INCREDIBLE STRING BAND The 5000 Spirits… RARER ORIG UK 1967 EX+ MONO ELEKTRA LP.

	£		72
	$		95

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, 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: THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND

Album Title: The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of an Onion

Producer(s): Joe Boyd

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Chinese White; No Sleep Blues (‘Sleeping’ on label); Painting Box; The Mad Hatter’s Song; Little Cloud; The Eyes of Fate.

Side 2: Blues for the Muse; The Hedgehog’s Song; First Girl I Loved; You Know What You Could Be; Me Name is Death; Gently Tender; Way Back in the 1960s.

Label/Format: Elektra – original orange and black format with matt, fairly smooth surfaces.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and attractive with spindle traces very few, fine and faint. This beautiful mono record appears hardly played, superbly pressed and plays magnificently throughout.

Catalogue Number: EUK 257

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: 150 grams.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: First issues are scarce, mono versions with a hardly played record are rare. Acoustic complex music demands a top-quality pressing with very few plays and with due care. This copy is exactly that, this has only wispy surface marks under light and plays as close to perfect as any fragile 52-year-old mono record ever will. This was an absolute delight to play-grade and such copies seldom surface.

Original Year of Release: 1967

Matrix Information: [I cannot see any matrixes on side 1, the music area ends so close to the label, any matrixes may indeed be under the label rim, this is a documented trait of this record. ] & EUK 257 B2 [side two, are clearly visible and machine punched]

Musicians: Mike Heron – vocal, and multi-instruments; Robin Williamson – vocal and multi-instruments; Danny Thompson – double bass; Licorice – vocal; John Hopkins – piano.

Brief Info: The second ISB album, an acid-folk classic with the Scottish pair in tremendous vocal and instrumental form – female backing vocals are from Licorice McKechnie. Uniquely eccentric British folk, Heron and Williamson were true originals and few others sounded quite like them, this must rank as one of their finest works. Bass rhythm is provided by the wonderful Danny Thompson of Pentangle, unique in his own right too. This a superb mono original, the record plays beautifully with barely anything unwanted, and few will better its. First issues included the matt cover with no printing credits, I think this is the import cover for the UK market, again this was the common and standard practice for Elektra acts at this time. Elektra Records were an American company that specialised mostly in new American rock and folk acts, The Incredible String Band would have been one of the earliest British acts to record on it. So first issue covers were invariably made there and this does have a little wear, mostly to the edges, but still a nice example, and clearly prone to wear. An elusive set and great opportunity for collectors.

Cover Grade and Format: VERY GOOD(+): a stunning piece of folk art psychedelia, as stated the early UK album included the imported cover – although this has no printing credits. A fully laminated UK made cover became available when repressed a few years later. A single matt format with both UK and American address details on the back.

Cover Front & Back: the very first examples were matt, hence they are seldom seen without often severe wear to the very colourful complex artwork. Both front and back are still attractive with any rubbing patchy and mainly quite light. This mostly near the edges and with few creases. Still retaining deep colour and even reasonable freshness, the lack of ugly ring wear is certainly a major plus and no sticker tears. Any marks few and small, little really detracts from both these main surfaces, they simply give polite clues of age, and being around 52-years-old, I feel that is more than acceptable.

Top Edge: Straight, unsplit with moderate quite patchy rubbing.

Bottom Edge: Moderate rubbing left and right with any inbetween light and patchy, again no splits.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Still quite sharp, especially the back edge, any thickening on the front only light. Record enters on this edge and is guaranteed untrimmed or enhanced.

Spine and Text: Solid, still quite straight with negligible compression. The surface white and appears little rubbed, and the best news possible, virtually all text solidly and neatly intact as-seen.

Corners: Moderate rubbing with the odd small tip rub, this wear mostly seen viewed end-on. Quite fine shape generally retained with no heavy knocks.

Cover Summary: It seems an irony that the very best cover for this album came along with the Butterfly label pressings of the early 1970s. But for first issues, this matt cover was it came with, so finding even a very respectable example is something of an achievement. Although uncredited, I am pretty sure it is American-made, but I cannot be totally definitive. It does not have any paste-on panels as most American covers had. I can simply show the pictures and describe, you make up your own mind.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT(+): a basic plain white unlined inner that was made in England. Quite lightly darkened with age, but hardly creased with no edge splits or repairs. This original inner has survived very well (as indeed has the record that was inside it).

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(+): a very fine visual copy that is very clean with equally fine shine and quite heavily pressed. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence with any surface marks very light, quite wispy and faint as seen critically under bright light. No penetrating stylus scratches, viewed in average room light, hardly anything even registers. Visually a super mono record, and seldom seen as such, it should please many, if not most collectors given the conditions most surface in these days.

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 brilliant psych-folk album plays 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, this too on an intricate and revealing totally acoustic mono record. Very cleanly pressed with no tracking issues* or inherent pressing noises. Few available copies will outperform this early pressing I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp when played on a standard stereo system. I am certain this record has been played only lightly and generally with due care. Remember, one arm drop or jolt would almost certainly write-off a delicate mono record like this. This has suffered no such abuse or accidents, it appears carefully handled with no heavy marks at all. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record. It will prove very difficult to find better and can be strongly recommended. This one of the all-time folk classics of the 1960s, unique and original, a rare opportunity.

* 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.

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 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.