IAN CARR Belladonna RARE ORIG UK 1972 EX++ VERTIGO SPIRAL LP, LOVELY EXAMPLE.

	£		161
	$		213

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

Postage: UK £4.95. Europe (including Russia) £12.95 (£1 per extra record). Rest of World £19.95 (£2 per extra record). All my records are sent in boxes and the price of them has increased over time and these are my first price increases for nearly 10 years. Royal Mail prices have also gone up again. I will never compromise on quality, safe packaging – I NEVER use mailing envelopes that offer virtually no protection at all, and records WILL arrive damaged in them at some time as most record buyers will already know. Here, you get what you pay for – SAFE PACKING in BOXES using 7mm DOUBLE-WALL STIFFENERS including full side protection and bubble wrap, the records removed from the covers of course. All this very safe packing means I lose money on every box I post, but safe delivery is, and will always be paramount. You WILL see the difference when my packet arrives. Also, I will pay for 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 if possible. PLEASE NOTE: I will NOT send any item, no matter what its value without a Royal Mail or courier tracking number. ALL my items must be signed and trackable to comply with Ebay delivery rules. Please do NOT ask me to make any exceptions to this rule as no country offers 100% reliable service without it.

Posting to Russia: Yes, I do post to Russia. But delivery can take longer 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.

ANY ITEM or ITEMS TO BE PAID WITHIN A MAXIMUM OF 6 DAYS or they will be cancelled – NO EXCEPTIONS.

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. Please only bid on my items if you want them.

Artist or Band: IAN CARR

Album Title: Belladonna

Producer(s): Jon Hiseman

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Belladonna; Summer Rain.

Side 2: Remadione; Mayday; Suspension; Hector’s House.

Label/Format: Vertigo – original spiral swirl format with matt, smooth surfaces.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and attractive with only relatively light, fine and quite faint spindle marks and no wear around the hole area. This album purchased new by one owner who put his records to tape. A small few more spindle marks that most from this collection, but still only modestly few and this superb record I am sure has been played very little and sounds great. The wear-prone cover also impressive and protected for decades with a plastic sleeve.

Catalogue Number: 6360076

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps or Lateral Movement: Assume all records I offer have no significant warping or lateral movement to cause sound or tracking issues. All should play fine even on budget turntables.

Weight of Record: 131 grams.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Moderately rare and seldom-seen in this very impressive all-round condition.

Original Year of Release: 1972

Matrix Nos: 6360076 1Y//1 1 1 5 & 6360076 2Y//1 1 1 5

Musicians: Ian Carr – trumpet, flugelhorn; Roy Babbington – bass guitar; Clive Thacker – drums; Dave MacRae – Fender electric piano; Gordon Beck – Hohner electric piano; Alan Holdsworth – guitar; Trevor Tomkins – percussion; Brian Smith – tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, alto flute, bamboo flute.

Brief Info: Trumpeter Ian Carr formed the jazz-rock band Nucleus who made their first three albums on the hugely collectable Vertigo spiral label. This album was the fourth and last on the swirl format and issued under his own name making it Carr’s first official solo album. This is high-quality ‘progressive’ jazz rock with a host of brilliant backing musicians. Production is by Jon Hiseman and this sounds impressive. But like so many titles on this highly collectable and sort-after label, this failed to sell well and it is much rarer than the three Nucleus albums and remains elusive and difficult to locate, especially in really impressive condition. This is very best and first copy I have had in many years and a great example for those needing this magnificent, but largely ignored Vertigo classic.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(+): and arguably better, like so many of the Spiral matt gatefold covers, this does not wear well unless more carefully handled and protected. An unlaminated matt format with smooth surfaces. Printed and made in England, uncredited, includes the correct, later soft-lined swirl inner sleeve.

Cover Front: This was printed sideways on when the opening is on the left, this original front includes the 6360076 ‘VO PRICE CODE’ text on the right when viewed with the graphic upright. A really attractive clean and hardly rubbed front with no sticker issues (that ruin so many of these types). Three creases on the spine edge – two very fine, light and faint, a central one a little heavier, but still showing little with no breaking of the ink on any. There is just one faint gentle half moon type away from the sides that registers little. A front that will prove hard to find much better.

Cover Back: Better still with any creasing very fine and equally few. The odd tiny edge chip and corner tip rub, but little else. Again very clean and fresh, the lack of ring wear always a huge plus for any cover, and especially these vintage swirl gatefolds.

Cover Inner Gatefold: The inside has hardly anything of any note to fault at all.

Top Edges: Both straight, flat and quite near flush with barely any hint of wear, any traces fine and very light indeed.

Bottom Edges: Similar again with any rubbing mostly confined to the very ends. Any in-between tiny, little, fine and faint. These storage edges have fared very well indeed.

Right Edge(s), and Type: In quite typical indiosyncratic Vertigo fashion, this swirl cover has the opening on the front with the back edge closed. So clearly the front is more prone to ring wear than the usual back, so finding this front without any is almost remarkable. So the front opening edges are still impressively sharp, and the folded back closed edge superb as well with barely any trace of rubbing.

Spine and Text: Still quite solid, straight with minimal compression and folded near square, so the edges meet up close together and only slightly off parallel. A very fine crease from the one on the front hardly shows, most of any rubbing on the very bottom corner end with only gentle traces on the top. The text is unworn, fine and easy to read, that another major plus on this cover.

Corners: Any tip rubs mostly light or very light with very fine to excellent shape retained with no knocks.

Cover Summary: A very strong all-round example of this elusive and wear-prone 1970’s cover, one that will prove very difficult to find much better. Minus the slightly heavier spine crease (but still only quite light), this would have been graded with an extra plus. This unusually attractive and quite rare cover should please many collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: NEAR EXCELLENT: and only really marked down for moderate toning of the paper which has quite politely aged this inner sleeve. It has a fine retailer’s numerical stamp to one corner for identification (011288). This album being quite a late one in the spiral format catalogue, now included the soft lining which was more surface friendly in the long term to the record’s surface. This one has avoided creasing and all the edge folds are naturally intact. Both window circles are crisp with no tears or damage, the new semi-transparent lining superb and intact. This has the dual patent number text credits: 800153 & 973939. The other numerical codes are: 4913 000 15801 304. The reverse side has no text.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(++): arguably better. A superb visual copy that is very clean with equally fine shine and solidly pressed. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence with any surface traces very few, very light, wispy and faint as seen critically under bright light. No penetrating stylus scratches, viewed in average room light, barely anything even registers. Visually a gorgeous spiral record that should please many, if not most 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 equipment, all listed further down.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This high quality album plays up to, and most even above it’s high visual grading with hardly anything to fault. Offering 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 are minimal indeed and this is a very clean pressing with no tracking issues* or inherent pressing noises. High octane jazz rock by one of the masters of the art with brilliant backing musicians – this is arguably the finest of its type in the swirl-era Vertigo catalogue. But this failed to grab even the relative few that purchased the swirl albums that had more of any eye on the progressive rock albums, and this largely fell by the wayside and went unnoticed. So few available copies will outperform this early first pressing I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played very lightly and has been generally well stored and the record certainly carefully handled within a non-smoking environment. Nothing of any note spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this lovely record. It will prove very difficult to find significantly better and can be strongly recommended.

* 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 grams. Records are a ‘contact’ format, and few will avoid the odd minor sound blemish.

I am one of the most established sellers on Ebay, trading since 2001 and offering the finest 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 all elements of the items I offer for sale. You may notice I only submit records quite 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 story. I will try to 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 near mint condition as the real rare items. All the pictures I use for your guidance are the item being offered with no digital enhancements. Room light factors can make things vary sometimes, that is hard to control, especially in winter. I hope the item below is to your liking – any questions can be emailed and I will do my best to answer you. I am enthusiastic, and have a fair degree of knowledge about many genres and I promise quality items. Please assume all records I offer have NO jumps, sticks, major 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 grams). Amps: Naim Supernait 2 with Project USB phono stage and Tellerium Black interconnects. Speakers: B&W 805 Nautilus (bi-wired with Tellurium Black terminated cable) with REL subwoofer. All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Nessie 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 D7500 DSLR 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.

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 bid retractions. Small businesses need prompt payment to trade and these strict rules WILL be applied.

Payment Conditions:

I prefer PayPal from­ winning bidders. I only 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 2 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive – if not I will relist the item or offer to the runner-up.

My Guarantee: If any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund if the item is returned in the same condition is was sent e.g. as per the listing pictures.

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, 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.