SKIN ALLEY - TO PAGHAM AND BEYOND CBS 1970 1st UK PRESS EX++

	£		58
	$		77

SKIN ALLEY

TO PAGHAM AND BEYOND

CBS

  1st UK PRESS 

 S 64140

Machined Matrices A1  B1

Splendid psych/prog/experimental album in great EX++ condition!!

Thomas Crimble (bass/keyboards/vocals), Alvin Pope (drums), Krzysztof Henryk Juszkiewicz (keyboards), and Bob James (sax/guitar) made inroads quickly and found themselves signed to CBS Records for their self-titled debut in 1969 and its 1970 follow-up, To Pagham & Beyond. Crimble moved on that year to play bass with Hawkwind and organising theGlastonbury Festival,[1] and was replaced by Nick Graham (formerly of Atomic Rooster, though not the same-named musician from The End and Tucky Buzzard) before the album was completed, Graham singing on two of the tracks. Pope was later replaced by Tony Knight (real name Tony Brown), formerly of The Chessmen and Bronx Cheer.

THE IMMACULATE VINYL PLAYS GREAT ALL THE WAY THROUGH BOTH SIDES. 

THE STEREO REPRODUCTION IS SUPERB AND EVERY NOTE IS HEARD CLEARLY AND CRISPLY WITHOUT DISTORTION.  NEEDLESS TO SAY, NO STICKS OR JUMPS!

Skin Alley boldly announced their arrival with their eponymous debut in March 1970. Three months after it hit the shops, the group was back in the studio working on its follow-up. It was at this point that bandmember Thomas Crimble departed for Hawkwind, with ex-Atomic Rooster bassist/flutist Nick Graham taking his place. This shake-up in the lineup led to an equally momentous shift in sound, as the new-look band now moved toward a more improvisational style. Still, their influences hadn't changed, and their love of American blues was if anything even more evident on their second album, To Pagham & Beyond, than their first. The point was driven home on the opening track, "Big Brother Is Watching You," with its focus on the riff and wailing harmonica. This was a blues that fed into R&B and then rock & roll; "Easy to Lie," in contrast, exquisitely illustrated the links between the blues and jazz, the stripped-back blues suddenly exploding into inspired improvised jazz passages before fading back into minimalistic blues. "Sweaty Betty" takes the opposite approach, its pure jazz agilely slipping into revved-up R&B-flavored rock. As for R&B itself, "Walking in the Park" is not just a tribute to Stax, but a perfect rendition of its style, and explains just how the band landed on that label later in its career (the first white group to garner such an honor). Yet this was only one of Alley's angles; elsewhere in the set they travel into Canterbury territory, albeit in a tough fashion far removed from that scene's comparatively laid-back sound. And then there's the epic "Take Me to Your Leader's Daughter," the set's most inspired number, combining Arab-flavoured passages, tribal drumming, and jazzy turns with stunning flute, piano, and brass solos. Amazingly, this inspired album elicited little notice at the time; it remains, however, a classic of the age, and sounds just as fresh today as when first released.(from Allmusic.com)

Vinyl: EX++. A smallish mark on side 2 first track is the only blemish barring this from being an NM vinyl. There is no audible effect at all and this vinyl sounds out of this world, a majestic album like their first one that went unnoticed. The audio has beautiful separation and there is no background noise. I played this twice in full and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was even tempted to keep this as it will be very hard to find this again, it is indeed megarare now, much like their first album. Needless to say NO jumps, clicks or ticks. This will be a fantastic upgrade for most long time collectors!!

Gatefold sleeve: VG++ to EX.  A great example of this rarely seen album. A small colourfill right hand top corner. Otherwise this is a fantastic sleeve without any creases. The inside gate is still in its prime. Light edge scuffing from storage. The spine is fully legible. NO writing.

Inner sleeve: EX.  A generic CBS advertising period photo sleeve. NO splits, light corner creases.

This is a unique investment opportunity!!! The next psych 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 45.00.  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.