KEVIN AYERS - JOY OF A TOY Super Scarce HARVEST 1969 1st UK NO EMI Laminated

	£		103
	$		136

KEVIN AYERS - JOY OF A TOY

HARVEST - SHVL 763

Matrices: A-1 B-1

 1st UK PRESS 

 1969

Weight of the vinyl: 148 gr. (Far heavier than later re-issues)

SUPERB DEBUT - TYPICAL CANTERBURY SCENE PSYCH FOLK ROCK AT ITS HIGHEST LEVEL.

Really nice copy of the absolute FIRST PRESSING of this seminal prog classic from 1969.  Matrix numbers are SHVL 763 A-1 and SHVL 763 B-1.  There is no mention of EMI Records Ltd on the label and the label rim text reads : "The Gramophone Company Ltd"  From 1970 onwards Harvest pressings referred to EMI Records Ltd so only a very limited number of copies of this record have the First label design.  The outer sleeve is the original highly laminated sleeve printed and made by Ernest J Day & Co Ltd, London.

Joy of a Toy is the debut solo album of Kevin Ayers, a founding member of Soft Machine. Its whimsical and unique vision is a clear indication of how Soft Machine might have progressed under Ayers' tenure. He is accompanied on the LP by his Soft Machine colleagues Robert Wyatt, Mike Ratledge and Hugh Hopper.

After a Soft Machine tour of the USA with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Ayers had decided to retire from the music business. Hendrix however, presented Ayers with an acoustic Gibson J-200 guitar on the promise that he continue his songwriting. Ayers repaired to a small London flat where he composed and arranged a whole LP which was then presented to Malcolm Jones' fledgling Harvest label where it was recorded by Peter Jenner for the then exorbitant sum of £4000.

Joy Of A Toy features many of Ayers' most enduring songs from 'The Lady Rachel' to 'Girl On A Swing', the latter still, regularly covered by artists to this day like Candie Payne and The Ladybug Transistor. It was on Joy Of A Toy that Ayers developed his sonorous vocal delivery, an avant-garde song construction and an affection for bizarre instrumentation that would have a deep influence far into the 1970s and indeed the present day.

The absolute rarity of this album is not to be underestimated. It hardly ever surfaces nowadays. This is an absolutely gorgeous slab of early quality HARVEST vinyl which is in splendid  condition!! This has a lovely deep glossy sheen!! Hauntingly beautiful songcraft!!! Immense quality psych/prog album that ticks all the right boxes and incredibly hard to find. I have twentyfive years experience in grading. It doesn't get much better than this!!

You won't easily find this ultra rare LP !!! It is a genuinely very scarce item that will shoot up in price, esp. since Chinese collectors are starting to get in now. Get it while you still can!

excellent UK 1969

1st press record

the surfaces display blazing factory-fresh gloss with only a couple of wispy hairlines under an intense light. No deep marks.

the audio is supreme, hardly ever any static and no clicks!!!

Please, also have a look at my other prog albums on sale this week

!!!!AN IMPOSSIBLE FIND!!!GORGEOUS  ALBUM!!! A few hundred of this first press LP were ever sold!!! This is SOOOOOOOOOOO very rare!!!!!

AN EXPLANATION OF THE HARVEST COMPANY INNER SLEEVE: There is some confusion from time to about the original Harvest Company inner sleeve and its inclusion, or not, with the earlier Harvest albums. In my experience the first issue examples of the earlier albums from the Harvest catalogue were not distributed with Harvest Company inners, and there is a logical explanation. The original Harvest inner features 26 albums from catalogue number SHVL 751 (Deep Purple – The Book Of Taliesyn) to SHVL 775 (Quatermass) – which is 25 albums, plus Pink Floyds ‘Ummagumma’ separately catalogued as SHDW 1 / 2. These albums were released between July 1969 and May 1970. It is most unlikely that when Harvest released the earlier albums they knew not only which albums they would be releasing up to a year ahead, but also which catalogue number they would be given. For this reason I doubt whether in November 1969 when ‘Joy Of A Toy’ was released they knew that ‘Quatermass’ would be released in May 1970 with a catalogue number 775 – therefore the very earliest pressings could not have included an inner which accurately predicted future releases and their catalogue numbers. Later albums and later examples of extended first releases could, and did, have the Harvest inner – but almost certainly the very first pressings had plain inners. As one of the first off the press this album comes with the original plain white inner. 

****ELUSIVE PSYCH/PROGMONSTER!!!****PERPLEXING SONGCRAFT!!!***AN INSPIRATION TO MANY SUBSEQUENT TOPACTS!!!***

!!!!A VERY HARD FIND!!! Most have been bought up by collectors!! This is hardly offered these days!!

In all my years this is only the third time I have come across this PROGMONSTER. Sensational sound quality, I have played this through in its entirety and it was a great joy!!! NO skips or jumps. NO clicks or crackle, this is really a stunning heavy glossy jet black vinyl .The audio is impeccable. Inspected under an intense lightsource and angled.

Vinyl: EX to EX+ .  A sensational find!!! I have played this in FULL twice over> fantastic audio, a joy to listen to!! This is the true official 1st press.  I first played for a general listen and a second time for a more detailed observation. Only two small hairlines can be seen on track 5, side 1 . Otherwise this is near to pristine. This vinyl retains its fabulous deep glossy sheen and has clearly been looked after. A top vinyl!! Fantastic songcraft!! I am very glad to be able to report that this is a fine slab of vinyl without any problems at all and as such worthy of inclusion of any great prog collection.   Of course NO jumps/clicks/skips etc.

Gatefold sleeve:  EX.  Fully laminated. Light laminate lift near the spine and top right corner. Lovely superwide spine, only the first issues had this!! Light "mini" edge creases. There is no writing and I think it will be a very long time before this super album will come around with again more takers than ever before.

Labels: EX. Only light spindle traces indicating this has not been played much.

***This is a unique prime investment opportunity!!! Finding this album in any condition at all is nearly impossible!!! This is  a great and seriously collectable super album!!  You will buy into a piece of  prog core history.*** 

             This is a unique investment opportunity!!! The next psych album to go completely through the roof. Finding this album in any condition at all is nearly impossible so late in the day. Get this while you still can. This value of the album is only going to go one way ... up and up ... until it will be totally unavailable at all for a reasonable price.

Important : International postage will be registered and insured if over GBP 45.00.  Please wait for my invoice before paying. Postage will be according to Royal Mail rates. Postage is NOT a money spinning exercise for me.

Though there are rarely ever any problems with my items, I always try my very best to describe everything exactly!  PLEASE REMEMBER to contact me FIRST,  if you have any problems at all, before you leave feedback and star ratings, so I get a chance to turn any negative experience into a positive one!  I can always happily sort anything out for you, if you let me know you have a problem!  This way no one has to leave Negative/Neutral feedback - and we both walk away happy! Similarly with the amount of stars, anything less than a full 5 * rating is effectively detrimental to a seller's rating as lower ratings will incur higher Final Value Fees  and lower priority in the bidlists eventually making it unattractive to list items on Ebay at all. I know of at least one major previous Ebay seller who has decided not to list via Ebay again. Please do NOT bid if you cannot give me at least 1 chance to sort everything out to your FULL satisfaction in the unlikely event of a problem.  Thanks again!!

This an excellent investment opportunity!!! Any questions please ask me and I will try to answer soon.