GENTLE GIANT Three Friends SCARCE UK Vertigo Spiral LP

	£		149
	$		197

ONEADAYRECORDS – Delivering Quality Progressive Rock to the World

Please see my Detailed Packing Description Further Down with Picture & All Shipping Rates.

Artist or Band: GENTLE GIANT

Album Title: Three Friends.

Producers: Gentle Giant

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Prologue; Schooldays; Working All Day.

Side 2: Feel the Paint; Mister Class & Quality?; Three Friends.

Label/Format: Vertigo – original Spiral format (Please see my label scans).

Label Conditions: Both in fantastic clean conditions. Very clean and attractive with only very light, fine and few spindle mark, hardly any seen on side one. The full Spiral on side one practically pristine from rim to hole, they hardly get better than this. Side two still a snowy white with no fingermarks or handling traces or grubbiness. A copy clearly very little played reitterated by two very clean playing surfaces and immaculate sound that is nigh-on perfect. This one will take a fair amount of beating and the sound unlikely ever to be.

Cat Number: 6360 070.

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: 118 grams. Around or slightly below average.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Scarce: like most of the Swirl titles, this is not getting any easier to find and especially in such lovely clean conditions.

Original Year of Release: 1972

Matrix Nos: 6360070 1Y 2 420 1 1 9 / 6360070 2Y 2 420 1 1 7

Musicians: Kerry Minnear - Keyboards, Vibraphone, Percussion, Moog, Vocals; Ray Shulman - Basses, Violin, 12 String Guitar, Vocals; Gary Green - Guitars, Percussion; Derek Shulman - Vocals; Malcolm Mortimore - Drums; Philip Shulman - Saxophones and Vocals.

Brief Info: Arguably their best Vertigo album - Gentle Giant were always a little more challenging than some progressive bands. Complex music patterns with many time and structure changes - you either love or loathe them, but for sure they were original and had their own unique sound. Talking of sound, their production values were amongst the best and this, and other from their catalogue are of audiophile standard. They usually appeal to fans of Yes, King Crimson, van der Graaf Generator and similar bands. ‘Three Friends’ is a concept album about, well, three friends. and their journey through life and experiences. This was their third album and my personal favourite from their catalogue, never too easy to find on the Swirl format - copies with clean, little-worn covers and records are very hard to track down. This cover is attractive with minimal wear and the record plays with fantastic and nigh-on perfect sound, certainly a strong example for the Spiral collector. Few will even get close to matching this for supreme clean and blemish-free sound.

This Cover’s Potential for Wear: High: most-all Vertigo covers were unprotected and suffered accordingly. Few avoid rubbing, grubbiness and especially ringwear. The famous Spiral inners also suffer all forms of wear.

Cover Grade and Format: Excellent(-) because of edgewear, the main faces are in superb condition. Like most, this is an unlaminated gatefold format. Printed and made in England.

Cover Front: The front is highly attractive indeed and shows little wear, indeed one of the best I have seen for some time. Clean and little aged with minimal traces of rubbing and no creasing or note, rich colour and few marks. Ultra faint tone traces when viewed up real close but this will take a fair amount of beating.

Cover Back: The back is equally if not more impressive still. Any wear or rubbing minuscule and no ringwear. Any creases tiny and faint and just hints of faint toning again viewed up close.

Cover Inner Gatefold: One almost tiny pull spot and ultra faint tone spot traces, this apart, nothing else to fault and both faces look superb.

Top Edges: Some patchy rubbing.

Bottom Edges: Light to moderate patchy rubbing.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Little to fault here being clean, mainly sharp with little wear and no feathering (or trimming). Record enters on this back edge, the front being closed and totally unworn.

Spine and Text: Here is the main issue: the bottom of the spine has the surface rubbed for about two inches and the exposed card has fairly lightly toned, still neat however. A higher grading would have applied bar this. Still very solid and thick, straight, uncompressed and folded almost square, both right edges meet up very closely together and parallel. The good news is all the main text near the top half is fully present and unworn, the lower catalogue number is gone further down. A little light rubbing the fold near the top is pretty minor. Bar that bottom two inches, most-all of the design is unworn.

Corners: All the corners have light tip rubs and all retain very fine shape, even the spine bottom.

Cover Summary: A strong all round example of this very fragile 70’s cover, one that will prove still difficult to find much better. This attractive Swirl cover should please many collectors, but with the edge rubs, clearly not the more discerning or connoisseur collector. If these edge rubs are an issue, do not bid (but the superb sounding record more than compensates).

The Inner: EX, the only blemishing being gum darkening around the seams, hardly unusual on these and other similar inners. The window is immaculate with just some milish crinkle to the lining. Any creasing mild and light and all edges unsplit or repaired. The code on this one is 311.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: To grade this much less than Mint(-) would not be doing this splendid Spiral full justice, with one hairline on side two, I will critically grade EX++. The fine surface blemish has NO sound at all and this plays as good as it looks, if not even better. A superb looking visual copy that is very clean, shiny, intense black and quite solidly pressed. This without any doubt has been played only little and looks hardly handled. Remember, even brand new records of this era often has the odd faint surface mark, manufacture was often less than subtle and often packing heavy-handed. It’s a total myth new records were always unmarked as collectors of my age will remember. Around 1972 to 1973 were not the best years for vinyl due to the oil shortage and skimping often occured. This is a fabulous Spiral record and will take something exceptional to match or better it. Visually a super record that should please most-all 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 miniscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This prog-gem plays even above its high visual grading with nothing to fault. Strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear - sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. Any surface sounds barely even registered and this has some really quiet passages and silence is a very tough ask on a record fast approaching forty, but this gem excels. No pops or clicks were noted and this is an exceptional clean pressing for a fairly challenging album. Gentle Giant albums, like King Crimson and VDGG, were roller-coaster rides of loud and quiet passages. Few records this impressive age will ever play these types silently, its a near impossible ask. This one really delivers and this is up there with the best I have heard, this too on ultra sensitive equipment. A very clean performance and I enjoyed this one immensely. Few copies will match or outperform this early pressing I feel sure. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record, the lack of any groovewear distortions especially are a bonus on such complex recordings and this retains its audiophile quality clarity with perfectly focused sound. This actual record will prove immensely difficult to find significantly better for sound and looks and can be strongly recommended.

Now one of the most established sellers on Ebay and still offering the finest and most accurately described and graded 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 as I can all items I offer for sale with all the relevant information I can think of to help any potential bidder and collector. You may notice I only submit records sparingly on Ebay - on average ONEADAY, a couple more at weekends if time permits, hence the name - time rarely allows for more as I Play-Grade virtually every record I offer in their entirety, not just bits to guess a grade - visuals alone do not always tell a true or full story. I will 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 its good. I get just as much pleasure offering a relatively common record in stunning near mint condition as the real rare items. All the pictures I use for your guidance are taken with a digital camera or scanned - they are NOT improved, cleaned-up or made better looking than they are with camera trickery or enhancing with digital programmes. What you see is what you get and scanned labels will give a more accurate representation of the genuine colour than flash photography where light is variable. I cannot guarantee total accuracy for colours however but most will be very close. If any picture I take looks more flattering than the actual item for any reason, I will clearly state the fact in the advert and vice-versa. I hope the item below is to your liking - any questions can be emailed and I will do my very best to answer you. I am enthusiastic, and have a fair degree of knowledge about many genres and I promise quality items - bid with confidence - excellence comes as standard and so does Near Mint regularly. Please assume all records I offer have NO jumps, sticks, 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 Rondo Red moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2 grams). Amps: Naim Nait 5i with Project USB phono stage and Chord interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired with QED Silver terminated cable). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Moth vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too.

First-time, zero-rated bidders, who do not ask permission to bid, will be cancelled immediately and blocked – NO exceptions. For winning bidders who I consider excessively slow to make contact or submit payment, I will use my right to block future bids. If any bidder who wins in the final seconds is present to do so, surely they can at least email me to inform of intention and payment method? If swift or promp payment is a problem, please do not bid.

PACKING - THIS IS WHAT YOU GET - PLEASE SEE MY TYPICAL PACKING BOX PICTURE.

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.

I now offer the fastest possible posting, often the very next day after payment is received or within two to three days maximum (unless on holiday). I only use FIRST-CLASS Mail. The record’s cover will be placed within a BRAND NEW soft protective sleeve and the actual record will be professionally cleaned on my Moth Pro vacuum system to give ultimate clean grooves and playing surfaces and the best possible looks and ultimate sound quality. You will NOT get tired, dull looking, dust infested records inside worn and foggy covers with tatty inners from this seller and that’s a promise and guarantee. All records are posted in professional thick boxes (NOT Mailers or Cruciforms, these do not offer maximum protection). The record(s) REMOVED from their main cover to avoid edge splits and placed within a brand new polylined inner. The record’s original inner will be included if available. The boxes are then reinforced with THREE or EVEN FOUR ULTRA THICK stiffeners for maximum extra protection – these are FOUR TIMES thicker than commercial stiffeners and are custom-made for oneadayrecords. Really rare and expensive albums will even be Double Boxed if deemed necessary and possible. The thick record and stiffener ‘sandwich’ is then thickly embedded into bubble-wrap to bulk out the record inside the box to centre the item inside to reduce the risk of damage still further. Printed address labels are used for clarity as well as a sender label. Customers requests or special needs for P&P will be respected if at all possible but ‘Signed-For’ posting is NOT an option anymore. Please see my picture of a typical finished box packet that will now be used on ALL transactions as from now. I do not profit on posting and the cost of this lavish packing is NOT even charged for, I offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible for ultimate confidence. These boxes and ultra thick double-wall stiffners and bubble wrap make a near impregnable fortress for safe shipping and this is used inland and overseas for ALL my records, not just the rare and expensive. I will invoice any winning bidder as soon as possible after the auction ends. My ‘loss’ or ‘damage rate’ is less than one in two thousand based on over 6,000+ items sold in over 8 years of Ebay trading and I consider that pretty exceptional. The only damage rate acceptable for this seller is ZERO and I think my packets will offer just that. It would take a vicious postman or postal service to damage these for sure. Even one of these stiffners cannot be bent by hand, so what chance 3 or 4 inside a box? Oneadayrecords is a MAILER-FREE ZONE. I discount of course for multiple purchases with a maximum of FOUR records per box (one double can sometimes be included subject to total weight). I will not respond to questions on shipping costs as all the details are included here and on ALL of my adverts. Details below:

NOTE: First Time Bidders: I will cancel ALL first-time bidders with no feedbacks or excessive negatives who do not ask me if its OK to bid first – NO EXCEPTIONS.

Please Note: I will now offer any item to the runner-up after the mandatory Ebay 3 days if no contact is made by the winning bidder unless prior notice of any delay is given beforehand. The same applies if no payment is received within the mandatory 7 days so any bidder who has just lost out can still email me to reserve the item as priority second chance – it’s always worth asking.

SHIPPING COSTS & CONDITIONS – THESE comply with EBAY’S RULES - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:

Posting & Packing: UK & CHANNEL ISLANDS all now sent via Recorded Delivery:

1 LP (FIRST-CLASS Recorded Delivery with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) [Signed For] = £4.

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7.50. (this includes insurance of £500). Add £2 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: EUROPE & SCANDINAVIA. (Airmail Only):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£40 maximum]) = £9. (insurance optional extra £3). Add £2.50 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: ALL OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. USA (ANY PART OF); Australia; Canada; Japan and other Far East; (Airmail Only: I NEVER use Surface Mail):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£39 maximum]) = £13. Add £4 per extra LP. (insurance optional extra £3)

Payment Conditions:

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

Potential Bidders: Please do not bid if you have negative feedback unless checking first, I will cancel any bids I feel are timewasters. A maximum 3 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive - if not I will relist the item or offer to the runner-up. Fast deals get great feedback from me. Any questions - please ask and thanks for looking.

My Guarantee: If any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund. I will not refund if any defect detail is clearly stated on the advert and missed by the buyer, so read the item description carefully. If any overseas collector does not understand anything in my listing, please email and ask me to help. Thank You.

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 neccessarily 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, actually 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.

The Argument for Vinyl Original sound and mix (mono mixes are rarely available on CD), high quality sound on clean copies (played on a hi-end dedicated analogue system – breathtaking sound!), beautiful, large format covers, artwork, inserts and even full size posters etc; huge investment potential, and the pleasure of owning ‘the real thing’.