THE KINKS Face to Face RARE Orig UK 66 Pye Mono EX++ LP

	£		117
	$		155

ONEADAYRECORDS – Delivering Quality Music to the World.

Album Title: Face to Face.

Producer(s): Shel Talmy.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Party Line; Rosy Won’t You Please Come Home; Dandy; Too Much on My Mind; Session Man; Rainy Day in June; House in the Country.

Side 2: Holiday in Walkiki; Most Exclusive Residence for Sale; Fancy; Little Miss Queen of Darkness; You’re Lookin’ Fine; Sunny Afternoon; I’ll Remember.

Label/Format: Pye – intense dark pink-magenta and black format with a lovely textured finish. A deep rim ridge and then bevelled to the inner areas. (Please see my label scan).

Label Conditions: Both in superb conditions: ultra clean and super-attractive with only light, faint spindle marks and no wear around the hole area. These amazing labels look almost factory-fresh and will be close on reminding those of a certain age what labels looked like when first purchased. Kinks in mono are near impossible to find like this, all evidence suggest a record hardly even played. We all know these are usually found with a maze of ugly spindle marks and rim erosion, not even a trace of anything like this here. Both labels have incredible depth of colour and barely a handling blemish to be found, both sides look exceptional and attractive with no surface chips at all.

Cat Number: NPL 18149.

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 this Record: 145 grams. [These days, many modern Audiophile reissues are pressed on super-heavyweight 180 gram vinyl. Only a small percentage of ‘vintage vinyl’ was ever pressed this heavy. Records pressed in the 1960s averaged around 140 to 150 grams. Records pressed in the 1970s were usually lighter and averaged more around 115 – 125 grams. Some records pressed around 1973 were very thin and light due an oil crisis and shortage around this time. Some records were even issued on recycled vinyl from this period and sounded poor with crackle and surface noise evident from the very first play. If any record I buy is deemed ‘recycled’, I will never offer it, I have a very simple test to detect these records if I suspect this to be the case other than audible imperfection. Some records from this period were even pressed on other materials the most notable was ‘Dynaflex’, used by RCA around this time. Although inferior to vinyl, this at least mostly sounded reasonably acceptable but pressings on this material were wafer thin and flimsy. Beyond the 70s, records often became thinner and lighter still but most played fine but were never quite the quality as from the ‘Golden Era’]. (This was based on ‘average’ weights for 20 records from these eras. Later pressings were usually lighter still).

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Rare and in such conditions including a stunning cover and inner, very rare. Hard enough to find in a solid VG condition let alone the record in a high-grading EX++, and a cover even beter, that’s a near impossible feat to achieve these days. Classic party records, most are trashed and unplayable, this gorgeous classic set will prove incredibly difficult to match let alone find better.

Original Year of Release: 1966

Matrix Nos: NPL 18149 A1 H / NPL 18149 B2 H

Stamper Codes: 2 / 3

Musicians: Ray Davies - guitar, vocal; David Davies - guitar, vocal; Peter Quaife - bass guitar; Michael Avory - drums.

Brief Info: As good as the early Kinks albums are, this was the first that can justifiably be regarded as a ‘classic’. Brilliant pop music and their sound had now progressed beyond pure R’n’B. All fourteen of the sublime tracks on offer were written by Ray Davies with Dave co-writing ‘Party Line’. This man, especially in the 60s, wrote some of the most brilliant songs of this famous decade. Catchy songs with superb lyrics but their albums did sell in the numbers they should have done. The country was transfixed with Beatles and Stones mania and bands of equal worth, like The Kinks were left behind. Their albums even grew in stature after this title but sales declined further still which was totally mystifying even though the singles still sold well. This is a very elusive record, and very difficult to find in top conditions. Tired, dull looking vinyl with marks and bad sound are almost the norm for today, finding such a clean and barely played example is beyond difficult. This has hardly any marks at all and for any mono record this is light years above the average. The cover is stunning and will delight even the most critical collector as will the blue Pye inner. Kinks albums from the 60s are in such high demand these days even lesser copies are snapped up fast – and this beautiful copy hardly need hyping-up – my pictures should tell their own story. This is a beauty and even the connoisseur collector can consider. It will take something extraordinary to better it significantly and a very rare opportunity to own one of the genuine classics from a very famous year – just think, this record was issued when England won the football World Cup – yes the only clue to its incredible age.

This Cover’s Potential for Wear: Quite High.

Cover Grade and Format: A stunning Mint(-) anything less would be an insult – try to find another that even comes close to it, the (-) is barely even justified. A single format with front laminate that wraps around on to three large rear flipbacks. This was printed and made in England by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd and has the ‘Patents pending’ text.

Lamination & Front: First I will mention the blemishes: that won’t take long. The odd microscopic surface trace mark or ultra faint surface crease (but look very hard). That’s it! This cover front is stunning and looks almost factory-fresh. I rarely seen a cover of this vintage with fewer creases and such beautiful clear and unblemished laminate. Totally devoid of peeling, friction rubs or dulling and no lifting or blistering, the superbly colourful and fresh artwork can be seen to absolute maximum advantage. This front has barely aged one iota and has clearly been protected within a plastic cover from new – and boy does it show!! This is a cover for the connoisseur collector and will prove near impossible to find better.

Cover Back: If the front cover sets an almost impossibly high standard, well the back goes almost beyond it. This is close to as manufactured again with any ageing, marks or handling traces almost conspicuous by their absence. Barely a crease to be seen and beautifuly defined flipbacks with no grime-line formation or damage. Even these have laminate shine to match the front and are solidly adhered with practically pristine shape with no edge burring worthy of note. A microscopic trace on the bottom centre is almost being crazy critical. Just a mere traces of ultra faint set-off, again being ultra critical but the main back panel is still very white indeed with no toning or ageing marks. Crease-free and with no record impression or ringmarks and importantly is still very fresh and attractive. This is a cover that will remain in my mind for some time after it goes, only one in a thousand will ever get close to this and on a Kinks album, well it’s very difficult to achieve.

Top Edge: Unworn and dead smooth to the fingertip.

Bottom Edge: As above.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, sharp with no wear or feathering. Record entered on this right outside edge.

Spine and Text: The spine is also of equal quality: Solid and pretty straight with miniimal compression, the manufactured tapered ends have fine definition. All text is perfect and unworn under the solid, pristine and uncracked laminate – this remains smooth all the way along to the fingertips – in fact all close edges have no grazing at all.

Corners: All retain fantastic neat and pointed shape. A couple of tiny tip semi-creases if again being critical and odd minute tip rub, but try finding them better.

Cover Summary: An absolute beauty and one for the Kinks and classic record specialist. One that will prove close to impossible to find better. I doubt if cover, inner and record have seen light-of-day for decades. This beautiful item should please all collectors.

The Inner: In terms of ‘wear’ this grades Mint(-), but it has darkened a little over time, so will cautiously grade EX++. It’s the blue Pye promotional inner that is tracing paper lined. No edge splits or tears and no real creasing, only very mild ruffling. The fragile lining is perfect and again, few will better this significantly.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EX++ and even this does not do it full justice, Kinks albums are simply rarely found like this. A superb visual copy that is super clean, shiny, intense black and very solidly pressed. Like the cover, his has to be seen to be fully appreciated. With a high percentage of 60s Kinks albums in such terrible conditions, with deep penetrating scratches and dulled, finger-marked playing surfaces and grubby labels, this is a lovely find – chalk and cheese. With just a very few light surface hairline type marks with no sound, this is an incredible sight on a Pye mono record this great age. Clearly only lightly played and avoiding the perils of old mono stylii that wrecked so many classics like this. 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 snippetts or joining grooves to check for sound quality and quietness – I play from the beginning to end via clinically revealing B&W speakers that include the legendary tweeter from their awesome Nautilus range that reveals every blemish or miniscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This wonderful Kinks classic plays up to its high visual grading and most beyond with very little to fault. Strong, distortion-free sound, never, ever take this for granted on any mono record, all frequencies are sharp and clear - sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and very detailed, punchy sound. Any surface sounds are minimal indeed and no significant pops or clicks were noted and overall, this is an exceptional clean pressing. Few examples will outperform this early copy significantly I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played only lightly and has been beautifully stored and carefully handled, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record. This copy will prove very difficult to find significantly better and can be strongly recommended.

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 - on average ONEADAY, a couple more at weekends if time permits, hence the name - time rarely allows for more as I Play-Grade virtually every record I offer in their entirety, 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 its 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 taken with a digital camera or scanned - they are NOT improved, cleaned-up or made better looking than they are with camera trickery or enhancing with digital programmes. What you see is what you get and scanned labels will give a more accurate representation of the genuine colour than flash photography where light is variable. I cannot guarantee total accuracy for colours however but most will be very close. 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 - bid with confidence - excellence comes as standard and so does Near Mint regularly. 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 with Ittok Mk IV arm and Ortofon Samba Moving Coil cartridge (tracks at 1.8 grams). Amps: Naim Nait 5i with Project USB phono stage and Chord interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Moth vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too.

First-time, zero-rated bidders, who do not ask permission to bid, will be cancelled immediately and blocked – NO exceptions. For winning bidders who I consider excessively slow to make contact or submit payment, I will use my right to block future bids. If any bidder who wins in the final seconds is present to do so, surely they can at least email me to inform of intention and payment method? If swift or promp payment is a problem, please do not bid.

POSTING & PACKING: What You Get: I now offer the fastest possible posting, mostly the very next day after payment is received or within 48 hours maximum. All records are posted in professional boxes (NOT mailers) with the record(s) 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 TWO thick stiffners for even extra protection. The cover will be placed within a BRAND NEW heavy duty soft protective sleeve and the actual record will be professionally cleaned on my Moth Pro vacuum system to give ultimate clean grooves and playing surfaces and the best possible looks and ultimate sound quality. Printed address labels are used for clarity and well as sender label. 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. Customers requests or special needs for P&P will be respected if at all possible but NOT surface mail abroad. I never make profit on posting and offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible. I will invoice any winning bidder as soon as possible after the auction ends, with the total costs including ‘standard’ or ‘optional extra insurance’ P&P – ALL UK and Russian packets go out non-negotiable Recorded Delivery. My ‘loss’ or ‘damage rate’ is less than 0.1 per percent based on over 4,000+ items sold in over 7 years of Ebay trading and I consider that pretty exceptional.

PLEASE NOTE: I will now only send packets to Russia with Recorded Delivery at a cost of £7 per single LP. If this is unacceptable to Russian collectors, please do not bid. I only want my records to arrive safely and this gives packets a better chance to do so. Also ALL UK packets will be sent with either Recorded or Special Delivery as standard (both have to be signed for). All shipping costs and rules can be found after my description. If they are not acceptable, please do not bid.

NOTE: First Time Bidders: I will cancel ALL first-time bidders with no feedbacks or excessive negatives who do not ask me if its OK to bid first – NO EXCEPTIONS.

Please Note: I will now offer any item to the runner-up after the mandatory Ebay 3 days if no contact is made by the winning bidder unless prior notice of any delay is given beforehand. The same applies if no payment is received within the mandatory 7 days so any bidder who has just lost out can still email me to reserve the item as priority second chance – it’s always worth asking.

SHIPPING COSTS & OPTIONS:

Posting & Packing: UK & CHANNEL ISLANDS all now sent Recorded Delivery:

1 LP (First Class Recorded Delivery with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) [Signed For] = £4 (OPTIONAL).

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7 (OPTIONAL).

Posting & Packing: ALL EUROPE & SCANDINAVIA (NOT RUSSIA, see below) (Airmail Only):

1 LP (Small Packet Standard with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) = £5.

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with included Insurance to Item’s ‘Sold’ Value, £500* Maximum) = £9 (OPTIONAL).

Posting & Packing: RUSSIA (Recorded Only, if this is unacceptable, please do not bid):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ only £7) = £9 (OPTIONAL extra insurance as above).

Posting & Packing: ALL OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. USA (any part); Australia; Canada; Japan and other Far East; (Airmail Only: I NEVER use Surface Mail):

1 LP (Small Packet Standard with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) = £8.

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with included Insurance to Item’s ‘Sold’ Value, £500* Maximum) = £13 (OPTIONAL).

* If Rules allow for that country.

PLEASE NOTE: I always get a Royal Mail ‘Proof-of-Posting’ receipt for ALL packets that are sent out and I am happy to prove this to any customer who wishes to see it via email.

Payment Conditions:

I prefer PayPal or cheque from UK winning bidders. I can accept PayPal from overseas bidders.

The customer can choose their method of shipping with the exception of second class or surface mail overseas – these I will NOT use. The winner bidder chooses his/her posting method and if uninsured is chosen, its their decision and they have to stick with it, I can accept no responsibility if an item is lost in the post. I can only try to claim at standard levels if no enhancement is chosen (£39).

Potential Bidders: Please do not bid if you have negative feedback unless checking first, I will cancel any bids I feel are timewasters. 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 minus the Posting and All Ebay costs as long as the item detail has been read and understood. I will not refund if any defect detail is clearly stated on the advert and missed by the buyer. If any overseas collector does not understand anything in my listing, please email and ask me to help.

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 neccessarily 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’.