Gordon Lightfoot RARE No-Title-On-Cover 1970 1st Press Sit Down Young Stranger

$

25

• Gordon Lightfoot.
• Sit Down Young Stranger.
• RARE COVER VARIATION: No Title & Artist Printed On Jacket Front.
• (Only a small number of copies were released with this cover).
• First Pressing (based on cover variant, matrix, and label style).
• Reprise 6392.
• Two-tone Label.

Item Details
Manufactured in: USA
Recorded: Sept. -Dec. 1969 At SunWest Studios, Hollywood CA
Mastering By: Artisan Sound Recorders, North Hollywood, CA
Original Issue: April 1970
This Issue: 1970
Label: Reprise 6392
Runout Deadwax Matrix Numbers:
Side 1: (etch:) RS-6392-A 31033 (stamp:)(Artisan Logo) (etch:) 1 (stamp:) A3
Side 2: (etch:) RS-6392-B 31034 (stamp:)(Artisan Logo) (etch:) 1 (stamp:) A3

A small number of vinyl copies of the album contain no text on the front cover. This is because the cover was originally intended to be just a picture of Lightfoot, but it was then thought that stating the title would increase the album's sales. This was Gordon's first recording on the Reprise label.
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.
Was cleaned on a VPI HW 16 with Audio Intelligent solutions and ultra-pure water rinse (50X purer than distilled water) before my pre-sale sound check. 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 Voskhod Soviet matched tubes (see last photo).

Track list
1: Minstrel Of The Dawn, Me And Bobby McGee, Approaching Lavender, Saturday Clothes, Cobwebs & Dust, Poor Little Allison.

2: Sit Down Young Stranger, If You Could Read My Mind, Baby It's Allright, Your Love's Return, The Pony Man.

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: Record grading by text characters is subjective and does not fully describe quality levels. Please see photos and my detailed descriptions below.

Outer Jacket Inspection:
VG+/VG
At the time I bought this I hadn't yet acquired a habit of putting my LPs into purchased poly sleeves to protect the faces. This LP never got one. The front cover has two halos of ring wear at the top and bottom.  The bottom right corner has noticeable rubbing wear. The jacket rear has more noticeable ring wear than the front. For some unknown reason over the decades glue laminating the printed paper around the spine dried out and developed cracking & flaking. Because of this I downgraded the rear face to VG. There are no split seams and the jacket is still strong and sturdy.

Vinyl visual inspection:
I found one light surface hairline running through the last 3 tracks. Although I was sure it wouldn't affect audio quality I made a note to check those tracks 100% during play test. Otherwise th surface looked Near Mint. Side 2 also looked Near Mint but tilting under bright light revealed a series of extremely fine reflective hairlines roughly in a curved row. I marked down the location in my notes to be aware of them during play testing.

Play Testing:
VG++/NM
Extensive play testing was performed after visual inspection. I listened to the beginning, middle, and end of each track for a few minutes on each needle drop. 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 192k/24-bit WAV files. Continuous written notes were taken. Here is rundown of each side from my notes..

Side 1 Play
First, I didn't see any warpage and the record laid very flat (I do use a clamp as you can see in my rig photo). As the lead-in groove transitioned into the fade-in of T1 I did hear some crackle that quickly dissipated as the volume ramped up and got into the song. From then on things stayed nicely quiet. My first reaction was that the audio had a deep and impressive soundstage. The transition groove into T2 was pretty quiet boding well for the pressing quality. The next thing I noticed on Track 2 was how much more front & center Gordon's voice was in this mix versus his previous LPs on United Artist. This being the first on Reprise was definitely benefiting from higher production standards as well as better quality control of the vinyl pressings. T2 is a very strong track. T4 is my favorite of the whole album. John Sebastian's auto harp was a great touch. At the very end of T4 I heard some ticks as it was fading out with a couple of louder ones right in the middle of the trans groove. The ticks then trailed off but some of them were present into the start of T5 for a few seconds as the volume faded up, then they went away.

Side 2 Play
The lead-in groove to T1 was nice and quiet. This title track starts with just Gordon's voice and a finger picked guitar then builds up stronger in the middle with a 2nd guitar and bass added. The audio quality is excellent and being on the outermost grooves it has the best playing alignment. If you have a really high-end system this could be demonstration quality. T2 fulfilled Gordon's goal of getting better promotion of his music on Reprise and this became a mega hit. Its also the reason the album artwork changed its title to the name of this track. I didn't hear any vinyl noise intruding during my testing of T2. It sounded fresh and clean. T4 is another of my favorites as it is an outstanding arrangement by Gordon and his recording team. T5 is very gentle and simple arrangement that closes ot the album warmly.

I feel that even though the first side plays NM in almost its entirety it would be better to downgrade it to VG++ for those two noted vinyl noise spots. I didn't hear anything on Side 2 that could be attributed to the noted visual artifacts and the whole side was very clean. Any ticks you might notice are single, random, far apart, and of very low energy so they won't diminish the music enjoyment. Overall, this LP has exceptionally well-preserved playing quality.

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 paper sleeve might be  abrasive and could also be holding onto some dust. This will keep vinyl surfaces clean and safe during shipping and subsequent buyer usage.
• Outer jacket is contained in a new clear polyethylene protective sleeve.
• Sent in good quality record mailer with cardboard stiffeners.

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. A discount for the combined items will show on that invoice. Then, once payment is received, the items will ship.