TRAFFIC-Mr. Fantasy-OR.RARE 1ST UK PINK ISLAND MONO VG+ LP/LAMINATED FLIP-BACK

$

59

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**FOR RECORDS: ITEMS ARE VISUALLY GRADED UNDER A T-4 HALOGEN LAMP, UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED. RECORDS ARE NOT PLAY GRADED UNLESS SPECIFICALLY STATED SO. PLEASE KNOW THIS BEFORE YOU BID. ALL MEDIA PRODUCTS; RECORDS/TAPES/REELS/CD'S ARE FINAL SALE. RECORDS LISTED AS "OR." OR ORIGINAL ARE ORIGINAL PRESSINGS. RECORDS NOT LISTED AS "OR." ARE EITHER REISSUES, IMPORTS, OR WE SIMPLY DO NOT KNOW WHETHER OR NOT IT IS AN ORIGINAL, SO WE WILL NOT LIST IT AS ONE. WE DO NOT REFUND FOR A "DIFFERENCE OF GRADING OPINION." AGAIN, ALL MEDIA ITEMS ARE FINAL SALE!!!!! WE CANNOT DETERMINE HOW WELL A RECORD/TAPE/REEL/ OR CD WILL PLAY ON THE VAST ARRAY OF EQUIPMENT STILL UTILIZED IN THE WORLD, THUS OUR EQUIPMENT IS THE STANDARD FOR OUR LISTINGS.  

*ALL ITEMS MUST BE PAID WITHIN 2 DAYS. WE ALLOW 2 DAYS AND/OR 15 ITEMS PER INVOICE FROM 1ST WINNING ITEM IN WHICH TO BID ON OTHER ITEMS TO OBTAIN A MULTI-ITEM S&H DISCOUNT.  IF YOU PURCHASE MORE THAN ONE ITEM AT A TIME, PLEASE WAIT TO PAY UNTIL WE SEND YOU AN INVOICE WITH YOUR S&H DISCOUNT. IF YOU PAY BEFORE WE INVOICE YOU, YOU WILL LOSE YOUR MULTI-ITEM S&H DISCOUNT. ALSO, WE NOW HAVE AN EBAY ASSISTANT FOR NON-PAYING BIDDERS. YOU MUST EMAIL US FOR PERMISSION, PRIOR TO BIDDING, IF YOU WILL NEED MORE THAN 4 DAYS TO PAY. OTHERWISE, A NON-PAYING BIDDER CASE WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE OPENED AND MONITORED BY EBAY IF YOU HAVE NOT PAID IN THE ALLOTED 2 DAY PAYMENT TIME PERIOD. WE MARK ALL ITEMS "SHIPPED," BUT DO NOT POST TRACKING BECAUSE OF OUR WORK SCHEDULE. HOWEVER, YOUR U.S. TRACKING NUMBER OR INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED NUMBER IS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST, AND GLADLY PROVIDED.

*OTHER ITEMS: WE EXPRESS NO WARRANTY OR GUARANTEE FOR ANY ITEMS THAT WE HAVE NOT TESTED, OR KNOW FOR A FACT TO BE NOT IN WORKING ORDER OR USED. WE EXPRESS NO WARRANTY OR GUARANTEE OF WORKING OR NEW ITEMS, UNLESS IMPLIED BY THE MANUFACTURER.

*ASK QUESTIONS WHILE THE AUCTIONS ARE STILL CURRENT, NOT AFTER THEY'VE CLOSED, AND ALLOW 24-48 HOURS FOR A RESPONSE. CONTACT US THROUGH THE EBAY ITEM "ASK SELLER A QUESTION" FOR THE FASTEST RESPONSE. IF YOU EMAIL OUR PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESS, A RESPONSE COULD TAKE 5-7 DAYS.  

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Hello! We Will be offering an array of other goodies from our shop, vast collections, and consignments!  Please check out our other items!

***PLEASE NOTE*** WE ACCEPT PAYPAL PAYMENTS FOR VERIFIED/CONFIRMED CUSTOMERS ONLY.  

SHIPPING*** As you ALL are aware, the USPS/U.S. Post Office raised its rates 7-10% again on Jan.16th, 2016. Unfortunately, for the first time in almost 10 years, we will be forced to raise our shipping rates as well. It also does not help matters when Ebay takes an additional 10% fee of your postage.

RECORD GRADES: These grades are for records, not covers. See entire description above for other grading details. Covers will be graded differently and can be seen in the photos with the magnifying glass for your inspection. I will not be observing covers in depth for “dings” and “creases,” but will obviously describe any major flaws,splits,writing. Please see the item description and photos for your inspection. And by all means,please ask if you have a specific question regarding any record,cover,sleeve,insert.

MINT: Sealed. Only sealed, NEW items will receive this grade. We entirely disagree with all of the Ebay sellers who say their “opened” and “used” records are “MINT” or worse, “STONE MINT.” It is impossible by definition alone. Any open item is no longer “new” and therefore no longer “mint.” It's pretty simple.

NM: A record that may only have slight pressing or handling imperfections. Few to no surface hairlines or scuffs. Plays thoroughly without sticks or skips. Little to no surface noise.

VG++: Visual and/or audio signs of play, but still well taken care of. May have a few surface hairlines,scuffs or surface scratches that do not affect play. Plays thoroughly without skips or sticks. May have a bit of light, intermittent surface noise in between tracks or in quieter passages.

VG+: Visual and/or audio signs of more significant play or handling. May have more significant surface marks, but none tactile. Plays thoroughly with or without an intermittent tick and some surface noise, but not overpowering the music. May have a stick or skip. Still, a very listenable item.

VG: Visual and audio wear. Will play with varying or constant surface noise. May have one or more more significant or tactile marks causing a tick, skip, or stick once or more during play. Mostly reserved for very rare or scare items as a “starter” copy of a very hard to find item.

GOOD: Not good, and unless wholesaled mainly for the covers, not a grade that is particularly used.

 We DO combine for a multi-item shipping discount! SUPERB CLASSIC/PROGRESSIVE/ PSYCH ROCK LP'S & RARITIES!! PLUS, SOME PROMO 45'S ALSO GOING UP FOR AUCTION THIS WEEK WITH NO RESERVES! 

‘MR FANTASY’: THE RECORDING HISTORY: In memory of Len Tibbits, brother of Harry Tibbits. He died shuvling gravel…!?

‘DEAR MISTER FANTASY, PLAY US A TUNE…’

Album Overview of:-

‘MR FANTASY’ by TRAFFIC

The close of 1967. ‘The Skyline Ballroom’ perched atop the main Co-op supermarket in Hull city centre. And Traffic are on stage. Pale frail Stevie Winwood stooped protectively behind the keyboards. Chris Wood off to the right blowing flute, the hulking form of Jim Capaldi behind a barrage of drums… which restricts Dave Mason to centre-stage. He’s singing “Hole In My Shoe”, and when he gets to the mid-point little-girl poem about riding on the back of a giant albatross through a crack in the clouds, he hopefully extends the microphone down into the audience so that someone can grab the opportunity-of-a-lifetime to recite it live – but there’s no takers. Eventually he retrieves the microphone and does it himself, hesitatingly, as though a little self-conscious. When the vinyl gatefold ‘Mr Fantasy’ album was originally issued in December 1967 its ten tracks did not include the time-related singles. The Cover; Flip open Chris Wood’s soft-red lens-filter artwork of the band sitting in the bohemian sparsity of their rehearsal retreat in Sheepcott Farm, Aston Tirrold on the Berkshire Downs, roaring log-fire in the grate, candles, and the pierrot figure intended to represent the title character. And the stylus hits the side-one groove with honking sax buffeting into “Heaven Is In Your Mind” through stereo pulsations from speaker to speaker, unless you were one of the very lucky few who was able to obtain an original, extremely rare mono pressing of the masterpiece which enables the whole room to light up with the entire band in full. The lyric advocates the cod-philosophy of the George Harrison “Inner Light” school, a god of simple things, ‘water the flowers that grow at your heel… an apple is simple and real’, truth is found in these anti-materialist things, ‘capturing moments of life in a jar’ and ‘playing with children’. “Berkshire Poppies” extends the mood, set to a faltering beat, interrupted by the ignition-flare of someone lighting up – presumably a joint, and eloquent burps. A day in the city, ‘oh what a pity’, it’s a phoney over-crowded place where ‘murderers crawl after girls in the dark’. A sing-along paean to the simple-life, its drifts of random half-audible conversation suggest that other elements are also at play. Isn’t there a connection between ‘Poppies’ and narcotics, or is that to take it one step too far? “House For Everyone”, the first of three Dave Mason songs, is followed by Winwood’s stark acoustic “No Face, No Name, No Number” about his yearning to find a lover who will answer his deep spiritual needs, limned by Chris Wood’s sympathetic flute. The side closes with the 5.42-minute title track, again utilizing Stevie at his most vocally pleading across an improvisationally stoned pastoral vibe. Whether the ‘Mr Fantasy’ figure is an escapist high, a heightened level of consciousness, or just dream-escape from reality, it’s free-flowing and powerfully inventive. Jim Capaldi’s “Dealer” opens side two with nimble-fingered Spanish guitar and flute, de-romanticizing – but by doing so, romanticizing ‘the man who feels nothing deep inside’ just as certainly as every other druggie anthem of the period by Lou Reed, Arthur Lee, or Steppenwolf. Then Dave Mason’s “Utterly Simple” recapitulates the album’s Arcadian rural theme that truth is found in fairy-tales, Lewis Carroll’s Alice and the back-to-nature hermit sitting in his cave, but despite the repeated assertions of simplicity there’s cluttering sitar and portentous telephone voice-over effects. “Coloured Rain” is the perfect jazz-literate antidote, an intuitively tight musical organism built around strong soulful Blues lines. After Dave Mason’s third dose of whimsy with “Hope I Never Find Me There” the album closes with a stoned jive-talk jazzy instrumental “Giving To You” with passages of wide-ranging effortlessly-fluid telepathic extemporisation periodically reined back to Chris Wood’s signature flute-phrase (‘a bouncy rhythm’ comments ‘NME’ ‘with modern-jazz overtones’). This is probably where Winwood feels most at ease. In total, ‘Mr Fantasy’ is wistfully psychedelic in that very specific English sense of the term. If it’s indefinably flawed, that’s part of it too. An aspect of its time. They were charting unpaced sound. Making up the genre as they were evolving it. Traffic’s was an accidental art. They would survive through a number of future incarnations, but they would never sound quite like this again. Truly fantastic, yet simplistic prog/psych masterpiece. (Paraphrase passage of A.D. review)

TRAFFIC  - "MR. FANTASY," ORIGINAL UK ISLAND RECORDS, RARE MONO PRESSING LP; PINK LABELS & LAMINATED FLIP-BACK GATEFOLD Cover is in pretty nice-very nice condition (see photos). LP has light/thin surface hairlines;thin surface scratches & is in VG+ condition. PLAYS VG++ & SOUNDS GREAT ON OUR VECTOR TABLE.  Not a collector's top copy, but a great playing AND listening copy of a VERY RARE & HARD TO FIND MONO ORIGINAL MATERPIECE. Actually, you may not even find another one of these mono originals for sale anytime soon!! **PLEASE SEE PHOTOS FOR TRACK LISTINGS & ATTRIBUTES FOR FULL DETAILS.  THIS IS FROM MY HUSBAND'S PRIVATE COLLECTION.