THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN – RARE ORIG UK 1968 EX++ MONO LP, SUPERB SOUND.

	£		57
	$		76

ONEADAYRECORDS – Serving-up a Christmas & New Year Feast of Entertainment

I would like to wish all my customers, regulars and newcomers, a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR

Over the Holiday Period, I am offering some interesting Christmas ‘Crackers’ – lovely albums – some rare – ENJOY!

Postage: UK £4.75 (£1 per extra record). Europe (including Russia) £12.50 (£2 per extra record). Rest of World (including ALL parts of the USA) £16.50 (£3 per extra record). All boxes signed for in quality, safe packaging – I NEVER use mailing envelopes that offer virtually no protection at all, and records WILL arrive damaged in them at some time as most record buyers will already know. Here, you get what you pay for – SAFE PACKING in BOXES using 7mm DOUBLE-WALL STIFFENERS including full side protection and bubble wrap, the records removed from the covers of course. All this very safe packing means I lose money on every box I post, but safe delivery is, and will always be paramount. You WILL see the difference when my packet arrives. Also, I will pay for insurance on any record that sells for over £100 at NO extra cost – that is UK and abroad. Also I aim to post the very same day after payment is received if possible. PLEASE NOTE: I will NOT send any item, no matter what its value without a Royal Mail or courier tracking number. ALL my items must be signed and traceable to comply with Ebay delivery rules. Please do NOT ask me to make any exceptions to this rule as no country offers 100% reliable service without it.

Posting to Russia: Yes, I do post to Russia. But delivery can take up to 4 to 6 weeks from the UK. So please be patient. I will submit a tracking number to the winning bidder, and when the packet arrives there it can be followed online using the Russian post website.

ALSO: I now apply the Ebay ‘2-day’ rule for non-payment to keep things moving – cash-flow is important for any small business.

FINALLY: Late payers, non-payers and ‘0’ bidders will now be blocked or cancelled at my discretion. As will any bidder who cancels a bid. I do not like this practice as it is most often used to phish out the price to beat. Ebay does not approve and neither do I – so only bid on my items if you want them.

Artist or Band: THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN

Album Title: The Crazy World of Arthur Brown

Producer: Kit Lambert

Executive Producer: Pete Townshend

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Prelude–Nightmare; Fanfare–Fire Poem; Fire; Come and Buy; Confusion.

Side 2: I Put a Spell on You; Spontaneous Apple Creation; Rest Cure; Money; Child of My Kingdom.

Label/Format: Track – intense black with matt surfaces that have a very gentle hint of texturing. This original has the mono logo as seen.

Label Conditions: Both in superb condition, very clean, fresh and attractive with only a tiny few light spindle marks. An amazing copy without hardly played with sound quality to match, another from a collection purchased from new by one owner and cover-protected.

Catalogue Number: 612005

Mode / Speed: Mono / 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: 134 grams.

Rarity: Scarce – and mono copies in particular are very difficult to find in top visual and playing condition. A very complex and full-on recording that was so easily ruined by heavyweight tracking and heavy usage. This one hardly played and offering stunning sound quality throughout.

Original Year of Release: 1968

Matrix Nos: 612005 A 1 1 1 1 9 / 612005 B 1 1 1 1 6

Musicians: Arthur Brown – vocals; Vincent Crane – keyboards; Sean Nicholas – bass guitar; Drachen Theaker – drums.

Album Information: A progressive-psych classic and featuring one of the UK’s wildest and most eccentric performers, this unique debut features the classic single Fire. For those around at the time, who could forget Brown’s performance on ‘Top of the Pops’ back in those mind-bending days of the late 1960s? On came this dervish man coated in face paint and bellowing ‘I AM THE GOD OF HELL FIRE, AND I BRING YOU, FIRE!’ while his famous headpiece blazed away – this guy was always ahead of his time, it must have caused mild panic in case he burned the studio down. He soon gained a cult following in the UK underground rock scene. This famous debut features Vince Crane, latterly of Atomic Rooster and note the executive producer, Pete Townshend of The Who. This copy on offer is a very early mono version and includes a superb record and cover. The sleeve being very hard to find even in respectable conditions, it being prone to heavy creasing and laminate problems with lifting and poor adhesion often rife. The silver and black back always wears badly unless kept very carefully, ring wear often cuts into this one. This one has little to fault and has survived the years brilliantly due to its cover protection. The record is equally difficult to find that plays well, the intense sound and vocals often the victim of old heavy-tracking and worn stylus from yester-year, resulting in crackle and distortion. The sound on this one is little short of immaculate and was a thrill to play-grade. Finding a better mono copy of this one-off classic will prove immensely difficult.

Cover Condition and Details: EXCELLENT(++): a single format with a laminated front that wraps around all the folds and on to the back via the spine. The back matt and smooth. One of the classic psych covers, my photograph is not out of focus, it was intentionally made blurred for effect. Printed and made in England by Polydor and includes the polylined 1968 date-coded inner sleeve.

Cover Front & Lamination: The laminate retains excellent shine, freshness and clarity with only a light rim dull at the top and bottom as seen under light. Just one tiny lift on the top right corner tip and also one fine sliver of non-adhesion in manufacture. That nothing to do with wear as it would have been present from day of purchase. Often this cover has many of those and natural non-adhesion is common on this sleeve. Bubbling and mottle is very common and this one has virtually avoided it. So the colourful close up of Arthur Brown looks superb. Any creasing minimal, fine and faint near the edges and up there with the very least I have seen. This cover front totally blows away its 50-years-of-age and only cover-protected examples have any chance of doing so.

Cover Back: Totally uncompromising with silver colour ink that is exposed with no laminate protection. This back is in remarkable condition, little short of issued in terms of lack of rubbing and freshness, any creasing little and very light again. The lack of ring wear especially is rarely seen, but here barely even a trace, and any rim impression minimal and very faint. What a superb back to complement the quality front.

Top Edge: The laminated fold is very thin, but still straight with no wear. The card panel end has only the lightest thickening possible and the entire edge remains very neat.

Bottom Edge: Practically mint as-made.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, mainly sharp with any thickening little patchy and light, this guaranteed untrimmed. Record enters on this edge.

Spine and Text: Solid, quite straight with any compression patchy and light. The ends are nipped in manufacture. All the text is unworn and fully present as seen under solid and unpeeled, smooth laminate.

Corners: Any tip rubbing tiny and light with better than excellent shape retained. No knocks or dinks, unusually clean and impressive for such a delicate cover.

Cover Summary: An very impressive example of a fragile and deceptively difficult sleeve. One I have seen a fair number of times, and most do not even come close to this. It tolerates rough handling and poor storage badly, and only the most lightly handled examples had any chance. As stated, this one cover protected and very attractive, it should please many, if not most collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT: with little to fault bar the usual darkening of the white paper that politely reminds of age. The Polydor-style polylined inner has few creases and the polylining intact and quite clear as seen through two neat undamaged window circles. The lining centre has the hole mark. All edges unsplit with no repairs, and no writing. This has the 098 (September 1968 date-code).

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(++): a very fine visual copy that is very clean with fine shine and very solidly pressed. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence with just one small very fine surface mark that does nothing whatsoever, then any surface traces very light, wispy and faint as seen critically under bright light. No penetrating stylus scratches, viewed in average room light, barely anything even registers. Again under light, a faint trace of inner sleeve dulling that hardly even registers again in room light, this almost as light as it gets and minimal indeed. I doubt if this record has been removed from the cover for decades. Visually a super record that should please many, if not 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 snippets or joining grooves to check for sound quality and quietness – I play from the beginning to end via clinically revealing equipment, all listed further down.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This full-on sound psychedelic classic plays even above it’s high visual grading with barely anything to fault. Offering strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear – sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. Any surface sounds are minimal indeed, barely anything heard at all and rarely can that be said for a 50-year-old mono record of this complexity. This an exceptional clean pressing with no tracking issues* or inherent pressing noises of flaws. Few available copies will match, let alone outperform this very early pressing I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp when played on a standard stereo system. I am certain this record has been played very lightly and has been very well stored and carefully handled within a non-smoking environment. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record. It will prove very difficult to find better and merits my highest recommendation.

* As played-graded on a high-end Linn LP12 Sondek turntable with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Black moving coil cartridge tracking at 2.2 grams. Records are a ‘contact’ format, and few will avoid the odd minor sound blemish.

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 as I Play-Grade every record I offer in their entirety – also on higher-end equipment – 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 it’s 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 the item being offered with no digital enhancements. Room light factors can make things vary sometimes, that is hard to control, especially in winter. 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. 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/Hercules/Cirkus with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Black moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2.2 grams). Amps: Naim Supernait 2 with Project USB phono stage and Tellerium Black interconnects. Speakers: B&W 805 Nautilus (bi-wired with Tellurium Black terminated cable) with REL subwoofer. All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Nessie vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too. Pictures taken with a Nikon D5000 SLR Digital Camera.

PACKING - THIS IS WHAT YOU GET.

What You Get: To confirm to the strict Ebay rules on shipping, I must now send ALL my packets ‘Signed-For’ with NO exceptions. Both buyers and sellers want their packets to have a safer journey and this is not a bad thing.

I now offer the fastest possible posting, often the very next day after payment is received or within two to three days maximum (unless on holiday). I only use FIRST-CLASS Mail. The record’s cover will be placed within a BRAND NEW soft protective sleeve and the actual record will be professionally cleaned on my new Nessie Pro vacuum system to give ultimate clean grooves and playing surfaces and the best possible looks and ultimate sound quality. 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. All records are posted in professional boxes (NOT Mailers, these do not offer any real protection). The record(s) are 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 at least TWO, ULTRA THICK stiffeners for maximum extra protection – these are FOUR TIMES thicker than commercial stiffeners and are custom-made for oneadayrecords. Really rare and expensive albums will even be Double Boxed if deemed necessary and possible. When larger boxes are used, the thick record and stiffener ‘sandwich’ is then thickly embedded into bubble-wrap to bulk out the record inside the box to centre the item inside to reduce the risk of damage still further. Printed address labels are used for clarity as well as a sender label. Customers requests or special needs for P&P will be respected if at all possible but ‘Signed-For’ posting is NOT an option anymore. I do not profit on posting, better quality packaging costs, I offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible for ultimate confidence. The boxes and ultra thick double-wall stiffeners make a near impregnable fortress for safe shipping and this is used inland and overseas for ALL my records, not just the rare and expensive. I will invoice any winning bidder as soon as possible after the auction ends. My ‘loss’ or ‘damage rate’ is minuscule in over 17­ years of Ebay trading and I consider that pretty exceptional. The only damage rate acceptable for this seller is ZERO and I think my packets will offer just that. It would take a vicious postman or postal service to damage these for sure. Oneadayrecords is a MAILER-FREE ZONE. I discount of course for multiple purchases with a maximum of FIVE records per box (one double can sometimes be included subject to total weight). All postage costs are below and at the top of the listing.

NOTE: First Time Bidders: Please ask me first.

PLEASE NOTE: I now exercise my right to open a dispute after the Ebay rule of TWO days if no payment is received. I will then cancel the dispute to end the bid, again after the mandatory FOUR days and then offer the item to the runner-up or relist. The non-payer will also be blocked from my Ebay site as will any suspicious bids or bid withdrawals. Small businesses need prompt payment to trade and these strict rules WILL be applied.

SHIPPING COSTS & CONDITIONS – THESE comply with EBAY’S RULES - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:

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

1 LP (FIRST-CLASS Recorded Delivery with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) [Signed For] = £4.75

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7.50. (this includes insurance of £500). Add £1 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: EUROPE & SCANDINAVIA. (Airmail Only):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£50 maximum]) = £12.50 (enhanced Royal Mail insurance is an optional extra £3). Add £2 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: ALL OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. USA (ANY PART OF); South America; New Zealand; Australia; Canada; Japan and other Far East; (Airmail Only: I NEVER use Surface Mail):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£50 maximum]) = £16.50 (£17.50 for double sets). Add £3 per extra LP. (enhanced Royal Mail insurance is an optional extra £3)

Payment Conditions:

I prefer PayPal or cheque from UK winning bidders. I can accept PayPal from overseas bidders or direct payment into my bank account.

Potential Bidders: I will cancel any bids I feel are time-wasters. 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. I will not refund if any defect detail is clearly stated on the advert and missed by the buyer, so read the item description carefully. If any overseas collector does not understand anything in my listing, please email and ask me to help. Thank You.

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 necessarily 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’.