BRIAN AUGER, JULIE DRISCOLL - OPEN Ex/Ex on MARMALADE

	£		19
	$		25

The high book value "OPEN" LP with excellent vinyl from BRIAN AUGER & THE TRINITY with JULIE DRISCOLL, on MARMALADE - 608 002 ~ (Stereo 1967)

This is a POLYDOR UK pressing on the MARMALADE label, in stiff, medium weight 144 gram vinyl and has the matrix numbers:-

"608 002 A//2    1     2     3" on side 1 and

"608 002 B v 1   1 ." on side 2
(these are shown spaced exactly as they appear on the vinyl, the 608 002 reference number is repeated on the labels and the cover's spine).

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The numbers indicate that this is a very early pressing; indicating that side 1 is from the first Stamper of only the second Mother and the second side being from the first Stamper from the very first Mother.
This is actually a bit odd and this may well actually be a first issue pressing and within the first 300 or so made; this can happen if the original side 1 Mother had been found defective and substituted for another Master, as sometimes happened back then, (I saw this occurring at the Decca Record plant near Kingston on Thames, when I worked for Decca back at the time), so I suppose it must be an investment for those into first and early pressings, but it's an extremely playable record for those actually into the music, (like me!).

So, this auction is for a very desirable first/second pressing copy of the very rare and highly collectable first LP from Brian Auger’s Trinity with Julie Driscoll singing, featuring ten beautifully recorded tracks that were the basis of the band’s set at the time, seemingly done in a manner so as to capture as much as possible the real sound of their live performance at the time, (probably due to the influence of Producer Giorgio Gomelsky, who had so much influence on the now famous bands of the time and an intimate knowledge of their live club sound due to his long involvement with The Marquee Club and other enterprises).

I am not a record dealer, just always been a lover of great music and lucky enough to have seen many of the 1960's and 1970's great & famous playing in the London clubs like the Marquee, Crawdaddy and UFO (I still have my membership cards!) and this LP is like the others I will be listing from now on, is from my own collection and was bought because of the music and benefits from having always been in an animal free and non-smoking environment.
It's started at a realistic price with NO RESERVE; great vinyl condition but a cover with some sticker damage.

Check my bidder's feedback - you will see I describe my records 100% truthfully so you can bid in confidence- any questions, just ask!

This album has the correct double A fronted cover (one side for JOOLS with BA & The Trinity, the other just for the band), and the correct purple "MADE IN GT. BRITAIN" and "All rights reserved.........POLYDOR RECORDS LTD........prohibited" standard outer ring print onto white Marmalade labels; the record, track and artist listings are in black print on a satin white label ground and the LOGO is the correct white "MARMALADE" on an orange ground with purple border.

The record itself is in the medium weight 144 gram vinyl that marks early pressings and is very clean and shiny on both sides and plays perfectly; it is in near MINT condition and has absolutely NO *surface marking and therefor absolutely NO scratches, VERY low surface noise, NO crackles, clicks or pops and NO jumps; it has been played only a very few a few times as I actually did not like it much! So therefore I obviously cannot claim it to be a mint copy, nevertheless there are no spindle marks or hole wear on the labels, which are clean and bright and have no other marks or writing or stickers, etc. to detract from them.

I feel this vinyl is as good as it gets!

*Surface marks are either a sort of matt area marking over the record surface, (usually from the plastic inner liners of some sleeves and probably due to pressure from adjacent records when stored - caused I believe by migration of the plastisizer from the polythene inner sleeve onto the vinyl surface), or they may be faint lines originating from the withdrawal and reinsertion of the record back into it’s sleeve. Such markings will always be present in a record that has been played and may be quite obvious or may be so faint to be only discernible by holding the record at an angle under a strong light, but these are cosmetic only and are NOT scratches, which are mechanical damage caused by actions such as dropping or knocking the arm so it skates over the record surface, (or worse!)
Such scratches, as I define them, WILL be clearly visible and will definitely be audible at the very least and I shall state if they are there, as well as defining the level of any surface marking.

I cannot detect any audible degradation in terms of frequency loss, distortion or fuzziness, etc. at all and it still provides the same solid and clean sound as when it was new.
This record has hardly been played and unsuprisingly plays extremely well and to evaluate it properly, I have just played it VERY LOUD, just to make absolutely sure and to properly assess it for this listing and am reminded how great vinyl can sound when an intelligent producing team are at work with top rate musicians doing single take live cuts onto limited capacity 8 track tape machines. (In this case it was engineer John Timperley in charge of the desk at Chappel’s Recording Studio in Central London).
It's a great example of a truly bluesy band playing to maximum effect in that swirling sound field sort of way behind Julie Driscoll’s soulful, jazzy singing and it doesn't even sound like a 1960’s album as it has such a wonderful depth of sound.

There is an only just visible warp of under 0.5 mm peak to peak at the record’s periphery and a tiny offset to the centre hole, which I estimate to be well under 0.8 mm peak to peak so it runs very true and plays beautifully; (please understand that there is absolutely NO audible effect from these very low levels of mechanical movement, but I am stating these parameters from now on to further improve the accuracy of my estimates of the records I offer on eBay).

I will also always provide the best images I can of the actual record surfaces and labels so that bidders can actually SEE the condition of the record in all respects, (any dust specks you may notice on the images are always inside the damn camera lens assembly!).
I make no attempts to "tidy" items up to deceive bidders, or play around with the images - all I will do to my eBay listing images is crop the image size to maximise it for bidders inspection and adjust the contrast and brightness, simply because the stupid automatic camera keeps taking very faint pictures!

The non flipback cover is the original satin finished front and back PARAGON designed one and is in good condition, except for an area of damage due to a sticker that I must of pulled off when I bought it originally (sorry peeps!), which is the only negative I have for this album overall.
The Brian Auger AUGE side has minor ring wear and a couple of very slight creases due to record accessing and the JOOLS side is similar, with the obvious damage, (see the pictures). Overall, it’s clean and bright, with a few very minor crease marks by the spine, no edge feathering from record accessing and no writing or tears, but minor corner and shelf wear.

The inner sleeve is a glossy finish, thick plain type with a bright blue "Plastic bags" cautionary notice and a plastic liner and is the original one, without tears, no age browning and just minor creases.

As I say, I try and take the best pictures I can of the record surfaces, the cover and sleeve for bidders to see the real condition, and also try and show the true detail of the labels and get the record stampings as well if possible in the images, (I note that this sort of detail is rarely shown with records offered by others on eBay - ever heard of the expression "do not buy a pig in a poke"?)

From now on, to try and get more idea of the quality of the record surfaces, I will take some of the pictures in daylight from the window.

With me, WYSIWYG.

Using the Record Collector grading system; the vinyl is EXCELLENT on both sides, the cover is only GOOD because of the obvious surface damage and I rate the sleeve as VERY GOODI used to see Brian Auger quite a lot at various clubs around South West London and at The Marquee Club and even remember Julie Driscol’s first ever public performance (at the Crawdaddy) before she joined Steam Packet, then Brian. They were always a consistently excellent outfit, playing very authentic American style jazz/blues of the time.

This LP has good provenance as I bought it new and so can vouch for it’s history; nearly all my records were purchased new and are from my own personal collection, built up since the early 1960’s and have genuinely been played very little and then only on quality turntables, (Garrard Zero 100, Lab 80 and Goldring GL75), set up with a low tracking force, using Shure, then Grado then Stanton cartridges over the years.
All records have been dry stored, vertically, in the dark in a proper custom made record shelving system and only ever played by myself and NEVER loaned to anyone and especially, never, ever partied!

If you are interested in early British R & B and Progressive Rock Bands and the USA West Coast bands of the time then please add me to your favourites as I do have some rarities that I have never seen on eBay. I generally do not go in for all the b******s about rare first pressings and the excessive detailing of group histories that I see other sellers boring eBay members with just to get umpteen keywords in and will describe the records honestly, just indicating the basics.
This LP however, once again, does warrant me noting the details for collectors though, due to it’s rarity as an early pressing.

The packed weight of this item is estimated at 490g and signed for postage via 2nd class Recorded Delivery is shown as £2.69 to UK addresses, insured to £41.00, (if the final value goes over this, then I shall send it Special Delivery in the UK, insured to £500.00 at £5.50).
International shipping will be via Airsure or International Signed For small packets rate; International bidders can check for themselves the postal costs at the www.royalmail.co.uk web site; for example, the Airsure Small Packet rate to Germany and most of the EU is £8.75, increasing to £11.25, insured to £500.00 shoukd the final bid go over £41.00.
All records are now packed into the heaviest grade of mailer I could find with two of the heaviest available stiffener boards and so I do add a charge at cost of £0.67 for the heavy grade mailer and boards set now. Records are generally sent within their sleeves, inserted into a separate bag with outer foam edge protection, then packed alongside the cover, in it’s own plastic protection bag into another plastic over-bag for in-transit water damage protection, then put into the boards and taped up on all edges for overall shipping protection prior to insertion into the mailer.
I want my customers to get their records undamaged, but if you wish me to use another method of packing, please ask.
No packing charges are added, other than the mailer cost; you just pay what I pay to send it!

The small print, but please read it

NB: This item may be picked up in person, or will be despatched securely, on a traceable and insured service only, so it will need to be signed for on delivery; I will not send it to a PO box, or care of a business address without written acceptance of your liability for loss, theft or damage; the delivery address must also tally with the registered address within both eBay and PayPal.

Carriage charges, where indicated, are for UK (zone 1) post codes only. If you are in other zones or are an overseas bidder, you can get an estimate of carriage costs by checking with the www.royalmail.co.uk web site, choosing the International Shipping option, and then entering the estimated shipping weight shown above, tick "packet" and choose Airsure and an insurance value appropriate to the item's final value.

Payment may be by bank transfer, Pay Pal, cash if collecting in person, or cheque, but please note that I am now very reluctant to accept cheques over £100 net and am also advised by the bank that I must wait at least 12 working days for clearance on both cheques and bank transfers before items can be despatched or picked up; this means that items will not be released on average until two weeks have elapsed from a transfer or a cheque's deposit at the bank, so please be patient!
NB: If you wish to pay by postal order(s), you should be aware that these are treated exactly the same as cheques now and so you should contact me first before sending any.

Please confirm your full address and landline telephone number when completing the transaction via the eBay and PayPal notes system to avoid delays on despatch; I now check identifies before sending items because of fraud attempts

I now also reserve the right to cancel your bid if you have zero or very low/bad feedback; if you are in this situation, you must provide me with your full details by e-mail prior to bidding to avoid this action, and please remember that this auction is in £ Sterling (GBP) and not $ US or Euros or whatever! You can also forget it if you think I will fall for money laundering attempts. All attempts at fraud or deception will be reported and the perpetrator blocked at once!

I will immediately cancel the bids of anyone who has only just joined eBay, or is bidding from Cambodia or Nigeria, etc. (including any winning bids at the last second); sorry, but I am fed up with losing fees that eBay will not refund!