THE NICE Ars Longa Vita SCARCE ORIG UK 1968 Reaction LP

	£		52
	$		69

ONEADAYRECORDS – Delivering Quality Music to the World

Please see my Detailed Packing Description Further Down & All Shipping Costs and Options.

Artist or Band: THE NICE

Album Title: Ars Longa Vita.

Producer(s): The Nice.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Daddy Where Did I Come From; Little Arabella; Happy Freuds; Intermezzo from the Karalia Suite; Don Edito El Gruva.

Side 2: Symphony for Group and Orchestra movements 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th movement including ‘Acceptance’ “Brandeburger’’.

Label/Format: Immediate - original deep pink format (Please see my label scan).

Label Conditions: Both in fantastic condition: very clean, super fresh and highly attractive with only light and a tiny few very light and faint spindle marks and no wear around the hole area. Without any doubt, this superb record has hardly been played.

Cat Number: IMSP 020.

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: 134 grams. About average for it’s era.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: SCARCE: and even more so in this very fine condition, the record especially will prove immensely difficult to find better for looks and sound.

Original Year of Release: 1968

Matrix Nos: IMSP 020 1Y-2 / IMSP 020 2Y-2

Mother & Stamper Codes: 1 R / 1 G [one of the earliest copies ever made, 1 G’s are highly prized and sort after and are the ultimate first stampers.]

Musicians: Keith Emerson – keyboards; Lee Jackson – bass guitar; Brian Davison – drums. Guest: Malcolm Langstaff – guitar.

Brief Artist & Album Info: Nice by name… nice by nature – the band’s second album and another gem, following the highly important and somewhat groundbreaking debut that skillfully blended psych with progressive rock. This largely follows on but does not include David O’List who left during recording sessions. A new guitarist was decided against and the sound now laid the foundation for future supergroup Emerson, Lake and Palmer after The Nice split. Blending rock with classical and using real orchestra – this vintage gem is a marvellous album and always highly regarded. Virtuoso performances from Keith Emerson as usual, this is vintage early progressive music that helped established the genre. This being a super copy with a record hardly played and sounding marvellous and a cover, which is notoriously, highly prone to wear, being attractive with any slight. Overall a very early copy that should please many, if not most collectors.

This Cover’s Potential for Wear: High: dark, flimsy and unlaminated with a thick record inside for way over 40 years, all ingredients for all forms of wear and few avoid it.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(-): and hard to find looking this nice and my grading is probably too harsh to this unforgiving, but classic cover. A single unlaminated format with three huge external rear flipbacks. Printed and made in England with no credits.

Cover Front: This looks really great: the artwork is superb and shows the three band member’s skeletons which look highly effective on such a black backdrop. Even more so showing so little wear too, apart from a little very minor edge rubbing on the right edge, there is little else to fault. Any marks few, tiny and faint and the same for creasing with just one fine on near the spine edge. The lack of rubbing and especially ringwear is a massive bonus and this famous, early prog cover front will prove very difficult to find better.

Cover Back: Not so many 1960s covers had flipbacks without laminate, and when they were made this way, the flipbacks are often wrecked. These three are still as solid as when made and only aged a little by what appears to be adhesive darkening which appears as mild staining near the bottom the spine one. Slight grubbiness being a little critical for one this great age bu the actual main panel has barely any of real note. This too has has barely any real wear being barely rubbed and devoid of creasing with no ringwear. A very fragile cover that has survived in highly pleasing visual condition.

Top Edge: Any rub traces are tiny and faint.

Bottom Edge: Light and patchy rubbing only, being the resting edge, this has also fared well.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, quite sharp with little wear and no feathering or trimming. Very slight rubbing on the front on the critical very end of the card, few will ever avoid this and beware of trimming if all looks too perfect. Record enters on this edge.

Spine and Text: Solid but made very thin, straight with some compression that few avoid. The text is mostly present but some clipping or light partical rubbing to some characters which again will seldom be avoided totally.

Corners: All four have light tip rubs with fine shape retained.

Cover Summary: A strong all-round example of this very fragile 60’s cover, one that has a little mainly mild wear or slightly ageing, but these have to be taken into true perspective. This is 42-years-old, thin and fragile and most will struggle to make a respectable very good grading these days and many considerable lower. It will prove difficult to find much better. This still highly attractive example should please many collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT(++): the plain white unlined, solid inner has aged little and looks fantastic. All edges secure with no repairs, barely any creasing or darkening with just the odd near microscopic nick near the top opening edge. This has the first ‘Patent Applied For’ text.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(++): a superb visual copy that is super clean, shiny, intense black and very solidly pressed. A copy hardly even played on all the visual evidence and reitterated by fantastic clean sound. Any visual blemishes are in the pressing itself and they have NO sound anyway, so this almost reminds of new. Visually a super 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 snippets 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 minuscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This lovely record plays up to and even exceeds it’s high visual grading with practically nothing to fault. 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 and anything barely even registered and no pops or clicks were noted and this is an exceptional clean pressing for what is a somewhat challenging and complex album. Few copies will match or outperform this very early pressing significantly I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played very lightly and has been clearly well stored and carefully handled, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record. This copy will prove very difficult to find significantly better and can be 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/Hercules/Cirkus with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Rondo Red moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2 grams). Amps: Naim Nait 5i with Project USB phono stage and Chord interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired with QED Silver terminated cable). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional VPI-17 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.

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 VPI-17 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 and the cost of this lavish packing is NOT even charged for, I offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible for ultimate confidence. The boxes and ultra thick double-wall stiffners and bubble wrap 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 less than one in two thousand based on over 7,000+ items sold in nearly 10 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. Even one of these stiffeners cannot be bent by hand, so what chance 3 or 4 inside a box? 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). I will not respond to questions on shipping costs as all the details are included here and on ALL of my adverts. Details below:

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 & 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.

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7.50. (this includes insurance of £500). Add £2 per extra LP.

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

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£40 maximum]) = £9. (insurance optional extra £3). Add £2.50 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 [£39 maximum]) = £13. Add £4 per extra LP. (insurance 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: Please do not bid if you have negative feedback unless checking first, 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’.