JONI MITCHELL 1968 DEBUT UK REPRISE RSLP 1st PRESSING

	£		26
	$		34

  JONI MITCHELL 1968 DEBUT UK REPRISE RSLP 1st PRESSING STEAMBOAT LABELS, THICK CARD G/F, VERY FINE COPY
JONI MITCHELL
Joni Mitchell (Song To A Seagull)

ORIGINAL UK REPRISE (RSLP 6293) FIRST PRESSING (June 1968) OF JONI MITCHELL'S BEAUTIFUL DEBUT LP - PRODUCED BY DAVID CROSBY, SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS "Song To A Seagull" (from the words spelt out by the birds on the front of the sleeve) BUT NOT MARKED AS SUCH ON THE LABEL

PRESSED ON QUALITY HEAVYWEIGHT VINYL (very thick and chunky WITH THE FIRST ISSUE REPRISE TRI-COLOUR STEAMBOAT LABELS
UK FIRST PRESS MATRICES: RSLP 6293 A-1 *G STEREO / RSLP 6293 B-1 *G STEREO (all machine stamped)
VERY EARLY MOTHERS/STAMPERS: 1/J and 1/M (these are etched and there is also a 'KT' tax code etched on each run-off)
THE LP IS HOUSED IN THE ORIGINAL VERY THICK CARD MATT GATEFOLD SLEEVE WITH INTERNALLY PRINTED LYRICS (printed in Canada and imported into the UK for this release and stickered "STEREO RSLP 6293" - all the earliest copies were released in a Canadian sleeves prior to the UK ones being printed)
AND COMPLETE WITH THE ORIGINAL ISSUE WHITE POLY-LINED INNER SLEEVE WITH UK PATENT NUMBER AND 'FOREIGN PATENTS PENDING' BLACK TEXT

Joni Mitchell's debut release is a concept album. Side one, subtitled "I Came to the City," generally exhibits songs about urban subjects that are often dour or repressed in some way. "Out of the City and Down to the Seaside," by contrast, is a celebration of nature and countryside, mostly containing selections of a charming, positive, or more outgoing nature. What sets this release apart from those of other confession-style singer/songwriters of the time is the craft, subtlety, and evocative power of Mitchell's lyrics and harmonic style. Numbers such as "Marcie," "Michael From Mountains," "The Dawntreader," and "The Pirate of Penance" effectively utilise sophisticated chord progressions rarely found in this genre. Verses are substantive and highly charged, exhibiting careful workmanship. "Song to a Seagull" has graceful and vivid lyrics about the joys of freedom set to a haunting, wide-ranging vocal line. Conversely, "Cactus Tree" explores the downside of a no-strings-attached approach to life, the fear of committing to a relationship (ironically wedding these words to a hopeful melody and pulsating guitar texture). "Marcie" utilises poignant, twisting music set to desolately lonely lyrics about a jilted woman; the recurrent use of red and green imagery in the verses is especially clever. Character studies such as "I Had a King" and "Nathan la Franeer" are painfully bleak in contrast to the lithe domestic scene of "Sisotowbell Lane" and the winsomely reserved love song "Michael From Mountains." Unusual in her oeuvre are the overlapping dialogue prose manner of "The Pirate of Penance" and the jaunty honky tonk stylings of "Night in the City." Mitchell sings in a light, gossamer, at times diffident manner; vocal harmony is sparingly employed here. David Crosby's production is simple and effective. An outstanding and essential debut

Track Listing:
Part 1: I came to the city: I HAD A KING / MICHAEL FROM MOUNTAINS / NIGHT IN THE CITY / MARCIE / NATHAN LA FRANEER
Part 2: Out of the city and down to the seaside: SISOTOWBELL LANE / THE DAWNTREADER / THE PIRATE OF PENANCE / SONG TO A SEAGULL / CACTUS TREE

LABELS: The labels are clean, bright and unmarked with some light-moderate spindle traces only really evident when angled under a bright light
VINYL Visual: The vinyl surfaces still retain their original deep, glossy sheen and are practically unmarked (some light hairlines only which have little audio consequence)
VINYL Audio: Superb audio delivery on these first presses with a rich and detailed but very fresh sound, and on payback at a loud volume there are no scratches, no jumps or sticks and only a little background surface noise between some (not all) of the tracks and on the ultra quiet sections, and a few isolated little 'ticks' - nothing major and nothing I found at all intrusive on playing this beautiful LP - this is still one of the cleanest sounding copies I have heard. The whole LP plays extremely well throughout to a very high standard with great clarity, no groove-wear and no distortion and is very critically graded a VERY GOOD++ for audio - this is a very nice copy indeed and from my experience I think it would be difficult to find one much better (most of the music is very quiet and gentle which makes it difficult to find original 1968 pressings which will play well and although this copy is not audibly perfect (I've never heard one that is) it is still delivers just about the finest audio I have heard)
SLEEVE: The thick card gatefold sleeve is in superb condition - NEAR MINT - good, solid and unmarked with no rubbing to the surfaces and all edges crisp and sharp. The spine is straight and true and displays all text clear and bold - outstanding example of this easily worn and rubbed sleeve

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
LOVELY UK FIRST PRESSING OF JONI MITCHELL'S BEAUTIFUL FIRST LP - PLAYS EXTREMELY WELL THROUGHOUT AND AS ANY JM COLLECTORS WILL KNOW THIS IS A NOTORIOUSLY DIFFICULT LP TO FIND IN DECENT PLAYING CONDITION
AS WITH ALL MY RECORDS THIS HAS A LOW START PRICE AND NO RESERVE
PLEASE CHECK OUT MY OTHER AUCTIONS FOR MORE RARE AND COLLECTABLE VINYL
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THANKS FOR LOOKING, CHEERS

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