STEPHEN STILLS Scarce Orig UK 70 Plum EX++ LP + POSTER

	£		160
	$		212

Artist or Band: STEPHEN STILLS

Album Title: Stephen Stills

Producer(s): Stephen Stills.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Love the One You’re With; Do For the Others; Church; Old Times Good Times; Go Back Home.

Side 2: Sit Yourself Down; To a Flame; Black Queen; Cherokee; We Are Not Helpless.

Label/Format: Atlantic – Original red and maroon ‘Plum’ format. (Please see my label scans)

Label Condition: Both look fantastic: Very clean and highly attractive examples that show only very light spindle traces that show little. No wear around hole rims whatsoever, another from this collection where the records were barely even played.

Cat Number: Atlantic Deluxe 2401004.

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps: Assume all records I offer have no warping of any significance and all tracking is easy and effortless and should play on all turntables and even ‘budget’ decks.

Weight of this Record: 137 grams. [These days, many modern Audiophile reissues are pressed on super-heavyweight 180 gram vinyl. Only a small percentage of ‘vintage vinyl’ was ever pressed this heavy. Records pressed in the 1960s averaged around 135 to 145 grams. Records pressed in the 1970s were usually lighter and averaged more around 115 – 125 grams. Some records pressed around 1973 were very thin and light due an oil crisis and shortage around this time. Some records were even issued on recycled vinyl from this period and sounded poor with crackle and surface noise evident from the very first play. If any record I buy is deemed ‘recycled’, I will never offer it, I have a very simple test to detect these records if I suspect this to be the case other than audible imperfection. Some records from this period were even pressed on other materials the most notable was ‘Dynaflex’, used by RCA around this time. Although inferior to vinyl, this at least mostly sounded reasonably acceptable but pressings on this material were wafer thin and flimsy. Beyond the 70s, many records often became thinner and lighter still but most played fine but were never quite the quality as from the ‘Golden Era’]. (This was based on ‘average’ weights for 50 records from these eras.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Fairly scarce as a very early plum pressing and try to find a better sounding copy, this has amazing ‘studio quality’ sound, the best I have ever heard. Also this one has the fully laminated cover, some plum covers were made without laminate. And lastly, but not least, inside this cover was a large Steve Stills poster and a ‘Child Grew up on Strings’ lyric insert. I am not aware of this album actually ever including a poster or insert so these are almost certainly ultra rare promotional inserts. This copy is from the recently acquired collection that was once owned by a radio DJ from the 60s/70s. Many of the pieces included promo letters, label factory stickers and inserts that were never seen in the shop copies. This large format, vintage poster and insert could possibly be unique today and makes this supreme copy even more special, collectable and very rare indeed.

Original Year of Release: 1970

Matrix Nos: 2401004 A 2 1 1 1 3 / 2401004 B 2 2 1 1 3.

Run Out Groove Symbol: Side one has a symbol that looks like a record with an arm across it.

Brief Artist & Album Info: Stephen Stills debut masterpiece and one of the truly great ‘solo’ classics from this period - a five star recording in every department. A highly inventive and successful time for the man, in the space of a couple of years he made two solo albums, released the superb Manassas double album and was part of CSNY, his fellow colleagues make guest appearances on this album too amongst others. This sublime set proves Stills as a highly talented musician and this classic is varied, covering Memphis soul, folk, blues, rock and even pop. The opening track is a trademark gem of his and all round this album was never bettered. The only real surprise it made only 30 in the UK but peaked at 3 in his native US. This copy on offer is a beauty with a really lovely clean cover, a record that plays to absolute perfection and a vintage period-piece promotional poster and insert. Beautiful clean labels and clearly hardly even played. For those who want their classics to sound like brand new, this is another timeless gem that will give you just that.

Cover Grade and Format: EX++, a single format and laminated both sides. It was printed and made in England by the E. J. Day Group, London and Bedford. Includes an ultra rare promotional Stephen Stills poster and insert.

Cover Lamination – Front & Back: One of the most beautiful pieces of artwork to be put on to an album cover and this one does it near full justice. This one is fully laminated, some plum number copies weren’t. The laminate is ultra clear, fresh and very shiny with only a few minor marks visible under angled light. There are two small blisters on the front spine edge and one on the back that few will ever avoid. These are on white areas and they hardly even show. A couple of light ‘half moon’ type surface creases on each side and a thumb crease on the front near the right edge, again with normal viewing, they hardly even show, any other creases are just fine and faint hairline types on the sides, again just abaout all laminated cover have them. The front right and back top and bottom sees the laminate just short of full widths and even these exposed strips are pure white with no grime-line formation - always a bonus and proving this cover has been well looked after and little handled. What is immediately striking is the pure cleaness and whiteness of the cover and that beautiful mirror-like shine. There is hardly any traces of friction rubs or dulling and both sides will take a lot of beating.

Top Edge: Virtually unworn.

Bottom Edge: No wear.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, very sharp, with no wear or feathering. Record entered on right outside edge.

Spine and Text: Solid and straight, the ends are tapered in manufacture with minimal compression elsewhere. All text is perfect and unworn and all laminate solid and uncracked, and even this retains a fine shine, the surface ultra white with no toning.

Corners: All four very neat and pointed with barely any traces of wear.

Cover Summary: A superb all round example of this classic early-70’s cover, one that will prove very difficult to find much better. This highly attractive example should please most collectors.

The Poster: Mint(-) a very large A2 size poster that I have never seen before and unlikely to again. This is pristine, printed on a high quality, very slightly yellow hued semi-glossy paper. Unmounted with ultra sharp edges and no extra creases, just the two main manufactured folds which are strong and unweakened. No tears or splits, this is just like new. I feel certain this is a factory promotional poster included for ‘demo’. As far as I am aware, this album never included a poster - if it did, it seems a well-kept secret. A wonderfully rare addition to enhance this classic album still further.

The Insert: Mint(-) gain, never seen this before and it’s printed on the same grade paper as the poster. It has the lyrics to a song or poem written by Charles John Quarto as printed on the album’s back cover. The title of the piece is ‘A Child Grew up on Strings’. This again is almost as made with a single fold. A minuscule trace of ruffling near the top if being critical but clean and clearly hardly even handled. Again another possibly unique piece for the connoisseur collector.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EX++ A very fine copy with just the odd tiny surface mark or faint hairlines, that have no effect on sound at all. Super clean and shiny, intense black and very solidly pressed, this is one of the heavier copies of this album I have ever handled. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence. Visually a beautiful clean record that should please most 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 snippetts or joining grooves to check for sound quality and quietness – I play from the beginning to end via clinically revealing B&W speakers that include the legendary tweeter from their awesome Nautilus range that reveals every blemish or miniscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This super record plays even above its high visual grading with nothing to fault whatsoever. Strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear. The best and cleanest pressing I have ever heard for this legendary album and truly a gateway in the recording studio itself. I swear I heard more details on this copy than ever before. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has hardly even been played nd has been well stored and carefully looked after, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment (no yellowing to the cover, yes it can even affected laminated covers, white being ruthless for nicotine staining). Nothing whatsoever spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wondeful record, it’s such a joy to hear such a clean copy of this wonderful record with silence on run-ins, run-outs and between all songs and all music and vocals focused and crystal clear. This copy could prove almost impossible to find better, true audiophile standard sound quality throughout.

End Piece: The words ‘classic’ and ‘masterpiece’ are often overused, but I make no apology for using them on this one. A truly magnificent album that any music lover could not fail to like. Stills was inspired on this album and he rarely again reached such levels of brilliance as a solo performer again. This copy does near full justice to its importance and it can be played with high confidence for fine quality sound, even at high volume, a copy that can be cherished forever. The inclusion of two very rare inserts makes this extra special, it’s conceivably possible no-one else has this poster and song lyric insert within their copy or collection. This wonderful set is strongly recommended.

Now one of the most established sellers on Ebay and still offering the finest and most accurately described and graded 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 as I can all items I offer for sale with all the relevant information I can think of to help any potential bidder and collector. You may notice I only submit records sparingly on Ebay - on average ONEADAY, a couple more at weekends if time permits, hence the name - time rarely allows for more as I Play-Grade virtually every record I offer in their entirety, not just bits to guess a grade - visuals alone do not always tell a true or full story. I will 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 its good. I get just as much pleasure offering a relatively common record in stunning near mint condition as the real rare items. All the pictures I use for your guidance are taken with a digital camera or scanned - they are NOT improved, cleaned-up or made better looking than they are with camera trickery or enhancing with digital programmes. What you see is what you get and scanned labels will give a more accurate representation of the genuine colour than flash photography where light is variable. I cannot guarantee total accuracy for colours however but most will be very close. If any picture I take looks more flattering than the actual item for any reason, I will clearly state the fact in the advert and vice-versa. I hope the item below is to your liking - any questions can be emailed and I will do my very best to answer you. I am enthusiastic, and have a fair degree of knowledge about many genres and I promise quality items - bid with confidence - excellence comes as standard and so does Near Mint regularly. Please assume all records I offer have NO jumps, sticks, warps or writing on covers or labels unless clearly stated to the contrary. Thanks for your interest and Good luck – MIKE.

Deck: Linn LP12 with Ittok Mk IV arm and Ortofon Samba Moving Coil cartridge (tracks at 1.8 grams). Amps: Naim Nait 5i with Project USB phono stage and Chord interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Moth vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too.

First-time, zero-rated bidders, who do not ask permission to bid, will be cancelled immediately and blocked – NO exceptions. For winning bidders who I consider excessively slow to make contact or submit payment, I will use my right to block future bids. If any bidder who wins in the final seconds is present to do so, surely they can at least email me to inform of intention and payment method? If swift or promp payment is a problem, please do not bid.

POSTING & PACKING: What You Get: I now offer the fastest possible posting, mostly the very next day after payment is received or within 48 hours maximum. All records are posted in professional boxes (NOT mailers) with the record(s) REMOVED from their main cover to avoid edge splits and placed within a brand new polylined inner. The record’s original inner will be included if available. The boxes are then reinforced with TWO thick stiffners for even extra protection. The cover will be placed within a BRAND NEW heavy duty soft protective sleeve and the actual record will be professionally cleaned on my Moth Pro vacuum system to give ultimate clean grooves and playing surfaces and the best possible looks and ultimate sound quality. Printed address labels are used for clarity and well as sender label. You will NOT get tired, dull looking, dust infested records inside worn and foggy covers with tatty inners from this seller and that’s a promise and guarantee. Customers requests or special needs for P&P will be respected if at all possible but NOT surface mail abroad. I never make profit on posting and offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible. I will invoice any winning bidder as soon as possible after the auction ends, with the total costs including ‘standard’ or ‘optional extra insurance’ P&P – ALL UK and Russian packets go out non-negotiable Recorded Delivery. My ‘loss’ or ‘damage rate’ is less than 0.1 per percent based on over 4,000+ items sold in over 7 years of Ebay trading and I consider that pretty exceptional.

PLEASE NOTE: I will now only send packets to Russia with Recorded Delivery at a cost of £7 per single LP. If this is unacceptable to Russian collectors, please do not bid. I only want my records to arrive safely and this gives packets a better chance to do so. Also ALL UK packets will be sent with either Recorded or Special Delivery as standard (both have to be signed for). All shipping costs and rules can be found after my description. If they are not acceptable, please do not bid.

NOTE: First Time Bidders: I will cancel ALL first-time bidders with no feedbacks or excessive negatives who do not ask me if its OK to bid first – NO EXCEPTIONS.

Please Note: I will now offer any item to the runner-up after the mandatory Ebay 3 days if no contact is made by the winning bidder unless prior notice of any delay is given beforehand. The same applies if no payment is received within the mandatory 7 days so any bidder who has just lost out can still email me to reserve the item as priority second chance – it’s always worth asking.

SHIPPING COSTS & OPTIONS:

Posting & Packing: UK & CHANNEL ISLANDS all now sent Recorded Delivery:

1 LP (First Class Recorded Delivery with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) [Signed For] = £4 (OPTIONAL).

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7 (OPTIONAL).

Posting & Packing: ALL EUROPE & SCANDINAVIA (NOT RUSSIA, see below) (Airmail Only):

1 LP (Small Packet Standard with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) = £5.

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with included Insurance to Item’s ‘Sold’ Value, £500* Maximum) = £9 (OPTIONAL).

Posting & Packing: RUSSIA (Recorded Only, if this is unacceptable, please do not bid):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ only £7) = £9 (OPTIONAL extra insurance as above).

Posting & Packing: ALL OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. USA (any part); Australia; Canada; Japan and other Far East; (Airmail Only: I NEVER use Surface Mail):

1 LP (Small Packet Standard with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) = £8.

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with included Insurance to Item’s ‘Sold’ Value, £500* Maximum) = £13 (OPTIONAL).

* If Rules allow for that country.

PLEASE NOTE: I always get a Royal Mail ‘Proof-of-Posting’ receipt for ALL packets that are sent out and I am happy to prove this to any customer who wishes to see it via email.

Payment Conditions:

I prefer PayPal or cheque from UK winning bidders. I can accept PayPal from overseas bidders.

The customer can choose their method of shipping with the exception of second class or surface mail overseas – these I will NOT use. The winner bidder chooses his/her posting method and if uninsured is chosen, its their decision and they have to stick with it, I can accept no responsibility if an item is lost in the post. I can only try to claim at standard levels if no enhancement is chosen (£35).

Potential Bidders: Please do not bid if you have negative feedback unless checking first, I will cancel any bids I feel are timewasters. A maximum 3 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive - if not I will relist the item or offer to the runner-up. Fast deals get great feedback from me. Any questions - please ask and thanks for looking.

My Guarantee: If any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund minus the Posting and All Ebay costs as long as the item detail has been read and understood. I will not refund if any defect detail is clearly stated on the advert and missed by the buyer. If any overseas collector does not understand anything in my listing, please email and ask me to help.

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 neccessarily 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, actually 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.

The Argument for Vinyl Original sound and mix (mono mixes are rarely available on CD), high quality sound on clean copies (played on a hi-end dedicated analogue system – breathtaking sound!), beautiful, large format covers, artwork, inserts and even full size posters etc; huge investment potential, and the pleasure of owning ‘the real thing’.