H. P. LOVECRAFT II - SCARCE ORIG UK 1968 STEREO EX+ LP, SUPER SOUND PSYCH ROCK.

	£		45
	$		59

ONEADAYRECORDS – Simply Delivering Quality Music to the World in Quality, Safe Packing.

Postage: UK £4.75 (£1 per extra record). Europe (including Russia) £12.50 (£2 per extra record). Rest of World (including ALL parts of the USA) £16.50 (£3 per extra record). All boxes signed for in quality, safe packaging – I NEVER use mailing envelopes that offer virtually no protection at all – in fact I think these things should be banned as records WILL arrive damaged in them at some time. Here, you get what you pay for – SAFE PACKING in BOXES using 7mm DOUBLE-WALL STIFFENERS. Full details nearer the end of the listing.

Posting to Russia: Yes, I do post to Russia. But delivery can take up to 4 to 6 weeks from the UK. So please be patient. I will submit a tracking number to the winning bidder, and when the packet arrives there it can be followed online using the Russian post website.

ALSO: I now apply the Ebay ‘2-day’ rule for non-payment to keep things moving – cash-flow is important for any small business. I will always keep my P&P prices as low as possible, and even after yet another Royal Mail price hike from April this year, I have NOT raised my prices and will never compromise on solid, safe packing that is invariably heavier than most you will get. My P&P offers probably the best value-for-money for vinyl records available, and I even will pay for full insurance on any record that sells for over £100 at NO extra cost – that is UK and abroad. Also I aim to post the very same day after payment is received. You WILL see the difference when my packet arrives.

FINALLY: Late payers, non-payers and ‘0’ bidders will now be blocked or cancelled at my discretion. As will any bidder who cancels a bid. I do not like this practice as it is most often used to phish out the price to beat. Ebay does not approve and neither do I – so only bid on my items if you want them.

Artist or Band: H. P. LOVECRAFT

Album Title: H. P. Lovecraft II

Producer(s): George Badonsky

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Spin, Spin, Spin; It’s About Time; Blue Jack of Diamonds; Electrollentando.

Side 2: At the Mountains of Madness; Mobius Trip; High Flying Bird; Nothing’s Boy; Keeper of the Keys.

Label/Format: Philips – intense black matt with a gentle hint of texturing.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and attractive with only a very small few light, fine and faint spindle marks and no wear around the hole area.

Cat Number: SBL 7872

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: 127 grams. A fine solid weight.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Very Scarce: UK pressings of these slightly lesser-known US psych bands are never easy to find with minimal sales here at the time. Not only that, it appears very little played and mostly plays great, this album was not issued in mono. As documented, this copy has the pressing watermark (a dull area), but only on side two. Copies without it at all are rare, most seem to have it, and mostly on both sides. Side one on this copy is totally devoid of it, side two fairly lightly affected compared to some, being around a quarter of an inch on the music area at the very start. It has only very gentle audible sound as a brief hiss. This known manufacture blemish apart, the record looks and plays superbly. Lastly, UK versions included a VERY flimsy gatefold cover, made with card no thicker than paper, these more often seen badly damaged, torn, even trashed. This one largely impressive with a smallish spine clip (as seen) and one or two corner tip rubs. So a very fine example overall, but not pristine, and with so few sold here, few ever will be.

Original Year of Release: 1968

Matrix Nos: 852126 1Y//1 420 1 1 5 & 852126 2Y//1 420 1 1 5

Musicians: George Edwards – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass; Dave Michaels – vocals, keyboards; Tony Cavallari – lead guitar, vocals; Jeff Boyan – bass, vocals; Michael Tegza – drums, percussion, vocals.

Brief Info: The second H. P. Lovecraft album, and final one by this American psychedelic rock band, their name borrowed from the 19th horror novelist. A live set was issued many years later and is also worth checking out. I rate both their albums highly (the first is also on offer), this one even more psychedelic and a little more out-there than the debut with quite eerie overtones. Both are elusive as UK pressings and selling in only tiny numbers, the albums fairly quickly went out-of-print. As so often, over time, their albums have gained a lot more interest. Certainly they will appeal to fans of the more acid-psych era of Jefferson Airplane with a similar sound. The record not quite perfect in sound reproduction with the smallish watermark on the beginning of side two – but with most copies have it, and often larger on both sides – this is still a lovely example and any unwanted sound is really very gentle, light and brief. It looks hardly used and these surface infrequently. Strongly recommended, unless perfection is mandatory– good luck finding one of those.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(–): I think this more than justified for a cover that will rarely be found even half this fine. An ultra thin and flimsy gatefold format with front and back laminate. The card little thicker than paper which will in most cases cause laminate issues – especially chipping or flaking. The inside is matt and smooth finish. Printed and made in England, includes the Philips style inner sleeve.

Lamination – Front & Back: Firstly, this cover must be held carefully in two hands or it will badly bend. The laminate retains superb shine, freshness and clarity, the only small lifts on the back left corner tip, and a neat one to the back spine edge with low visibility. A chip is seen on the spine edge with a little corner rubbing and a small right front edge burr. In context, all issues are minor for a ruthlessly fragile sleeve. There is very little creasing, and even dulling minimal, a little seen on the back from the record, but few can hope to avoid this with card this thin. The artwork is superb, with deep vivid colour, in terms of ageing, this cover has little and has withstood the rigours of time and handling better than most I would suggest.

Cover Inner Gatefold: Again more great colourful artwork, minimal wear at all, just a little set-off where the deeply coloured right rests upon the black and white left, that nigh-on impossible to avoid unless ‘barrier’ card or paper is put inside, and how many would have ever thought to have done so? This set-off near the top and bottom left edges.

Top Edges: Both impressive for wafer-thin, flimsy edges: no chipping and still smooth. These are flush and parallel with any bowing or curl minimal and light near the ends. No splits and surprisingly still quite straight.

Bottom Edges: These storage edges are not laminated, so exposed and perilous. These have rubbed a little in places, but way better than could have been expected with the ink largely intact on the back, rubbed on the right corner area.

Right Edge(s), and Type: The front has a real edge e.g. not trimmed in manufacture, this is solid (as it can be) and with any wear appearing light. It appears double thickness, but is still thin. The back entrance edges are clean, and both mostly sharp with very little wear. Any thickening or burring little and light as seen viewed end-on where you can really see how thin this card is. Both are guaranteed untrimmed or enhanced in any way,a little curl to the ends is quite honestly near impossible to avoid.

Spine and Text: Firstly, the ends have both rubbed – the top moderate – the bottom less so, also a moderately small central chip. But the main spine area is impressive that apart. Still solid, straight with minimal compression and folded square, so the edges meet up very closely together and parallel. All text is perfect and unworn under the solid and largely uncracked laminate. So not perfect, but with most of the graphic intact – the central area and ends apart – this can almost be considered a fine spine.

Corners: Some light and some moderate corner rubbing. Avoid heavy knocks, possibly a little dinking to a couple, but fine to very fine shape is largely retained.

Cover Summary: A few relatively light issues, mainly to edges and corner tips, but being so unforgivingly thin and fragile, few will survive with less I feel sure. Overall, still a very attractive UK cover, not for purists, but many collectors will be happy.

The Inner Sleeve: NEAR EXCELLENT: only marked down for age darkening. This vintage Polydor polylined inner has two crisp window circles and the lining clear and barely even crinkled. All edges unsplit with no repairs. This one date-coded 127 (December 1967).

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(+): this NOT taking into account of the manufacture water mark on side two which is a well-documented flaw on this record. This has nothing to do with wear and was like this from day one. This dull part on the run-in area and into around a quarter inch of the music part of side two, the overall area less than one eight of the records circumference (the distance around it). Aparently most copies have it both sides, here only on side two with any contact sound very gentle, brief and light as a mild rotational hiss. Overall, still a very fine visual copy that is very clean with fine shine and solidly pressed. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence with any surface trace marks few, very light and faint as seen critically under bright angled light. I have never seen a copy of this record without the water mark, and this is a very fine example to please many, if not most (if the mark is acceptable).

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 minuscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This wonderful eerie psych-rock album plays even above it’s high visual grading with very little to fault bar the brief, light blemish at the start of side two as already mentioned several times. Offering strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear - sound quality is high with a solid dynamic range and detailed sound. It has a production quite similar to the early Jefferson Airplane albums that most reading this will probably be more familiar with. Any other surface sounds are minimal indeed and this is an exceptional clean pressing (the obvious apart), with no tracking issues*. Few copies will outperform this early pressing significantly I feel sure. A little surprisingly, this album was not issued in mono, hence many copies were played on heavy tracking mono record players, and will all know what that can mean. So with both channels still being clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played very lightly and has been generally well stored and carefully handled, and clearly not subjected to any blunt stylus abuse. Nothing (the mark apart) else spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record. Something of a ‘lost’ obscurity outside the United States, which is a shame, H. P. Lovecraft were a wonderful band and both albums I consider essential. Weighing up age and considerable delicateness, this copy will prove very difficult to find significantly better and can be strongly recommended. One day I may find one without the water mark, but I will not hold my breath, at least this copy only has it one side, and any sound really is gentle, light and quite brief.

* As played-graded on a high-end Linn LP12 Sondek turntable with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Black moving coil cartridge tracking at 2.2 grams.

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 as I Play-Grade every record I offer in their entirety – also on higher-end equipment – 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 it’s 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. Room light factors can make things vary sometimes, that is hard to control, especially in winter. 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 Quintet Black moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2.2 grams). Amps: Naim Supernait 2 with Project USB phono stage and Tellerium Black interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired with Tellurium Black terminated cable). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional VPI-17 vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too. Pictures taken with a Nikon D5000 SLR Digital Camera.

PACKING - THIS IS WHAT YOU GET.

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 new VPI-17 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 boxes (NOT Mailers, these do not offer any real protection). The record(s) are 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 at least TWO, 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. When larger boxes are used, 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. I do not profit on posting, better quality packaging costs, I offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible for ultimate confidence. The boxes and ultra thick double-wall stiffeners 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 minuscule in over 14 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. Oneadayrecords is a MAILER-FREE ZONE – they offer next-to-no-protection, and should be banned, no ‘professional’ should consider using them in my opinion. I discount of course for multiple purchases with a maximum of FIVE records per box (one double can sometimes be included subject to total weight). All postage costs are below and at the top of the listing.

NOTE: First Time Bidders: Please ask me first.

PLEASE NOTE: I now exercise my right to open a dispute after the Ebay rule of TWO days if no payment is received. I will then cancel the dispute to end the bid, again after the mandatory FOUR days and then offer the item to the runner-up or relist. The non-payer will also be blocked from my Ebay site as will any suspicious bids or bid withdrawals. Small businesses need prompt payment to trade and these strict rules WILL be applied.

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] = £4.75

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

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

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£50 maximum]) = £12.50 (enhanced Royal Mail insurance is an optional extra £3). Add £2 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: ALL OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. USA (ANY PART OF); South America; New Zealand; 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 [£50 maximum]) = £16.50 (£17.50 for double sets). Add £3 per extra LP. (enhanced Royal Mail insurance is an 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: I will cancel any bids I feel are time-wasters. 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 necessarily 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’.