BLODWYN PIG Ahead Rings Out - A MAJOR ISLAND RARITY with MAJOR MISPRINTED COVER.

	£		33
	$		44

ONEADAYRECORDS – Simply Delivering Quality Music to the World in Quality, Safe Packing.

Postage: UK £4.75 (£1 per extra record). Europe (including Russia) £12.50 (£2 per extra record). Rest of World (including ALL parts of the USA) £16.50 (£3 per extra record). All boxes signed for in quality, safe packaging – I NEVER use mailing envelopes that offer virtually no protection at all – in fact I think these things should be banned as records WILL arrive damaged in them at some time. Here, you get what you pay for – SAFE PACKING in BOXES using 7mm DOUBLE-WALL STIFFENERS. Full details nearer the end of the listing.

Posting to Russia: Yes, I do post to Russia. But delivery can take up to 4 to 6 weeks 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. 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: BLODWYN PIG

Album Title: Ahead Rings Out

Producer(s): Andy Johns

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: It’s Only Love; Dear Jill; Sing Me a Song That I Know; The Modern Alchemist.

Side 2: Up and Coming; Leave it With Me; Change Song; Ain’t Ya Coming Home.

Label/Format: Island – this is the second issue format and probably the rarest. Few records were pressed on this only briefly available ‘black block’ pink version that was quickly changed to the more familiar pink ‘i’ third issue type. This a contract Pye pressing with matt textured surfaces and heavily pressed.

Label Conditions: Two impressive examples that are clean, very fresh and highly attractive with only a small few light, fine and faint spindle marks.

Cat Number: ILPS 9101

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 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: 165 grams. a very heavy disc and typical of this early pressing.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity and Special Note: The album itself is scarce, the black block Island format is arguably the hardest to find. But this example goes beyond rare and possibly even unique. As seen in my pictures, the cover is pretty weird, even bizarre. A standard cover for this album has the pig’s head and text on the front, the tail on the back – that is easy enough to explain. As seen, this one has the pig’s head on both the front and back and printed in very different colours. The tail is also printed front and back on top of the pig’s head, the back head upside down. The text colour is different being grey instead of green, and the shadow type on the back should not even be there. So one of the strangest Island covers you will ever see. So what has happened?

Well, this is not a variant cover in the true sense of the term, and being having been in the print trade for best part of 40 years I know what has happened – but possibly not so easy to explain – let’s have a go.

Back in the day, many record covers were printed by feeding the card into the printing press four separate times, so the four different colour plates (magenta, cyan, yellow and black) printed their image on top of each other to give the full colour range. The card normally was fed into the machine using the same edge into the grippers and simply printed on top of each other. Some print jobs used other methods called ‘Work & Turn’ or ‘Work & Tumble’, where the card or paper was flipped or turned into the press. What appears to have happened on this cover is the card has been flipped over, or turned when it should not have been. Thus two pigs heads, in the wrong colours and one upside down, and the same for tail that has been printed over the head. The text also appearing incorrectly on both sides, also in the wrong colour. Any major printing error like this would, in most cases have been spotted and binned. But somehow this has gone right through the manufacturing process and made into the finished cover. Now whether this ever got into the shops for sale, or remains a bizarre one-off that got out of the factory, I do not know. I have never seen another, I have asked around with no-one claiming to have seen it, also looked on line with no other seen (thus far) either. So am erring on the side of it being a likely one-off that escaped the factory – that merely an opinion, and far from definitive. What is for certain, this is a very rare cover and a great curio for Island collectors, especially with the potential for being a one-off. It is amongst the most wear-prone in the Island catalogue, this has some wear, mostly on the spine edge, with the main surfaces faring quite well. The inside gatefold appears to be normal, this being printed on a separate sheet of card and stuck to the outer cover sheet. The record itself has only light surface marks, massively pressed and plays beautifully. So for collectors who wants a vintage album in a form that (possibly) no-one else has – look no further – it’s here.

Original Year of Release: 1969, this copy pressed within that year.

Matrix Nos: ILPS+9001+A / ILPS+9001+B2 (large Roman block letters, deeply punched)

Brief Artist & Album Info: Formed by Mick Abrahams after departing Jethro Tull after just the one album. That early This Was Jethro Tull sound is still there and this is a brilliant debut album – and I use the word ‘brilliant’ in it’s true context. Blodwyn Pig used more brass for a richer sound than Tull ever did – it works perfectly and this album really is terrific. A 1969 black block ‘pink’ copy, massively pressed with impressive clean sound. The wonderfully bizarre misprinted cover quite impressive, most wear on the spine, it is always a difficult one as most collectors will know. This example probably the most bizarre, and rarest that will ever be offered.

Cover Grade and Format: VERY GOOD: mainly due to spine rubbing. An unlaminated gatefold format with matt, smooth surfaces. Printed and made by Ernest J. Day & Co, includes the white inner sleeve.

Cover Front: This looks plain wierd, the back even more so – this is one of the most bizarre and unusual misprints I have ever seen on any album cover. Still massively wear-prone but the front surface has fared pretty well. Some patchy mildish rubbing a spot (or ink splash, possibly in manufacture) near the pig’s right ear top. Any marks fine and faint and hardly any creasing. Corner wear evident, but few will avoid this.

Cover Back: The pig’s head should not even be on this side, let alone upside down. In terms of wear, this side has little with most of any present on the corners and spine edge. Look at this again and again, you may never see another.

Cover Inner Gatefold: Little to fault inside bar traces of gentle set-off on the white on the right side where it rests upon darker ink opposite when closed – here as light as it gets and rarely avoided. The inside appears normally printed, the card independent of the outside until stuck together.

Top Edges: Straight and flat with fairly light patchy rubbing, more moderate near the ends.

Bottom Edges: Less rubbed than above, and again flat and straight.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, mostly sharp with little wear or thickening. Record entered on the back edge, all are guaranteed untrimmed.

Spine and Text: This area has taken the most wear and rubbing which ranges from moderate to the lighter side of heavy in places. Actually lighter from half way down. Still solid, straight, with any compression mild. Folded square so the edges flush and almost parallel. Some text remains, but around 70 per cent eroded, no splits but clearly untidy.

Corners: Moderate to heavy (top left) corner rubbing with fair to near fine shape retained. No bashes, simply rubbed.

Cover Summary: A bit of a mixed bag in terms of wear, most present on the spine and its corners, but overall still an attractive one on the main large areas as seen. A real curio and possible one-off, major misprint errors seldom get to full manufacture stage – how did this ever get through the quality control or check? Registration for print machinists was always the most crucial factor, errors occurred for sure, but most were binned and destroyed. This clearly missed and then actually folded and constructed into a full issue cover. Certainly a huge rarity for Island collectors and specialists, even with the spine wear, this will please many of them.

The Inner Sleeve: NEAR EXCELLENT: a plain solid white unlined inner that has darkened with age. Hardly any creasing and all edges unsplit with no repairs.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: VERY GOOD(++): but plays superbly. Clean with fine shine and heavily pressed on thick, robust heavyweight vinyl. With deep grooves, any mild surface marks are simply ignored and this offers impressive, clean sound with very little unwanted. Any surface marks are mostly fine and light as seen under bright angled light, viewed in normal room light, this looks impressive. There are no stylus scratches, mostly fine scuffs or hairline types that are purely superficial and non-sounding. Visually a nice record that should please many collectors, but not the highly discerning visual purists.

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 minuscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This elusive ‘block’ label record plays above it’s fine visual grading with very little to fault, in fact, its one of the cleanest sounding very early copies I have ever heard – if not THE best. Offering strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies here are sharp, focused and clear - sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and very powerful sound and production. Quite full-on, these deeper early grooves carry all that fine detail and power the listener wants. This brilliant recording has the characteristics of a mono record with warm extended sound – this is great hi-fi. Any surface sounds are minimal indeed, and few copies will play much better than this. Both channels are clean and sharp, I feel sure this record has been played only sparingly. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this vintage rock classic, possibly still one of the lesser-lauded Island gems. Certainly an unusual copy with its very strange and bizarre misprinted cover, and the music really delivers, I enjoyed this immensely – it more than justifies strong recommendation.

* 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 2.2 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 Black 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’.