MAY BLITZ - RARER ORIG UK 1970 VERTIGO SPIRAL RECORD with IMPRESSIVE SOUND/COVER

	£		165
	$		219

ONEADAYRECORDS – Simply Delivering Quality Music to the World in Quality, Safe Packing.

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 – in fact I think these things should be banned as records WILL arrive damaged in them at some time. Here, you get what you pay for – SAFE PACKING in BOXES using 7mm DOUBLE-WALL STIFFENERS. Full details 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 ‘2-day’ rule for non-payment to keep things moving – cash-flow is important for any small business. I will always keep my P&P prices as low as possible, and even after yet another Royal Mail price hike from April this year, I have NOT raised my prices and will never compromise on solid, safe packing that is invariably heavier than most you will get. My P&P offers probably the best value-for-money for vinyl records available, and I even will pay for full 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. You WILL see the difference when my packet arrives.

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. I do not like this practice as it is most often used to phish out the price to beat. Ebay does not approve and neither do I – so only bid on my items if you want them.

Artist or Band: MAY BLITZ

Album Title: May Blitz

Producer(s): James Black, Tony Newman, Reid Hudson.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Smoking the Day Away; I Don’t Know?; Dreaming.

Side 2: Squeet; Tomorrow May Come; Fire Queen; Virgin Waters.

Label/Format: Vertigo – Original large Spiral logo with matt, smooth surfaces.

Label Conditions: Both clean, still fresh and attractive with only light and less than moderate spindle marks that show little. Less on side one than two and both sides look impressive. Any toning or marks on the more revealing side two are minimal and very faint indeed.

Cat Number: 6360007.

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps: Assume all records I offer have no warping of any significance and all tracking is easy and effortless and should play on all turntables and even ‘budget’ decks.

Weight of this Record: 135 grams. A very fine solid weight.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Very Scarce: and one of the best of the rock albums on this most collectable label. First issues most prized by rock and prog fans.

Original Year of Release: 1970

Matrix Nos: 6360007 1Y//1 1 1 1 & 6360007 2Y//1 1 2 1

Musicians: Tony Newman – drums, vibes, bongos, congas; Reid Hudson - Bass guitar, vocals; James Black – Led guitar, lead vocal.

Brief Info: May Blitz were a powerhouse guitar blues-rock trio. Formed in 1969 by the highly talented drummer Tony Newman, he recruited two Canadians for the guitar work and the results on this, the first of two albums they made on Vertigo, is little short of sensational. A brilliant set and sounding impressive on this rare first issue Swirl record. Famed also for its striking cover artwork, drawn by Tony Benyon who was also responsible for Patto and the famous Comus cover First Utterance. Both record and cover visually give light clues to age, but both are still in very fine condition. The record has some marks, but almost all are superficial with no, or minimal audio issues, this plays with little unwanted and most is superb. A couple or three moderate clicks on side two and any on one very few and faint as minor ticks. The sound is blistering and full-on and barely anything of note spoilt the experience. Not for the connoisseur collector who only want perfect at any cost, but this is still a very impressive listen and I enjoyed it immensely. Not had one of these for ages and after my play-grade, it will take quite a special one to better it significantly for sound.

Cover Grade and Format: NEAR EXCELLENT: a spectacular gatefold format with brilliant artwork, unlaminated and printed and made in England, uncredited. Includes the Swirl inner sleeve.

Cover Front: One of the most recognised and famous within the Swirl catalogue. A fine looking front with a few gentle marks and mild traces of grubbiness seen on the paler areas. A little light rubbing on the edges in places and corner tips, no sticker issues and hardly any creasing. Overall a very fine front for a 45-year-old unprotected sleeve.

Cover Back: Very similar again with just a little creasing near the left edge. A fraction more grubbiness possibly and any hint of ringwear very fine and faint. Most of any gentle surface marks on this side seen more critically under angled light, again this sets a high standard.

Cover Inner Gatefold: A mild and quite low-visibility stain near the top of the central fold hinge, also a tiny pull mark just to the right of the hinge near the top edge. Any grubbiness or blemishes apart small, very few and light, overall this inside spread has little to fault visually and is again impressive.

Top Edges: Both straight with light tom moderate patchy rubbing.

Bottom Edges: As above.

Right Edge(s), and Type: The front has a real tucked and folded edge, this is straight with any rubbing near the ends. The back opening edges are clean, mostly sharp – the inside one especially so – with any thickening or burring only light on the outer one as seen viewed end-on. No trimming or enhancements guaranteed, indeed the back pair are not quite flush in manufacture to reitterate the fact.

Spine and Text: Solid and quite thick, straight, uncompressed and folded square, so the edges meet up perfectly together and parallel. Mild rubbing near the ends and some light gentle patchy rubs on the folds. These show little as they almost blend into the artwork graphic of the cover. The really good news is all text is present and shows barely any hint of wear. Also the print matter on the spine is strong and unfaded.

Corners: Moderate tip rubbing with fine shape with no knocks or significant dinks.

Cover Summary: Another wear-prone Swirl cover and again most that surface will have wear, creasing, grubbiness or damage. These so often the victims of unremoveable early 1970s price, or larger discount promotion stickers. Overall, this has faired very well and many collectors will enjoy it.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT(+): little to fault bar the usual age darkening of the seam adhesive. A very fine Swirl inner with two crisp and neat window circles and clear polylining. Hardly any creasing at all and the edges all unsplit with no repairs. This is date-coded January 1971.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: VERY GOOD(++): there are a few marks, but mostly surface and superficial. Still a very fine visual copy that is clean with excellent shine and solidly pressed. The marks are mostly fine and light, also virtually non-penetrating, hence hardly any have any significant audio affect. In fact this record plays superbly for most-all. Three or four clicks on side two, and any on side one very few as ultra gentle ticks that are largely lost in the music. Visually a fine record that should please many collectors, but not the highly discerning purists who only want perfect 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 B&W speakers that include the legendary tweeter from their awesome Nautilus range that reveals every blemish or minuscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This really is one of the Spiral classics, hard blues-rock with real power and grace. Overall this plays above its splendid visual grading up to the very highest for its vast majority with little to fault. I have mentioned the brief few clicks above, those of which are mostly very light, equally brief and faint. It offers powerful, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear - sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. This has incredible stereo imagery and separation and packs a real punch. Any surface sounds registered little and this is very well pressed. On my first play, there was a milli-second jump on ‘Fire Queen’, with close inspection, there appeared to be a stubborn tiny speck of debris on the surface which I carefully removed by a slow ‘spot soak’ with my VPI cleaning fluid. After very careful removal when the speck has softened, the jump had gone with a second play of the area, replaced by one muted click, so tracking is now okay using my Linn and Ortofon cartridge*. Of course, I need not have mentioned this, but I think honesty in all respects is always the best policy. Hopefully all cartridges will have no issues with tracking, but that is something I cannot guarantee of course. Both channels are clean and sharp, I feel very sure this record has been played fairly modestly and little marred the experience of an impressive sounding record. So a few gentle and very brief reminders of what is being listened to – a vintage vinyl record – but again I think this will please many collectors, unless perfection is mandatory – and good luck with that. This still deserves high recommendation and a powerful rock classic to really get those toes tapping.

* 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 2.2 grams.

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 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 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 it’s 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. Room light factors can make things vary sometimes, that is hard to control, especially in winter. 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 Quintet Black moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2.2 grams). Amps: Naim Supernait 2 with Project USB phono stage and Tellerium Black interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired with Tellurium 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, better quality packaging costs, I offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible for ultimate confidence. The boxes and ultra thick double-wall stiffeners 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 minuscule in over 14 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. Oneadayrecords is a MAILER-FREE ZONE – they offer next-to-no-protection, and should be banned, no ‘professional’ should consider using them in my opinion. 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 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 withdrawals. 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 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’.