DAVID BOWIE Heroes Orig 1977 RCA Gold Label LP + Insert

	£		27
	$		36

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Artist or Band: DAVID BOWIE

Album Title: Heroes.

Producer(s): David Bowie & Tony Visconti.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Beauty and the Beast; Joe the Lion; Heroes; Sons of the Silent Age; Blackout.

Side 2: V-2 Schneider; Sense of Doubt; Moss Garden; Neuköln; The Secret Life of Arabia.

Label/Format: RCA Victor – gold coloured labels, matt finish, single inner ridge.

Label Conditions: Both practically as manufactured with barely a spindle trace to be seen.

Cat Number: PL 12522.

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Weight of this Record: 140 grams. Way heavier than any other copy of this album I have held before.

Country of Manufacture: Cover, England, record pressed in Italy. This is deemed an ‘English’ copy, it was sold and purchased in the UK, I presume RCA just had this record made abroad. Both cover and labels and matrixes all are the same.

Rarity: Moderate but heavy pressed complete examples are harder.

Original Year of Release: 1977

Matrix Nos: PL-12522-A-2 / PL-12522-B-2 (this copy has two major matrix corrections, one on each side). Mother/Stampers are A1 / A1

Musicians: David Bowie – vocals, guitar, keyboards, saxophone, koto: ARP synthesizer, piano, chamberlin; Brian Eno – synthesizers, keyboards, guitar treatments; Carlos Alomar – rhythm guitar; Dennis Davis – percussion; George Murray - electric bass; Robert Fripp – lead guitar.

Brief Info: Without doubt one of Bowie’s most daring and original albums and the second of what has become known as the ‘Berlin Trilogy’ – the first, Low and third, Lodger explored this sound still further. This was the only one of the three that was recorded entirely in Berlin. This drifts into the ‘Krautrock’ scene and post-punk, these albums had heavy influence from Neu, Kraftwerk, even Can. The experimentalism was furthered along with the album’s two other major players: King Crimson’s founder Robert Fripp, who flew in specially from the US to record his parts and ex-Roxy Music experimentalist, Brian Eno. At first this record sounds quite uncommercial and compared to his earlier works, was. This album was better received by fans than Low, which was a major shock to the system especially with so many instrumentals. ‘Heroes’ is again challenging in places and is best known for its classic title song, without doubt one of his very best post-Ziggy songs. A tale of two lovers who meet by the infamous Berlin Wall, now thankfully deconstructed. Voted ‘Album of the Year’ by both the British music weeklies of the time (MM and NME), it peaked at No 3 in the UK charts but only a more disappointing 35 in the US. Certainly one of my favourites of his post-glam era, this album was somewhat ahead of its time – too far ahead for many – but prog-rock fans, those who even did not really dig his glam period, loved it. This unusually heavy-press copy plays with stunning sound with little unwanted. I have heard some of these with considerable crackle and pressings really do vary. For those wanting an early pressed copy, look no further.

Cover’s Potential for Wear: High.

Cover Grade and Format: EX+. A single, unlaminated format with no bar-codes, this has a semi-gloss sheen finish. This includes the lyric insert and was printed in England.

Cover Front: A very fine front indeed and I have seen few better. Fresh, clean and attractive, any creases are ultra faint edge hairline types and few of. Mild rubbing around the rim shape only really seen under light and few real marks or blemishes at all.

Cover Back: Pretty much the same again, this has the vintage ZZ price coding system that only appeared on the early examples.

Top Edge: Unworn.

Bottom Edge: Unworn.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, sharp with no wear or feathering, guaranteed untrimmed. Record entered on this edge.

Spine and Text: A perfect spine: Solid, straight, uncompressed and square. All text is perfect and unworn.

Corners: All as manufactured and that’s perfect.

Cover Summary: A very fine all round example of this famous Bowie cover. This attractive item should please many, if not most collectors. Emphasise again, this was printed in England.

The Inner: EX+. Unlined with the original round format corners, unsplit or torn and very clean with no real creasing and any marks or ageing few and faint.

The Insert: EX and again including its PL 12522 cat number. This includes the song lyrics. Clean with only mild handling traces and a little crinkle in places with just one very mild semi-crease that shows little.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EX+ A super visual copy that is very clean, shiny, intense black and unusually heavy pressed. A copy hardly played on all the evidence, maybe an early purchaser who bought it and found it a little tough going? Side two has three tiny pressing specks, one is ignored, the other two emit a couple or three brief clicks, one is between songs. Any surface blemishes or hairlines are very few and ultra faint. Visually a very nice record that should please many 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 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 minuscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This lovely record mostly plays above its high visual grading with little nothing to fault. Strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear - sound quality is astonishing with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. An real hi-fi recording with a wonderful production and stereo imagery, this really excelled on the LP12 and was a joy to listen too. Practically devoid of any surface sounds and just the brief clicks mentioned above were noted. The lack of crackle or surface noise is a real bonus on what often proves to be a variable album on vinyl. Many can and do disappoint and overall, this heavy, early issue will take some beating. Few copies will match or outperform this thick pressing significantly I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I feel very sure this record has been played very lightly and has been well stored and carefully handled, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. Very little spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record. This copy will prove difficult to find significantly better, if the ultra brief clicks are an issue, do not bid.