SANDY DENNY The North Star Grassman and the Ravens SCARCE ORIG UK 1971 EX LP.

	£		36
	$		48

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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, and records WILL arrive damaged in them at some time as most record buyers will already know. Here, you get what you pay for – SAFE PACKING in BOXES using 7mm DOUBLE-WALL STIFFENERS including full side protection and bubble wrap, the records removed from the covers of course. All this very safe packing means I lose money on every box I post, but safe delivery is, and will always be paramount. You WILL see the difference when my packet arrives. Also, I will pay for 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 if possible. PLEASE NOTE: I will NOT send any item, no matter what its value without a Royal Mail or courier tracking number. ALL my items must be signed and trackable to comply with Ebay delivery rules. Please do NOT ask me to make any exceptions to this rule as no country offers 100% reliable service without it.

Posting to Russia: Yes, I do post to Russia. But delivery can take longer 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.

ANY ITEM or ITEMS TO BE PAID WITHIN A MAXIMUM OF 6 DAYS or they will be cancelled – NO EXCEPTIONS.

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. Please only bid on my items if you want them.

Artist or Band: SANDY DENNY

Album Title: The North Star Grassman and the Ravens

Producer(s): Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, John Wood

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Late November; Blackwaterside; The Sea Captain; Down in the Flood; John the Gun.

Side 2: Next Time Around; The Optimist; Let's Jump the Broomstick; Wretched Wilbur; The North Star Grassman and the Ravens; Crazy Lady Blues.

Label/Format: Island, original pink format with matt surfaces that have a faint hint of texturing.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and attractive with only a tiny few very light, fine and faint spindle marks and no wear around the hole area. A copy appearing hardly played.

Catalogue Number: ILPS 9165

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps: Few vintage records are ever perfectly ‘flat’, so some slight or very gentle arm movement is normal. If any record I offer has more than that, I will mention it, and it can be assumed all I offer should track without issues, even on budget turntables.

Weight of this Record: 137 grams.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Moderately scarce, not a major seller on issue.

Original Year of Release: 1971

Matrix Nos: ILPS 9165 A-1U / ILPS 9165 B-1U

Mothers / Stampers: 1 GR / 1 GR

Run-Out Groove Etchings: ‘STERLING LH’

Musicians: Sandy Denny – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, piano; Jerry Donahue – electric guitar; Richard Thompson – electric guitar, accordion, vocals, acoustic guitar, bass; Trevor Lucas – acoustic guitar; Buddy Emmons – pedal steel guitar; Pat Donaldson – bass; Tony Reeves – bass; Gerry Conway – drums; Roger Powell – drums; Ian Whiteman – piano, flute, organ; Barry Dransfield – violin; Royston Wood, Robin Dransfield – backing vocals; Harry Robinson – string arrangements.

Brief Info: The first solo album by former Fairport Convention singer Sandy Denny. After leaving them, she helped form the short-lived folk-rock band Fotheringay who completed and issued just one album before splitting. This a very fine album and features her friend and former Fairport member Richard Thompson. Not a major seller and difficult to find in better conditions, the cover is very prone to wear. This a lovely copy, a little light surface rubbing to the cover, but few will be seen with a great deal less. The record appears hardly played and is superbly pressed and plays impressively throughout.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT: or close to. A quite heavy gatefold format, unlaminated with matt smooth surfaces. Printed and made in England by Howard’s Printers, includes the Island blue lined inner sleeve.

Cover Front: A robust and quite heavy cover, the dark surface very prone to wear and I honestly feel some of the rubbing was actually made during manufacture. Most that surface have similar rubbing to the unforgiving surface – a bit like The Kinks ‘Muswell Hillbillies’ cover that also suffers the same way. But this gentle, almost natural rubbing apart, this front has little else to fault with barely any creasing and no sticker issues.

Cover Back: Very similar again, a small a litlte rubbing to the corner tips and the merest trace of rim rubbing on the left. Given the unforgiving nature of these surfaces, both have fared quite well.

Cover Inner Gatefold: The inside is superb with barely anything of note to fault.

Top Edges: Both solid and thick, they remains straight and flush with any traces of rubbing tiny and light.

Bottom Edges: The back edge has patchy quite light to moderate rubbing, the front with a little only on the left.

Right Edge(s), and Type: The front has a real tucked and folded edge that has minimal rubbing, a little at the very bottom only. The back entrance edges are clean, mostly sharp with any thickening little and light as seen viewed end-on. These are guaranteed untrimmed or enhanced.

Spine and Text: A very impressive wide spine that is robust and solid, also straight with no compression. Folded square, so the edges meet up very closely together and parallel. All text is present and hardly worn, and rubbing or creasing to the surface minimal, small and light as-seen.

Corners: Most tip rubs tiny are light, the bottom right back has a moderate rub, excellent shape largely retained with no knocks.

Cover Summary: A strong all-round example of these fragile and unforgiving surfaces. It could prove difficult to find much better. This still impressive and only lightly rubbed item should please many collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT: the blue polylined Island inner has the basing street address text and has only gently aged. No heavy hard creasing, only mild natural crinkle and all edges unsplit with no repairs. It retains unusually deep colour, many fade badly which this has largely avoided.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT: arguably better. A very fine visual copy that is very clean with equally fine shine and solidly pressed. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence with any surface very light and faint as seen critically under bright light. No penetrating stylus scratches, viewed in average room light, barely anything even registers. Visually a super record that should please many collectors.

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 equipment, all listed further down.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This lovely album plays even above it’s high visual grading with hardly anything to fault. Offering 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 and this is an exceptional clean pressing with no tracking issues*. This has some quieter moments, so pressing quality becomes even more crucial, but this is one of the cleanest and best-pressed examples I have heard in ages. An album I know sometimes having pressing issues, but not this one. Few available copies will outperform this early first pressing 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 record. It will prove very difficult to find significantly better and can be strongly recommended.

* 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 grams. Records are a ‘contact’ format, and few will avoid the odd minor sound blemish.

I am one of the most established sellers on Ebay, trading since 2001 and offering the finest 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 all elements of the items I offer for sale. You may notice I only submit records quite 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 story. I will try to 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 near mint condition as the real rare items. All the pictures I use for your guidance are the item being offered with no digital enhancements. Room light factors can make things vary sometimes, that is hard to control, especially in winter. I hope the item below is to your liking – any questions can be emailed and I will do my best to answer you. I am enthusiastic, and have a fair degree of knowledge about many genres and I promise quality items. Please assume all records I offer have NO jumps, sticks, major 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 grams). Amps: Naim Supernait 2 with Project USB phono stage and Tellerium Black interconnects. Speakers: B&W 805 Nautilus (bi-wired with Tellurium Black terminated cable) with REL subwoofer. All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Nessie 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 D7500 DSLR 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.

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 bid retractions. 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 only 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 2 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive – if not I will relist the item or offer to the runner-up.

My Guarantee: If any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund if the item is returned in the same condition is was sent e.g. as per the listing pictures.

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, 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.