JONI MITCHELL Clouds RARER ORIG UK 1969 EX(–) 1st PRESS LP, PLAYS FINE + INSERT.

	£		26
	$		34

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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: JONI MITCHELL

Album Title: Clouds

Producer(s): Joni Mitchell & Paul A. Rothchild

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Tin Angel; Chelsea Morning; I Don't Know Where I Stand; That Song About the Midway; Roses Blue.

Side 2: The Gallery; I Think I Understand; Songs to Aging Children Come; The Fiddle and the Drum; Both Sides, Now.

Label/Format: Reprise, original tri-colour format with matt quite smooth surfaces.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and attractive with only quite light, fine and faint spindle marks and no wear around the hole area. This delicate acoustic album generally plays well.

Catalogue Number: RSLP 6341

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps or Lateral Movement: Assume all records I offer have no significant warping or lateral movement to cause sound or tracking issues. All should play fine even on budget turntables.

Weight of this Record: 144 grams.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: First issues are quite scarce, ones including the lyric insert sheet more so.

Original Year of Release: 1969

Matrix Nos: RSLP 6341 A-1 *T STEREO / RSLP 6341 B-1 *T STEREO

Mothers / Stampers: S 1 / O 1

Run-Out Groove Etchings: KT

Musicians: Joni Mitchell – guitar, keyboards, vocals; Stephen Stills – bass, guitar.

Brief Info: The second album from the Canadian singer-songwriter, this very much her folk period and one of her greatest ever albums. The beautiful cover artwork being a self-portrait and here seen to strong advantage on a minimally worn example (except the bottom storage edge) that includes the elusive lyric sheet. A delicate acoustic album and one song totally vocal, so finding a copy without the odd contact sound here-and-there is beyond difficult on a 50+-year-old-record. Overall this plays well with only very modest gentle reminders of what is actually being listened to. One I enjoyed and certainly one of the better copies I have heard in a while with most I do hear being rejected. A modest seller in the UK but predictably selling better in Canada and the United States. For me, this is the brilliant Joni at her very best.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(–): with most wear on the perilous bottom storage edge that has rubbed. A single unlaminated matt format with textured surfaces and manufactured on softer thin card. Printed and made in England by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd and includes the polylined white inner sleeve and the scarce original lyric sheet.

Cover Front: A beautiful and iconic folk album cover, the painting by Joni herself. This one printed on textured card – slightly later printings were smooth. This has little to fault and the texturing makes it appears more like a real oil painting. Most of any rubbing on the corner tips with traces on the bottom edge (the edge viewed end-on has moderate plus rubbing), but not seen from front viewing. Textured soft card will usually wear quite badly, but this has minimal traces of rubbing and avoiding ugly ring wear from the thick record inside for over 50 years. Very few creases either that show little and no sticker marks or fading. A classic and famous front cover that can still be held and enjoyed.

Cover Back: Largely the same in all respects.

Top Edge: Thin, but straight with any traces of rubbing few, gentle and light.

Bottom Edge: This strorage edge has moderate+, consistent rubbing along its full length, but has avoided any splits and only really showing with end-on viewing. This the only reason for the cautious grading because this apart, it worthy of better.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Some thickening, but only modestly so. Record enters on this edge.

Spine and Text: Again thin, but still solid, straight with negligible compression. Some mainly light patchy rubbing that has eroded some text, but much is still present.

Corners: Light tip rubs to the upper corners with more moderate to the lower ones, fair to fine shape retained with no bashes.

Cover Summary: With the important areas in impressive clean condition on a notoriously wear-prone cover, this attractive item should please many collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: NEAR EXCELLENT: but moderately darkened with age. One corner crease, two crisp untorn window circles with the polylining fresh and clear, all edges are naturally intact. This is British patented with ‘Foreign Patents Pending’ text.

The Lyric Sheet: EXCELLENT(+): with minimal traces of creasing, no tears or writing. Guaranteed original, printed both sides on ochre coloured card by G&L. Any discolouration or marks gentle, little and light and this scarce insert will not prove easy to find much better. It was only included for the briefest time on original pressings.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(–): arguably better. A very fine visual copy that is very clean with equally fine shine and quite heavily pressed. A copy with modest plays on all the evidence with any surface marks mostly light and reasonably faint as seen critically under bright light. No ugly deep penetrating stylus scratches, viewed in average room light, few even register. Visually a fine vintage first issue record that should please many collectors. But not for absolute purists or the highly discerning who only want perfection at any cost.

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 early folk album plays mostly above it’s very fine visual grading with little 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 with the odd polite contact sound here-and-there to politely remind of what is being played. Overall a very clean pressing with no tracking issues* or inherent pressing noises. These quieter acoustic and vocal albums rarely will play silent, that is a fact for the format, genre and a used record of considerable age. But few available copies will outperform this early first pressing I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played modestly and has been reasonably well stored and handled, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. Little of note spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this quality folk classic. It could prove difficult to find significantly better and can be recommended unless silence is mandatory – and good luck with that for this fragile album.

* 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.