Manic Street Preachers - Suicide Alley 7" Single

I am offering for sale an extremely rare copy of the self-financed debut Manic Street Preachers single, together with a set list from their gig at the Horse and Groom on 17th November 1989 and two flyers advertising early London gigs promoted by Esurient Communications.

I was a fan of the Hungry Beat and The Same Sky fanzines written by Kevin Pearce of Esurient Communications and found myself seeing the Manic Street Preachers at the Horse and Groom on 22nd September 1989 and again on 17th November 1989. I also saw them at the Lady Owen Arms, London on 3rd October 1989. At the end of the bands set on 17th November 1989 they mumbled something about having a single for sale and I handed over my money to Richey Edwards, picking up a set list in passing.

The version of the Suicide Alley single that I am selling is the rarest version with the plain sleeve with glued on photocopies of the NME review. To quote from the Wikipedia entry for Suicide Alley, "Only 300 copies were originally pressed. Around 200 came in a picture sleeve....Around a third of the copies were released in a plain sleeve, and a handful featured handmade covers with glued on newspaper cuttings, which were assembled by Richey."

The record itself is in fabulous condition. The sleeve shows light signs of handling only. The record has a few light spindle marks and just one mark on the vinyl itself which doesn't affect playback (see the last image of the record below). Playback is clean and clear with just the lightest of vinyl surface noise.

The setlist was folded in half and pinned to my wall for a time - as a result of this there are 10 pins holes in the paper and the exposed half (the song titles) is a little nicotine stained (I was a smoker at the time). The reverse of the set list has the lyrics to Repeat After Me written in biro.

The two flyers each advertise a number of separate Esurient Communications gigs. These were originally received in the post and have marks from where they were folded to fit into their envelopes.

Finally, I've also scanned in a couple of photos taken at the Horse and Groom on 17th November 1989 showing the band in full affect!

All photos used in this listing are of the actual items up for auction. Click on any image for a high resolution version.

About me

I am not a dealer, rather an enthusiast selling my record collection of around 300 singles and 1000 albums collected over the last 25 years. Most of these records were purchased new and all have been carefully looked after.

It will take several months for me to list everything that I have for sale - if you are interested in 1980s and 1990s indie, C86, Sarah Records, Brit Pop, Rough Trade, 4AD, etc then you'll want to keep an eye on my auctions - use the link below to view my other items and also consider adding me to your favourite sellers.

View my other items for sale

Postage and packing

The record and other items will be securely packed in a 12" x 12" cruciform LP mailer with cardboard stiffeners padding out the package. Within the mailer, the single will be additionally protected by a resealable polythene sleeve.

Shipping weight of the package is approximately 550g.

Due to the high value of this item I am making insured postage mandatory, hence the higher than usual postage charge.

I will post this item worldwide but please note that bidders outside of the UK must pay using Paypal.

Please see the main body of the listing for postage costs to your country. If you don't see your country listed then use the 'Email Seller' link to request a postage quote.

Returns

I believe that my listings offer a comprehensive and accurate description of the item up for auction.  If you require any additional information about an item please use the 'Email Seller' facility before bidding. I always strive to be honest in my dealings with people - a fact reflected in my 100% feedback rating.

If you purchase an item and believe that it has not been correctly described please contact me as soon as possible and I'll do my best to resolve the problem. If you believe that a record has been improperly graded you can return it for a full refund.

Other information

I do not end my auctions early or add 'Buy It Now' prices to existing listings.