Rare Original V/A LP- TIGHT ROCK VOL. 1- TROJAN- NM- ?
$
72
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Description
Various Artists - Tight Rock Vol. One LP
Label: Trojan
Catalog Number: TMLP1
Vinyl Visual Grade: NM-
Pressing Quality: 7- (manufacturing defects cause 2 skips on one track, see below)
Loudness of Vinyl: Sleepy
Condition of Jacket: NM- (still in shrinkwrap, only slight cornerwear)
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO THE RED PANEL BELOW TO VIEW GRADING STANDARDS
Side One:
Side Two:
SOUND SAMPLES TAKEN FROM ACTUAL RECORD AT FLAT RESPONSE
This is an original pressing of the delightful 1977 release "Tight Rock Vol. One" by various artists on the Trojan UK label. The album is quite rare, and I had a hard time locating a copy even in the late 70s. The liner notes by singer Tito Simon promise that "this is only the beginning of the Tight Rock Series", but I've never found evidence of subsequent volumes existing. The fourteen tracks on this record have been mastered using moderate microgroove (narrow groove mastering) technology. The problem with microgroove is that if the vinyl isn't really free of dirt or has even quite small scratches, the records have a tendency to skip much more easily. Additionally, there's a greater chance of manufacturing defects in these finer grooves, resulting in skips. Apparently that's what happened here on the second track of Side One. There are two forward skips (musically, not very bothersome or even that noticable) and also a visible bump in the vinyl that causes an audible pop for several revolutions. Various producers contributed to this compilation including Alvin Ranglin, Harry Johnson, Sid Bucknor and Barrington Dunn. Some of the artists are fairly obscure like Lester Lewis, Austin Campbell, John Snowball, Bobby Davis and Vallen Powell. The drummer on the Lester Lewis tracks sounds like Carlton Barrett. The Junior [Leslie] Tucker cut was done when he was around 11 years old, a couple of years after starting out in the recording business under producer Tommy Cowan. He is currently a reggae gospel preacher in Florida. My favorite cut on the whole album, and the reason I diligently searched for a copy of it, is the beautiful song "White Bird Come Down" by the Thunderballs and produced by Jerry Mathias of the Maytals. This is probably the Silvertones under another name, since they recorded another song "My Twentieth" as the Thunderballs for Mathias the same year. The recording may actually have been a Jack Ruby session, as the band sounds like the Black Disciples with Leroy Horsemouth Wallace on drums, and the whole thing has that "Sound of St. Ann" sound so typical of mid-70s output by St. Ann parish artists like the Skulls, Arrows and Original Survivors. The lyrics of "White Bird Come Down" are a mysterious poem about a childhood memory of watching cows grazing in a valley; blackbirds are sitting on the cows and plucking the ticks off their hides. But then the observer notices one day that the blackbirds aren't around anymore and have replaced by white birds. Then the singer says, "Black Man look up, the table has turned". To me, this is a symbolic song about what it must have been like to have been an African when the first European slave traders showed up. I'm also quite fond of "Happiness Is Your Middle Name", a cover of a 1974 Chi-Lites tune by Bobby Davis & Dave Collins [Dave Barker], though I hear no evidence of Barker's presence on the recording; the backing band is superb. TRACK LISTING: Side One 1. Jackie Bernard - Solid Sounds2. Lester Lewis - Niah Dread
3. Starlights - Faithful Wife
4. Joe White - Peace Pipe Dub
5. Thunderballs - White Bird Come Down
6. Lester Lewis - I Man Free
7. Junior Tucker - Take A Little Time To Know Me Side Two 1. Maytones - Sha-La-La
2. Honeyboy - 'Cos I Love You
3. Bobby Davis & Dave Collins - Happiness Is Your Middle Name
4. Austin Campbell - The Bottle [Battle] Get Hotter
5. Vallen Powell - Fight For Life
6. Joe White - Suzuki Shuffle
7. John Snowball - The Idren Said
This record is from my personal collection; I'm not really a buy-and-sell-or-trade type of seller. Like much of my vinyl, I bought this record when it came out, played it a few times, recorded it to cassette and then put it back in its sleeve for the next 34 years! Visually, the vinyl shows very little sign of wear. It's been wet cleaned, then both sides archived to CD by me as part of the grading process.
About my pricing: this record, in mint condition, just brought $180.00 as a Buy It Now item here on Ebay; starting bid on this one is $68.00. About Shipping/Handling Fees & Seller Ratings Shipping Fees I have selected the cheapest possible shipping rates available to me for customers. Please be aware that the United States Post Office sets these prices, NOT me! Unfortunately, Ebay combines both the shipping & handling charges on the invoices that sellers send to buyers, giving the impression that the shipping rate is too high. Please keep this in mind when receiving my invoices. With 45's sent within the United States, it's actually a bit cheaper by weight to send one 45 by First Class than by Media Mail. Media Mail works better for multiple items sent in the same package and I'm very happy to combine shipping for both domestic & overseas customers. Unlike the bigger, high-volume sellers on Ebay who are rewarded substantial discounts on their fees from shippers and from Ebay, I am only a collector gradually selling off my records and thus not in a position to offer free or discounted shipping. High bidders may want to consider insuring their purchases, since even the best packed records do occasionally arrive broken, and you can only get all your money back if you fully insure your purchase.
Within the continental US:
SINGLES are shipped by USPS Priority Mail (partial insurance included, full insurance optional) or First Class Mail (cheaper, insurance optional).
ALBUMS are shipped by USPS Priority Mail (partial insurance included, full insurance optional) or Media Mail (cheaper, insurance optional).
To preview a USPS Mail option for shipments to your area, please use the Shipping Calculator provided by Ebay.
International purchases:
Records are usually shipped by USPS International First Class Mail (no insurance available), or USPS Priority Mail International (partial insurance included).
To preview a USPS International Mail option for shipments to your country, please use the Shipping Calculator provided by Ebay.
Handling fees:
To maximize the safety of records, I cut & fold custom-made mailers from clean, recycled corrugated cardboard for each shipment (see photo below) --- fairly time-consuming work! I now include a heavy-duty clear vinyl protector with each 45; LP's are placed inside clean recycled plastic shopping bags. For shipments within the U.S., there is a flat $3.45 handling fee, and $0.70 of this goes to USPS Delivery Confirmation with a tracking number which lets me know the buyer has received the shipment. For foreign shipments, there is a flat $4.00 handling fee, and customs forms have to be filled out which provides the buyer and me with a form number useful in tracing the package if it gets hung up in customs.Weights: One 45 in cardboard mailer = approx. 6 oz.
Each additional 45 = approx. 1.2 oz.
LP in cardboard mailer = approx. 1 lb. 3 oz.
Each additional LP = approx. 8 oz.
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ABOUT JAMAICAN PRESSINGS
With due respect, Jamaican pressings are not generally known for their high quality, although over the last 35 years I have encountered the occasional superbly hot, clear and quiet pressing. New York, UK and Canadian pressings of reggae music are often better than Jamaican pressings, but not always. In my opinion, Jamaican pressings generally fall somewhere between 4 and 7 on the 1-to-10 rating scale (see below). Some manufacturers are consistently better or worse than others, but not always. Labels are often mangled, illegible, incorrect or applied off-center. One or both sides of a record are often pressed slightly or wildly off-center (see below).
It is essential to remember that the birth (and amazing development) of Jamaican popular music and its recording industry was a living miracle which flourished, and continues to do so against incredible odds. A history of colonial exploitation with its racist slavery, together with a lack of marketable resources in today's globalized world market --- all this has not been kind to the beautiful island of Jamaica and its resilient people. Life in Jamaica continues to be a contradiction: physically primitive conditions with massive poverty alongside culturally rich complexity, innovative genius and sophistication.
So working conditions in the pressing plants are often less than ideal: it can be hot, smoky, crowded and noisy, but at least it's a job. Access to good materials, equipment and maintenance is often difficult or unaffordable. When the economic oil crises of the 70's hit, fresh vinyl was scarce and expensive, so they started melting down old tunes and defective pressings, sometimes including bits of the paper labels. I remember seeing these rusty oil barrels full of 45's out in back of the pressing plants. They'd leave them out in the yard, filling up with rainwater and mosquito eggs, to soak off the labels! It's too bad --- a great many musical treasures were destroyed in those barrels, but business was business, and I guess it still is.
MAY GOD BLESS.....
RECORD GRADING STANDARDS
In grading the sound quality of a vinyl record (assuming it's been cleaned and there's no significant warpage), there are three main issues:
1.) Vinyl Visual Grade made by judging the visible wear from usage.
2.) Pressing quality after manufacture, which is the amount of surface noise such as pops/clicks/hisses/buzzes due to imperfections in the grooves of the record like small pits or bubbles. This is partially determined by vinyl quality/purity, temperature control and cleanliness of the record stamping machine. Other problems include the record being pressed off-center ("drunk") resulting in a wobbly, pitch-wavering sound.
TIP for off-center pressings: With 45's, you can compensate during playback for a drunk pressing by removing the centering "dome" from the turntable spindle, slowly turning the record by hand while observing in which direction the grooves are off center, and then pushing the record slightly off-center in the opposite direction until the grooves themselves are centered. It's an acquired skill.
3.) Loudness of Vinyl (Mastering volume) and the resulting Signal-to-Noise Ratio: how loudly ("hotly") or softly ("sleepily") the record was mastered to the stamper from the master tape of the music. With a hot pressing, the loudness of the music overpowers and masks the fainter sound of the surface noise. With a sleepy pressing, the music is dimmer and down closer to the level of surface noise; the listener has to turn up the volume, making the surface noise more audible along with the music. Other mastering problems include exaggerated tone settings and distortion, especially in high frequencies ("S" sounds) and upper midrange frequencies ("squawking" in the vocals or other tinny instruments). Too much bass and the needle will hop right out of the groove!
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Gradings for visually detectable wear on vinyl records
MINT (M) The record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deterioration in sound quality. The cover and any extra items such as the lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in perfect condition. Records advertised as Sealed or Unplayed should be Mint.
NEAR MINT (NM+/-) As above, but only played a few times. The cover and any extra items such as the lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in nearly perfect condition.
EXCELLENT (EX+/-) The record shows some signs of having been played, but there is very little lessening in sound quality. The cover and packaging might have slight wear and/or creasing.
VERY GOOD (VG+/-) The record has obviously been played many times, but displays no major deterioration in sound quality, despite noticeable surface marks and the occasional light scratch. Normal wear and tear on the cover or extra items, without any major defects, is acceptable.
GOOD (G+/-) The record has been played so much that the sound quality has noticeably deteriorated, perhaps with some distortion and mild scratches. The cover and contents suffer from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits, discoloration, etc.
FAIR (F+/-) The record is still just playable but has not been cared for properly; it may even jump. The cover and contents will be torn, stained and/or defaced.
POOR (P+/-) The record will not play properly due to scratches, uncleanable dirt etc. The cover and contents will be badly damaged or partly missing.
BAD (+/-) The record is unplayable or might even be broken, and is only of use as a collection-filler.
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RATINGS FOR PRESSING QUALITY ON A SCALE OF 10 DOWN TO 1
10: No audible surface noise (nearly impossible to achieve). Example: Classical or audiophile music pressings on "virgin" high-quality vinyl and manufactured under "laboratory" conditions, often of European or Japanese origin. Most really good pressings will only rate a 9 anyway.
9: Very few barely audible clicks. No pops at all.
8: Frequent softly audible clicks and no pops.
7: More frequent audible clicks and occasional pops.
6: Frequent audible clicks and pops.
5: Frequent noticable clicks and pops.
4: Very frequent noticable clicks and loud pops.
3: Extremely frequent loud clicks and loud pops, possibly with occasional hisses/buzzes.
2. Constant loud clicks and loud pops, with frequent hisses/buzzes
1: Virtually unlistenable, might as well've been pressed on peanut-brittle!
Go buy the re-issue of the song on CD made directly from the master
tapes.
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STANDARDS FOR RATING MASTERING VOLUME
HOT (+/-)
AVERAGE (+/-)
SLEEPY (+/-)
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HOW I GRADE RECORDS FOR SALE:
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For records with a visual wear rating between VG and NM++ , additional ratings for pressing quality and signal-to-noise ratio are included. It's entirely possible for an M or barely played NM record to sound pretty bad because it was poorly pressed in the first place.
For records with a visual wear rating below VG , it is often too difficult to tell the difference between surface noises due to wear and those due to pressing quality, so only a single condition grading is offered.
About grading integrity : it is my strict policy to grade these records as carefully and truthfully as possible. It's a common complaint that many record sellers tend to overgrade their stock: more than once, I've purchased a few "VG+" or "EX" records on Ebay, and eagerly put one on the turntable only to find it's a nearly unlistenable mess. Yuck! This is why I have no return policy: my record description is intended to be honest and thorough enough in the first place, so you can decide if you want to buy it AS DESCRIBED and AS IS.
Miss Bibby say...
Di daakes' part a di night a when day soon light.
The darkest hour is just before the dawn.
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