Mr. Fox : Mr. Fox (Debut) A-1G / B-1G 1st Press 1970

This first pressing plays with superb audio on both sides with barely any intrusion.  S1 plays with perfect clarity and S2 just has one light click and some very quiet statics on one track that are so much in the background anyway.  The vast majority is 'as new' and that is not me over-selling it, the clarity, depth and warmth of the audio is incredible!  The vinyl itself is in lovely condition and has clearly hardly ever been played.  

The cover is in excellent shape with only a little wear and the original Plastic Bags... inner sleeve has hardly any wear.

As you can see this is one of the earliest off the printing press as it has the G1 stamper on both sides.

TRA 226 // A-1G / B-1G // G1 / G1

The audio on S1 is Mint(-)

The audio on S2 is Mint(-) (T2 Ex+)

The cover is Ex-

The labels are Near Mint

The original inner sleeve is Ex+

Visual description

The vinyl is visually stunning and still has a lovely glossy sheen with no obvious marks or scratches.  Under a bright light I can only see a handful of very faint sleeve removal hairlines and a couple of very small faint blemishes on S2 that have no affect on the superb audio.  The labels are so clean with only a couple of faint spindle trails.

Play grading

The quiet intro on 'Join Us In Our Game' is stunning!  It plays so cleanly and there is barely any static and what you can hear is so quiet and totally non-intrusive.  The opening vocal section plays with wonderful clarity also and it proceeds in the same exact way.  Hard to believe this album is 54 years old this year listening to this!  The mid instrumental is 'as new' as is the rest of the track and it has to grade as Mint- at the very least.

'The Hanged Man' plays with genuine precision from start to finish with no intrusion.  All I noticed were a couple of barely audible dust ticks and it has to grade as Mint such is the quality of the recording.

The intro on 'The Gay Goshawk' is faultless and the opening vocal is equal to that.  The more you listen to it the more I am convinced this record has hardly ever seen a turntable!  Yes I clean the records on my Pro-ject VCS but the vinyl has to have been preserved well also to play with such a clean aesthetic sound.  It basically plays like a CD but with the warmth and depth you only find on vinyl.  Every vocal and instrumental play with a such clean, distinctive sound and Mint is 100% deserved.

'Rip Van Winkle' is of the same high end standard with no interference.  In fact there is not even a single dust ticks let alone anything more - if clarity was measured out of 100 then this is 100!  Mint

'Mr. Trills Song' ends the side with perfect audio you will not be surprised to hear.  By the way I do not exaggerate my gradings as it would not be in my interests or yours!  And if I hear a tick however minor I will mention it.  This track plays with phenomenal clarity all the way through with no interference and easily grades as Mint

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'Little Woman' on S2 keeps up the standard and plays with amazing audio with no sign of any background.  No static even just pure Mint audio from start to finish.  This song reminds of something but I can't quite put my finger on it!  Ah just remembered, it's Greensleeves!

The quiet intro on 'Salisbury Plain' plays beautifully and the opening vocal is just as clean.  A little further in there are some light static ticks but they are so very quiet and do not intrude on the overall 'listen'.  It only last for about 30 seconds and from then on it plays with stunning precision aside from one light click near the end as the final vocal comes in.  I will grade as Ex+ but the vast majority does indeed play to a Mint standard. 

'The Ballad Of Neddy Dick' plays with sublime quality and... no interference.  Easy to grade this is Mint in every way.

'Leaving the Dales' plays with great clarity and no interference.  A couple of minor statics but they do not qualify as interference as they are so darn quiet!  Hardly worth a mention really.  Let's say Mint-

The album ends with the title track 'Mr. Fox' which plays 'as new' from start to finish.  The vocals are so clean and precise and the instrumental mid section just could not play any better.  A stunning Mint version for sure.

In summary this first pressing is so close to perfect you wouldn't believe.  With only those very quiet statics and the one click on S2 the overall clarity of sound is remarkable.  As stated the vinyl has clearly hardly been played and that is certainly reflected in the sonic quality.  The warmth and depth of the audio is so impressive also - a rarely sold vinyl but well worth a listen in my humble opinion.

The Cover & Inner Sleeve

The cover is in excellent condition with not too much shelf wear.  The top edge has barely any rubbing and the bottom edge has a little but it isn't obvious.  The thin spine is in great shape with only minor crimping and the corners have hardly any wear.  The right hand corners have a little more but still not excessive and the opening edge has barely any handling wear.  The front cover is very clean with only a handful of small creases next to the spine and some light ringwear and the back cover has a little fading / spotting on the bottom third and some ringwear again.  There is also a faint crease bottom left and overall this is a very respectable example of this first press cover.

The poly-lined Plastic Bags... inner is in great condition with no side splits or tears, only minimal creasing and a minor amount of faint age related fading along the top edges.

Play tested on my Rega P2 with AT-VM95EN Cart / Denon PMA-520AE Amp / B&W 684 Speakers

The record has been cleaned on a Pro-Ject VC-S machine

TRA 226 // A-1G / B-1G // G1 / G1

I grade according to "Record Collector" guidelines.

Any questions please feel free to ask

Please pay within 4 days of auction end

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Postage & Packaging

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