AL STEWART Love Chronicles SCARCE Orig UK 69 Stereo EX.

	£		37
	$		49

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Artist or Band: AL STEWART

Album Title: Love Chronicles.

Producer(s): Roy Guest & John Wood.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: In Brooklyn; Old Compton Street Blues; The Ballad of Mary Foster; Life and Life Only.

Side 2: You Should Have Listened To Al; Love Chronicles.

Label/Format: CBS (Please see my label scan).

Label Conditions: Both very clean and attractive with only light and faint spindle marks, some long but fine and only showing under light, there is no wear around the hole area and both playing surfaces are in very clean conditions with any surface marks faint and very few. All high indication of very light plays.

Cat Number: S 63460.

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: An impressive 155 grams. [These days, many modern Audiophile reissues are pressed on super-heavyweight 180 gram vinyl. Only a small percentage of ‘vintage vinyl’ was ever pressed this heavy. Records pressed in the 1960s averaged around 135 to 145 grams. Records pressed in the 1970s were usually lighter and averaged more around 115 – 125 grams. Some records pressed around 1973 were very thin and light due an oil crisis and shortage around this time. Some records were even issued on recycled vinyl from this period and sounded poor with crackle and surface noise evident from the very first play. If any record I buy is deemed ‘recycled’, I will never offer it, I have a very simple test to detect these records if I suspect this to be the case other than audible imperfection. Some records from this period were even pressed on other materials the most notable was ‘Dynaflex’, used by RCA around this time. Although inferior to vinyl, this at least mostly sounded reasonably acceptable but pressings on this material were wafer thin and flimsy. Beyond the 70s, many records often became thinner and lighter still but most played fine but were never quite the quality as from the ‘Golden Era’]. (This was based on ‘average’ weights for 50 records from these eras.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Scarcer in stereo: the covers were printed with the mono number and were used for the first stereo pressings that included a huge stereo sticker on the back (as per this one).

Original Year of Release: Early 1969

Matrix Nos: SBPG 63460 A2 / SBPG 63460 B2

Musicians: Al Stewart - vocals, guitar; Jimmy Page - guitar; Simon Breckenridge (aka, Simon Nicol) - guitar; Mervyn Prestwyck (aka, Richard Thompson) - guitar; Brian Brocklehurst (aka, Ashley Hutchins) - bass; Harvey Burns - drums; Martyn Francis - drums; Brian Odgers - bass.

Brief Info: For me, Al Stewart’s classic album, a beautiful, sublime record that tells stories of lovers and his experiences of love - the album’s title is spot on. Stewart was part of the later 60s bedsitter folkies, not dissimilar to John Martyn and Michael Chapman. A highly creditably songwriter with a hint of a camp tinge in his voice. The girls loved it. Years before, arguably his most famous album, The Year of the Cat, which for me is not even close to this gem, he recorded his mammoth track ‘Love Chronicles’, a sort of up-tempo ‘Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands’ by Dylan. This is an autobiographical epic song about his early childhood loves, his first kiss, his loss of innocence, loves won, loves lost, until he describes in song how he ended up with right girl and he first made love instead of just having sex. This album is reputed to be the first that used the word “f**king’, and it’s used in the proper sense and not just for the sake of trying to shock (as it did more at this time). Even better was the woeful tale of a young girl falling into prostitution through a series of unlucky circumstances - ‘Old Compton Street Blues’ is a superb song, well worth your attention as ‘the circle it turns and turns and turns so mad little girl’. This album is majestically backed with various musicians including Ashley Hutchings on bass, Richard Thompson and Jimmy Page (yes THE Jimmy Page) on guitars - this should speak for itself. Like many a classics of this era and type, e.g. Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, this did not even chart in the UK or US and hence the early copies are quite scarce and collectable. A vintage copy that can boast a very respectable and attractive original E. J. Day cover - it is a beautifully designed one too, please see the back picture especially, was the lady one of Al’s loves? The actual record is very clean and very heavy indeed, an impressive early CBS record with very deep grooves. This gorgeous album deserves to be heard and must rank as one of the lesser treasures of the late 1960s. I really enjoyed hearing this again after quite some time - its always a pleasure to offer a copy of this sadly forgotten and almost ignored record. There’s no justice is there?

This Cover’s Potential for Wear: Very High: Heavy early pressings inside gatefold non-laminates with centrefold storate and single thickness fronts are seldom seen devoid of often major wear, creasing and splits.

Cover Grade and Format: EX with format outlined above. Printed and made in England by Ernest J. Day and including the large stereo sticker on the back.

Cover Front: Very attractive indeed and with far less wear than most of these that surface. A slight and faint rim arc near the top and bottom edges, but look hard. A little corner wear encroaches into view but very slight in terms of this one. Clean with barely any creasing and any mild friction rubs only really show under light. Seldom seen this front looking too much better on an early EJD-printed example.

Cover Back: Beautiful artwork and again any visual blemishes are mild, few and faint, the lack of ringwear and creasing being major bonuses on a very prone cover. Slight, natural waviness just apparent, I state ‘natural’ because there is zero evidence of any staining or liquid contacts, this back looks really lovely. The original and very large stereo sticker is slightly aged and mildly grubby, but without any doubt, has never been picked at or tampered with in any way.

Cover Inner Gatefold: Very slight rub blemishes around the very edges, that apart, little else to fault. The entrance near the spine fold is exceptional and totally undamaged or worn, this being very unusual.

Top Edges: Odd tiny rub or burr traces, single thickness front rarely escape so lightly.

Bottom Edges: Being the resting edge, a little rubbing and thickening to the edges is almost expected. Again in context, relatively minor and light.

Right Edge(s), and Type: The closed back edge has a small few, light rub traces. The front edge which lies slightly to the left to to minor spine compression, has escaped crisp and neat and is guaranteed untrimmed.

Spine and Text: The fragile single thickness spine is generally neat and shows little wear. A little mild compression is almost unavoidable of course but is folded straight and the right edges are parallel is not dead in alignment. All the text present and practically unworn.

Corners: All corners have rubbed a little with some minor burring to the tips. Again being so thin and vulnerable, this is near impossible to avoid over the vast number of years.

Cover Summary: A very strong all round example of this very fragile late 60’s cover, one that will prove difficult to find much better. This beautiful item should please many collectors.

The Inner: This one includes a plain white unlined inner in fine EX condition. A little ruffled and creases but the window is very neat and there are no edge splits. It includes the text ‘PATENT PENDING’.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: I happily grade this super-shiny and fresh looking record EX even though it has a couple of faint surface marks that have hardly NO sound. One, a very fine stylus mark seen under light, and fine enough to have no audible consequence of any more note than one ultra faint tick (and listen hard to hear it). A superb visual copy that is super clean, shiny, intense black and very solidly pressed. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence. Visually a super record that should please most collectors again.

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 snippetts 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 lovely record plays even above its 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. Barely any surface sounds and no pops; and hardly any clicks were noted and this is an exceptional clean pressing. A record I have seen a few times and most were played heavily and badly marked, I will not offer such copies. Few copies will match or outperform this early pressing significantly I feel sure. 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. Even non-fans will enjoy this one, it’s a gorgeous personal album.

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 with Ittok Mk IV arm and Ortofon 2M moving magnet cartridge (tracks at 1.8 grams). Amps: Naim Nait 5i with Project USB phono stage and Chord interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Moth 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 - PLEASE SEE MY TYPICAL PACKING BOX PICTURE.

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 heavy duty soft protective sleeve and the actual record will be professionally cleaned on my Moth 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 thick boxes (NOT Mailers or Cruciforms, these do not offer maximum protection). The record(s) 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 THREE or EVEN FOUR 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. 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. Please see my picture of a typical finished box packet that will now be used on ALL transactions as from now. 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. These 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 6,000+ items sold in over 8 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 stiffners 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 FOUR 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); 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 timewasters. 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 neccessarily 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’.