THE ROLLING STONES - No. 2 - With RARE PASTE-ON BACK to CENSOR 'BLIND MAN' TEXT.

	£		97
	$		129

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ALSO: I now apply the Ebay ‘2-day’ rule for non-payment to keep things moving – cash-flow is important for any small business. I will always keep my P&P prices as low as possible, and even after yet another Royal Mail price hike from April this year, I have NOT raised my prices and will never compromise on solid, safe packing that is invariably heavier than most you will get. My P&P offers probably the best value-for-money for vinyl records available, and I even will pay for full 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. You WILL see the difference when my packet arrives.

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. I do not like this practice as it is most often used to phish out the price to beat. Ebay does not approve and neither do I – so only bid on my items if you want them.

Artist or Band: THE ROLLING STONES

Album Title: The Rolling Stones No. 2

Producer(s): Andrew Loog Oldham.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Everybody Needs Somebody to Love; Down Home Girl; You Can’t Catch Me; Time is On My Side; What a Shame; Grown up Wrong.

Side 2: Down the Road Apiece; Under the Boardwalk; I Can’t be Satisfied; Pain in my Heart; Off the Hook; Suzie-Q.

Label/Format: Decca – original format unboxed red format with matt, smooth surfaces and the deep ring ridge.

Label Conditions: Side two, as seen, is very clean, fresh and highly attractive. Spindle marks are light and mostly fine and faint, this label is age-defying and impressive. Side one would have been generally similar – a few more spindle marks apart – but this had a sticker placed at the 12 o’clock position. Over time, this has come off leaving a dull residue mark with tiny backing paper traces, confirmed under a strong magnifying glass. I am fairly sure sure there is no actual damage to the label itself, but the residue mark clearly shows, so not for the visual purist. However, this is the considerably rarer copy that includes the elusive paste-over back cover panel to censor the infamous ‘Blind Man’ text. And the record plays with lovely clean, little blemished sound – that is some achievement for a very popular mono record. When quite gentle visuals have no bearing or affect on sound, I have no issues offering, especially on more elusive and scarce pieces.

Cat Number: LK 4661.

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: 140 grams. A typical solid Decca record.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity & Info: Moderate in theory, most all Rolling Stones albums sold well but it’s the conditions that make the difference, especially sound, and this vintage Stones classic plays great. But this copy is a little more ‘special’: when first printed, the cover included the infamous ‘Blind Man’s’ text, which quite rightly was deemed offensive. The text refers to stealing a blind man’s wallet after a blow and kick. So in haste, as a quick ‘fix’, the remaining ‘Blind Man’ covers were pasted over by hand to cover up the offensive text. When these ran out, the cover was totally reprinted with new text that omitted the ‘Blind Man’ reference. In a similar way to The Beatles’ ‘Yesterday and Today’ ‘Butcher’ cover in the United States, these cover-up covers are quite scarce and now greatly sort-after. So all original No. 2 albums were sent to the shops with the offensive text, meaning most early copies seen will include it – and most do, let’s be honest. Far, far less of these improvised censored ones show up. The entire back panel is covered up with a large paste-on sheet, they even go over the laminate end on the spine edge, and rarely would they ever be ‘perfect’. I would be as certain as I ever could be, factory workers would have quickly hand-pasted these on to keep sales moving and to stop wastage of the original cover. When used, they simply printed the new version. So in terms of collectability, this is quite a historic piece of Rolling Stones history, and elusive as well. Apart from simply observing there has been a new panel pasted on which is more than obvious, you can also seen beneath some white areas, the original text that lies beneath. I have tried my best to show this in my close-up picture, but this is far from easy. When seen for real, the extra text below the ‘Andrew Loog Oldham’ credit is easily seen – the new replacement text having fewer words and taking up less vertical space. Like the side one label, the cover has quite a small sticker mark on the front, but is still impressive and attractive for such old, delicate piece. So again, not for the visual purist, but this set has far more positives than negatives and will not be seen ‘perfect’ in this ‘altered state’ often. I have no idea how many cover-up censored versions of this were put out for sale, but with a small ratio seen compared to the standard regular version, I would think a relatively modest number.

Original Year of Release: 1965.

Matrix Nos: XARL 6619-2A / XARL 6620-1A

Stamper Codes: 3B CB / 1 UB

Brief Info: The second Rolling Stones UK long player, as the title cleverly suggests. Following on in the same style as the debut, with all bar three songs cover versions of RnB classics. No surprise this sold well after the very strong sales of the first album. Finding clean early examples that still offer near top sound quality is increasingly difficult, especially if played on modern higher-end stereo systems. This copy does exactly that – a few visual blemishes yes – but with the considerably rarer paste-over cover and impressive sound, these are real factors for me. Many fans will enjoy owning this, the cover I feel undervalued and far more elusive than the standard viewable ‘Blind Man’ version.

Cover Grade and Format: NEAR EXCELLENT: as it does have small sticker pull mark on the front near the top left corner area. A single format with a Clarifoil laminated front that wraps around the closed edges and ends on the back via the spine. The back has the hand-pasted cover-up of the entire back, notably done to hide the offensive ‘Blind Man’ text. The original surface can be seen beneath the new paste-on panel in places. Printed and made in England by James Upton, but this imprint now gone on new panel version. Includes the vintage Decca polylined inner sleeve.

Lamination & Front: The front is unaltered, only the back. As stated, there is a small sticker pull mark near the top left corner, but this has NOT affected any crucial artwork area (e.g. Jagger’s head) where it lies just to the left of. The Clarifoil laminate retains excellent shine, freshness and clarity with minimal traces of any dulling and only gentle rim impression from the heavy, thick Decca record. There is a moderate lift on the spine towards the top, this, and similar very thin card Decca covers seldom escape totally from this. It not really being ‘wear’, but a simple trait of Clarifoil that naturally tightens over time. The area is solid and uncracked anyway. There are several laminate creases, again with modest visibility – a couple of moderate edge ones and around half-a-dozen half moons near the right. But overall, this is still a very nice looking front, the band picture looks superb and this has barely aged at all with deep colour retained. Clearly not perfect, but few ever will be these days, and even with the small sticker mark, I regard this still somewhat above average.

Cover Back: I have clearly stated what this back is all about further up. Hastily, a new entire back panel was hand-pasted on to cover up the ‘Blind Man’ text. The shadow of the original back is seen beneath the new sheet. Overall, this ‘new’ back is in very fine condition. A little adhesive browning near the top right corner and near the bottom edge – being stuck on by hand, some glue smearing was pretty much the norm, and over time, this will brown, just like it does on the inner sleeve seams. But this has very little really. A small ‘bubble’ near the top edge, how many of these will ever be totally flat and ‘perfect’? Unlike hanging wallpaper, where bubbles are brushed out, this would unlikely to have happened on these, so the odd small blemish of this type is likely to be common. Overall clean, fresh and attractive, any marks. grubbiness or ageing little and light. A very fine example of this rarer cover-up back.

Top & Bottom Edges: Straight and hardly worn, the bottom card end a little thickened, being the storage edge for all these years, that can no real surprise.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, fairly sharp with a little thickening but no feathering, and certainly not trimmed or enhanced. The record enters here.

Spine and Text: The spine has little real wear but does have some compression towards the top. Again, being so thin, few will avoid it. Still solid and unusually straight – in fact, this cover has avoided the bowing many acquire over time – all text is unworn under clear, unpeeled laminate.

Corners: All in great shape and devoid of any noteworthy wear and all retain excellent neat shape and pointed definition with no knocks.

Cover Summary: A rare cover variant, and I really do consider it an important piece of Rolling Stones history. It also likely to be the first UK cover to be treated as such to cover anything deemed ‘offensive’. Some relatively light visual issues, so not for the purists who only want perfection at any cost. But this scarce ‘censored’ version cover will please many collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: NEAR EXCELLENT: a British Patented polylined inner with ‘Foreign patents pending’ text. Some neat corner creasing, many owners did this deliberately to stop the record sliding out. Some natural crinkle on the back. Both window circles are immaculate and the lining very clear and fresh. No edge splits or repairs, any discolouration only quite light.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(–): with surface marks, most being fine, light and faint as seen under bright angled light. However, no penetrating stylus scratches, and the visual blemishes being pretty much all superficial and non-sounding. A record more often seen played to destruction with swathes of spindle marks, badly scratched playing surfaces and aged dulled vinyl This is a very fine visual copy that is clean with still impressive shine and very solidly pressed. The main criteria is clean enjoyable sound with little unwanted, even being played on revealing stereo equipment as listed further down. Like the cover, not for the visual purist, but his vintage record still delivers overall fine looks and excellent (or better) sound. So many Stones fans will enjoy this early example.

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 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 impressive record plays above its splendid visual grading with very little to fault. Strong, distortion-free sound with very little, if any audio degrading of any real note. Sound quality is high with a full dynamic range and detailed sound. Although hardly a hi-fi masterpiece, this has a lovely raw production that was just perfect for it’s vintage. The odd sporadic tick and crackle trace is nigh-on impossible to avoid totally, but this has little and has no tracking issues*. As usual, a lovely clean Decca pressing with no pressing noises. Although there are fine surface marks, no piledriver thick, heavy mono stylus have ruined this one. Both channels are clean and sharp (often mono records have one clean channel and one noisy, not here), I am certain this record has been played quite modestly and has been reasonably well stored. Over such a long period of time, blemishes or minor marks happen, that is a pure vinyl fact-of-life (unless never handled or played). And most fans of this supergroup, bought their albums to play – and often hard. A party piece, often loaned out, heavily used and often abused – this shows little of that and nothing of any note spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record. It could prove difficult to find significantly better and can be highly recommended to many, especially as it has the rarer cover variant.

* As played-graded on a high-end Linn LP12 Sondek turntable with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Blue moving coil cartridge tracking at 2.2 grams.

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 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. 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 - 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/Hercules/Cirkus with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Blue moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2.2 grams). Amps: Naim Supernait 2 with Project USB phono stage and Tellerium Black interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired with Tellurium Black terminated cable). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional VPI-17 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 VPI-17 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 14 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 – they offer next-to-no-protection, and should be banned, no ‘professional’ should consider using them in my opinion. 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’.