James Brown: Soul Classics Vol. II 1973 Polydor SC5402 Sterling 1-A/1-A Press EX

$

30

   For sale is a vinyl record by James Brown titled "Soul Classics Volume II", originally released in 1973 by Polydor Records. In the dead wax between the labels and the last tracks is machine stamped "Sterling" along with an etched "RL", followed the matrix numbers 1-A/1-A, indicating that this album was mastered at Sterling Sound of New York City, N.Y. by Bob Ludwig, before the firdt stampers were used to make this first edition. These are hallmarks of state-of-the-art engineering, sought after by collectors and music lovers for their superior sound quality. I bought this record used, professionally cleaned it on my VPI HW-17 machine and immediately put the record into an archival inner sleeve. This protects the integrity of the vinyl and any original inner sleeve(s) or insert(s) that may have come with the release. There is no original inner sleeve with this listing. The cover is graded as Very Good because of ring wear, corner blunts, edge rubs and a stress cracks along the spine. The spine has color loss at the corners from these blunts and in the middle there is a one inch tear with paper loss. One of the corners has frayed with some paper loss and there are fine line color breaks along the spine from stress cracks. The vinyl is visually graded btween Excellent and Near Mint Minus because of superficial hair-line surface scratches and sleeve marks. I'm play grading the record as Near Mint Minus because of occasional ultra low level background noise, most evident  between tracks and in the run-in grooves at the beginiing of each side, barely noticeable except to a very picky ear. It plays all the way through without any skips, pops or lock-ups. It's been played only on Audiophile equipment since I've owned it and still has a lot of life yet. This is the best copy of this record that I have ever heard and you would be hard pressed to find a first pressing like this one. This would make a great addition to anyone's collection. I have a lot more Soul records, as well as albums of all different genres, listed in my Ebay store. Please take a look. They're predominately Near Mint. Thank you for viewing my listing.    I've been collecting records for about 50 years now and have always cleaned them and put them away carefully in plastic inner sleeves. Over the years I've used Dust Bugs, Disc Washers and have finally invested in a professional VPI record cleaning machine. Now that I'm retiring, I'm selling my very esoteric collection. I'm not a professional grader of records, but will use record guides, as well as my personal experiences as a basis of my grading all records. Since grading is subjective, I will be conservative. I offer discounts for multiple sales. Photos are of the actual item for sale, not a stock photo. Please review all descriptions and photos because I do not accept returns. Thank you for looking!