George Harrison All Things Must Pass SCARCE Columbia Consigned Orange Cap NM

$

363

(Note:  If you win multiple items in a week’s listings, please wait for the end of all of the auctions for me to invoice you, so that you can take advantage of my combined shipping offer.  Thanks!)

READ THIS! These records are NOT sold for perfect sound quality. They’re sold for their scarcity and VISUAL grading. They’ve been in storage for a decade, and they WILL play with surface noise that can be addressed with D4 or a VPI cleaning.  I can’t test-play at the minute. Please don’t bid if this is a problem for you.

George Harrison 3-LP All Things Must Pass SCARCE Columbia Consignment Orange Capitol, NM!

For audiophile collectors who are fans of the Capitol/Columbia hybrid pressing plates sound quality, this is the biggest bull in the ring.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll emphatically say it again, there’s something about Columbia’s mid-70’s vinyl stock that was top-of-the-line. My favorite example I point to is Earth, Wind and Fire’s “That’s the Way of the World” LP.  You drop the needle on a first pressing of that album, and it sounds like a CD, except with analog warmth.

This 1976 hybrid pressing of George’s “All Things Must Pass” is similar.  The pressing plates are from Capitol’s LA plant, which is famous for always being the first metal plates in the country.  All the other plates sent to the other pressing plants were copied from LA plates, so that LA plates deliver the sharpest sound quality.  Couple that with Columbia’s vinyl stock, which was thinner and more flexible than Capitol’s was, and you have a copy of the album that plays like you’ve NEVER heard before.

Firstly, Columbia’s mastering process dialed back on the thickly compressed grooves, which means that the album isn’t such a loud cut.  In this case, that’s a good thing.  Anyone who is intimately familiar with this album knows that the playback is almost distorted in the louder passages.  Dialing it back not only plays back at a slightly lower volume, it also cuts out a good 90% of the distortion.

Secondly, with a quieter playback and better vinyl stock, the result is a much silkier sound on the quieter tracks, like “I’d Have You Anytime” and “If Not For You,” as well as hearing detail in the louder cuts I’ll bet you never knew were there.  Such as in “Wah-Wah” and “Let It Down.”  Most noticeable are the backing vocals.  You can hear how they resolve, as opposed to the Capitol copies, in which they’re completely drowned out by brass horns and Ringo’s cymbals.

Thirdly, this copy un-homogenizes the bass guitar performances on the album.  In other words, you can clearly hear Carl Radle’s funky and fast-fingered techniques.  There are bass runs on “Let It Down,” “Hear Me, Lord” and “Art of Dying” that I’ve not heard on ANY other pressings.  Similarly, you can hear Klaus Voorman’s moody and very tight playing with Ringo’s kick drum on “I’d Have You Anytime,” “The Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp” and “Isn’t It a Pity,” among others.  Two very different bassists whom you can’t tell apart on the Capitol LP become distinctly individual on this copy, because you can actually hear what they’re doing.

Fourthly, the stereo separation is therefore inherently more pronounced, because you don’t have as much of that distorted Phil Spector Mess of Sound, bleeding across the soundstage.  As a result, you can hear very impressively, the clarity of acoustic strumming and picking in the right and left channels very clearly.

Nearly every song on the album is a different listening experience to the Apple pressings.  The more intimate you are with this masterpiece, the more detail you’ll hear for the first time. And it’s so rare that in 51 years of collecting, I have never seen another copy.

The vast majority of collectors don’t even know it exists.  I’ll hate parting with it.

Vinyl--- NM/NM. NM/NM. NM/NM. All six sides shine like brand new store stock.  Vinyl stock is much thinner than Capitol’s.  Columbia vinyl stock retains very high shine, as well as silky and sharp sound quality.

Plates--- J1/J2. J1/J1. J1/J1.  Machine-stamped asterisk in the dead wax makes this copy pressed in Los Angeles.

**I have never seen a “J” alpha-numeric with a single digit.  This could well be Columbia’s first pressing plate, as it certainly sounds like one.  I’m not kidding.

Box--- EX.  Box has minimal wear, except for some light dirtwear, front and back.  Box lid is still firmly attached.

Please excuse the lack of the box’ edge photos. There were too many important ones to include, and I ran out of photo spaces. 

But be assured that the box edges are very nice!  Spine’s gold text is 100% complete, no flaking.  All corners are muscular-strong, no crushed corners.  Bottom tray also has muscular-strong corners, none are crushed.

Poster--- EX.  Very close to a NM poster, except that the back has so slightly yellowed.  No splits at the intersections, NO FINGER DIVOTS.

Labels--- NM/NM. NM/NM. NM/NM. All six sides shine like brand new store stock.  NO SPINDLE MARKS AMONG ALL SIX LABELS.

Thin-cut concentric groove closer to the outer edge of the labels come from Columbia lathes.  See Compere Photo of Capitol’s orange label pressing.

Inner Sleeves--- VG+/VG+/VG+.  All Capitol sleeves present as Excellent.  But the first two sleeves have bottom center seam splits about 2 inches long.  The Apple Jam sleeve has a side seam split about one inch long.  Light wrinkles, small amount of finger divots each.

Generic inner sleeves will be provided, so as not to damage your original inner sleeves en route.

**You’re not going to find another copy of this hybrid sound quality pressing again, which means you won’t have the opportunity to hear it if you miss this copy. 

As these records have been in storage for many years, they will play back with crackling and tics, however; a good moisturizing and cleaning with either D4 Discwasher or a VPI machine always clears them up.  Thanks!)

Note:  All LP’s ship outside of their album covers in order not to damage the covers during shipment.

CAUTION!  There has been a startling increase in bidders canceling their bids.  A word to the wise, I have started blocking any and all bidders who retract their bids regardless of the reason.

Please don’t bid unless you’re willing to honor your amount, okay? Thanks!

(Please note:  Regarding play-testing, my Technics turntable has somehow seized.  The tone arm is stuck in the up position, and I can’t get it to fully return to its cradle.  Is there anyone out there, who can tell me if this is an easy fix?  Thanks!) 

**Check out my other auctions for more hard-to-find vinyl!

Shipping is $5.38 for Media Mail for up to 3 single or double albums, excluding boxed sets within the U.S.  $5.38 covers shipping for up to 5 singles within the U.S., and within the same auction week.

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