TYRANNOSAURUS REX A Beard of Stars / Unicorn TOOFA 1972 EX+ UK LPs, GREAT SOUND.

	£		17
	$		23

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: TYRANNOSAURUS REX

Album Title: A Beard of Stars / Unicorn

Producer(s): Tony Visconti

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Prelude; A Day Laye; The Woodland Bop; Fist Heart Mighty Dawn Dart; Pavilions of Sun; Organ Blues; By The Light of the Magical Moon; Wind Cheetah.

Side 2: A Beard of Stars; Great Horse; Dragon’s Ear; Lofty Skies; Dove; Elemental Child.

Side 3: Chariots of Silk; ’Pon a Hill; The Seal of Seasons; The Throat of Winter; Catblack (The Wizzard’s Hat); Stones For Avalon; She Was Born to Be My Unicorn; Like a White Star, Tangled and Far, Tulip That’s What You Are.

Side 4: Warlord of the Royal Crocodiles; Evenings of Damask; The Sea Beasts; Iscariot; Nijinsky Hind; The Pilgrim’ s Tale; The Misty Coast of Albany; Romany Soup.

Label/Format: Cube with matt, gently textured surfaces.

Label Conditions: All very clean, fresh and attractive with any of spindle marks very few and faint with and no wear around the hole areas.

Catalogue Number: TOOFA 9

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps or Lateral Movement: Assume all records I offer have no significant warping or lateral movement to cause sound or tracking issues. All should play fine even on budget turntables.

Weight of Records: 113 / 112 grams.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Moderately scarce.

Original Year of Release: the original albums were issued in 1969 and 1970. This double reissue set was issued in 1972.

Matrix Nos: TOOFA 9/1 A-1 MB (& Tone!) / TOOFA 9/1 B-1 MB / TOOFA 9/2 C-2 MB / TOOFA 9/2 B-1 MB D (the B-1 on side four corrected)

Run-Out Groove Etchings: ‘DAMONT’ [on all four sides]

Musicians: Marc Bolan – Guitar, Lead Vocals, Organ, Bass, Lip Organ, Fonofiddle, Harmonium; Mickey Finn – Backing Vocals, Moroccan Clay Drums, Tabla, Bass, Finger Cymbals; Steve Peregrin Took – Bongos, Vocals, African Talking Drums, Bass Guitar, Piano, Percussion, Drums, Gong; John Peel – voice for the story ‘The Misty Coast of Albany’.

Brief Info: The final two Tyrannosaurus Rex albums repacked into a double album set in 1972 in the Toofa series. Not an uncommon practice by some labels for albums that did not sell that well first time around. And in this case, as the glam-rock band T. Rex were now at the peak of their popularity, it made sense to promote the early band’s works. This a superb hardly played example, owned from new by one person and cover-protected, originals will seldom be found like this.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(+): arguably better. An unlaminated gatefold format with matt, smooth surfaces. Printed and made in England by Howards Printers, includes two plain white inner sleeves.

Cover Front: A couple of mild spine edge creases apart, this front (that duplicates the original sleeve) has little else to fault. Clean, fresh and attractive with minimal traces of rubbing and no sticker issues.

Cover Back: All as above, and probably even better if anything. The lack of ring wear on these is always great news.

Cover Inner Gatefold: Both almost as made.

Top Edges: Straight, flat and flush with barely any wear at all.

Bottom Edges: Straight, flat and flush with any rub traces very small, few and faint.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Both edges open for storate, the front still very sharp with barely any thickening. The slightly proud back has lightly thickened on the inside edge seen viewed end-on.

Spine and Text: Solid, straight with barely any compression and folded square, so the edges meet up very closely together and parallel. The text is unworn, the surface generally clean with only the merest hint of toning here-and-there.

Corners: Any tip rubs tiny and light, with excellent shape mostly retained with no knocks.

Cover Summary: A very strong all-round example of this wear-prone 1970’s cover, one that will prove very difficult to find much better. This attractive item should please many collectors.

The Inner Sleeves: EXCELLENT(+): both very neat indeed and aged little. These unlined inners have minimal creasing and all edges naturally intact. A matching pair with the ‘PATENT NO. 1,125,555,’ text.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(+): a very fine visual pair that are very clean with equally fine shine and quite solidly pressed. Both appears little used on all the evidence with any surface marks fvery ligh, fine and faint as seen critically under bright light. No penetrating stylus scratches, viewed in average room light, hardly anything even registers. Visually super records 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 doubleset 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. The music largely acoustic, so the odd mild contact sound is incredibly hard to avoid totally. Few available copies will outperform this early repressing I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain these records have been played very lightly and has been generally well stored and carefully handled within a non-smoking environment. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading both these vintage classic early T. Rex albums. This set 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.

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.