JETHRO TULL This Was - RARE VERY 1st PRESS UK 1968 ISLAND PINK MONO LP.

	£		123
	$		163

ONEADAYRECORDS – Simply Delivering Quality Music to the World.

Postage: UK £4.75 (£1 per extra record). Europe (including Russia) £12.50 (£2 per extra record). Rest of World £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. More details on this 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 ‘4-day’ rule for non-payment. I try to keep my P&P prices as low as possible even yet another Royal Mail price hike, I will never compromise on solid, safe packing that is invariably a little heavier.

Artist or Band: JETHRO TULL

Album Title: This Was.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: My Sunday Feeling; Some Day the Sun Won’t Shine For You; Beggar’s Farm; Move on Alone; Serenade to a Cuckoo.

Side 2: Dharma For One; It’s Breaking Me Up; Cat’s Squirrel; A Song for Jeffrey; Round.

Label/Format: Island – original heavily textured ‘eyeball’ logo with deep inner ring ridge. This being an ultimate first issue. Second pressings on the same label format included a small ‘BIEM’ word below the eyeball logo and ‘MADE IN ENGLAND’ at the base of the rim, those probably from 1969. The absolute first issue in mono omitted these details and these are rare and very desirable for Jethro Tull specialists and serious collectors. (Please see my label scans)

Label Conditions: Beautiful colour with genuine freshness retained. Spindle marks appear light, fine and very faint and these beautiful first issue labels on this album, particularly in mono are becoming very hard to find.

Cat Number: IPL 985.

Mode / Speed: Mono / 33.3 rpm.

Weight of this Record: 155 grams. A typical heavyweight pressing.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Rare: and only briefly available on this first issue label prior to the extra text being added on the same format. ‘This Was’ in mono, is regarded as one of the most elusive, collectable and spectacular albums within the entire Island catalogue and is becoming ever-more difficult to find, especially in anything like decent conditions.

Original Year of Release: 1968. No ‘BIEM’ on the labels or ‘MADE IN ENGLAND’. Also the cover has the massive wide spine with two external flipbacks on the inside top edges, these again very quickly omitted.

Matrix Nos: ILP + 985 + A / ILP + 985 + B (deep punched and pronounced)

Musicians: Ian Anderson - flute, mouth organ, claghorn, piano and vocals; Mick Abrahams - guitar, nine string guitar and vocal; Clive Bunker - drums, hooter and charm bracelet; Glenn Cornick - bass guitar.

Brief Artist & Album Info: Jethro Tull’s debut classic and many agree it was never bettered, it even charted at 10 in the UK. For sure this is a rock classic, a debut of incredible maturity that fitted in nicely between blues and prog. Mick Abrahams was the darling of the clubs, and for a brief moment offered a challenge to Clapton, especially with his showpiece ‘Cat’s Squirrel’. Shortly afterwards he left the band to form Blodwyn Pig. Anderson became the undisputed leader and live, he and the band were tremendous. On record they rarely got much better than this and ‘Dharma for One’ that opens side two has probably the best ever (short) drum solo ever – especially in mono, this has incredible dynamics and breathtaking sound, as is the whole album and this is a strong all-round copy.

Cover Grade and Format: NEAR EXCELLENT: a gatefold format with a laminated front and back. The inside is matt finished with the two exterior flipbacks on the top edges. Printed and made in England with the correct IPL mono catalogue number and very wide spine.

Lamination – Front & Back: Stunning artwork seen to near maximum advantage under still shiny, quite fresh and clear laminate that shows only mild trace of dulling when viewed under angled light. The main issue is on the back: the bottom left corner tip is rounded the tip actual tip, of the tip missing. A small flaw yes, but the rest of the cover more than compensates, and remember, this is a 45-year-old sleeve. A few light creases show little and all is fully adhered, which is a real bonus on a cover with such a wide spine. The back has only very light rim impression which is hardly a surprise with such a thick, heavy record inside all these years. Overall, this is attractive and will not prove too easy to find an available one a great deal better.

Cover Inner Gatefold: The inside is very nice indeed. A little corner tip creasing and the one tip issue mentioned above. An adhesive smear trace near the top left corner area, this likely from manufacture of the top flipbacks, both of which are solid and quite clean. Later covers omitted these external flipbacks altogether. The graphic is very clean indeed with little to fault at all.

Top & Bottom Edges: All four show little wear with full laminate cover that is smooth to the fingertip.

Right Edge(s), and Type: The front is sharp and closed, the back has thickened a little near the ‘thumb’ area of the centre, but little else. This record traditionally enters on the back edge, both guaranteed untrimmed and remain neat.

Spine and Text: This has the original very wide spine which can either be the star or villian of this first issue cover. After this label format, the cover then had a standard thinner spine. This is still fairly erect with a slight tilt to left but is not crushed or flattened. Still solid and straight with all text perfect and unworn. Many of these are seen totally flat, crushed and tatty, and this really can still be seen a star-area of this famous cover. It retains full laminate coverage with only a couple of three fine hairlines.

Corners: I have mentioned the wear on the back bottom left already. Others have only small tip rubs and a couple have been neatly tipped-in by the previous owner. These retain fine to very fine shape, the one exception which is around fair.

Cover Summary: One of Island’s finest and most famous covers. The flipbacked, wide-spine original in mono always the most prized and seldom seen even this fine. A few small blemishes, yes, but it will not prove easy to find much better, one many collectors will be more than happy to own.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT: a heavy-duty polylined inner that is date-coded 018 (1968). Only gently aged with two pristine window circles and clear lining. Barely any creasing and all edges unsplit with no repairs.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT: or very close to. A very fine looking piece that appears only quite moestly played. Any surface marks very fine and faint as seen more critically under bright angled light. An intense black record, very heavily pressed and no penetrating scratches. Visually impressive, especially for it’s era and mode, 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 classic debut album plays mostly even above the visual grading and much even exceeds it to the maximum. The mono mix is quite different to the stereo with a massively powerful and dynamic kick to the delivery of the music, check out that incredible short drum solo on ‘Dharma For One’. This plays with clean and forceful sound and devoid of the dreaded distortions so many of the early copies have now inherited. The innermost songs with that delicate, difficult flute sections always are a concern for any copy played too many times on heavy tracking equipment, the sound is sharp with effortless tracking and fine clarity. Any surface sound is gentle and infrequent, traces on the utmost quiet passage is incredibly hard to avoid on a recording like this. Even the final short song, the delicate and difficlt ‘Round’ plays well. Production is strong and the mix is very loud, so any minor imperfections are largely hidden within the music, ‘Round’ again being the exception. A thrilling listen on my LP12 for which this mono record was not really designed for. With this album largely drying up in this mode, this one merits strong recommendation, not for the perfectionist, but this will take a fair degree of beating, and I do play-grade on very revealing equipment. The minor blemish, but few, sometimes a little compromise has to be made on vintage mono classics, I just turned up the volume and enjoyed the music – yes, I rather enjoyed this one – my first genuine first pressed mono copy good enough to offer for some considerable time.

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 10,000+ items sold in over 12 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] = £4.75

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]) = £12.50 (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]) = £16.50 (£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’.