Steely Dan Gaucho 1st 1980 Japan Pressing VIM 6243 With Insert Play Tested NM

$

45

• Steely Dan.
• Gaucho.
• Japanese Pressing (fanatical manufacturing quality control & pure vinyl formulations).
• Does Not Have an OBI.
• 4-page Gatefold Insert Featuring Japanese Lyrics & Liner notes + English Lyrics.

Item Details
Manufactured in: Japan By Victor Musical Industries, Inc. Tokyo
Recorded At: A& R Studios, Soundworks, New York, and The Village Recorder, LA
Recorded By: Bill Schnee and Elliot Scheiner
Lacquer Cut By: Victor Musical Industries, Inc. Tokyo
Pressing By: Victor Musical Industries, Inc. Tokyo
Original Issue: 1980
This Issue: 1980 (based on label number code and matrix codes)
Label: MCA Records VIM 6243
Runout Deadwax Matrix Numbers:
Side 1: (stamp:) 〄 Ⓡ MCA 2469 111 ꔰ ꔰ ꔰ BDC A J
Side 2: (stamp:) MCA 2470 112 ꔰ ꔰ

Was gifted to me by my audiophile buddy Dave many years ago when he was going to 100% digital playback on his system. Dave took perfect care of his records but he usually put a LAST vinyl wear preventative treatment sticker on the jacket backside on those he treated with such. I don't know if this album originally had an OBI. While both Dave and then I owned it was always played only on expertly setup high-end audiophile turntables, arms, and cartridges. Also was never exposed to heat or tobacco smoke and always stored vertically in a specially designed record cabinets to prevent warpage.
All vinyl sides are cleaned on a VPI HW-16.5 record cleaner. I use the Audio Intelligent "One-Step" formula that requires no rinsing and leaves no residue. It is alcohol free and uses enzyme agents to remove pressing mold-release compounds, fungi & bacteria, finger oils, and many other environmental contaminants. Made with laboratory-grade pure water(50X purer than distilled water). I neutralize residual static charge from both vinyl and new inner sleeve with a Milty Zerostat. I wear nitrile surgical gloves while cleaning and play testing to avoid any chance of transferring finger oils to the vinyl.

Very sensitive play testing was performed straight off my Ayre P-5xe fully balanced phono preamp over Sennheiser HD 600 headphones using a Schiit Audio Valhalla 2 tube headphone amp fitted with NOS Soviet Voskhod matched tubes (see last photo).

Track list
For track listings, please see my attached record label photographs.

I take close-ups under photo lamps so you can see nearly everything I describe in the jacket grading. After cleaning I use very bright light and close visual inspection on each side to assign "visual-only" grades. However, I always perform play testing with thorough coverage on high resolution equipment to assign play grades.
Grading Details
Note: Grading LPs by text characters is subjective and at best are only a guide as no two used records are of exactly the same quality. I do not use "EX" grades as my VG+ is right below "NM-." I never sell a "G" play grade and very rarely ever sell a "VG" play grade. Please, refer to both my photo evidence and detailed descriptions to judge by YOUR OWN grading standards. Questions are always welcome. Play quality is the most important grade and cannot be predicted from any visual-only inspection so vinyl visual qualities are separately graded and described in detail for your complete assessment.

Outer Jacket Inspection/grading:
(Front Face/Rear Face)
NM-/NM-
The jacket is in excellent shape because it has always been kept in a clear thick plastic sleeve when not played. The first quibble on the front face is one small very thin crease on the spine close to the bottom corner. Also a smooth gentle bend there and another at the spine top that can be seen in my photo. The rear face has Dave's LAST sticker in the upper left corner. It may be removable but I didn't want to try that. There is also a backside crease radiating from the spine at the top right corner and a tiny deformation at the bottom right corner coming around from the bend on the front side. This is visible in my photo. The rest of the finished surfaces are smooth and and unworn. The jacket is very attractive when seen in person.

Vinyl Visual Inspection/Grading:
(Side 1/Side 2)
NM/NM
Side 1 looked perfect but for a very small and faint surface "gray spot" about 3/16" into the start of T2. Looked very much to be well above groove modulations but I made a note to check that during play testing. Side 2 looked flawless.

Play Testing/Grading:
(Side 1/Side 2)
NM+/NM+
Play testing is always performed after visual inspection and written notes get taken. I spot check each track by taking a few needle drops in each one. On wider tracks I take more play samples to get better coverage. I also listen to the lead-in, lead-out and some transition grooves to get a feel for the overall pressing quality. Anything that I find during visual grading that might cause serious noise always gets special attention. If I digitize my favorites to 96k/24-bit WAV files for archiving I listen to the entire track while recording giving 100% coverage. Below are play testing rundowns of each side.

Side 1 Play
This side has only 3 long tracks so multiple extra play samples were taken for each of them. The startup of T1 knocked me over with the musician's performances and audiophile perfection of the recording, mixing, and the Japanese pressing. Over the entire frequency range high to low there was power combined with delicacy. Ultra-wide frequency extension is combined with realistic width and depth imaging. On all play samples there was zero pressing noise, even the long deep fadeouts into some of the quietest transition grooves I have rarely heard. I had already digitized T2 some time ago but I did need to check the beginning of the track per my visual notes. I played and listened 100% to the 1st 1/2" of grooves. During that and all remaining play samples there was zero vinyl noise with the same result on T3. That track had the fastest transient edges on percussion I can recall. The transition grooves were near dead silent as quiet as the best I have heard on any other vinyl. Just superb clarity on the whole side combined with dead-quiet vinyl pressing. I wanted to give it a Mint play grading but that is reserved only for sealed records so in my exuberance I rated the play quality NM+ because I thought the side deserved it.

Side 2 Play
This side has 4 tracks with T1 slightly the longest. All play samples on all tracks had zero vinyl noise and even most of the transition groove samples. Equal to or better than the cleanest play tests I can recall on other vinyl including 1/2 speed mastered, D2D and DMM audiophile vinyl. Again, so impressed I had to rate it NM+ which only very few others have gotten.

This album has it all: close to perfection from the genius musical compositions, recording and mixing engineering, Japanese lacquer cutting, metal parts plating, and pressing. Perfect demonstration material for showing off a high end audiophile playback system.

Packaging

• Records are placed outside the jacket to protect against seam splitting.
• Original inner sleeves (if still present) are included separately.
• All records will be placed into new MFSL-style "rice paper" plastic sleeves. Any original sleeves may be holding onto some dust and if paper lined could even be abrasive. This will keep vinyl surfaces clean and well protected during shipping and ultimately during buyer usage.
• Outer jacket is contained in a new clear polyethylene protective sleeve.
• Sent in high quality record mailer with cardboard stiffeners and all corners double-taped.

Shipping

• Shipping will be via USPS Media Mail for a flat charge of $5.00 per single album sale. eBay keeps raising the rates for Media Mail but I still don't pass all of that or any costs for shipping materials on to the buyer. I do try to reduce additional costs for my customers.
• A combined shipping discount is available on multiple sales completed on the same day ($5.00 plus $0.50 for each additional LP).
• If you do buy more than one LP on the same daydo not pay immediately but wait for my all-combined invoice with the discount applied to your total.eBay does give you the option to "Request an invoice from the buyer," but this option is not available on the eBay mobile app. A discount for the combined items will show on that invoice. Then, once payment is received, the items will ship.