PETE BROWN & PIBLOKTO Thousands on a Raft VERY RARE ORIG UK 1970 HARVEST EX+ LP

	£		209
	$		277

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 arrived damaged in them at some time. More details on my packing 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 ‘4-day’ rule for non-payment to keep things moving – cash-flow is important to 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.

Artist or Band: PETE BROWN & PIBLOKTO!

Album Title: Thousands on a Raft.

Producer(s): Pete Brown and Piblokto.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Aeroplane Head Woman; Station Song Platform Two; Highland Song.

Side 2: If They Could Only See Me Now Parts One And Two; Got A Letter From A Computer; Thousands On A Raft.

Label/Format: Harvest – original format with no EMI logo (were any ever pressed with it?). These have matt, smooth surfaces.

Label Conditions: Both in superb clean and fresh conditions. Barely aged at all and without doubt, hardly even played. Three or four very fine and faint spindle marks on side two, side one, maybe one ultra faint trace. They hardly get much better than this.

Cat Number: SHVL 782.

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: 130 grams. About average for it’s era.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Rare: all the Harvest Pete Brown titles on Harvest are seldom seen. Poor sellers and this one arguably the rarest of them all.

Original Year of Release: 1970

Matrix Nos: SHVL 782 A-1G / SHVL 782 B-1G

Mothers / Stampers: 1 G / 1 R [one the very first ever pressed ‘G’ being the ultimate first stamper followed by the ‘R’]

Musicians: Pete Brown - Vocals, Talking Drum, Congas; Jim Mullen - Bass Guitar; Steve Glover - Bass Guitar, Percussion; Rob Tait - Drums, Percussion; Jim Mullen - Guitar, Percussion; Dave Thompson - Mellotron.

Brief Info: The inside of the cover on the top left states: ‘File under POPULAR : Pop Groups’ – an ambitious and totally misleading piece of text if ever I have seen one. Pete Brown was neither popular and his music and band was never a ‘pop group’. He is best known as a lyricist and poet, he was highly lauded for his lyrics with Cream. He then got a contract with The Battered Ornaments on the new progressive Harvest label. After he departed, he joined Piblokto!, this album for me was his crowning achievement on record. This includes some superb musicianship that blends progressive rock with jazzy elements, although not the greatest vocalist ever, the quality of the songs more than compensates. There is some fantastic guitar work from Jim Mullen and inventive use of the Mellotron. None of these albums sold well and never ‘popular’, they are much prized and sort after and highly elusive. The front cover is one of the Harvest classics with the sinking Titanic and Concorde with the thousands on a raft being baked beans on toast. It included no title or band details on the front with all information on the back and inside. Only my second ever copy of this one on vinyl and it’s a very strong copy that offers superb sound with an attractive sleeve. Clearly one for Harvest collectors but a great album in it’s own right, one not to be missed as finding them now is becoming very difficult, especially this clean and little played.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT: a gatefold format with front and back laminate. The inside is matt. Printed and made in England by Garrod & Lofthouse and includes the Harvest promotional inner sleeve.

Lamination – Front & Back: Arguably undergraded, this cover has little to fault overall. The laminate retains a very fine shine, freshness and clarity with no lifting and any of the tiny few creases mostly fine and light. The only dulling of any note being quite small near the top and bottom from the rim, this only really seen under angled light. Any marks or blemishes few and equally fine and faint, little detracts from this famous artwork and is seen to near maximum advantage on a generally well-stored cover. For sure, it will not prove easy to find a great deal better.

Cover Inner Gatefold: A very small and light stain near the bottom of the fold hinge and a small crease on the top above it. That apart, little else to fault with any grubbiness or set-off where dark rests upon white when closed, being very light and little. Again, a high standard is retained.

Top Edges: Both neat, straight with hardly any wear at all.

Bottom Edges: Again straight with just a little end panel card thickening and a rub on the front on the right corner area. Being the traditional storage edges, few will escape with much less I feel.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Both edges are very neat and crisp with minimal traces of any thickening or burring, even viewed end-on. The front is closed, the record enters on the back, both are guaranteed untrimmed or enhanced. The back’s trim in manufacture being a fraction uneven (this being ultra critical), hardly worthy of mention being honest.

Spine and Text: This is one of those spines can crease badly and the text often sinks into, but this hardly happened on this one. Solid, straight with any compression light with only a fairly gentle natural opening crease. Folded almost square, the edges meet up fairly close together and near parallel. This retains all its laminate which is not always the case on these types, the odd fine crease or minute chip, but most all is smooth to the fingertip. The text barely worn at all with again just the odd tiny letter chip, but clear and present as seen in close-up.

Corners: Any tip rubbing mostly light and little with very fine to excellent shape retained. The tiny tip crease also near impossible to avoid.

Cover Summary: A strong all-round example of this rare Harvest cover, one that will prove difficult to find much better, finding it at all is hard enough. It should please many, if not most collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT: the Harvest promotional inner is in very find condition with only gentle ageing via the seam adhesive darkening that is rarely avoided. The lining intact and minimal creasing. All edges unsplit with no repairs.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(+): a lovely visual copy that is very clean with fine shine and solidly pressed. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence with only very fine, light and faint surface marks seen when viewed critically under bright angled light. No penetrating scratches and sound quality superb throughout. Visually a super record that should please many if not most collectors again.

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 fast disappearing, and one of Harvest’s rarest records plays even above it’s high visual grading with barely anything to fault. Strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear - sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. Any surface sounds are minimal indeed, any blemishes being ultra faint and hardly any. For a somewhat obscure album of this age, rarely purchased by hi-fi buffs, this is almost exceptional and few copies will outperform it significantly I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played very lightly and has been generally well stored and carefully handled, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful, now almost ‘lost’prog album. This copy will prove very difficult to find significantly better and can be strongly recommended.

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 - on average ONEADAY, a couple more at weekends if time permits, hence the name - time rarely allows for more as I Play-Grade virtually every record I offer in their entirety, 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 its 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. What you see is what you get and scanned labels will give a more accurate representation of the genuine colour than flash photography where light is variable. I cannot guarantee total accuracy for colours however but most will be very close. 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 Rondo Red moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2 grams). Amps: Naim Nait 5i with Project USB phono stage and Chord interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired with Terrarium 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 and the cost of this lavish packing is NOT even charged for, I offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible for ultimate confidence. The boxes and ultra thick double-wall stiffeners and bubble wrap 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 less than one in two thousand+ based on over 10,000+ items sold in over 12 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. Even one of these stiffeners cannot be bent by hand, so what chance 2 inside a box? Oneadayrecords is a MAILER-FREE ZONE. 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 FOUR days if no payment is received. I will then cancel the dispute to end the, 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 and they take the Ebay consequences (a strike or removal from the system). 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] = £8. (this includes insurance of £500). Add £2 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 £3 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’.