THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN – RARER ORIG UK 1968 NEAR MINT MONO LP – WOW

	£		50
	$		66

ONEADAYRECORDS – Simply Delivering Quality Music to the World in Quality, Safe Packing.

Postage: UK £4.95. Europe (including Russia) £12.95 (£1 per extra record). Rest of World £19.95 (£2 per extra record). All my records are sent in boxes and the price of them has increased over time and these are my first price increases for nearly 10 years. Royal Mail prices have also gone up again. I will never compromise on 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 CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN

Album Title: The Crazy World of Arthur Brown

Producer: Kit Lambert

Executive Producer: Pete Townshend

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Prelude–Nightmare; Fanfare–Fire Poem; Fire; Come and Buy; Confusion.

Side 2: I Put a Spell on You; Spontaneous Apple Creation; Rest Cure; Money; Child of My Kingdom.

Label/Format: Track – intense black with matt, quite smooth surfaces. This original has the mono logo as seen.

Label Conditions: Both in superb condition, very clean, fresh and attractive with only a tiny few light spindle traces – just one on side one. An amazing hardly played copy with sound quality to match, another from a collection purchased from new by one owner who put his records direct to tape and cover-protected the sleeve.

Catalogue Number: 612005

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.

Weight of Record: 141 grams.

Rarity: Scarce – and mono copies in particular are very difficult to find in top visual and playing condition. A very complex and full-on recording that was so easily ruined by heavyweight tracking and heavy usage. This one hardly played and offering stunning sound quality throughout – the cover is equally impressive as well as-seen.

Original Year of Release: 1968

Matrix Nos: 612005 A ? 1 1 1 1 1 4 / 612005 B ? 1 1 1 1 4

Musicians: Arthur Brown – vocals; Vincent Crane – keyboards; Sean Nicholas – bass guitar; Drachen Theaker – drums.

Album Information: A progressive-psych classic and featuring one of the UK’s wildest and most eccentric performers, this unique debut features the classic single Fire. For those around at the time, who could forget Brown’s performance on ‘Top of the Pops’ back in those mind-bending days of the late 1960s? On came this dervish man coated in face paint and bellowing ‘I AM THE GOD OF HELL FIRE, AND I BRING YOU, FIRE!’ while his famous headpiece blazed away – this guy was always ahead of his time, it must have caused mild panic in case he burned the studio down. He soon gained a cult following in the UK underground rock scene. This famous debut features Vince Crane, latterly of Atomic Rooster and note the executive producer, Pete Townshend of The Who. This copy on offer is a very early mono version and includes a superb record and cover. The sleeve being very hard to find even in respectable conditions, it being prone to heavy creasing and laminate problems with lifting and poor adhesion often rife. The silver and black back always wears badly unless kept very carefully, ring wear often cuts into this one. This one has little to fault and has survived the years brilliantly due to its cover protection. The record is equally difficult to find that plays superbly, the intense sound and vocals often the victim of old heavy-tracking and worn stylus from the era, resulting in crackle and distortion. The sound on this one is little short of immaculate and was a thrill to play-grade. Finding a better mono copy of this one-off classic will prove beyond difficult.

Cover Condition and Details: EXCELLENT(++): and arguably better still. A single format with a laminated front that wraps around all the folds and ends on to the back via the spine. The back matt and smooth. One of the classic psych covers, my photograph is not out of focus, it was intentionally made blurred for psychedelic effect. Printed and made in England by Polydor and includes the polylined 1968 date-coded inner sleeve.

Cover Front & Lamination: The laminate retains incredible deep shine, freshness and clarity with any traces of dulling minuscule, even under light. This has no lifting and minimal creasing at all, and that is unusual, the difference this makes is immense, I have rarely, if ever seen a better example of this classic psych cover.

Cover Back: Totally uncompromising with silver colour ink that is exposed with no laminate protection. This back is in near remarkable condition, the lack of rubbing and freshness is rarely ever seen, silver grey ink rarely remains so neatly intact and hardly worn. Any creasing or surface marks/blemishes very few and light and this uncompromising back more than complements the astonishing front. The totally lack of ring wear is great news especially.

Top Edge: The laminated fold is very smooth and unworn and remains mostly straight.

Bottom Edge: Similar to above.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, incredibly sharp sharp with any thickening minuscule. Record enters on this edge that is totally natural with the non-laminated strip on the right edge still widely present.

Spine and Text: Solid, mostly straight with possibly some compression towards the top. However, the ends are nipped in manufacture and this may just go lower than usual, which does happen sometimes, but that purely subjective. All the text is unworn and fully present as seen under solid and uncracked or peeled, smooth laminate.

Corners: Any tip rubbing minuscule with better than excellent shape retained with no knocks. Just a very fine small surface crease on the back bottom left.

Cover Summary: A very impressive example of a fragile and deceptively difficult sleeve. One I have seen a fair number of times, and most do not even come close to this. It tolerates rough handling and poor storage badly, and only the most lightly handled examples have any chance. As stated, this one cover protected and very attractive, it should please many, if not most collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT(++): with little to fault bar the very mild darkening of the white paper that politely reminds of age. The Philips polylined inner has no hard creases and minimal crinkle, the polylining still quite clear as seen through two pristine undamaged window circles. All edges all naturally intact. This has the 078 (July 1968) date-code and two British patent numbers (800513) / (973939).

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: NEAR MINT: I have not seen a mono copy of this in such outstanding condition for decades. A truly amazing visual copy that is ultra clean with fantastic shine and very solidly pressed. A copy appearing hardly played on all the evidence with any surface traces minuscule, even when viewed under bright light. A copy time has overlooked, this does come as close to reminding of as-made as it is almost possible to do. Visually an archive quality mono 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 full-on sound psychedelic classic plays up to it’s incredible 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 wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. Any surface sound traces barely even registered, and rarely can that be said for a 52-year-old mono record of this complexity. This an exceptional clean pressing with no tracking issues* or inherent pressing noises of flaws. Few available copies will match, let alone outperform this very early pressing I feel sure, truly, I can hardly imagine finding this mono record better. Both channels are clean and sharp when played on a standard stereo system. I am certain this record has hardly even been played and has been very well stored and carefully handled within a non-smoking environment. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record – so-much-so, I just had to put to CD for my own future enjoyment so I listen on my digital systems. The sound virtually pristine with all the warmth and detail the mono format offers, it will prove near impossible to find better and merits my highest possible 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 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.

Payment Conditions:

I prefer PayPal from­ 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.