Rolling Stones-UK-Beggars Banquet-1968 First Pressing LP Decca Records SKL 4955

$

43

Hello and Welcome!  

Despite being eBay Vintage Vinyl Sellers since 1999, we have recently elected to auction off the majority of our personal album collection under this new screen-name. We pride ourselves as collectors, sellers and most importantly, true purists when it comes to this hobby which has turned into a huge on-line business for many folks.   Unlike many eBay sellers of LPs these days, we still feel compelled to write up complete as well as accurate descriptions of our vinyl in order that no surprises will occur, other than happy ones.  This is why we take painstaking efforts to describe every detail of our play-graded LPs, which never seem to disappoint our buyers.   

We have decided to offer for auction an Original, Well-Conditioned And Early First Pressing of The Rolling Stones UK 1968 Stereo Album: Beggars Banquet on Decca Records SKL 4955.  'Beggars Banquet' is, in our biased opinion, one of the Rolling Stones Top 5 albums, spanning a 50 year career.  It features a strong, eclectic mix of Blues in 'Parachute Woman' and 'No Expectations'--the latter track featuring the late Brian Jones on steel guitar on what may be considered his swan song with the band.  At the same time, Mick Jagger dances with the devil on a song which in, less than a year later, would eternally evoke images of a young man's violent death at the 'Free' Rolling Stones California performance.  'Salt of The Earth', with the shared vocals of Mick and Keith Richard, ironically hail the 'hard-working' folk, as Keith and Brian delved deeper into their 'Banquet' of drug addiction, sex, and living as far away from the 'common foot soldier' as they could.  As Jagger's own star was now shining in 1968, his own celebrity succeeded in keeping him well out of touch with the 'back-breaking work' to which he pays homage.  Of course, The Rolling Stones had fully embraced the themes of unbridled, primitive sex, the screams of youth, and self-indulgence on Beggars Banquet with 'Stray Cat Blues', 'Street Fighting Man', Prodigal Son', and 'Jigsaw Puzzle'--a brilliant musical piece and tale, a story which eerily transforms The Rolling Stones in 1968, to the Stones circa 1977.  

Yet, once again, Jagger and Richard (as he is named in the song-credits of this LP) gave their 1968 die-hard fans a bit of a curve ball in 'Dear Doctor' which may have simply been their initial message that 'It's Only Rock 'N Roll' and to not take anything too seriously, even an ill-fated wedding...     

 MATRICES/STAMPERS/RUN-OFF WAX DATA: 

Side 1: XZAL 8476-4K  Stampers: 1/JT/1G    Side 2: XZAL 8477-4K  Stampers: 1/JT/H I (?)   

Our Goldmine Grading of this or any other album entails a Visual Assessment of the Vinyl, Labels, Jacket, Inner Sleeve and Inserts (If Applicable) as well as an Aural Evaluation.  All pre-owned LPs that we put up for auction are first professionally cleaned with our VPI 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine prior to being Play-Graded on a Denon DP 54-F Turntable equipped with a SHURE M97xE Cartridge/Stylus.  Our Pre-Amp is a Denon PMA 750.  Our Polk Audio Speakers allow one the opportunity to hear any sonic distortion, variation in sound quality such as drops in sound levels, detection of the slightest background noise e.g. crackle, clicking, and, of course, jumps. All of our albums are stored upright and kept in an air conditioned, smoke free environment and are, or have been protected by polyurethane jacket protectors since our acquisition of them.  

VISUAL GRADES

VINYL:  Much like its 'Mono' Red Labeled Open 'Decca' Logo cousin, this LP is a heavy-weight vinyl, for sure.  The slab weighs an impressive 4.5 ounces!  In terms of a Visual Evaluation,  Side 1 presents with Full Gloss and Shine, and we would encourage anyone to glance at our photos of the run-off wax in order to see that there aren't even any "hairlines" or needle marks on the dead-wax's mirror-like surface.  Under high-intensity halogen lighting, Side 1's surface has only a handful of tiny faint, nearly invisible and superficial"wispy" lines in total.  In regular lighting, the vinyl shows as being completely flawless.  There is absolutely no groove wear, scruff-marks, or "bubbles" on this splendid and infrequently played side.  Side 2 has this same presentation, although we would say that the sheer gloss seemed to show a bit more of these "hairlines" than Side 1.  Like Side 1, Side 2 is extremely shiny, and one can actually see themselves in the run-off area!  Side 2's run-off wax is 1 and 1/4 inch wide as compared to the reverse being 1/4 of an inch in width; It is possible that we did see one more lines in the dead-wax area, too..  We must emphasize that we are being ultra-critical in our evaluation of this LP, since we would want to know each and every detail of what we are looking at for our collection.  We feel that Side 1 meets our criteria for a higher grade than Side 2, so our evaluation will be divided into two distinct grades, one for each side.   Goldmine Grade: NM-/Excellent (VG++)  

LABELS:  The Deep Blue "Open" Decca Label on Side 1 shows no visible wear to the spindle hole or even any signs of "spider-lines", which are generally quite prevalent, even on M- copies of Stereophonic UK Rolling Stones albums.  We will say that there may be two 1cm. short strokes which we think we saw around the centre of this label.  Our photos should allow all of us to make that determination, but Side 1's label is magnificent.  The Silver Print on the upper 'ffss' circles is striking, particularly against this Decca background color.  As the photos will reveal, there is a rather faint, but visible 'Biro' word--"BYE" written on the left-side of the Silver Band, just under the printed word, "Full".  Honestly, we didn't notice this 1/8 inch notation until we started to photograph it for this auction, since it is so, so, very faint.  In our opinion, it is not a major distraction, yet it is present on this otherwise unscathed, perfect, and "like new" label.  Side 2's label does show more "waif-like" spindle lines than Side 1, which is the first indication that this LP was even played!  On the left-hand side of Side 2's label, is a "rub mark" which is exactly 1 " long.  This "rub" can be made out since it manifests as a darker color against the Blue background.  In our determination, this "rub" needs to be mentioned, and it can probably be "touched up" by an experienced professional artist or painter.  That said, both of these labels are well-above average specimens in relation to other Blue Decca Stereo labels.  Like Side 1, Side 2 also shows a vibrant deep blue against that clear, unfaded, and sharp Silver font typeset.  As we did with the visual vinyl grade, we will assign two unique ratings for labels.  Ultimately, our photos of both Blue 'Unboxed' Decca labels will speak to condition, more than words can.  Goldmine Grade: NM-/Excellent (Side 2)

JACKET:  This is where other "Banquet" jackets generally fall short,  yet our Garrod & Lofthouse Fully Laminated Gate-fold excels!  Simply put, we have only seen and owned one other "BB" jacket in over 30 years of collecting Rare and Vintage Rolling Stones UK Albums that even matched up against this one, and that one was sold in a private venue for well over $800.00.  Of course, the vinyl was a MONO, possessed early matrices, and was played once by the original owner.  This jacket shows NO DISCOLORATION OR LAMINATE LIFTING OF ANY SIZE, SHAPE OR FORM.  This is an unheard of statement when discussing these flimsy UK Gate-fold "BB" jackets.  Starting with the front-side of the cover, we will point to the lower right-side corner having a miniscule crease or an attempted "fold".  The gold "liner" which goes around the front rim and the reverse side's rim, usually is missing or damaged on OTHER "BB" jackets.  Our jacket is fully intact, shows no fading of its royal gold color, and has survived 45 years of housing a heavy-weight slab of vinyl, to boot.  The middle of the jacket, where the "Banquet" is taking place, is 100% perfect in its depiction of Michael Joseph's photo of the Rolling Stones at their finest moment of pure, unbridled, self-absorbed indulgence!  This is what makes this title so different from any other RS album, although 'Let it Bleed' comes quite close in the following year.  In looking at the reverse side of the laminated jacket, we can count 3-5 nearly undetectable, small creases.  Both the jacket's front and reverse show a LP sized "indentation", which is not "ring-wear".  We are ultra-conservative, but, if proper storage continues, meaning separating the vinyl from the jacket, there is an excellent chance that this faint indentation will "heal".  And, of course, there is reality of the times.  In 1968, how many folks stored their Rolling Stones Albums in archival 4 -6 ml. Mylar Protective sleeves?  We think the number was  > "zero" (Math was never my favorite subject, as an aside…)   

This album has a sturdy, stunning spine, which is completely legible.  All of the black spine print is intact.  In fact, let's just say that all of the Black Italicized Font-Print is fully clear, is stunning against the "White" backdrop, and is complete (No Rev. Wilkens Song Credit on 'Prodigal Son').  We did take one specific picture of the a corner "ding" which is of obvious importance to collectors of this title, or any other album, for that matter.  The ding (see photo #11 of Jacket standing up)) is on the top rim and is pretty hard to even locate, unless one looks at the reverse of the jacket--upper right side.  Is it horrible?  No.  In fact, it is one of the very, very few flaws you'll find with this extraordinary jacket.  There are no seam splits, writing, rips, tears, names printed, or other demarkation and/or damage to this stunner of a UK G&L Rolling Stones Jacket.  In fact, you want to have a bit of fun?  Ask a novice how old he or she would say this top notch baby is, and wager a shilling or a few pounds, since there is no way anyone (except Stones Vinyl Collectors) will say 44 going on 45 years of age.  We are proud to assign the following rating to this absolute diamond of a Beggars Banquet Stereo Jacket:    Goldmine Grade:  NM-  

INNER SLEEVE:  The UK Decca Rare Blue-lined "Stereo" Poly Inner is Original to this LP.  There are no seam splits, rips, tears, or extraneous writing on this superbly preserved bag.  Of course, the vinyl will not be shipped anywhere inside this 45 year old inner, since we will supply an anti-static poly generic sleeve for its travel.  This Stereo "Inner" is just what the doctor ordered for this album.  It remains crisp, the clear, blue type-set is such a classic "period" item-- warning "us" not to leave our vinyl on hot amplifiers, reminding those kind folks back in 1968 to use a special cloth to "wipe" down their records, and, to be honest, I love reading these UK sleeves.  I'll encourage the winning bidder to please take the time to read everything on this educational sleeve.  This Inner was an item that was well ahead of it time.  Most UK Inners were poly-lined and we have seen the huge amount of protection that they had provided to our own collection of Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who's, and, of course, Led Zeppelin LPs.    Goldmine Grade:   NM-   

PLAY-GRADE 

We have taken extensive notes on this iconic Rolling Stones LP's aural delivery.  We are selling this epic album "as is" and as such, we have listened to every track on this vinyl extremely carefully, at different audio levels, and with a critical ear. Despite this LP's age, we cut it no quarter, since it is being listed as what it is.  This is an incredibly difficult to locate in this condition original pressing, not to mention an early vintage collectable, one which is being listed with no reserve and may end up being the bargain of recent eBay Rolling Stones auctions.  Most importantly, any album we sell to you, must be one which we would buy at auction.

On 04/15/2012, we cleaned this vinyl with our Professional VPI 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine and allowed it to air dry in order to lesson any instances of "static" during its Play-Grading session.  Side One played with unsurpassed clarity, incredible stereo separation, and on Track 3 "Dear Doctor", we actually heard Keith Richard join in singing the chorus a mere nano-second later than Mick!  There was one revolution of barely audible "static" on 'No Expectations', but this would have probably gone unnoticed if we weren't specifically honing our ears to audio distortions, drops in on 'Highs', or background crackle--all of which were not present on this side of the vinyl. 

Side 2 exhibited one "snap" noise at the very beginning of 'Street Fighting Man' and proceeded to play flawlessly throughout the remaining songs.  'Stray Cat Blues', my personal favorite song on 'Beggars', was hypnotizing in the way the song just gains intensity, almost as if it were going to explode!  Conversely, the sweet dulcet country or hillbilly-like sweetness, meaning that one song which is so different than any other on the album, about the best girl in the world aka "Factory Girl", showed another side of Keith and Mick, as the guitar played clear, without any distortion whatsoever, and, par for the course, the banquets ended with 'Salt of The Earth'.   Apart from an odd "snap" or an 'in-between' passage crackle, this LP showed that it may have seen 6-7 spins in totality over its life-span.  This is a gem of an album, and the music on it truly is moving, soul-searching, and extends to the darkest regions of one's being.     Goldmine Grade:  NM-   

THIS IS A NO RESERVE PRIVATE LISTING       

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