SHIRLEY & DOLLY COLLINS. LOVE, DEATH & THE LADY. HARVEST SHVL 771. 1st PRESSING.
£
45
$
60
Favourite Auctions
To save auctions to your favourites, please login
If you don't have an account, please register
Description
SHIRLEY & DOLLY COLLINS. LOVE, DEATH & THE LADY. 1970 STEREO FIRST PRESSING. HARVEST SHVL 771. LAMINATED GATEFOLD COVER. NO EMI LOGO ON LABELS. A1/B1 MATRIX
From time to time I help a local hospice sell some of its donated LPs. Recently they have received a batch of collectable records which I will be listing on their behalf. Before listing I always clean LPs on a vacuum record cleaning machine and I always determine audio quality by playing the LP not just by visual inspection. This LP arrived in my possession without its inner sleeve (now supplied) so consequently has plenty of hairlines and light marks, but no feelable scratches.
My listening equipment is a highly revealing Yamaha PF-800 turntable (easily equal to an LP12), pre/power amps and B&W Matrix Reference speakers. For this LP I have used an Ortofon OM10 MM cartridge.
Because this is a folk LP with simple vocals on some tracks and denser instrumentation on other tracks I will describe it track-by-track rather than giving an overall playgrade.
Side One begins with a couple of clicks to the run in. Track one has some background noise including soft ticks and some medium clicks. It is not a great start to this very rare LP, but this track is very sparsely produced and is the one most affected by surface noise so things get better after. Track two has a much fuller production and greater instrumentation so is not affected by background noise. Track three is unaccompanied vocal – there is some background noise but it is not obtrusive and is easy to ignore. On track four, any surface noise is submerged in the mix – it’s there but it is not obtrusive. Ditto track five. Tracks six and seven have some soft ticks to one channel, but under the mix so, again, easy to ignore and listen through.
Side Two one channel of track one has some soft ticks to the intro and towards the end. Track two has some soft ticks on one channel to the intro then some medium clicks later in the song. Track three has more instrumentation so any background noise is submerged in the mix and not especially noticeable. Nothing to report on track four. Track five has some medium clicks to the intro and some background noise but still sounds OK. Track six plays fine with some background noise that’s easy to ignore. As a general comment, the vocals are always crystal clear with absolutely no distortion and they rise well above any of the mentioned flaws; there are no loud hissing or “frying bacon” sounds. After the disappointment of the first track I found it overall a pretty pleasant vinyl experience.
On to the cover. The laminated gatefold cover is Very Good. There is some creasing to the top right corner (see photo) and some indentation marks caused by a child (probably) scribbling with a ballpoint pen (see final two photos). Fortunately, because the cover is laminated I was able to clean off the ink with lighter fluid so the indentation marks are only noticeable in angled light.
This is a very rare first press LP and even with its described faults it’s still a worthwhile addition to your collection.
I hope to be listing more of these donated LPs over the coming days so please check my other listings.
price rating
