FELT - INDEX / BREAK IT 7'' 1979 SHANGHAI RECORDS - ULTRA-RARE 'POEM' SLEEVE

	£		298
	$		356

FELT - INDEX / BREAK IT 7'' 1979 SHANGHAI RECORDS - ULTRA-RARE POEM SLEEVE 

LEGENDARY AND ICONIC D.I.Y DEBUT SINGLE FROM LAWRENCE OF FELT WHICH RARELY COMES UP FOR SALE. THE ITEM HERE IS THE ULTRA-RARE POEM SLEEVE, OF WHICH ONLY 100 COPIES WERE MADE. THE VINYL IS IN NEAR-MINT CONDITION WITH ONLY A VIRTUALLY UNDETECTABLE 1 CM FAINT HAIRLINE SCRATCH ON SIDE B WHICH DOES NOT AFFECT PLAY. THE SLEEVE IS IN FANTASTIC SHAPE FOR ITS 35 YEARS OF AGE. HOME-MADE USING THIN PAPER, TINY STAPLES AND PHOTOCOPIED TEXT AND IMAGES BY LAWRENCE. SLEEVE IS FULLY INTACT WITH ORIGINAL TINY STAPLES. SOME SIGNS OF NATURAL AGEING: SLIGHT YELLOWING DISCOLORATION OF THIN PAPER, SOME MINOR CREASES, AND FAINT STICKER PEEL MARK FRONT TOP LEFT.

The embryonic Felt's first release featured Lawrence on his own, playing guitar and singing in his bedroom. According to the man himself he used two five-watt practice amps, one electric guitar and a £7 mic from Tandys, and taped the tracks on a £16 tape recorder, which was then transferred onto mater tape at the pressing plant. 'Shanghai' was his own label and "Index" was restricted to just 500 copies. Even more elusive are the first 100 or so, which featured written notes from Lawrence on the cover, he wasn't happy about the text so it was blanked out on later sleeves.

LAWRENCE: "I didn't know how to make a record and I found an advert for a company called SRT in the back of 'Melody Maker, offering mastering, pressing and labels. They did it all in one. The Cover was printed at a high street Xerox shop. I folded and stapled them myself. The label on the bootleg is completely black while the label on the original was black and yellow with writing. There was no text on the bootleg at all. When I first had it pressed, me and Nick Gilbert had befriended Scritti Politti. The drummer took it into Rough Trade who immediately took, I think, 100 copies. And that was probably all it sold for a year. It got a couple of reviews. Then, when we formed the band in 1980, I sent it out again as a new release and it got 'Single Of The Week' in Sounds'." Nick Gilbert, Lawrence's childhood friend and bassist with Felt for their first two albums further recalls in the liner notes to Absolute Classic Masterpieces: "Lawrence made the first single, Index. I thought it was a joke at the time, but it was a really big thing with him. He just got on and did it. There were some early copies and they had some kind of really pretentious blurb. He changed his mind about it and had it all blanked out. I'd got a copy of this and a couple of years on he begged me and bribed me to sell him this copy so that he had all of them and could destroy them." (Record Collector magazine, 1992)

Tracklist:

THE ITEM WILL BE SENT CAREFULLY PACKAGED IN A NEW CARD MAILER WITH STIFFENERS.

PLEASE EMAIL ME WITH ANY QUESTIONS.

STANDARD DELIVERY OR SIGNED-FOR ON REQUEST. FREE POST & PACKING WITHIN UK ONLY.

INTERNATIONAL: SMALL PACKET AIR MAIL RATES. PLEASE ASK FOR INSURANCE OR SIGNED-FOR SERVICES BEFORE PAYMENT.

I CANNOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY ITEM LOST IN THE POST. I ALWAYS OBTAIN PROOF OF POSTING.

VINYL ALWAYS PACKAGED OUTSIDE SLEEVE (UNLESS RECORD IS SEALED) TO AVOID SEAM SPLIT.

PAYPAL PREFERRED, WILL ACCEPT PERSONAL CHEQUE, POSTAL ORDER OR BANKER’S DRAFT.

PLEASE ONLY BID ON THIS ITEM IF YOU INTEND TO PAY PROMPTLY.

ITEM WILL SHIP WITHIN THREE BUSINESS DAYS (USUALLY SAME OR NEXT DAY)AFTER RECEIPT OF PAYMENT.

BIDS NOT ACCEPTED FROM BUYERS WITH NO FEEDBACK OR HIDDEN FEEDBACK PROFILE.

RETURNS ACCEPTED – SEE CONDITIONS.

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