JETHRO TULL "Benefit" 1970 UK 1st PRESS - WHITE i LOGO

	£		68
	$		90

  JETHRO TULL "Benefit" 1970 UK 1st PRESS - WHITE i LOGO 1st MaCNEILL SLEEVE - SENSATIONAL AUDIO - TOP COPY
JETHRO TULL
Benefit


ORIGINAL UK CHRYSALIS (ILPS 9123) FIRST PRESSING (April 1970) OF JETHRO TULL'S THIRD LP, "Benefit" - IN SUPERB CONDITION AND DELIVERING PRACTICALLY FLAWLESS AUDIO (ON MY SYSTEM - AT A VERY LOUD VOLUME!) WITH A CRYSTAL CLEAR, DEEP, RICH AND DETAILED SOUND - GREAT COPY OF THIS FANTASTIC LP AND ONE OF THE FINEST SOUNDING FIRST PRESSES I HAVE HEARD IN A LONG WHILE

PRESSED ON QUALITY MID-WEIGHT VINYL WITH THE FIRST GREEN CHRYSALIS LABELS WHICH CARRY THE ISLAND CATALOGUE NUMBER AND ISLAND WHITE i LOGO AS WELL AS THE ISLAND RIM TEXT: "Marketed and distributed by Island Records, Basing St., London"
FIRST ISSUE MATRIX NUMBERS: ILPS 9123 A//2 11 1 / ILPS 9123 B//1 11 1 (the ultimate lowest matrix there is for this pressing)
THE RECORD IS HOUSED IN THE ORIGINAL SINGLE MATT SLEEVE "Printed and made by MacNeill Press Ltd., London, S.E.1" WITH THE CHARACTERISTIC FIRST ISSUED TOP AND BOTTOM 'PINCHED' SPINE
THIS FIRST UK ISSUE WAS PRESSED FOR CHRYSALIS BY POLYDOR SO THE SET COMES COMPLETE WITH THE ORIGINAL POLYDOR POLY-LINED INNER SLEEVE (DATE CODED '03/70' (March, 1970) WITH TEXT PRINTED IN BLUE

Benefit was the album on which the Jethro Tull sound solidified around folk music, abandoning blues entirely.
Beginning with the opening number, "With You There to Help Me," Anderson adopts his now-familiar, slightly mournful folksinger/sage persona, with a rather sardonic outlook on life and the world; his acoustic guitar carries the melody, joined by Martin Barre's electric instrument for the crescendos.
This would be the model for much of the material on Aqualung and especially Thick as a Brick, although the acoustic/electric pairing would be executed more effectively on those albums.
Here the acoustic and electric instruments are merged somewhat better than they were on Stand Up (on which it sometimes seemed like Barre's solos were being played in a wholly different venue), and as needed, the electric guitars carry the melodies better than on previous albums.
Most of the songs on Benefit display pleasant, delectably folk-like melodies attached to downbeat, slightly gloomy, but dazzlingly complex lyrics, with Barre's guitar adding enough wattage to keep the hard rock listeners very interested. "To Cry You a Song," "Son," and "For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me" all defined Tull's future sound: Barre's amp cranked up to ten (especially on "Son"), coming in above Anderson's acoustic strumming, a few unexpected changes in tempo, and Anderson spouting lyrics filled with dense, seemingly profound imagery and statements.

Track Listing:
Side 1: With You There To Help Me (6:05) / Nothing To Say (5:11) / Alive And Well And Living In (2:44) / Son (2:50) / For Michael Collins, Jeffrey And Me (3:45)
Side 2: To Cry You A Song (6:05) / A Time For Everything (2:45) / Inside (3:42) / Play In Time (3:42) / Sossity: You're A Woman (4:28)

LABELS: The labels are clean and bright with no unwanted marks/writing and only about a dozen spindles on side two, and two/three on side one - this copy has clearly seen very little play
VINYL Visual: The vinyl still retains its original deep, glossy sheen with just some sleeve removal hairlines evident under a bright light - no other marks - and these have little audio consequence - the playback is superb
VINYL Audio: Outstanding audio on these first presses (although the cut is fairly quiet but when the volume is really cranked up it sounds stunning). The audio delivery is absolutely sensational with a crystal clear, deep, rich and crisp, fresh sound and on playback at a loud volume (which is how I always listen to my records prior to listings and it's always a real pleasure to return to this one) there are no scratches, no skips or jumps, no surface noise during the music (and just a touch on the run-ins) and barely any 'ticks' (just the occasional one or two but very, very minor and non-intrusive and and I did listen to this copy at a very loud volume). Otherwise, the playback is practically flawless and the whole LP plays to an extremely high standard with really sensational audio clarity and separation, no groove-wear and no distortion (it's not been played that much), sounds stunning and is critically graded a very strong EXCELLENT+ for audio (if not better). This is a really fabulous copy and one very highly recommended indeed, without reservation - they really don't come much better than this - great stuff
SLEEVE: The original matt sleeve is very strictly graded as EXCELLENT. This cover is normally found with excessive ring and surface rubbing (due to its delicate untreated nature) but this one has held up remarkably well and is good and solid with only the minimum of rubbing to the surfaces and edges and a clean, clear spine ('pinched' at the top and bottom) which displays all text perfectly clear and bold. There is a minor small 'knock' to the centre of the opening edge (please see close-up photo) but overall, this is one of the finest examples of this original sleeve I have seen in a long time

PLEASE HAVE A LOOK AT MY PICTURES - I USUALLY TAKE QUITE A FEW SO YOU CAN GET A CLEAR INDICATION OF EVERY DETAIL OF THE ITEM
I HAVE UPLOADED AS MANY AS I CAN BUT I WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO SUPPLY ANY ADDITIONAL PHOTOS ON REQUEST
SUPERB UK FIRST PRESSING OF TULL'S MIGHTY FINE "BENEFIT" LP IN BEAUTIFUL, LIGHTLY PLAYED CONDITION AND DELIVERING PRACTICALLY FLAWLESS AUDIO - SOUNDS SENSATIONAL AND VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED INDEED
AS WITH ALL MY RECORDS THIS HAS A LOW START PRICE AND NO RESERVE
CHECK OUT MY OTHER AUCTIONS FOR MORE RARE AND COLLECTABLE VINYL
AND PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT ME WITH ANY QUERIES YOU MAY HAVE
THANKS FOR LOOKING, CHEERS

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