SHAPE OF THE RAIN – RARE ORIG UK 1971 NEON NEAR MINT LP, PLAYS BEAUTIFULLY.

	£		205
	$		272

ONEADAYRECORDS – Serving-up a Christmas & New Year Feast of Entertainment

I would like to wish all my customers, regulars and newcomers, a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR

Over the Holiday Period, I am offering some interesting Christmas ‘Crackers’ – lovely albums – some rare – ENJOY!

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.

Artist or Band: Shape of the Rain (Riley Riley Wood and Waggett)

Album Title: Shape of the Rain

Producer(s): Tony Hall & Eric Hine

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Woman; Patterns; Castles; Wasting My Time; Rockfield Roll; Yes.

Side 2: Dusty Road; Willowing Trees; I’ll Be There; Broken Man – including: Every One a Gem, After Collapsing at Kingsley’s.

Label/Format: RCA Neon with a gentle surface sheen and lightly textured surfaces. Another of rock’s most beautiful designs, but few albums were issued on this small subsidiary RCA subsidiary label.

Label Conditions: Both clean, still fresh and attractive with no spindle marks. This elusive Neon album appears hardly played and sounds fantastic.

Catalogue Number: NE 7

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: 136 grams.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Quite a rare album, that like most on this small subsidiary of RCA, it sold in minimal numbers with few units even pressed. Neon was only a short-lived label with just 11 albums issued on it. Most are quite obscure acts, some one-offs like this one, and most are highly collectable and sort-after. They surface infrequently and are notoriously difficult to find in better conditions. The albums were pressed by Pye and they had characteristically very fine grooves, pressing quality is known to be variable. For me, this is one of the finest titles on this elusive label. It is in fantastic near mint condition, appears hardly played with sound of the highest quality. This will prove very difficult to match or find better.

Original Year of Release: 1971

Matrix Nos: AGBS 0545 -3E / AGBS 0546 -3E [these were the first and most likely the only matrixes on this record]. They are machine punched and clear.

Musicians: Keith Riley – Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitars, Vocals; Len Riley – Bass Guitar; Brian Wood – Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitars, Steel Guitar, Vocals; Tag Waggett – Drums; Eric Hine – Electric Piano.

Brief Info: Originating in Sheffield, England this band found an audience largely by supporting some major acts of the late 1960s that included Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Free, Love and Joe Cocker. Their music had elements of American West Coast with UK psychedelic and progressive rock. They were offered a record contract and made this one-off on the specialist Neon label for RCA. It deserved to do well as the music is impressively melodic and highly enjoyable. But like most others on Neon, it probably received scant promotion, sold very poorly and was quickly ‘lost’ after Neon folded early in 1972 after making considerable losses. So as per the likes of other Neon bands like ‘Spring’, ‘Raw Material’ and ‘The Running Man’ et al., this is a highly collectable and sort-after album that seldom surfaces, especially in this condition. An album and band almost ‘lost’ in the mist of time, but this obscure album really is a joy.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(++): an unlaminated gatefold format with matt, smooth surfaces. Printed and made in England, uncredited, includes the soft-lined black inner sleeve this label always provided.

Cover Front: Like similar other hugely collectable Vertigo progressive album covers, this one is also highly prone to all forms of wear. Matt gatefolds rarely escape rubbing, creasing, fading, sticker issues and ring wear to some degree, so to see the rare cover in such superb condition is excellent news. The only tiny blemishe is a surface chip near the top edge just to the left of ‘RCA’. That apart, clean, fresh with barely any rubbing or creasing and no sticker issues or fading. One that has been cover-protected for many years and will never prove easy to find better.

Cover Back: All very similar again with any surface trace blemishes tiny and ultra faint. The lack of ring wear is a massive plus on such a dark matt gatefold cover.

Cover Inner Gatefold: Beautiful, practically as-made.

Top Edges: Both straight, flat and flush with hardly any trace of rubbing. The graphic flows over the folds and what may appear as any rubbing isn’t, the paler areas are simply the picture of the building.

Bottom Edges: Similar again, a trace more rubbing on these storage edges, but still only patchy and very little and light, few will ever have less than this.

Right Edge(s), and Type: The front has a real tucked and folded uncut edge that has practically nothing to fault. The back entrance edges are crisp and neat with minimal hint of thickening.

Spine and Text: Superb again, solid, straight with no compression and folded square, so the edges meet up very closely together and close to parallel. The text, surface and folds near perfect and unworn or faded.

Corners: Any tip rubs small and light with excellent or better shape retained with no knocks.

Cover Summary: A very strong all-round example of this elusive unforgiving 1970’s cover, one that will prove immensely difficult to find better. This very attractive item should please many, if not most collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: NEAR EXCELLENT: only for some mild creasing and natural crinkle. A black soft-lined inner with both window circles crisp and undamaged, the semi-transparent lining fresh and attached, all edges naturally intact. This has the correct double patent numbers on the bottom left.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: MINT(–): a superb visual copy that is very clean with lovely shine and solidly pressed. A copy appearing hardly played on evidence with surface traces minuscule, even under light. Not only that, this copy is very well pressed with no imperfections and plays great (that often not the case for records on this label). Visually a beautiful hardly used record that should please most 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 ‘lost’, somewhat obscure gem plays up to and even above it’s high visual grading with barely anything to fault. Offering strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear – sound quality is very high with a full dynamic range and detailed sound. A quiet clean pressing I consider exceptional with no tracking issues*, pressing faults or, inherent pressing noises or distortion. Few available copies will match, let alone outperform this probable one-off pressing I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has hardly been played and has been very well stored and carefully handled within a non-smoking environment. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this sadly neglected and poor-selling album – it really should have fared much better as the music quality is excellent throughout. A rare opportunity, this will prove very difficult to find better and merits my highest recommendation.

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

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 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 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 it’s 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 the item being offered with no digital enhancements. Room light factors can make things vary sometimes, that is hard to control, especially in winter. 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. 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 Quintet Black moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2.2 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 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 Nessie 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, better quality packaging costs, I offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible for ultimate confidence. The boxes and ultra thick double-wall stiffeners 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 minuscule in over 17­ 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. 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 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 withdrawals. 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 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’.