FRANK ZAPPA/THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION Absolutely Free RARER ORIG UK 67 EX MONO LP

	£		133
	$		177

ONEADAYRECORDS – Simply Delivering Quality Music to the World in Quality, Safe Packing.

Postage: UK £4.95. Europe (including Russia) £12.95 (£1 per extra record). Rest of World £19.95 (£2 per extra record). All my records are sent in boxes and the price of them has increased over time and these are my first price increases for nearly 10 years. Royal Mail prices have also gone up again. I will never compromise on quality, safe packaging – I NEVER use mailing envelopes that offer virtually no protection at all, and records WILL arrive damaged in them at some time as most record buyers will already know. Here, you get what you pay for – SAFE PACKING in BOXES using 7mm DOUBLE-WALL STIFFENERS including full side protection and bubble wrap, the records removed from the covers of course. All this very safe packing means I lose money on every box I post, but safe delivery is, and will always be paramount. You WILL see the difference when my packet arrives. Also, I will pay for insurance on any record that sells for over £100 at NO extra cost – that is UK and abroad. Also I aim to post the very same day after payment is received if possible. PLEASE NOTE: I will NOT send any item, no matter what its value without a Royal Mail or courier tracking number. ALL my items must be signed and trackable to comply with Ebay delivery rules. Please do NOT ask me to make any exceptions to this rule as no country offers 100% reliable service without it.

Posting to Russia: Yes, I do post to Russia. But delivery can take longer from the UK. So please be patient. I will submit a tracking number to the winning bidder, and when the packet arrives there it can be followed online using the Russian post website.

ALSO: I now apply the Ebay ‘2-day’ rule for non-payment to keep things moving – cash-flow is important for any small business.

ANY ITEM or ITEMS TO BE PAID WITHIN A MAXIMUM OF 6 DAYS or they will be cancelled – NO EXCEPTIONS.

FINALLY: Late payers, non-payers and ‘0’ bidders will now be blocked or cancelled at my discretion, as will any bidder who cancels a bid. Please only bid on my items if you want them.

Artist or Band: THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION

Album Title: Absolutely Free

Producer(s): Tom Wilson

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Absolutely Free – Plastic People; a) The Duke of Prunes; b) Amnesia Vivace; c) The Duke Regains His Chops; a) Call Any Vegetable; b) Invocation and Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin; c) Soft-Sell Conclusion.

Side 2: The MOI American Pageant – America Drinks; Status Back Baby; Uncle Bernie’s Farm; Son of Suzy Creamcheese; Brown Shoes Don’t Make It; America Drinks and Goes Home.

Label/Format: Verve, a first press mono original with matt, very gently textured surfaces. Side one has the embossed ‘K T’ tax codes, both letters unworn.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and attractive with moderately light spindle marks which are fine and quite faint. This highly complex mono record plays impressively.

Catalogue Number: VLP 9174

Mode / Speed: Mono / 33.3 rpm.

Warps or Lateral Movement: Assume all records I offer have no significant warping or lateral movement to cause sound or tracking issues. All should play fine even on budget turntables.

Weight of Record: 148 grams.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Scarce, especially in better conditions, this was no major seller, especially when first issued. Bought by a few curious collectors and few were hi-fi buffs. Mono examples especially often fared very badly.

Original Year of Release: 1967

Matrix Nos: V 5013 A-1 / V 5013 B-1

Others Codes: 1 R / 1 G [R being the second stamper in the pressing sequence, and G the absolute first]

Brief Artist & Album Info: Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention’s second classic. Freak Out! sold just 30,000 copies according to Frank – MGM deemed it a flop. He was reduced to a budget of $11,000 for it’s successor. He lost Elliot Ingber, the quintessential underground psychedelic guitarist who resurfaced as the Winged Eel Fingerling in Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band, but he gained other musicians to add to Roy Estrada and Jim Black as the rhythm section. Drummer Billy Mundi, woodwindist Bunk Gardner and keyboard player Don Preston. Preston hadn’t played on Freak Out! because he “couldn’t play rock”. Now, after gigging with a few rock bands, he was ready to join Zappa, and take avant garde music to the masses. This was again produced by Tom Wilson, all selections were composed, arranged and conducted by Frank Zappa.

Musically, Absolutely Free is slightly less challenging than Freak Out!, but still hardly commercial. First-time listeners found it hard to believe that this wild melange of bizarre rock, political jokes and lewd satire vocalising could become a favourite, but repeated listens reveal wonders. ‘The Duke of Prunes’ and ‘Call Any Vegetable’ have terrific melodies, the latter was Zappa’s first long guitar work-out on record. The main centre-piece for this lies on side two. ‘Brown Shoes Don’t Make It’, it’s a song with bassoons, violins and electronics constructed into a seething mosaic of contemporary subjects and ills – it was again outrageous for the time and I am still surprised its was allowed to be issued uncut, taking into account the heavy censoring on the following album We’re Only it For the Money, and the labels nervousness for anything Zappa did. An extraordinary decision considering the sexual nature and activity in ‘Brown Shoes’ (What would ya do Daddy?), and heavily political lyrics and taboos – obviously drugs were less tolerated in those days than teenage sex within the UK anyway. This vintage album, now over half-a-century old, has lost none of its impact and is in amazing condition given the mode and the usual age of the people who bought it. UK originals were initially released in a single format cover and include the Mike Raven text on the back. Like the beautiful mono ‘Lumpy Gravy’ and Stereo ‘Ruben’ I am offering, this will also prove hard to find much better as well.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT: a single format with front laminate, this cover all the folds and ends on three rear flipbacks. The main back panel is matt and smooth. This the correct VLP mono cover to match the record. Printed and made in England by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd and including the ‘Patents Pending’ text. The white inner sleeve also included.

Lamination & Front: A fantastic front which cover-protection has ensured for decades, one of the very best I have seen for an original. The laminate retains excellent shine, freshness and clarity with minimal dulling and no lifting. A small few laminate surface creases are rarely avoided at best and little really detracts from this famous vintage album cover front.

Cover Back: The back has some gentle toning to politely remind of age, but this apart, it has little else to really fault bar a very small few laminate creases on the flipbacks which are near impossible to avoid totally. All three flipbacks are solid and neat with clean ends, avoiding the usual ugly grime lines and burring most acquire over time.

Top & Bottom Edges: Both impressively straight, smooth with full laminate retention and barely a trace of wear.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Some mild thickening on this storage edge, but in context, only light, especially with such a solid thick record inside for over 50 years.

Spine and Text: Solid, quite straight with minimal compression, the ends are pinched in manufacture. The text is immaculate and totally unworn, bold and sharp under the solid and unpeeled laminate that has just one very fine surface crease.

Corners: Any tip rubs tiny and light with mostly excellent shape retained with no knocks.

Cover Summary: An impressive all-round example of vintage 1960’s psych cover. With only modest hints of ageing, it will prove very difficult to match or find better. It should please many collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT(+): a plain solid white unlined inner that has only lightly aged, it is patented with the ‘PATENT Nos. 1,125,555’ text. Some relatively mild paper darkening with minimal creasing with the edges intact.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT: arguably better. A very fine visual copy that is very clean with equally fine shine and very solidly pressed. A copy very modestly played on all the evidence with any surface marks or traces very light, mostly wispy and faint as seen critically under bright light. No penetrating stylus scratches, viewed in average room light, hardly anything even registers. Visually a super 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 equipment, all listed further down.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This scarce mono album plays mostly above it’s high visual grading with little to fault. Offering strong, mostly very clear sound with the warmth, detail and incredible dynamics this mono cut offers – sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and very full-on sound. Any surface sounds are minimal indeed and I heard no pops or clicks at all. The merest, very brief hint of brief clarity loss on the odd complex part of ‘Brown Shoes Don’t Make It’, this being somewhat critical on my revealing stereo system. Overall, a very clean pressing with no tracking issues* or inherent pressing noises. The mono mix really does present the music differently, it is a times very loud and the detail of even the most complex, full-on parts is almost at times breathtaking. I am sure this would be mind-blowing on a quality mono system, but even played two channel, it is quite amazing. The crescendo of ‘Brown Shoes’ at the end is astonishing with the instruments heard more individually than the stereo. Few mono original copies will outperform this I feel sure with any audio blemishes minimal. Nothing of any real note spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this lovely record, this is still one of my all-time favourite Zappa/Mothers albums and it will prove very difficult to find significantly better as a mono original and merits strong recommendation.

* As played-graded on a high-end Linn LP12 Sondek turntable with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Black moving coil cartridge tracking at 2 grams. Records are a ‘contact’ format, and few will avoid the odd minor sound blemish.

I am one of the most established sellers on Ebay, trading since 2001 and offering the finest 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 all elements of the items I offer for sale. You may notice I only submit records quite sparingly on Ebay as I Play-Grade every record I offer in their entirety – also on higher-end equipment – not just bits to guess a grade – visuals alone do not always tell a true story. I will try to 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 it’s good. I get just as much pleasure offering a relatively common record in near mint condition as the real rare items. All the pictures I use for your guidance are the item being offered with no digital enhancements. Room light factors can make things vary sometimes, that is hard to control, especially in winter. I hope the item below is to your liking – any questions can be emailed and I will do my best to answer you. I am enthusiastic, and have a fair degree of knowledge about many genres and I promise quality items. Please assume all records I offer have NO jumps, sticks, major warps or writing on covers or labels unless clearly stated to the contrary. Thanks for your interest and Good luck – MIKE.

Deck: Linn LP12/Hercules/Cirkus with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Black moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2 grams). Amps: Naim Supernait 2 with Project USB phono stage and Tellerium Black interconnects. Speakers: B&W 805 Nautilus (bi-wired with Tellurium Black terminated cable) with REL subwoofer. All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Nessie vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too. Pictures taken with a Nikon D7500 DSLR Camera.

PACKING – THIS IS WHAT YOU GET.

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.

PLEASE NOTE: I now exercise my right to open a dispute after the Ebay rule of TWO days if no payment is received. I will then cancel the dispute to end the bid, again after the mandatory FOUR days and then offer the item to the runner-up or relist. The non-payer will also be blocked from my Ebay site as will any suspicious bids or bid bid retractions. Small businesses need prompt payment to trade and these strict rules WILL be applied.

Payment Conditions:

I prefer PayPal from­ winning bidders. I only accept PayPal from overseas bidders or direct payment into my bank account.

Potential Bidders: I will cancel any bids I feel are time-wasters. A maximum 2 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive – if not I will relist the item or offer to the runner-up.

My Guarantee: If any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund if the item is returned in the same condition is was sent e.g. as per the listing pictures.

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 necessarily 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, 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.