GARY NUMAN "I DIE YOU DIE" LEGENDARY A1 TEST PRESSING 7

	£		670
	$		888

***I TEMPORARILY WITHDREW THE LISTING AS A BUY IT NOW FOR A SHORT PERIOD ON FRIDAY PM, THIS WAS BECAUSE I WAS BEING ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SINGLE COMPARING THIS TO THE ONE PICTURED IN RECORD COLLECTOR RECENTLY, AND SO ON. I BECAME A LITTLE CAUTIOUS THAT JUST ON THE OFF CHANCE THIS WAS A COPY OF THAT, IT MIGHT HARM MY EBAY STANDING OF 10 YEARS PLUS. HOWEVER, NO-ONE SEEMS TO A) HAVE EVER SEEN ONE OTHER THAN THOSE AT THE BEGGARS OFFICE AND B) NO ONE SEEMS TO HAVE HEARD ABOUT IT BEING COPIED BEFORE. I ALSO FELT BAD THAT DESPITE TRYING FOR AGES WITH A SCANNER AND DIGITAL CAMERA THAT I COULDN'T TRULY CAPTURE, UP CLOSE, THE RUN OUT GROOVE NOTATION. HOWEVER, I HAVE EVERY CONFIDENCE IN THE ITEM AND AM THEREFORE PASSING IT OVER TO YOU TO DECIDE. IF NO-ONE MOVES ON IT, YOU MIGHT BE GETTING A £100 BARGAIN FOR A BOOK PRICE £1250 45!?

WHILE THERE IS DOUBT I HAVE CHANGED THE BUY IT NOW PRICE TO A LOW START 10 DAY AUCTION AND LET YOU DECIDE. I DON'T WANT TO SAY THIS IS ONE OF 6 SINGLES EVER MADE IF THERE IS THE SLIGHTEST DOUBT IT MIGHT NOT BE. I PERSONALLY SAY YOU SHOULD BID IN CONFIDENCE, AND PLEASE ASK ME ANY QUESTIONS. THE PROBLEM HERE STRIKES ME THAT NO ONE PERSON HAS SEEN AN ORIGINAL TO TRULY ANSWER CATEGORICALLY ANY QUESTIONS!!!*** SO WITH THAT SAID, I HAVE CUT N PASTED MY ORIGINAL TEXT BELOW, I HOPE IT HELPS, BUT I'LL LET YOU ALL DECIDE, SO AS NOT TO TRY AND HARM MY 10 YEARS+ EBAY STANDING!***

**i've added what i think is a way better pic of the runout grooves- hope it helps?! the area i've pictured has all the info contained- ie. it doesn't run at odd points around the label- it is pretty bunched up if that helps?**

in 10 years on ebay now, this is probably the rarest record i've ever listed. the legendary uk beggars white label test pressing of the 1980 gary numan hit "i die: you die" as incredibly rare A1, slightly alternate version to the release A2 version. rumoured to be just 6 copies made. i hope i can answer all anticipated questions here!

it has no picture sleeve, just a plain white 7" bag. it has a few spindle marks on both sides around the centre hole but really nothing serious and only what is common for what was, in effect, a promo. clean dark white labels with no handwriting on. both sides of the vinyl are in excellent condition- there is a slight scuff on side a runout groove but the playing area is missed and importantly it's only light anyway.

the all important run out grooves: side a: BEG46A1 wea t/p strawberry side b: BEG46B1 wea t/p strawberry. all text is handwritten. i've tried to looking everywhere to match if this is correct. the only reference i can find is a test pressing for the A2 version (on popsike) where the word "strawberry" (i'm assuming cutting studios?) is machine stamped. these are handwritten, but having run a label for 13 years or so myself, it makes total sense that the inscribed lacquers may be different because of course A1 was from a different, earlier cut than A2. so it might be an issue and i'd be all ears if anyone knows more?

B side of course is "down in the park" paino version.

the source: earlier in the summer i picked up a number of 7" test pressings from the turn of the 70s / early 80s from a guy i met at a surrey boot fair. apparently he had links to the old london radio station "capital radio"- most of what i bought had links to wea / warners- bands such as the pretenders, the inmates, elvis costello, the associates and echo and the bunnymen. he also mentioned having some numan tests yet they were never with him and i began to think he'd forget forever and it was just one of those things until in august he brought this down for me! i knew from the BEG runout groove it was a legit gary numan earlyish single- when i discovered that is was the holy grail i contacted him and did the decent thing, ie. that the £25 i paid was peanuts. so what we've both decided to do is list it as a buy it now first come first served with the price set at close to what the great recent "record collector" top 75 rarities rated it at. so hence the price....

for what it's worth he reckons there is no chance that only 6 of these were made- but if that's what's gone down in numan folklore then so be it!

the price here is a little cheaper than the RC ad and includes registered very well packed postage. PAYPAL OR A UK CHEQUE IS BEST. thanks for looking.....

addition: i've been asked to include a pic with closeup of run out groove text- not being evasive but am really struggling with both a scanner and a digital camera to capture it. believe me, the pic i've just added is the best of a dozen, it's VERY tricky!