album Thompson ever made and that is a bold statement considering the quality of this man’s catalogue. Vocal duties are largely shared and this has some sublime moments and includes of course plenty of Richard’s very distinctive guitar. Hard to actually believe this record is over 46-years-old. A very fine copy, superbly produced with great sound and songs, but often spoiled by noisy pressings – this one has little to fault overall. Quite how this album failed to sell when first issued is something of a mystery, apparently the music press of time largely ignored it too which would not have helped. Beautiful detail and a very powerful bass in the mix, this album has long been a favourite of mine and I never tire of hearing it again. Nothing particularly unusual in the fact that a poor selling album has over time been now labelled a classic – and ‘Bright Lights’ certainly is that. The contents of this album are sublime and this very early first pressing does it fine justice.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(+): a single fully laminated format. Printed and made in England by Robor.

Lamination – Front & Back: The laminate retains excellent shine, freshness and clarity with no lifting, minimal dulling or marks. A few fine edge creases, mostly on the spine with a few fine half moons near the front right that show little. The back has no creasing away from the sides and has three distinct laminate end lines, the exposed card with minimal rubbing with traces on the bottom only. Little detracts from the lovely artwork, that may initially appear simplistic, but the detail of the moisture and the running text looks lovely when seen for real.

Top & Bottom Edges: Both straight and smooth with barely any wear. Any hint of card end thickening on the bottom gentle and light.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Mostly sharp with any thickening very little and equally light. Record enters on this edge.

Spine and Text: Solid, straight with any compression very light. A little crinkle and mild fine creases, but the text largely intact and mostly neatly present as-seen.

Corners: Any tip rubs minuscule with better than excellent shape retained with no knocks.

Cover Summary: A strong all-round example of this famous 1970’s Island cover, one that could prove difficult to find much better. Island did not often laminate their covers, but glad they on this one as it brings out the colour and detail of this beautifully. This attractive item should please many collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT: an unlined card lyric/graphic inner that has only lightly aged with darkening of the seam adhesive on the edges and any tone spotting minimal and light. Very few creases, these were unlined so very prone to edge splits which this has almost avoided. Just a very small fine ‘thin’ on the bottom centre that has barely gone through, hence no repair I deemed necessary.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT: a very fine visual copy that is very clean with equally fine shine and solidly pressed. A copy with modestly light plays on all the evidence with any surface marks very light and faint 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 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 brilliant folk-rock album plays even above it’s high visual grading with little 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, gentle and very infrequent, overall a clean pressing with no tracking issues* or inherent pressing noises. Silence is a huge ask for this album with some quieter songs and moments, so the odd polite reminder of what is being played – a 46-year-old record rather than a squeaky clean digital format is near inevitable. Few available copies will outperform this early first pressing I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played relatively lightly and has been generally well stored and carefully handled, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. Nothing of any real note spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this lovely record. It could 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.

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 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.