Fairport Convention What We Did On Our Holidays 1969 UK Press ILPS 9092 NM Play

$

80

• Fairport Convention.
• What We Did On Our Holidays.
• Second 1969 UK Pressing (1st has "Bullseye" Label And Laminated Only On One Side).
• Island Pink Black "Block" Label.
• Fully Laminated Sleeve On Both Sides.
• Second Fairport Album And First With Sandy Denny.

Item Details
Manufactured in: United Kingdom
Recorded: June - Oct. 1968 At Kingsway & Olympic Studios, & St. Peter's Westbourne Grove
Engineered By John Wood At Sound Techniques, London
Pressing By: Orlake Records, Essex, UK
Original Issue: January, 1969
This Issue: 1969 (based on matrix, labels, and jacket design)
Label: Island ILPS 9092
Runout Deadwax Matrix Numbers:
Side 1: (stamp) ILPS + 9092 + A
Side 2: (stamp) ILPS + 9092 + B 3
The earliest pressing has the red, black, and pink "bullseye" on the left of the of the label while this 2nd pressing has the black and pink bullseye centered over a black block. The first pressing was laminated only on the front while 2nd was laminated on both sides. Both 1st and 2nd pressings were manufactured in 1969.
Was bought new by this seller many years ago and now offered from his private collection (you have absolutely known provenance). Has had just a few plays only on an expertly setup high-end audiophile turntable, arm, and cartridge. Has never been exposed to heat or tobacco smoke and always stored vertically in a specially designed record cabinet (Rackit) to prevent warpage. US buyers can save big shipping $ and avoid long arrival delays compared to UK or other offshore sellers listing a similar item.
I have recently updated my VPI HW-16.0 record cleaner to a 16.5 and it now has much more positive suction (can remove all fluid in less than 3 rotations). I have also changed my choice of cleaning fluid to the Audio Intelligent "One-Step" formula that requires no rinsing and leaves no residue. It is alcohol free and uses enzyme agents to remove pressing mold-release compounds, fungi & bacteria, finger oils, and many other environmental contaminants. Made with laboratory-grade pure water(50X purer than distilled water). I neutralize residual static charge from both vinyl and new inner sleeve with a Milty Zerostat. I wear nitrile surgical gloves while cleaning and play testing to avoid any chance of transferring finger oils to the vinyl.

Very sensitive play testing was performed straight off my Ayre P-5xe fully balanced phono preamp over Sennheiser HD 600 headphones using a Schiit Audio Valhalla 2 tube headphone amp fitted with NOS Soviet Voskhod matched tubes (see last photo).

Track list
For track listings, please see my attached record label photographs.

I never take "distant" photos nor the so-prevalent type with the LP sticking halfway out of the jacket. I take close-ups under photo lamps so you can see nearly everything I describe in the jacket grading. It is virtually impossible to know the true vinyl condition from any photograph. That takes very bright and close visual inspection PLUS play testing with thorough coverage on high resolution equipment.
Grading Details
Note: Grading LPs by text characters is subjective and at best are only a guide as no two used records are of exactly the same quality. I do not use "EX" grades as my VG+ is right below "NM-." I never sell a "G" play grade and very rarely ever sell a "VG" play grade. Please, refer to both my photo evidence and detailed descriptions to judge by YOUR OWN grading standards. Questions are always welcome. eBay no longer allows me to enter separate grades for each side of the sleeve or record so you may not see any in the box above but are listed below. Play quality is personally most important to me so vinyl visual qualities are graded and described in detail separately for your complete assessment.

Outer Jacket Inspection/grading:
NM--/VG+
The front face is beautiful because 90% and maybe more still retains the original gloss of the laminate. The downgrades are a narrow shallow ark of light ring wear at the bottom, two short this laminate separations in the spine at top, bottom, & lower right corner, and bits of rub wear at the corners with the heaviest at the lower left. It has to be seen in person to be appreciated for its smooth & deep gloss all over. The rear face also has smooth gloss all over but it has a larger section of laminate separation along the spine easily seen in my photo.

Vinyl visual inspection/grading:
NM/NM
Side 1 has no scratches, lines, or mottling. Only deep gloss with no marks of any kind and is an easy NM grade. Side 2 is the same. Neither label has any "scribble marks" around the spindle holes.

Play Testing:
NM/NM
Extensive play testing was performed after visual inspection (continuous written notes were taken). I listened to the beginning, middle, and end of each track for a few minutes on each needle drop. When the track width was noticeably greater I took more play samples to get good coverage. I also listened to all lead-in, lead-out and transition grooves between each track. Some tracks were played all the way thru when digitizing my favorites to 96k/24-bit WAV files. This allowed me to go back and re-check some of my notes on digital playback in Pro Tools. Here is rundown of each side from those notes.

Side 1 Play
The spindle hole is nice and tight on my TT. T1 is a nice quiet and spare acoustic track with Sandy on vocals. It is one of my favorites and I digitized it. Only heard a few low volume level ticks at the start and at the 2/3rds point. T2 had no vinyl noise heard. T3 had a few low level "micro ticks" at the very start but nothing else during my samples. T4 was the lone track recorded at Westbourne Church and one can hear the ambient noise plus background conversations. Just had a few "micro ticks at it's end. T5 has always been a favorite track and is the longest of the side. I digitized it for my music server. Features beautiful vocals by Sandy. Starts out low in volume letting a few tiny ticks get through but then ramps up much louder and remained very noise free from then on. Great audio and very enjoyable musically.

Side 2 Play
T1 had a small bit of audible crackle in it's 1st few seconds but then had no audible noise for the remainder of my sampling. T2 had no detectable noise. T3 had very high volume levels with no audible vinyl noise except a few "micro ticks in the last seconds. T4 is another top track with Sandy performing the vocals and getting outstanding musical support from the band. Its the longest track on the side and I fully recorded it. Was very clean and dynamic. T5 is perhaps the most well known song by Fairport as it is sort of their "anthem". It is always played at the very end of the Cropredy Festival. I couldn't wait to get this long-loved and most outstanding track recorded. I could kick myself for waiting so many decades to do so. If there was any audible vinyl noise it never distracted me because nothing broke my concentration. T6 is a very short solo acoustic guitar song. Only had a tiny bit of crackle at it's very end.

All of the transition grooves were pretty quiet indicating that the pressing was overall quite good. The main reason I'm grading both sides NM is not because I think the pressing is perfect but that it sounds the same as it did when I first played it and I don't think any vinyl noise has been ever added since then by playing or handling. I did not play it all that often as "Unhalfbricking" was always my favorite Fairport album and got all my regular rotation. But, there are some great tracks that make me very happy to finally have them digitally after so long.

Packaging

• Record will be placed outside the jacket to protect against seam splitting.
• Original inner sleeve is included separately.
• Record has been placed into a new MFSL-style "rice paper" plastic sleeve, as the original, even though its plastic lined, may be holding onto some dust. This will keep vinyl surfaces clean and well protected during shipping and ultimate buyer usage.
• Outer jacket is contained in a new clear polyethylene protective sleeve.
• Sent in high quality record mailer with cardboard stiffeners and all corners double-taped.

Shipping

• Shipping will be via USPS Media Mail for a flat charge of $3.98 per single album sale.
• A combined shipping discount is available on multiple sales completed on the same day($3.98 plus $0.50 for each additional LP).
• If you do buy more than one LP on the same daydo not pay immediately but wait for my all-combined invoice.eBay does give you the option to "Request an invoice from the buyer," but this option is not available on the eBay mobile app. A discount for the combined items will show on that invoice. Then, once payment is received, the items will ship.