THE BEATLES A Hard Day’s Night SUPERB UK 1964 EX+ MONO LP, GREAT SOUND EJD COVER

	£		128
	$		170

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, 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: THE BEATLES

Album Title: A Hard Day’s Night

Producer(s): George Martin

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: A Hard Day’s Night; I Should Have Known Better; If I Fell; I’m Happy Just to Dance With You; And I Love Her; Tell Me Why; Can’t Buy Me Love.

Side 2: Any Time At All; I’ll Cry Instead; Things We Said Today; When I Get Home; You Can’t Do That; I’ll Be Back.

Label/Format: Parlophone with matt, gently textured surfaces. Side one has the rarer ‘M T’ embossed tax codes, both letters are unworn. These meet the criteria for a ‘first pressing’ with the ‘The Parlophone Co Ltd’ rim text (soon changed to ‘Gramophone’), also the ‘Record First Published 1964’ and ‘Sold in UK subject to resale price Conditions, see price lists’.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and attractive with less than moderate spindle marks and no wear around the hole area. Give the popularity of this album, these can be considered quite light overall and this record plays superbly with beautiful clean surfaces and sound.

Catalogue Number: PMC 1230 (in large bold type on the labels as-seen)

Mode / Speed: Mono / 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.

Lateral Movement (Side-to-Side): Barely a trace.

Weight of this Record: 159 grams.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Few Beatles standard issues are ‘rare’, but original mono copies are hard to find in really top, lesser played condition. Condition is the paramount factor with high percentages of albums played many, many times, often on the most basic of record players and worn out – mono copies usually the most wrecked. Lighter played early albums are much harder to find with clean, little worn covers and this is such a copy. One purchased new by one owner, played with due care and preserved to a very high standard.

Original Year of Release: 1964

Matrix Nos: XEX 481-3N / XEX 482-3N

Mothers / Stampers: 4 GMP / 5 RDP

Brief Info: The Fab Fours third album and like those that went before (and after) it sold in vast numbers. It was their first soundtrack – the songs on side one feature on the film of the same name. Side two are all songs not from the film. Most will know the album well enough, this is a really lovely example. The fragile cover, which is very prone to chipping and general wear, is really lovely with only scant clues of its considerable age, the record very clean and sounds fantastic. My play-grade was a genuine joy with little to fault at all. A wonderful opportunity for fans and collectors. It came from the owner as the other Beatles albums I am currently offering.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(+): and arguably better for this, the more flimsy, rarer Ernest J. Day-made cover with its much thinner and unique style flipbacks which vary to the more regular Garrod & Lofthouse version. They are wider, thinner with angle-cut right corner ends. The front is laminated, this covers all the folds, the back is matt and smooth with three flipbacks. Printed and made in England. The tracing paper lined ‘Use EMITEX’ text inner sleeve is included.

Lamination & Front: The laminate retains excellent shine, freshness and clarity with none of the usual chipping of the edge many seen to acquire. The lack of lifting or heavy big creases is always a plus, but as most, it does have a number of finer edge surface laminate creases, these mostly on the bottom one. Three or four mild half moon types away from the sides that register little viewed normally full-on. All the graphics are impressive with very deep unfaded colour retained and no grubbiness. So the fine creases apart, this front has aged little and still remains attractive as-seen.

Cover Back: The back is superb, and I could grade this Mint(–) on its own. These Ernest J. Day-made versions are less robust and prone to wear, but when seen like this, they are a work-of-art, the back being different with its very wide, thinner unique shaped flipbacks – all three on this cover are fantastic with barely anything to fault bar a mere trace of discolouration on the corner ends. They are solid and clean with crisp neat ends that lack the usual grubbiness and burring most have. The main back panel is still fresh and clean with minimal traces of any discolouration or grubbiness, the surface without rubbing or creasing, writing or sticker issues. Rarer than the G&L version, this will be hard to find much better.

Top Edge: The white surface hardly worn at all and still straight and smooth, one tiny rub trace only.

Bottom Edge: Just two very small surface chips only – one is minute – this is where the damage really occurs on this cover, so to see this storage edge in such excellent condition is unusual. Again straight and smooth, the long-term protection of this cover was certainly kept the vulnerable areas in great shape.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Mostly sharp with any thickening traces tiny and light as seen viewed end-on. Record enters on this edge.

Spine and Text: Mostly very solid, straight with negligible compression, the ‘Day’ covers had a thinner spine. A tiny crack at the very bottom only, that apart very impressive indeed as-seen. All text is perfect and unworn under the solid and unpeeled laminate. Centred a little high, but never easy to be less than this on the narrower depth.

Corners: Any tip rubs or creases tiny and light, excellent shape generally retained with no heavy knocks. The very tips on the ‘Day’ version just slightly less refined than the G&L version.

Cover Summary: A very strong all-round example of this more fragile version 1960’s cover, one that will prove very difficult to find much better. This beautiful item should please many collectors, but with the fine creasing, not for perfectionists.

The Inner Sleeve: NEAR EXCELLENT: the fragile tracing paper lined inner has gently aged with mild darkening of the paper and one crease to a bottom corner (these often deliberate to stop the record sliding out). Two very crisp unworn window circles and the semi-transparent lining immaculate. All edges intact and given the age and heavy record inside, this has fared pretty well. It includes the ‘USE ‘EMITEX’ text.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(+): grading less would hardly be doing this vintage popular mono record justice. A very fine visual copy that is very clean with equally fine shine and heavily pressed. A copy with only modest usage on all the evidence with any surface marks very light, mostly wispy and faint as seen critically under bright light. No penetrating stylus scratches, viewed in average room light, hardly 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 classic Beatles third 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 a very clean pressing with no tracking issues* or inherent pressing noises. Few available ones will outperform this early ‘first’ pressing format copy I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp when played on a standard stereo system. I am certain this record has been played modestly with due care and has been generally well stored and carefully handled, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. With most copies played to destruction and barely listenable, this puts a lovely copy like this in context. Nothing of any note spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this lovely 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.