INCREDIBLE STRING BAND Hangman's Beautiful Daugher RARE MONO.

	£		33
	$		43

ONEADAYRECORDS – Simply Delivering Quality Music to the World.

Postage: UK £4.25. Europe (including Russia) £12. Rest of World £16. ALL signed for in quality, safe packaging – I NEVER use mailing envelopes.

PLEASE NOTE: Overseas packets that go through the customs system, can take up to 4 to 6 weeks to process and deliver, this IS normal. For Russia, this can take even longer and is out of my control, so please be patient.

ALSO: I now apply the Ebay ‘4-day’ rule for non-payment. I try to keep my P&P prices as low as possible and will never compromise on solid, safe packing that is invariably a little heavier.

Artist or Band: THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND

Album Title: The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Koeeoaddi There; The Minotaur’s Song; Witches’ Hat; A Very Cellular Song.

Side 2: ‘Mercy’, I Cry, ‘City’; Waltz of the New Moon; The Water Song; Three is a Green Crown; Swift as the Wind; Nightfall.

Label/Format: Elektra – Original matt orange and black format with rough textured labels. (Please see my label scan).

Label Conditions: Both very clean and attractive. Spindle marks are only light on side one and less than moderate on two. These are quite light, faine and faint seen more under angled light. A copy played several times and the record has numberous but fine surface marks. No penetrating scratches and overall sound is impressive with little unwanted.

Cat Number: EUK 258.

Mode / Speed: Mono / 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: 113 grams. Quite light for a 1960s mono record, this being somewhat unusual.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Scarce: never easy to find mono copies that will play well, and although this has fine surface marks, it does still offer pleasing and mostly clean sound. Distortion free and enjoyable, even when played on a very revealing system. This has a lovely cover and includes the elusive lyric insert sheet.

Original Year of Release: 1968.

Matrix Nos: EUK-258 A1 / EUK 258 B1.

Musicians: Robin Williamson - vocals, guitar, gimbri, penny whistle, percussion, pan pipe, piano, oud, mandolin, Jew’s harp, chahanai, water harp, harmonica; Mike Heron - vocals, sitar, Hammond organ, guitar, hammered dulcimer, harpsichord; Dolly Collins - flute organ, piano; David Snell - harp; Licorice McKechnie - vocals, finger cymbals.

Brief Artist & Album Info: In terms of folk-rock history few records compare to The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter and the amazingly original and slightly eccentric sound of The Incredible String Band. This beautiful and challenging album surprisingly sold quite well peaking at 5 in the UK (but only a lowly 161 in the US). This is not an overly commercial album and it’s not for everyone, even dedicated folk fans. Their complex song patterns and changing music structures, with a use of exotic and unusual instruments are not easily taken in straightaway. Like all quality albums some have to be worked on and perseverence pays off with repeated listens for this unique band, sound and record. A duo at this early time, Robin Williamson sang vocals on his own songs and played plays a host of instruments. Mike Heron, again sang vocals on his own songs. A beautiful recording, wonderfully produced by Joe Boyd, finding clean playing mono versions is very difficult indeed. No loud volume for flaws and blemishes to hide behind, this is flamboyant folk music with an edge and passion and this is a notoriously difficult record to find that plays well and this generally does. Even clean little played examples can disappoint and often flawed by invisible pressing issues, I never take for granted any copy of this until sound-checked which can often prove a nervous time. This one has clearly been played several times and the surfaces do have surface marks – most only seen with more scrutiny under angled light – but no penetrating scratches and apart from a little gentle surface sound in places (and do mean very gentle), this record plays really well (or I would not offer it). The cover goes beyond beautiful - the ultimate original that’s in age-defying condition. I also prefer to display the reverse side of the cover and indeed many CD versions treats this side as the front – one of the loveliest ‘natural’ covers ever issued on a 60s album (in my humble opinion). The inclusion of the rare folded insert which is guaranteed ORIGINAL, is a real bonus too, this album is more often seen with it torn, grubby or missing altogether. One of the folk classics that can be treasured forever.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT: and arguably better. A fully laminated single format and this one has the mono Cat. No as it should. Manufactured in the UK by Polydor and includes the single folded lyric insert.

Cover Laminate - Front & Back: The laminate both sides retains a lovely shine, freshness and clarity with any dulling as seen with angled veiwing very light indeed. A fine lift on the front (duo side) on the spine edge that has minimal visual impact or even visibility. This side has a moderate laminate crease on the same edge, others are few and smaller, most being very small. The back has the most fantastic artwork and is seen to near maximum advantage. This has a couple of fine surface creases that are practically lost within the wonderful picture. As stated, I consider the back side to be the main cover for this album and I also regard it as one of the best of the entire decade. This is a lovely original mono example and my grading I feel is over-harsh.

Top Edge: No real wear, thin, but quite straight.

Bottom Edge: Practically as above.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, sharp with very little wear, and I am 99.9 per cent certain untrimmed. The front and back not quite flush which almost conclusively proves to me this has not been enhanced in any way. This I mention more specifically as the entrance area of this cover is quite narrow, maybe due to the quite thin spine area, thus the record refuses to go quite inside. Also present are the two strips where the laminate ends naturally short of full width, any cropping of this edge would mean these would be lost. Lastly, this cover is still perfectly square at 309 mm each way, so now 99.99 (recurring) per cent certain.

Spine and Text: Solid, but made quite thin, straight, possibly a little compressed or maybe manufactured this way, again it appears very similar to the last one of these I sold, so my hunch this is normal. All text is perfect and unworn under the solid and uncracked laminate. A detail of note: the text is very well centred on the narrow depth which makes a nice change – this seen on my close-up picture.

Corners: All incredibly neat for a fragile cover, barely any wear and all retain excellent or better shape.

Cover Summary: I love this album cover, a real favourite that encaptures the mood of the enclosed music beautifully and this one does it very fine justice. This beautiful item should please many collectors, and finding a mono original much better will not prove easy. This includes a solid plain white unlined inner, one edge split and a couple of small nicks on the top opening.

The Lyric Insert: MINT(-): not quite sure why the minus? Well it is folded a fraction off-square, but that is how it was made. A superb example and clearly little handled and guaranteed orignal printed on salmon pink paper. This has become quite elusive and many examples has it missing. Often when it does surface it’s in two pieces or badly creased or torn, this is magnificent and does the rest of the set full justice. Clean, fresh, no grubbiness and avoiding any creasing, this is simply as made.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: VERY GOOD: it has numerous fine and faint surface marks which are mostly visible under bright angled light. Seen in normal room lighting, these are far more inconspicuous, but I grade all my records under a very bright table lamp and nothing escapes. Two important factors: there are no penetrating scratches and this record plays devoid of distortion or any significant groove wear. Still a fine visual copy that is clean with fine shine, intense black and quite solidly pressed. These surface marks are pretty much all ignored and it offers very impressive and mostly very clean sound – being a mono disc, this really did surprise me. Like most all of the records I buy in to offer, I had the chance to audition this first and has no hesitation in accepting it. This is quite a long album, the grooves fairly compact and hence (on paper) more vulnerable to anything time, careless handling and heavy tracking record players have to offer. But his record has survived well in terms of sound quality and I enjoyed it immensely. Not for the visual perfectionist of course, but for those who want to hear this quite rare album in mono, this will please many 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 B&W speakers that include the legendary tweeter from their awesome Nautilus range that reveals every blemish or miniscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This wonderful acid-folk classic plays quite some distance above its reasonable visual grading with little nothing to fault. Strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear - sound quality is very high indeed with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. Any surface sounds are light, quite infrequent and gentle, no pops or significant clicks were noted and this is an exceptional clean pressing for a difficult album. Being acoustic and often quiet the odd sporadic blemish will be near impossible to avoid, but this (as stated, quite surprisingly) has relatively little. Few original copies will outperform this one significantly I feel sure. Being totally honest, I have heard copies of this album in one or two grades visually better condition that sounded inferior with more noise, pressing issues, pops and clicks. This has always been a challenging album on vinyl, hence again I was quite amazing how well this one plays. I am NOT saying it’s perfect, but it exceeded my expectations and it’s visual. Both channels are clean and sharp with no pressing noises, the music remains precise, focused and crisp. Little of any real note spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record. I can tolerate a little gentle surface sound, it’s distortion and groove wear I hate. Gentle reminder you are listening to a 44-year-old mono record rather than a squeaky clean digital version I find more than acceptable, especially when being played on such a clinical system for which this mono record was not really ever designed for. This copy will prove quite difficult to find significantly better for sound, and on that basis it can be warmly recommended. Not for the perfectionist as the grade more than suggests, but I feel confident many collectors will treasure it.

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 - on average ONEADAY, a couple more at weekends if time permits, hence the name - time rarely allows for more as I Play-Grade virtually every record I offer in their entirety, 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 its 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. What you see is what you get and scanned labels will give a more accurate representation of the genuine colour than flash photography where light is variable. I cannot guarantee total accuracy for colours however but most will be very close. 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 Rondo Red moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2 grams). Amps: Naim Nait 5i with Project USB phono stage and Chord interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired with Terrarium 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 and the cost of this lavish packing is NOT even charged for, I offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible for ultimate confidence. The boxes and ultra thick double-wall stiffeners and bubble wrap 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 less than one in two thousand+ based on over 8,000+ items sold in over 10 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. Even one of these stiffeners cannot be bent by hand, so what chance 2 inside a box? Oneadayrecords is a MAILER-FREE ZONE. 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 FOUR days if no payment is received. I will then cancel the dispute to end the, 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 and they take the Ebay consequences (a strike or removal from the system). 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] = £4.25

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £8. (this includes insurance of £500). Add £2 per extra LP.

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

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£50 maximum]) = £12 (enhanced Royal Mail insurance is an optional extra £3). Add £3 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 (£17 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’.