CATAPILLA S/T same UK 1st PRESS GATEFOLD COVER VERTIGO SWIRL RARE PSYCH PROG

	£		128
	$		170

CATAPILLA S/T same UK 1st PRESS GATEFOLD COVER VERTIGO SWIRL  RARE PSYCH PROG Audio graded Very Good 

Artist or Band: CATAPILLA

Album Title: Catapilla.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Naked Death; Tumbleweed; Promises.

Side 2: Embryonic Fusion.

Label/Format: Vertigo – Full spiral on side one and small spiral logo above outline Vertigo on side two. This a first issue.

Label Conditions: Both generally clean and attractive. Side one with the full label swirl is superb with only a very small few light, fine and faint spindle marks. Side two has more, but less than moderate and a few are thicker. These only really show with angled viewing, viewed full-on, these hardly show. The more revealing white side two has a small minor mark near the outline ‘V’ in ‘VERTIGO’. Overall, both very clean and fresh looking.

Cat Number: 6360 029.

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: 130 grams. A very good weight for this year.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Very Rare: and one of the rarest on this most collectable label, it sold in only tiny numbers and the majority were found in ‘bargain-bins’, often with huge price reduction stickers on the front. I saw one of these some time ago exactly as that – the front had a massive white sale sticker that covered almost a third of the cover. The owner had tried to remove it taking large chunks of the front’s surface with it – the attempt was abandoned and it looked a real mess. But this was a common practice on the now hugely sort-after Spirals that failed to attract any attention at the time. The obscure acts albums had only a brief time on sale before being deleted, and this caused little attention and probably had next-to-no promotion. Their follow-up, ‘Changes’ faired just as badly and even with it’s spectacular cover, is probably even rarer than this debut. This copy’s cover has some wear, but is still nice. The record itself is in good condition and plays way above it physical appearance. So a very rare opportunity for Vertigo Swirl collectors to fill one of the rare gaps.

Original Year of Release: 1971

Matrix Nos: 6360029 1Y // 1 420 1 1 3 and 6360029 2Y // 1 420 1 2 2

Musicians: Anna Meek – vocals; Thierry Reinhardt – tenor and alto flutes, clarinet; Hugh Eaglestone – tenor saxophone; Dave Taylor – bass guitar; Graham Wilson – lead guitar; Robert Calvert – saxophones; Malcolm Frith – drums. NOTE: this Robert Calvert did NOT play with Hawkwind.

Brief Artist & Album Info: Within the fields of progressive rock, there are few bands that are wanted more or sort after than the pair of legendary Catapilla albums. Being on the highly collectable Vertigo Spiral label makes them even more desirable and I would guess many collectors are missing them. Justifiably adored these days by prog-rock collectors, this debut album simply did not deserve it’s fate of obscurity and is something of a ‘lost’ gem. Spiral bands were varied, many only were one-offs and many simply were doomed to total obscurity in ‘bargain-bins’. Like a high percentage on this label, many were thrust into sales of the early 1970s, some could hardly be given away and this was one of those. No airplay, little promotion, Catapilla had barely a chance of ever getting their quality brand of progressive, spacy, jazz rock into homes. Only a few really appreciated them initially and of course now more people wanting this album there are hardly any left around on offer and both their albums are seriously hard to track down. Vocals are provided by Anna Meek, with a very powerfully intense voice which blends well with the dense and powerful sound Catapilla make. She certainly is unique if far from technically gifted. Brilliant soloing from the wind players and the long title, ‘Embryonic Fusion’, that occupies all side two, is absolutely brilliant. Clearly Catapilla had considerable talent, they just needed to be promoted to an audience to appreciate them. This, and the follow-up album totally flopped with minimal to tiny units sold, they folded and are confined to the vaults of Vertigo ‘should-have-beens. A very rare opportunity for any Spiral or prog collector to own an impressive record that plays very well throughout. The cover has some wear, but still very respectable, and sometimes on the very rare titles that are not seen or offered often, a little compromise has to be made.

Cover Grade and Format: good an unlaminated gatefold format with matt smooth surfaces. Printed and made by Howards Printers (Slough) Ltd.

Cover Front: The main areas of the cover have wear with rubbing along the edges. A pressure line is lightly seen near the bottom edge area from the inside flipback construction and any marks are also fine, few and light. Most of any wear are the corner tips and a little on the edges. Some creasing is present shows some signs of aging, but given to how few of these are around, it may not prove that easy to find an available one much better.

Cover Back: The back is worn like the front. The rest of the cover is again similar to the front with some  corner rubbing and creases a little edge wear just encroaching into view. Small and fairly light ring arcs are seen near the top and bottom edges, but little else really and this back has survived well. 

Cover Inner Gatefold: A little gentle toning or faint stain traces near the bottom edges, minimal traces elsewhere and little detracts from what is quite a clean centrefold. In fact this is all quite impressive with no major issues at all, this will not be easy to find better.

Top Edges: Moderate rubbing, both straight and flush.

Bottom Edges: Light to moderate patchy rubbing, again straight and flush. a 16cm split as shown in the last photo.

Corners: All corners have moderate to moderate+ rubbing with reasonable shape retained, a little rounded but still solid.

Cover Summary: A respectable good cover, clearly not for the Vertigo perfectionist of highly discerning cover collector. But these are in such short supply, some give-and-take almost always has to be made. A good ‘gap-filler’.

The Spiral Inner: good: the famous inner has some creasing, staining and an edge splits.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: good or close to. A good number of surface marks can be seen under light with a couple of more visible surface marks on both sides that have little effect on the sound. In fact this record plays very well indeed with very little unwanted noise. Spiral classics like this got played and played hard, so to find this very rare record in this playable condition is little short of remarkable. clearly it has been played many times.The cover certainly does remind more of it’s 42+ years-of-age, but the record far less so. As the grading suggests, this it is not for the perfectionists who only want near mint at any cost – and if this one came on to the market as such, you are likely to need VERY deep pockets.

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This highly elusive, rare and impressive spaced-out jazz-prog album plays above it’s visual grading with little to fault. Strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear - sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and all the complex sounds – including the challenging reeds and vocals – all focused with no clipping or groove wear. Any surface sounds are minimal indeed with just a few light ticks heard and little else,  This actual record could prove very difficult to find significantly better and it merits strong recommendation.

Final Summary: Not quite the Holy grail for Spiral collectors, but anyone wanting an original of this rare debut album, this could be just the one you have been waiting for.  So hopefully for someone, the search for this rare and elusive ‘lost’ prog classic could be over