TAS Debussy La Mer Iberia, PARAY Detroit Symphony, Merc

$

150

Debussy "La Mer" & "Iberia", Paul PARAY conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Mercury Living Presence Stereo SR 90010, FR1 FR2 pressing with the original "color back" cover and deep maroon deep groove label.  This is on Harry Pearson's (The Absolute Sound magazine or "TAS") recommended list under "Special Merit: Classical".  The sound is excellent, another audiophile gem from the late 1950's or early 1960's.    

Vinyl Conditon:  NM.

Cover Condition:  Excellent

I reserve the right to refuse to honor bids by buyers from countries where shipment routinely gets lost, damaged or delayed and buyers who have a pattern of nonpayment or negative feedback.  Please contact me before bidding should you have any concerns.  I also reserve the right to end the listing early if there is no bid on the item, in accordance with eBay policies.

GRADING POLICY FOR LPS:  Grading is for the cover/box and for the record.  The record may have two grades, one for visual grade and another for play grade.  I have never played some of these records and some records may only be visually graded.  The grading for the record will be relative to a mint record of the period manufactured by the same record company.  Therefore, the standards will not be the same between, for example, a Japanese Pioneer/Holland Philips/German Teldec pressing of the early 80’s (which are on super quiet vinyl) and a U.S. ABC/MCA pressing of the late 70’s (which are typically noisier).  A Near Mint graded late 70’s U.S. ABC or MCA record will play with considerably more background noise caused by cheaper vinyl material than a Near Mint graded early 80’s Japanese Pioneer, Holland Philips or German Teldec record. 

SHIPPING POLICY:  All records have been cleaned on my VPI 16.5 record cleaning machine and will be placed in a poly-lined or rice paper sleeves, unless the records are sealed.  The LP will be packed in a cardboard box LP mailer manufactured by ULINE.  The record will be placed outside of the LP outer jacket so that it will not damage the cover during transit. 

For U.S. destinations, the shipping cost for 1 record delivered via US Postal Service Parcel Post will be $6 if your State touches the Pacific Ocean, $8 if your State or Commonwealth touches the Atlantic Ocean, and $7 if your State touches neither Ocean.  For each additional record, add $1 for each for up to 6 records.  (Each LP mailer will fit up to about 6 records.)  For example, for a boxed set containing 3 records, please just add $2 to the shipping cost of the first record.  If you would like your item shipped using a different option offered by the US Post Office (e.g., Priority Mail or Express Mail) or a private courier service (e.g., FedEx or UPS), please contact me.

For destinations outside of the U.S., below are the prices for US Postal Service First Class Mail and Priority Mail.  Please contact me regarding the cost if you would like your item shipped using a different option offered by the US Post Office or a private courier service (e.g., FedEx or DHL). 

I will NOT be responsible for UNINSURED items lost, damaged or delayed during transit.  If you would like to pay for insurance, please contact me regarding the cost.   

Cost of international shipping via USPS First Class Mail, which usually takes about 2 weeks but may take as much as 4 weeks: 

Canada

Asia

Europe

1 record

$7

$13.50

$13.50

2 records

$10

$20.50

$20.50

3 records

$12

$23

$23

4 records

$14

$26

$26

5 records (assuming less than 4 lbs.)

$16

$29

$29

Cost of international shipping via USPS Priority Mail, which usually takes about 1 week: 

Canada

Asia

Europe

1 to 2 records

$23

$31

$31

3 to 4 records

$25

$34

$34

4 to 5 records

$27

$38

$37

6 records

$29

$41

$39

PAYMENT POLICY:  I accept PayPal and U.S.-negotiable cashier’s check.  Payment must be made within five (5) business days after the bidding for the item ends.  If that timing does not work for you (because, for example, you will be on vacation, etc.), please contact me BEFORE bidding.

 ADDITIONAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ITEM:

I was going to add more details tomorrow (Sunday Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. time) about the various items that I currently have listed for auction on eBay but I have received questions regarding this particular item and I will add details about this item now.  I will add the details about the other items (with my note in the description that I would do so, including the CDs) tomorrow, as initially planned.

VISUAL Grade of the Record:  My notes on this from years ago indicated that it was Near Mint (NM).  I looked at the record again very carefully and closely under TWO (2) 75 watt light bulbs, and found 2 to 5 faint sleeve marks on each side of the record.  I also found a pressing bubble on the last track of Side 1 ("La Mer") made by the manufacturer.  In addition, there are about 7 to 10 spindle trails on each side, meaning that this record was played at least 10 times.  Therefore, I visually grade this record NM-.

PLAY Grade of the Record:  Again, my notes from years ago said that this played Near Mint (NM).  I cleaned and played this record again today and discovered that there are:
1.  One tick sound during the first minute of Side 1;
2.  Somewhere between the first minute and the last track (Track 3) of Side 1, there are about 4 or 5 repeating ticks in one spot;
3.  The pressing bubble on Track 3 of Side 1 makes like a deep bass noise for about 7 times (and a few more before that that I do not hear unless I am looking for the sound); and
4.  Depending on how sensitive your audio play back system is (especially, how well your cartridge tracks), there may some mild static-like background noise here and there, not caused by any scratches.  My cartridge does not track as well as it sounds and I have found over the years that records play with noticeably more audible background noise on my play back system than on other systems that I have listened to.
In any event, I play grade Side 1 ("La Mer", which is a bit too soft for my taste) as NM- and Side 2 ("Iberia", which is one of my favorite audiophile pieces) as NM.  Please note that this record, while very clean, IS NOT as quiet as the Bird/Brazilian Mercury also listed (although the cover for this record is slightly better) or Wozzeck/Lulu Mercury also listed.  It also is not as dead quiet as the Falla Three Cornered Hat that I just recently sold about a week ago.
If you are reading this listing, you are most likely a serious Classical vinyl lover and would understand that vinyl record (even the quietest audiophile vinyl) plays with more background noise than a CD.  If you are looking for a CD-quiet vinyl copy of this late 1950's recording, you should not bid on this item (and I would not object to you rescinding your bid now).  If you understand that most Near Mint Classical vinyl from the late 1950's will play with a bit of surface noise and that does not bother you (as it does not bother me), then this item should be of interest to you.

Cover:  Excellent.  The cover is solid and clean, with a bit of wear.  Also, if you were to tilt the front of the cover, you will see some fine sliding marks.  This cover is definitely not as clean as the Wozzeck/Lulu Mercury also listed (which is the best Mercury "color-back" cover I have ever seen personally in about 30 years of record collecting) but it slightly cleaner than the Bird/Brazilian Mercury cover, which is also graded Excellent.  This cover is better than VG+ but definitely not quite NM-, and therefore, Excellent.

Original Inner Sleeve:  The original inner sleeve is a late 1950's "rice paper".  If you are a serious U.S. 1950's Jazz vinyl collector, you know what these "rice paper" inner sleeves look like.  Typically, they are very fragile and they are torn and usually not in one piece after 50 years.  The original inner sleeve of this record is solid, crisp and clean (with a couple of folds at the two corners to keep the record in place) with a tiny piece torn at the opening.  If you look at the inner sleeve, you will know that this record was not played much and was well taken care of.  When I bought this record many years ago, I cleaned the record and have kept the record inside a new Japanese "rice paper" inner sleeve (the type that you see with Japanese pressings from the 1980's).