THE IDLE RACE The Birthday Party 1968 UK LIBERTY 1st *STEREO* NEAR MINT
  £   130
  $   172

 


£ 130 Sold For
Aug 13, 2019 Sold Date
1 Number Of Bids
  Great Britain Country Of Seller
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Description

THE IDLE RACE The Birthday Party 1968 UK LIBERTY 1st *STEREO* NEAR MINT

THE IDLE RACE
The Birthday Party

UK LIBERTY (LBS 83132E) FIRST *STEREO* PRESSING (October 1968)
SUPERB ORIGINAL COPY WHICH LOOKS UNPLAYED

PRESSED WITH THE FIRST ISSUE MATT TEXTURED BLUE LIBERTY LABELS
MATRIX: LBS83132 A//1 / LBS83132 B//1
THE RECORD IS HOUSED IN THE ORIGINAL OUTER LAMINATED SINGLE FRONT LEAF GATEFOLD SLEEVE "Printed and made by MacNeill Press Ltd., London"
COMPLETE WITH THE ORIGINAL 1967 POLY-LINED INNER SLEEVE

The debut album by this unjustly overlooked band is a piece of pure classic British psychedelia.
Most British bands trying to achieve a psychedelic sound in those days simply played softly and sang in a very effete and poetic manner -- the Idle Race, by contrast, play hard here and don't sound effete so much as just cheerfully trippy, a lot like the Beatles of "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever"; indeed, "End of the Road" from this album sounds like a rewrite of "Penny Lane."
JEFF LYNNE is the dominant personality here, as composer, guitarist, and singer, and, as one might expect given his presence, the music all has a Beatles-like quality of playfulness amid the musical invention. The single "Skeleton and the Roundabout" may be a little over-produced, but it is beguilingly innocent in its zaniness, and the softer middle section anticipates the structure of Lynne's later work with THE ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA.
Much more indicative of his future direction are "Morning Sunshine," one of the prettiest songs to come out of the entire Birmingham music scene and displaying a languid guitar flourish that anticipates any number of ELO songs circa A New World Record, and "The Lady Who Said She Could Fly," an orchestrated Beatlesque jewel that sounds like a lost ELO track.
As demonstrated here, the Idle Race weren't quite as powerful a band as their rivals the Move -- who also loved to cover American soul and folk-rock and thus had a wider variety to their sound -- but this album is steeped in beautiful melodies and even prettier embellishments in the singing and playing, yet never loses sight of its rock & roll underpinnings.
Once in a while, as in "On with the Show," the sound effects are a little more prominent than one would like, and there's a certain music hall ambience to a few songs (such as "Lucky Man") that is somewhat distracting -- but those two numbers are followed by the joyous and pounding "Pie in the Sky," so it all balances out and, overall, this album is very solid and beautiful realised, as well as full of little surprises and signposts pointing toward Lynne's future

Side 1:
Skeleton And The Roundabout (2:20)
Happy Birthday (0:23)
The Birthday (2:58)
I Like My Toys (2:10)
Morning Sunshine (1:46)
Follow Me Follow (2:46)
Sitting In My Tree (1:52)
Side 2:
On With The Show (2:19)
Lucky Man (2:36)
Don't Put Your Boys In The Army, Mrs. Ward (2:12)
Pie In The Sky (2:25)
The Lady Who Said She Could Fly (2:19)
End Of The Road (2:05)

LABELS: MINT
An immaculate set of labels absent of any spindle traces or any sign the record has ever been played
VINYL Visual: NEAR MINT (MINT)
Both surfaces shine like new but Side Two has bag rash from sitting in the poly-lined inner untouched for the past 50 years but this has no effect on the sound
VINYL Audio: NEAR MINT
Plays like-new throughout with beautiful sound - crystal clear, warm, rich and detailed and my play-check at volume found practically nothing to fault - just an occasional one-off tick noted but I did not clean this copy so these will no doubt disappear after a clean/few spins (I prefer not to clean records unless absolutely necessary)
SLEEVE: EXCELLENT
Apart from a tiny tear on the top of the front leaf (very minor, please see close-up photos) the gatefold is crisp, clean and unmarked with sharp edges and spine where all text is clear and bold

POST & PACKING:
A PROTECTIVE POLY SLEEVE, NEW ANTI-STATIC LINERS, QUALITY BOX (NOT ENVELOPE) MAILER AND AMPLE STIFFENERS ARE ALWAYS USED TO ENSURE THAT YOUR RECORD ARRIVES SAFELY
UK: £5.00 (Recorded Delivery)
UK: £11.00 (Royal Mail Special Delivery Next Day by 1pm)
EUROPE: Airmail: £15.00 (International Signed For delivery)
INTERNATIONAL: Airmail: £18.00 (International Signed For delivery)

Combined Post: Additional records £1 (UK) £2 (Europe including Russia) £3 (International)
Guarantee: All records are unconditionally guaranteed (including sealed and/or unplayed) and I will offer a complete, no quibble refund upon return of the item should you not be pleased with it in any way I will email you when payment has been received to let you know when the item will be posted. Please leave feedback upon receipt of the item so that I know you have received it safely. Thanks  854 (GS 7.0.18 (854))


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