The Best of MUDDY WATERS his first LP 1957 CHESS classic BLUES orig 1st pressing

$

177

Muddy Waters - The Best of Muddy Waters (Chess CH-1427), 1957.   MONO
The first album by Muddy Waters, released in 1957 by Chess Records.  
A fine copy, better than 90% of the copies out there in collector land.  The cover grades at VG due to a 4" seam split at upper right and a 2-1/4" seam split at bottom center.  Otherwise, this would be a strong VG+ cover.
The record is clean, grading at VG+.  There are small needle scrapes but nothing that affects play.  However, there is a single skip that occurs early in the second verse of "I Just Want to Make Love to You".  I have tried and tried to find the source of the skip but there are no marks, scratches, scrapes or bubbles at the spot where the record skips and have found nothing -- certainly nothing discernible to the naked eye or to the touch.  This leads me to believe that there is a pressing error of some sort at this spot.    But it's the only trouble spot on the entire record.  Otherwise, this plays through at a strong VG+ on both sides.
This is the first pressing with the songs on the Side One label numbered from 1 through 6 and the songs on Side Two numbered 7 through 12.
Condition:  Record is VG+; cover is VG.
All records are visually graded unless stated otherwise.   Extremely conservative (and ACCURATE) grading.  
****    SEE GRADING GUIDELINES BELOW     ****
Packaged in professional heavy cardboard mailers.  Records are removed from covers for shipping; cardboard inserts are provided for extra protection.
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GRADING GUIDELINES:
Mint (M)   Absolutely perfect in every way.  Appears to have never been played, possibly even still sealed.
Near Mint (NM or M-)   A nearly perfect record showing no obvious signs of wear. A 45 RPM or EP sleeve should have no more than the most minor defects, such as almost invisible ring wear or other signs of slight handling. 
An LP cover should have no creases, folds, seam splits or other noticeable similar defects.  Basically, an LP in near mint condition looks as if you just got it home from a new record store and removed the shrink wrap. 
Very Good Plus (VG+)   A Very Good Plus record will show some signs that it was played and otherwise handled by a previous owner who took good care of it.  Record surfaces may show some signs of wear and may have slight scuffs or very light scratches that don't affect one's listening experiences. Slight warps that do not affect the sound are "OK". 
The label may have some ring wear or discoloration, but it should be barely noticeable. The center hole will not have been misshapen by repeated play. 
Picture sleeves and LP inner sleeves will have some slight wear, lightly turned up corners, or a minor, slight seam split. An LP cover may have slight signs of wear also and may be marred by a cut-out hole, saw-cut, cut corner, grommet hole or another sign indicating that this may have been a remaindered album.
Very Good (VG)   On the disc, groove wear will start to be noticeable, as with light scratches (deep enough to feel with a fingernail) that will affect the sound. 
Labels may be marred by writing, or have tape or stickers (or their residue) attached. The same will be true of picture sleeves or LP covers. However, it will not have all of these problems at the same time, only two or three of them.  Records with an abundance of these defects are considered Very Good Minus (VG-).
Good (G)   A record in Good condition can be put onto a turntable and will play through without skipping. But it will have significant surface noise and scratches and visible groove wear (on a styrene record, the groove will be starting to turn white). 
A cover or sleeve may have major seam splits, tape, writing, fading, stains, major ring wear, foxing, storage grime or other such defects. 
Poor (P)   The record may be badly warped or scratched to the point that it won't play through without skipping or repeating. The picture sleeve is water damaged, split on all three seams and heavily marred by wear and writing. The LP cover has severe wear and damage to its integrity.