PINK FLOYD: PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN-1ST MONO 1G/1G

	£		331
	$		438

THE PINK FLOYD:THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN TYPE SINGLE LP-MONO LABEL/PRESSING INFO

COLUMBIA 1ST PRESS BLUE ON BLACK WITH THE EMI PRESSING DETAILS XAX 3419-2 & XAX 3420-1 AND STAMPER CODES 1G/1G

CATALOGUE NUMBER SX 6157 YEAR OF RELEASE 1967 COUNTRY OF RELEASE UK SLEEVE TYPE SINGLE Ernest J. DAY LAMINATED FLIPBACK 1ST ISSUE WHICH OMITS "File under POP" under the catalogue number on rear top right corner INSERTS/EXTRAS ORIGINAL AND CORRECT EMI AD INNER FOR 1966/67 "pre Sgt Pepper"   GRADING/CONDITION DISC(s)

EXCELLENT ( A BIT of a Holy Grail amongst Pink Floyd collectors this one I suppose.Good first press copies are getting harder to find anyway but the 1G/1G very first stampers are all almost impossible to get hold of,and very rarely appear in these listings,having been bought up and hidden away in collections years ago.I personally have owned this copy for 25 years,having found it in a box of records during the halcyon days of the 1980's when record owners realised that the shiny new circular disc was all they were ever going to need again and dumped all of their vinyl.

This is a lightly played record as can be seen by the labels with really just a handful of spindlemarks on either side,having played it through again to remind my self of the quality I find that apart from a bit of light background noise on the run in and intro to side 1 the whole thing plays well with only minimal loss of audio quality,and as it is in Mono anyway you can hardly tell.Cosmetically the record is clean with only light playwear and some handling wear which again is only very light and mostly only even noticable under a lamp anyway)

LABELS

EXCELLENT+(NICE CLEAN original labels with NO writing stickers,rips or tears,and just a handful of light spindlemarks on either side)

SLEEVE

 

Front board EX+ Front board is clean and unmarked with no writing stickers rips or tears.Laminate is complete with no lifting cracking or peeling,and very shiny with only a little very light rubbing wear,and a light pressure mark top and bottom,and no creasing other than a few small fingernail type creases Rear board EX Rear board is clean and unmarked with no writing stickers rips or tears,and a little light ageing showing towards the opening and a lightish mark underneath the catalogue number-see picture below. Flipbacks EX+ Complete ad stuck fast with no lifting cracking or peeling,top flipback has a little light wear in the centre Spine EX+ Nice clean spine,complete and uncrushed with all of its laminate intact and no cracks and nice clear bold black lettering Top and bottom edge EX+ Both edges have complete laminate are straight and true and have only very light wear Opening EX+ The opening is crisp and sharp with just a little light ageing only and not worn due to excessive or heavy usage Corners EX+ ALL 4 corners are square and show only very light storage and handling wear.   INNER SLEEVE EXCELLENT+ (CLEAN and UNMARKED with just no rips tears or seam splits,inner bag is firmly held and the is just light overall wear) It might have become apparent to the few people that come across my listings that I have have been recently been listing some pretty scarce stuff,and you wouldn't be wrong. After a lifetime (seems like two or three) of collecting this stuff I have decided that owning pretty things is great but at some point its also nice to realise their potential and let someone else gaze at them lovingly as I have. I'm in no hurry and will just be putting a few choice examples from the collection on every week or so,and I suppose that after 40 years of searching scrubbing about in boxes and constantly upgrade and replenishing I have ended up with a fair few copies of some very rare stuff.So keep looking in and see wether there are any things you might fancy having in YOUR collection.

  DETAILS

The title of Pink Floyd's debut album is taken from a chapter in Syd Barrett's favorite children's book, The Wind in the Willows, and the lyrical imagery of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is indeed full of colorful, childlike, distinctly British whimsy, albeit filtered through the perceptive lens of LSD.

Barrett's catchy, melodic acid pop songs are balanced with longer, more experimental pieces showcasing the group's instrumental freak-outs, often using themes of space travel as metaphors for hallucinogenic experiences -- "Astronomy Domine" is a poppier number in this vein, but tracks like "Interstellar Overdrive" are some of the earliest forays into what has been tagged space rock.

But even though Barrett's lyrics and melodies are mostly playful and humorous, the band's music doesn't always bear out those sentiments -- in addition to Rick Wright's eerie organ work, dissonance, chromaticism, weird noises, and vocal sound effects are all employed at various instances, giving the impression of chaos and confusion lurking beneath the bright surface. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn successfully captures both sides of psychedelic experimentation -- the pleasures of expanding one's mind and perception, and an underlying threat of mental disorder and even lunacy; this duality makes Piper all the more compelling in light of Barrett's subsequent breakdown, and ranks it as one of the best psychedelic albums of all time.

  GRADING SPECIFICS All of my records are subject to close scrutiny before listing, and to ensure that I am accurate with my interpretation is carefully examined under a strong viewing light and played on a high end deck - I will never list a record that jumps,sticks,or is subject to so much background noise that the listening pleasure is radically impaired. I use the grading denominations as laid down in the Rare Record Collectors Guide,but with my own revisions as laid out below.

PLAYING SURFACE

MINT The record itself is obvious by its look and feel that it has never been removed from its inner sleeve,and typified by the very action of removal from a lined sleeve,where it has a very light friction against the poly,and a sheen across the playing surface that hasn't been dulled by the passage of a stylus,and requires no effort to remove any traces of foreign matter in the grooves,other than a cursory wipe with a soft cloth,and with a sound reproduction that you would expect from a piece of unplayed vinyl. MINT- Again a record that has been bought and stored away,but has been removed from its sleeves,either by the owner or more often some clumsy potential second user,and has some,but not many hairline marks across the playing surface due to the action of removal and insertion,these would not be noticeable unless viewed by rotation under a viewing lamp,and definitely have no effect on the reproductive quality. EXCELLENT++ A record that has endured only the lightest of playtime,say maybe only once or twice,and is perhaps only distinguishable by a spindlemark on the label or the presence of minimal hairline playmarks. EXCELLENT+ The majority of records that we sell fall into this category-the RRC defines EXCELLENT as:"The record shows some signs of having been played,but there is very little lessening in sound quality", but to take this a step further,there are a multitude of records that are far better than this and deserve a higher status. These are the records that you would feel more than comfortable in receiving,they have very light playwear and no abuse marks such as needle skating,edge scuffing,or feelable scratches,and the audio quality will be as such that any previous play will be completely inaudible. EXCELLENT As defined above-these are records that "show some signs" of being played,and by some signs we interpret ,lightish hairline markings (papercuts)that are the result of multiple removals from the sleeve,occasional visual playmarks and very light scuffing that cant be heard during playtime,and the record has the overall feel of one that has been popular but cared for. VERY GOOD/VERY GOOD+/VERY GOOD++/VERY GOOD+++ The definition of VG is of record that has been played many times but shows no "major deterioration" despite "noticeable" surface marks and scratches.We don't care for this sort of product and don't stock them,and are of the opinion that it doesn't really matter how many +++'s you suffix the grading with its still a VG (very good) LABELS MINT We are great believers in the fact that labels will tell you more about the life of a record than anything else,apart from playing it of course,the number and voracity of spindlemarks,the usage wear around the hole any tears stickers writing,attempts to remove or fill in blemishes all point to the previous care of the record itself,and we always detail pictorially and grade them accordingly .A MINT label is just that a perfectly clean and free from any signs that the disc has ever been near a turntable,and only used in conjunction with MINT or NEAR MINT vinyl gradings. MINT- Both labels are perfectly clean but there will be a hint of spindlemarking ,say one or two dectectable mark on 1 label EXCELLENT+ Again perfectly clean but with very light but noticeable spindlemarks that are the result of light but inaccurate placement on the turntable. EXCELLENT In keeping with grading system as a whole an EXCELLENT label grading is given to a record with clean and unmarked labels that have born the brunt of moderate play but have suffered in as much that the "player" has neglected to line the record accurately which has resulted in noticeable spindlemarkings, with the occasional wayward or spidery effect,dark rooms and alcohol can exacerbate this. EXCELLENT- Any label that has "neat" user embellishment -a small biro name ,initials or an unobtrusive sticker,obviously we will show this pictorially. VERY GOOD/+ it is rare that we offer for sale any record where the labels have been so defaced that cosmetically the record is unpleasing to the eye,this means major tearing due to amateur sticker removal,large scale writing, using felt tip pens or the like,this can apply to any grading of vinyl! -in a nutshell if we feel that it is ugly then we don't buy it. SLEEVE MINT A MINT sleeve is something that we do not believe in,you wouldn't even get one straight from the shop,they have always picked up even the slightest of knocks to the corners or a hint of a crease here or there,so you will never see a mint grading for one of our sleeves.   MINT- These are a reality ,but only very occasionally,and only where the initial purchaser has had so much pride in their collection that it has immediately been stored in a poly outer sleeve,and kept upright in an environment that has allowed to remain free from crushing,and external forces,sleeves of this calibre are perfectly clean with uncrushed spines no creasing and no wear to any edges,and not not even a hint of ringwear.   EXCELLENT++ A high quality of storage ,again in a protective sleeve,with no visible defects,but perhaps a very light wear to the opening or corner buffing,or a hint of ringwear etc,an exceptional sleeve but not quite NM   EXCELLENT+ Again as with vinyl grading,the majority of our sales fall into this category.Its clean and unmarked with no user markings,straight edges,there is light wear to the opening and only very light or no ringwear.   EXCELLENT A perfectly serviceable and clean ,but with a noticeable defect,such as excessive colour loss to the top or bottom edge due to storage and handling movement,some occasional light markings on the boards,lightish rigwear,or a very light sticker removal mark.   EXCELLENT- A sleeve that whilst being of good quality is marred by some significant event- biro name ,sticker markings,less than perfect edges or spine,and just a general sadness and careworn demeanour.As always we show multiple pictures,and will always note major defects in the grading section above.   VERY GOOD/ETC There are occasions where we feel that record is of sufficiently high quality or scarcity that it is of interest even with major defects,board tearing,significant writing and or a grubby disposition,on the occasions we do list with a low grading and display the faults.   INSERTS/EXTRAS The problem with a major part of lyric/picture inners is that are made of such light paper that they split very easily and are effectively rendered useless.We try very hard to limit this and do not normally stock any records with split,excessively creased or damaged inner sleeves or inserts.The exception that we make are to small worn portions which we will either repair or reinforce with a neat taped repair.Any defects that are not visible in our pictures will be noted in the grading above. Postal Shipping & Handling charges Region Single Item Extra UK £3.00 £.70 Europe £4.50 £1.00 USA £6.50 £1.50 Japan/ROW £6.50 £1.50   Terms and Conditions Guarantee I like to believe that I have an inkling about these things and accurately describe the item I am selling,but I along with everyone else am only human,and there might be an occasion where my assessment differs from yours,in this instance please contact me,and I will without question accept your criticism and arrange a full refund + your return costs if we need to go down that route. Communication and Feedback I have always been a great believer that feedback is a mutual thing between parties,and should be recognised upon the satisfactory completion of a sale .I know that these days it really matter when it is left as there is no recriminatory comments allowable for a buyer no matter how despicable they behave,but non the less I still prefer to leave feedback once I know that the buyer has received and is happy with the item,and have set my feedback profile to automatically reply to feedback given -So you will get your feedback minutes after you send yours,alternately I could do it manually and with my memory you could be waiting a loooong time. Payment We accept the following payment types - UK Customers - Paypal Cheque or Postal Order. Overseas Customers - Paypal Only