Gary Farr - Strange Fruit, UK Original,

	£		101
	$		134

The Item For Sale Is:

Artist:            Gary Farr

Title:              Strange Fruit

Release info: CBS (64138) 1970 Original UK Issue

Condition (Sleeve 1st) : EX/EX

Track List:

In The Mud

Old Man Boulder

Strange Fruit

Margie

Revolution Of The Season

About This Time Of Year

Down Among The Dead Men

Old Man Moses

Proverbs Of Heaven And Hell

Sweet Angelina

Band Line Up:

Gary Farr - Guitar, Vocals, Harmonica

Richard Thompson - Guitar

Ian Whiteman - Piano, Flute

Roger Powell - Drums

Mick Evans - Bass

Real nice clean copy of a scarce LP. Farr was a bit of a journeymen musician through the mid sixties RnB boom who matured to write enough songs for a couple of excellent albums (this one and the preceding album on Marmalade). The sound is a bit schizophrenic with about half the album heading towards a Band style sound, almost like the Rolling Stones Exile On Main Street with the same densely produced loose-almost-funky-almost-country-bluesy-folk sort of sound. The other half is where it gets really good with a laid back folky rock sound with a psychy edge which is as good as anything else in the genre. Highly recommended for fans of Mighty Baby (obviously!), early Fairport Convention, Roger Morris, Meic Stevens etc etc.

Condition:

Sleeve:

Very strong, it’s a good late sixties single pocket sleeve made of thickish card and laminated on the front only. It’s manufactured by Shorepack Ltd and has the “Patents Pending” notation on the rear which usually signifies a very early pressing of the record.

The front is very clean with no tears or writing anywhere. There are a couple of light lamination creases coming in from the spine about half way down but these are very light and hard to spot at arms length in a PVC sleeve. The lamination itself is clear and shiny without the tired dull look some old laminated sleeves have, the lamination has shrunk slightly over the years leaving a strip a few millimetres wide at the open edge but this is very clean without the grimy appearance that this line often has. Like most sleeves of this vintage there are some very very light record impression marks, nothing which could be called ringwear, just a slight ridge which marks wear the record sits but these are invisible at arms length and wouldn’t be mentioned by most people.

The unlaminated rear sleeve is extremely clean and in remarkably good condition. This is a sleeve which usually has rubbing wear on the dark parts but this copy is unmarked. There are no tears, writing or creases anywhere on the rear. .

The top seam is totally unworn.

The bottom seam is also totally unworn.

The spine is also totally unworn, it’s still wide and very clean with all of the writing clearly readable.

I have to say that this is the best copy of this sleeve I’ve seen for some time and it will be difficult to find a better copy.

Record:

The record itself is every bit as good as the sleeve. It’s good quality thickish vinyl which is very flat. It’s extremely clean and has that nice dark sheen that only rarely played records have. When viewed in normal light it looks just as nice as anything with no visible marks at all. When held under a harsh lamp it looks just as good with only the very occasional extremely light hairline marks visible which are caused by taking the record in and out of the sleeve. You’ll have to look hard for these marks and when you do find them they’re totally inaudible.

The two labels are in perfect condition. Both are very clean with no writing, stickers or tears and very little discernable spindle wear. The matrix numbers in the run out grooves are 64318A2 and 64318B2.

When played the record lives up to the high standard set by it’s visible appearance. There’s a lovely clean vibrant sound which comes leaping out of the speakers. There’s no hint of any distortion or groovewear anywhere on the album. The only surface noise I heard anywhere on the album was on the first track on side two where there were 5 low level background clicks, not the sharp sort of clicks caused by a scratch but sort of light thuds in the background and well below the level of the music, can’t see any obvious reason for these clicks so it may be just a microscopic piece of grit in the grooves. That small fault apart the record plays just as well as you could hope for with no other surface noise apparent for the whole length of the record, even between tracks is completely silent which is highly unusual for a record of this age.

In conclusion: a record which has been played very sparingly over the years and been well looked after when not in use. Musically this is a record which belongs in any good collection of 60’s/70’s folkpsych and it will be very difficult to find a better copy than this, it was a real pleasure to listen to and I’m certain anyone who buys it will have no complaints.

If anyone has any questions or would like more information or photos please just let me know.

If you do decide to bid for this item I wish you luck and if not, well, thanks for looking and remember to look at my other items for sale you may find something more to your taste there.

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