YES Close to the Edge SUPERB SOUND UK 1972 EX++ LP

	£		33
	$		44

ONEADAYRECORDS – Simply Delivering Quality Music to the World.

Postage: UK £4.25. Europe (including Russia) £12. Rest of World £16. ALL signed for in quality, safe packaging – I NEVER use mailing envelopes.

NOTE: I now apply the Ebay ‘4-day’ rule for non-payment. I try to keep my P&P prices as low as possible after the very significant Royal Mail price increases and will never compromise on solid, safe packing.

Artist or Band: YES

Album Title: Close to the Edge

Producer(s): Yes and Eddie Offord.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Close to the Edge.

Side 2: And You and I; Siberian Khatru.

Label, Format & Condition: Atlantic – both in lovely clean, fresh condition with only very light, few and faint spindle marks – please see my label scan.

Cat Number: K 50012.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Weight of this Record: 135 grams. A very good above average weight for this title.

Rarity, Info and the Experience: This album is not that hard to find per se, but is very hard to find in top playing conditions as a very early pressing. And I can hardly reitterate this enough. So many of these sound terrible and that is not putting too finer a point on it. For any discerning collector contemplating buying a copy of this album anywhere, buying from a trusted source with a guaranteed play-grade is ESSENTIAL. So many of these can look great, but play terrible. Only one in many will ever offer the sound the more discerning and audiophile collector will want. There are three hugely crucial areas on this album that can cause substantial problems that usually lie within the pressing. Firstly: the very start of side one with it’s ultra quiet introduction which starts from silence and very slowly builds up. This so easily damaged by careless arm placement and less than adequate pressing quality. Next the massive sound barrage from the church organ on the title song that is so often a maze of break-up and distortion, again due to poor pressing quality or playing with a worn or heavyweight stylus. And on side two, about half way through ‘And you and I’ on the very difficult Mellotron passage, this so often loses it’s clarity again with distortion and crackle on those complex grooves. So few will ever track these areas perfectly and retain the clarity for the audiophile listener. Well this early pressed and hardly played copy practically succeeds on all three of these matters and so few will ever will. The merest hint of an ultra brief surface sound hear on the first half a dozen revs of the beginning only that is beyond gentle and could easily be inaudible on less than very sensitive equipment. In fact this record has that genuine X-Factor in high fidelity terms and this sounds quite stunning. The lack of pops and clicks is always a major plus on such a fragile record where sound goes from loud to quiet – in a typical prog-rock manner – regularly. In places, the grooves mega-fine and it just reitterates how difficult a task it is to find a ‘perfect’ copy of this record. This has incredible rich sound and dynamics and with detail and delivery the later pressings can only dream of. Beautifully pressed and those incredibly difficult areas playing to near perfection. NO cringing distortions, echo or loss of clarity on that massively loud church organ or complex Mellotron. Anderson’s vocals with a true in-the-room presence and realism and all the quiet passages being as quiet as they can almost get from a 40-year-old vinyl record. A masterpiece album and one of the greatest ever prog-rock titles that offers practically master tape audio quality which made my LP12 excel. It gave me that rare tingle factor several times and actually stopped me typing to simply let the sound be absorbed. I do not offer this album lightly – there are far too many poor copies of this around, that granted, look great, but often play very disappointingly. The cover is equally challenging as is the inner sleeve – both here in very fine condition. So a superb all-round example that should please most fans and collectors.

Original Year of Release: 1972

Matrix Nos: K 50012 A3 / K 50012 B3

Musicians: Jon Anderson – vocals; Steve Howe – guitars, vocals; Chris Squire – bass, vocals; Rick Wakeman – keyboards; Bill Bruford – drums, percussion.

Brief Artist & Album Info: Probably the most popular album in the Yes catalogue, their fifth, it charted at 4 in the UK and 3 in the US – for me musically, it’s the perfect Yes album. A musical suite of three parts with stunning musicianship and super-fidelity production and beautifully packaged. Pure prog-rock of the highest quality, Yes remain within this field as popular today as they were back in the early 70s and long may they continue to be so. With arguably their best ever line-up of Anderson, Bruford, Howe, Squire and Wakeman, the music this quintet made was awe-inspiring. Everything about finding a top copy of this record is demanding: the cover, a delicate non-laminate and textured is heavily prone to all forms of wear and most have it. Later copies had the cover made smooth with the texturing removed, it even had a more glossy finish – beware of substitutions. The inner is equally delicate and often suffer horrendous ringwear, rubbing and sliced edges. And the record itself with so many quiet passages, will highlight any defects on less than perfect copies ruthlessly. The beginning is very similar to the opening of Pink Floyd’s More album, with silence that gradually fades in with delicate bird song until the band kick-in hard with a stunningly complex instrumental break. Two issues make this extra difficult: the actual pressing quality was hugely variable. Later copies especially were often noisy and simply were not up to the capability of reproducting that deep church organ break on side one or that intense Mellotron on side two without distortion and crackle. Also, this was highly intolerant of heavy tracking and thick stylus that stripped away those very complex grooves meaning poor sound again. This is a demanding and highly rewarding album that fails to age, it sounds as fresh and exciting now as it did when first made and this copy looks and sounds fantastic. A wonderful copy of one of the greatest ‘progressive’ albums ever issued.

Cover Condition and Details: EXCELLENT(+): this is unlaminated and textured on the front with a leather-like finish. The inside is smooth. Cover design by Roger Dean and made in England. Includes a superb original green lyric inner sleeve.

Cover Front: Deceptively difficult and rarely seen devoid of rubbing, fading and ageing. Later examples were made without the texturing and were coated making them far more resilient. This front is one of the best I have ever seen with barely any rubbing at all. The only crease is a small one on the bottom left corner which has had a minor dink in the past. A cover that was cover-protected and this makes a huge difference to these fragile outer faces.

Cover Back: The same tip crease and odd trace or rub on the tips of others. As per the front, rich deep and vibrant colour, the lack of rubbing and especially ring wear is rare and most welcome – two impressive outer covers.

Cover Gatefold Inner: Simply stunning artwork and another classic Roger Dean landscape – practically unworn and very clean too. The effect has a stunning green pastel hue and the top an equally impressive blue colour. This has to be seen for real to be fully appreciated. A very faint hint of a semi-crease near the top and a small adhesive mark from within manufacture, again it shows little one the left edge. All the positives outweigh any minor small negatives.

Top Edges: A very fine rub on the back edge near the right corner, little else. Both remain very straight as well.

Bottom Edges: Barely any rubbing at all, again neat and straight.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, beautifully crisp and sharp with minimal traces of any wear and no thickening or burring. Record enters on the back edge.

Spine and Text: Little short of as made in terms of lack of wear, just a very slight tilt to right but any compression very slight indeed. Solid and straight and only folded a fraction off-square so a marginal loss of being totally flush on the edges, but little more than a couple of millimeters. Barely any hint of rubbing and all text is perfect and unworn as seen on my close-up pictures.

Corners: Any tip rubbing is very small and light with excellent shape is retained. Just a minor dink on the spine bottom with any creasing light.

Cover Summary: Being so wear-prone, I feel this is almost an exceptional example. I have seen very few with less wear and to see the spine and it’s folds with so little wear is a real achievement. The owner by and large kept this cover protected and it makes a huge difference. Barely any will escape minor rub traces at the very least and few will match or better this. Most collectors should appreciate this attractive cover.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT(++): a remarkable example of this inner – the reason why? – the owner did not store the record inside, but put inside a replacement lined inner. Hence this is one of the very best I have seen. NO edge splits – NO ring wear – NO creasing and BARELY any hint of record impression or marks. This retains intense green colour and freshness and all edges are intact, that is beyond difficult as many split in transit from the factory to the retailer. Also, one of the few I have seen with no ring wear. A small mark near the bottom of the front and the rear has two large external flipbacks which are both immaculate. A little gentle rubbing on the edges but even the right entrance edge is crisp and neat and guaranteed untrimmed. This is exceptional as I hope my pictures show.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(++): a very solid pressing, intense black with a lovely shine and any surface marks, few, light and faint as seen under bright angled light. Again, with storage inside a lined alternative inner, this has protected the surfaces well, and many are seen with considerable friction abrasive marks from the less gentle original one. This copy has no penetrating scratches and plays superbly throughout, without any doubt, little played and it should please most collecors.

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 miniscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This prog-rock masterpiece plays with astonishing clean sound. That ‘impossible’ intro that is silence and fades in with birdsong and then loud music, has the faintest of faint surface trace sound within the pressing for around six revs, but I emphasise this is very gentle indeed and could even be missed on less sensitive equipment. Brilliant clear sound, superbly produced and an exceptional pressing as early copies often are – but this can never be guaranteed without a full and discerning play-grade on a quality system. A massively challenging album with several lengthy passages of quietness, this plays very well indeed. No distortion or sound degrading whatsoever and this is a real hi-fi recording that will thrill audiophile listeners. That massively loud church organ on the title song is a major obstacle for less than worthy systems that will simply fall apart trying to reproduce those challenging expanded frequencies. This copy holds all that sound perfectly together without the usual crackle and distortion. No heavy blunt stylus have been near this copy. One for those people, like me I guess, who are prepared to spend considerable sums on quality British equipment to glean the most from ultra clean records for maximum pleasure. Wakeman’s keyboard work tests any system to it’s limits and this passes with extra stars. Church organ and deep Mellotron are amongst the most difficult sounds to track and those complex grooves are so easily damaged, not just by careless playing, but also by inground debris and poor pressing quality. Later copies rarely hit the mark. Certainly up there with the very best copies I have yet heard. I feel sure this copy will please most collectors, this sets the bar high and how many will ever play with nothing unwanted? – let’s be honest. This merits my strong possible recommendation.

End Piece: ‘Close to the Edge’ remains one of the most challenging and difficult albums to find like this and is ultimately one of the greatest progressive rock albums ever issued. Five brilliant men at the very peak of their creativity, it hardly ever got better than this. With all the blandness and mediocrity around these days, get this on to a worthy system and once again cherish the music that made those times so creative and special. This is truly wonderful – do not lose it! Please also see my scarce copy of ‘Fragile’ I have on offer from the same collection.

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 Terrarium Black 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. 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 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 stiffeners 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 8,000+ items sold in over 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 2 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). 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 FOUR days if no payment is received. I will then cancel the dispute to end the, 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 and they take the Ebay consequences (a strike or removal from the system). 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] = £4.25

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £8. (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 [£50 maximum]) = £12 (enhanced Royal Mail insurance is an optional extra £3). Add £3 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 (£17 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’.