BEE GEES Odessa VERY RARE UK Orig Late 1969 MONO LPs

	£		54
	$		71

Hi, I am Mike, now 50 – yes the big FIVE-O! Old enough to remember the golden era of original, high quality music, bands, artists and television.

Also records from the 1960s and 70s bought from the shops from new, I have been a music collector and enthusiast for over 37 years now. We all wish we could turn back the clock and buy those wonderful brand new records from the 60s and 70s, but alas, this is not possible; so I always try to offer the finest and most accurately described and graded records I can find. No vinyl/music lover really would choose to buy second-hand, but this is only way now to own these valuable, prized and elusive items now. 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 reader – 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 one hundred percent is exact colour matching for covers - this depends on the lighting at the time and that is out of my control, but I feel sure most items will be very close to the actual real item. 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 or sticks 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 Ortophon 520 Mk II cartridge (tracks at 1.75 grams). Amps: Arcam 2 x 125W Pre-Power. 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.

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.

POSTING & PACKING: What You Get: All records are posted in professional mailers or boxes as deemed appropriate for the individual item with 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. Records are posted with TWO (at least) massively thick stiffners for protection and also heavier protection if deemed necessary depending on the content. These stiffners are the thickest possible and custom supplied for ‘Oneadayrecords’ – these are NOT commercially available and you will not have seen thicker protection anywhere. The 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. Customers requests or special needs for P&P will be respected if possible. I never make profit on posting and offer probably the cheapest and safest shipping possible. I will invoice any winning bidder as soon as possible after the auction ends, with total costs including ‘standard’ or ‘optional’ P&P. My ‘loss’ or ‘damage rate’ is less than 0.2 per percent based on over 2,000 items sold in over 5 years Ebay trading and I consider that pretty exceptional. Since the introduction of my ‘special’ stiffners it’s a rate of zero.

PLEASE NOTE: I will now only send packets to Russia with Recorded Delivery at a cost of £7 per single LP. If this is unacceptable to Russian collectors, please do not bid. I only want my records to arrive safely and this gives packets a better chance to do so. Also ALL UK packets will be sent with either Recorded or Special Delivery as standard (both have to be signed for). All shipping costs and rules can be found after my description. If they are not acceptable, please do not bid.

Album Title: Odessa.

Producer(s): Robert Stigwood and the Bee Gees.

Engineer(s): P. Wade, E. Sharp & A. Barber .

Track Listing: Side 1: Odessa (City on the Black Sea); You’ll Never See My Face Again; Black Diamond.

Side 2: Marley Purt Drive; Edison; Melody Fair; Suddenly; Whisper Whisper.

Side 3: Lamplight; Sound of Love; Give Your Best; Seven Seas Symphony; With the Nations (International Anthem).

Side 4: I Laugh in Your Face; Never Say Never Again; First of May; The British Opera.

Label/Format: Polydor – Original deep red format with mono logo.

Label Conditions: All four are near immaculate: ultra clean and attractive with only very light and faint spindle traces and no wear around the hole areas. Always a delight to find this stunning album in such wonderful conditions.

Cat Number: 582 049/050.

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 these Records: 141 / 147 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 140 to 150 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, 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 20 records from these eras. Later pressings were usually lighter still).

Full Matrix Nos: 582049 A1 420 11 5 / 582049 B1 420 11 6 and 582050 A3 420 11 3 / 582050 B1 420 12 7

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: This is a very scarce album make no mistake it never sold in the numbers the brilliance of the music justified. A very late mono version and quite honestly is looks and sounds hardly played. Not only that, this is a very difficult title to find in anything like decent condition. The ultra fragile and delicate felt cover rarely is seen anything like attractive and that’s no understatement. I have seen examples of this one being offered that look dreadfully shabby with severe, deep penetrating ringwear and huge bald areas, large chips, splits, tearing with dull grubby looking felt that looks ‘tired’ and dull. Often with debris, dust and foreign matter pressed into its delicate surface. Pale and faded, even washed out examples with large white areas are more the norm. Deeply marked and ‘furrowed’ fronts and backs with totally worn-through felt and threadbare white edges are also almost considered normal and these are often offered as EX. I have only ever seen one of these that could be almost be considered as near ‘new’ looking – a friend of mine sold me his copy around five years ago and the felt looked almost like billiard table baize (albeit in red) and as near mark and blemish-free as they ever get. It’s only when an example like that shows up to remind collectors what a ‘new’ copy originally looked like that puts other examples into perspective. This example is a very strong one and is certainly one of the better ones I have seen for ages, the mono copies are so hard to find and these had their own unique cover (please see this detail in close-up). It’s not an easy one to even photograph as a camera flash will highlight any light marks or blemishes freely and will lighten the colour too. This one has some mild wear and odd blemish as most all will but sets a very high standard and it still looks lovely to the eye and that is the most important thing. Both records play with incredible sound and remember, this mono mix is still unique to vinyl and probably always will be.

Original Year of Release: 1969

Brief Info: I always find offering this immense release a delight and a privilege, this album did not sell well and is such a hard one to find in mono for all the obvious reasons. A double album of immense beauty that for me anyway, is the Bee Gees best ever album and a true late 60s classic that was sadly overlooked and highly underrated by most at the time. The brothers Gibb wrote some incredible music and songs in the 1960s which was probably not as appreciated or recognised as it should have been at the time – with the Beatles and Stones around, many other popular music groups were often overshadowed. Time now seems to have put this right. With its famous felt cover that ages very badly if not stored with great care (see comments above on this), this is a very attractive example but not blemish-free. An album of stunning harmonies and beautiful music, this title song is truly memorable, but all songs are superb and not one filler is on show. Forget the disco 70s phase – 1960s Bee Gees were simply marvellous and very different – quite why this album failed to sell well is a complete mystery to me. That said, I too only discovered the early Bee Gees later in life but boy was it worth the wait – their early records are very special indeed and all up to this album are essential. If your collection does not include any of their titles, this one will thrill and what a stunning pair of scarce mono records are included within this lovely cover. Both looks hardly even played and both grade Mint(-) for sound. Side one does have a fine arc stylus mark across its surface but this is virtually ignored with just a few clicks between track two and three’s joining groove, the only blemish on what is a remarkable set. This title was issued in both mono and stereo in the UK, both are magnificent and both are truly essential for collectors with very different sound presentation. Like the cover, the records often wear badly too. This has amazingly intense and loudly recorded music and vocals, even stereo copies often have distortion and high frequency clipping and break-up. Mono copies are even more prone, usually played on very heavy equipment with thick, sometimes chipped pickups that caused irrepairable damage to the delicate groove walls resulting in unlistenable sound. This one has incredible real high fidelity sound and immense dynamics and the mono sound is truly breathtaking. Fully focused, sharp and distortion-free. I adore this album and finding such a clean pair of records inside a more than splendid felt cover is a rare privilege. For those who have not heard an original mono Odessa in near pristine condition, its an experience you owe to yourself. I would think few available copies of this title will match this one, beating it will be near impossible and its worthy of its place in any serious record collection. The mark on side one is a visual blemish but has little effect on the music making it of little significance. Brilliant is too small a word for this wonderful pair of records and the cover’s not half bad either. I honestly rate this album as one of the most beautiful records ever made and all music lovers will treasure it.

Cover Grade and Format: EX+ and by the standards some are graded at, I would think this is arguably better still. It has to be one of the most fragile covers ever made and its rare to find one that still looks this nice. Its a gatefold format with a real felt front and back, its very thin and mounted on only thin card – longevity is short unless kept very carefully. With two heavy, thick pressed records inside, this sleeve has little chance. It has embossed gold text and Polydor logo and this is rarely seen looking nice either as it blackens and fades with age. This one too is an original mono version with its mono text inside on the bottom left edge. It was made in England by Ernest J. Day Ltd, London. Blemishes and very light wear, yes, will any not have?, but this is exceptional given all the facts and this should please the majority of collectors wanting a copy of this lovely album.

Cover Front: The first thing to notice when viewed for real, is the freshness of this cover. Many look ‘tired’ and shabby and very dull. This front retains a beautiful deep, clean red finish with no bald or thinning areas with only very few and light marks to the its delicate surface. I truly believe all examples of this cover will have some traces of record pressmarks with dulling – the only escape from this would have been to store the records outside of the cover and I would think few ever were. Here any felt ‘ringwear’ is only light and all the red felt is fully intact with no white card showing at all. The felt itself is very clean with minimal inground debris or dust embedded into its delicate surface but this will always have a few light specks as felt is very clingy of course. A little light surface dust or fragments of course, these can be easily lightly brushed off as they appear – we all know what felt is like dont we? The embossing is superb and can be described as practically perfect. All text and gold colour is totally unworn and pin sharp with no rubbing or damage. The felt surface has the odd small and light blemish but nothing removely heavy and as far as ‘attractive’ goes, this will take a fair amount of beating. There is one small and fine, neat split on the right edge, sorry, but all too common on this think and fragile storage area but in terms of splits, this is as small and neat as they ever get and has only very modest visibility.

Cover Back: Even more critical with just a large area of red with no text or design. This has slightly more pronouced record impressions but still no bald or wear-through areas, far from it infact. I feel this is near impossible to avoid and realistically few will show fewer wear. This side shows even fewer real marks to the surface but has a little dust on the surfaces. With the utmost care and expertise, both sides could be brushed and made to look immaculate again but to my eyes, both sides look pretty fine as they are.

Cover Inner Gatefold: Pristine immaculate as new and note the authencity of the unique mono cover as seen in my close-up.

Top Edges: Light patchy rub traces with a very few VERY small white patches.

Bottom Edges: Little wear at all and barely any traces of any white patches.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, very sharp with barely any traces of wear at all. A small neat split on the front outer edge only. There is no thickening or feathering to be seen and any burr traces are miniscule.

Spine and Text: Solid, straight, uncompressed and square, both right edges meet up perfectly together. This spine never had any text printed on it but amazingly this example has ALL its felt still fully attached, unthinned, no white or rubs up to the very ends of the corners. Even the fold lines retain all felt with no stressing or bald spots. I have viewed this as critically as possible and there appears to be NO touching in or any tampering to the splendid cover whatsoever - all edges are exceptional and will rarely be seen with less wear.

Corners: All show little wear or blemishing at all and that is some ask. All retain superb shape and lovely pointed definition with just the odd tiny tip rub. These must be considered remarkable in real terms.

Cover Summary: This cover goes beyond fragile and only the most carefully stored and handled examples will ever look decent or presentable. Yes this one has record impression rubs and a few marks and that very small edge tear but it will still prove very difficult to find significantly better, of that I am certain. This beautiful and unique mono cover should please most collectors if not quite the perfectionists who can still search for the near impossible.

The Inners: Both mirror image Polydor lined inners are included in superb EX+ or better condition. Clean, unsplit with both linings fully intact with lovely neat clear windows. Minimal creasing or ageing and any gum darkening on the edge seams is minimal and light.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: Side one EX because of the fine arc mark across the surface of the first two songs but as stated, it’s practically ignored with just a few brief mild clicks on the joining groove between songs. The other three sides are Mint(-) with any surface traces or hairlines minimal and faint. A superb visual pair that are clean, shiny, jet black and very heavily pressed on thick, top quality Polydor vinyl. A beautiful mono set, barely played on all the evidence. Visually super records that should please most-all 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 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: Both records play up to their high visual grading with practically nothing to fault. Immensely powerful, totally distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear. Sound quality is astonishing with a very wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. Any surface sounds are minimal indeed and no other pops or clicks were noted other than as stated above between songs 2 and 3 on side one. The music is pretty much unaffected at all and this is an exceptional clean pressing for a very difficult album where distortion can be rife on abused or heavily played copies. The brilliance of the music, songs and arrangements on ‘Odessa’ is world class and has not aged at all. Forget the mid-70s Bee Gees sound, that bears no relation to the material on this or any of their 60s sets. To say this is an exceptional mono copy would be something of an understatement and even the connoisseur collector should enjoy owning this pair. Beautiful music with breathtaking harmonies and fidelity, this copy deserves to be played on a high-end deck and system. The cresendo of harmonics and vocals on the title track alone will sort out the capable systems. I would think few mono copies will survive these days with such clean, clear sound and this was a pure joy from beginning to end. Few examples will outperform this early pressing significantly I feel sure. I feel very sure both records have been played very lightly and have been clearly well stored and carefully handled, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. Practically nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading these beautiful records. Yes you probably realise I was rather impressed by this set, it certainly will prove very difficult to match or find significantly better. I hope this one goes to a collector who enjoyed it as much as I did – BRILLIANT.

SHIPPING COSTS & OPTIONS:

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

1 LP (First Class Recorded Delivery with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) [Signed For] = £4 (OPTIONAL).

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7 (OPTIONAL).

Posting & Packing: EUROPE & SCANDINAVIA (NOT RUSSIA, see below) (Airmail Only):

1 LP (Small Packet Standard with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) = £5.

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with included Insurance to Item’s ‘Sold’ Value, £500* Maximum) = £9 (OPTIONAL).

Posting & Packing: RUSSIA (Recorded Only, if this is unacceptable, please do not bid):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ only £7) = £9 (OPTIONAL extra insurance as above).

Posting & Packing: OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. US; Australia; Far East; (Airmail Only: I NEVER use Surface Mail):

1 LP (Small Packet Standard with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) = £8.

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with included Insurance to Item’s ‘Sold’ Value, £500* Maximum) = £13 (OPTIONAL).

* If Rules allow for that country.

PLEASE NOTE: I always get a Royal Mail ‘Proof-of-Posting’ receipt for ALL packets that are sent out and I am happy to prove this to any customer who wishes to see it via email.

Payment Conditions:

I prefer PayPal or cheque from UK winning bidders. I can accept PayPal from overseas bidders.

The customer can choose their method of shipping with the exception of second class or surface mail overseas – these I will NOT use. The winner bidder chooses his/her posting method and if uninsured is chosen, its their decision and they have to stick with it, I can accept no responsibility if an item is lost in the post. I can only try to claim at standard levels if no enhancement is chosen (£35).

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.

Debutant Bidders: Many sellers refuse first time buyers: I do not follow this practice (everybody has to start somewhere), but I would appreciate any first timer letting me know their intentions for payment method and very prompt communication, preferably before any bid or soon after the auctions ends. This gives confidence that their intentions are honourable, and I in return guarantee extra special good feedbacks to get zero rated Ebayers off to a flying start to help them with future transactions.

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.

My Guarantee: If any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund minus the Posting and All Ebay costs as long as the item detail has been read and understood. I will not refund if any defect detail is clearly stated on the advert and missed by the buyer. If any overseas collector does not understand anything in my listing, please email and ask me to help.

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’.