COLOSSEUM Valentyne Suite SCARCE UK VERTIGO SPIRAL LP

	£		34
	$		45

ONEADAYRECORDS – Delivering Quality Music to the World

Please see my Detailed Packing Description Further Down with Picture & All Shipping Rates.

Artist or Band: COLOSSEUM

Album Title: Valentyne Suite.

Producer(s): Tony Reeves and Gerry Bron.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: The Kettle; Elegy; Butty's Blues; The Machine Demands a Sacrifice.

Side 2: Valentyne Suite Theme One: January's Search; Valentyne Suite Theme Two: February’s Valentyne; Valentyne Suite Theme Three: The Grass is Always Greener.

Label/Format: Vertigo – original full swirl on side one and large swirl logo on side two (Please see my label scans).

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and highly attractive with faint spindle marks and less than moderate in number, there is no wear around the hole area. The spiral logo on side one is near pristine from rim to hole with no scuffs or grubbiness and just one microscopic chip trace at the 11 o’clock position (but look hard), it looks fantastic. Side two is still snowy white and shows barely any evidence of handling (excluding the spindle use), totally unaged or discoloured in any way. Both these definitive labels are of ver high standard.

Cat Number: VO1 (847900 VTY).

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: 145 grams. [These days, many modern Audiophile reissues are pressed on super-heavyweight 180 gram vinyl. Only a small percentage of ‘vintage vinyl’ was ever pressed this heavy. Records pressed in the 1960s averaged around 135 to 145 grams. Records pressed in the 1970s were usually lighter and averaged more around 115 – 125 grams. Some records pressed around 1973 were very thin and light due an oil crisis and shortage around this time. Some records were even issued on recycled vinyl from this period and sounded poor with crackle and surface noise evident from the very first play. If any record I buy is deemed ‘recycled’, I will never offer it, I have a very simple test to detect these records if I suspect this to be the case other than audible imperfection. Some records from this period were even pressed on other materials the most notable was ‘Dynaflex’, used by RCA around this time. Although inferior to vinyl, this at least mostly sounded reasonably acceptable but pressings on this material were wafer thin and flimsy. Beyond the 70s, many records often became thinner and lighter still but most played fine but were never quite the quality as from the ‘Golden Era’]. (This was based on ‘average’ weights for 50 records from these eras.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Scarce and getting even more so as more collectors seek this most collectable progressive label. Not in the major league of swirl rarities but getting steadily more elusive like most. Finding this one in very fine condition is always a challenge and this has a lovely clean cover with some edge rubs that few will ever avoid as the minimum. The record has only two or three ultra fine hairlines with NO sound whatsoever. In fact the record plays beautifully and offers stunningly clean, little short of pristine sound. The original date coded swirl inner is also in super condition, not an absolute first issue but dated 0470 (April, 1970). So one that should and will please the majority of collectors needing this one.

Original Year of Release: 1969

Matrix Nos: 886775 1Y * 1 420 1 1 3 7 / 886775 2*Y * 1 420 1 1 2 3

Musicians: Dave Greenslade - Hammond organ, vibraphone; Dick Heckstall-Smith - saxophones; Jon Hiseman - drums; James Litherland - guitars, vocals; Tony Reeves - bass guitars.

Brief Info: The first ever Vertigo Spiral album and one of the very best ever. A blistering jazz-rock set that sold fairly well and set the standard for this label. Unfortunately not all the future acts could live up to this and all will know many albums on this most collectable progressive label are massively rare and elusive and some only selling in meager numbers. The musicianship of Colosseum was up there with the very best within this genre and the entire set just fizzes. Only well looked-after examples do the complex sound full justice and this does just that. Like all unlaminated gatefold covers, this is highly wear-prone and most Swirl albums were made that way. With the main surfaces looking lovely, this too with hauntingly beautiful artwork, this has little wear, most present confined to the edges and that is far from excessive. The date-coded Spiral inner is also in very clean condition and is guaranteed original, not swapped. So an important album in the Vertigo catalogue being the very first issued, this will please many, if not most needing it.

This Cover’s Potential for Wear: Very High: like most Spiral cover, this was unprotected by laminate and gatefolds suffer most from all forms wear that time, careless handling and bad storage has to offer.

Cover Grade and Format: Near Excellent with the main surfaces looking very attractive. An unlaminated gatefold format Printed and made in England and including the earliest ‘WARNING’ text ‘Copyright subsists in all Vertigo recordings…’. Later ones changed the word ‘Vertigo’ to ‘this label’.

Cover Front: With normal viewing, this has little to fault, the colourful and surreal artwork looks very attractive to the eye and devoid of the usual heavy rubbing, creasing, grubbiness and marks most seem to acquire over the years. Only slight and minor surface marks become apparent with critical angled viewing with fine and faint press marks. Any rub traces are confined to the very edges and corners but I reitterate these are fine and few. The sheer beauty of this haunting artwork is undiminished and the colour remains as strong and vivid as any I have ever seen with a vintage Spiral record inside. Remember, this was later available on Bronze.

Cover Back: The back is similar again but mainly even better, the lack of penetrating ringwear is always a bonus on these and any rub traces around the record’s rim are very light and faint with barely any evidence of any ink removal. Again barely any creases and minor marks are only really seen under light. The most noticeable blemish is a small crease (or light crack) near the top left corner.

Cover Inner Gatefold: Slendidly clean and fresh looking and little to fault. Very faint friction rub traces if being somewhat critical near the edges but finding this better will prove very difficult.

Top Edges: Both have rubbed to a moderate degree.

Bottom Edges: Light to moderate rubbing.

Right Edge(s), and Type: The front sealed edge is in super condition with little wear. The back entrance edge is clean, mainly sharp with little wear and no feathering or trimming.

Spine and Text: The spine has very little wear at all with just the odd minor rub trace and one very small and light graze. Very solid, straight, uncompressed and square, both right edges meet up perfectly together and parallel. All text is fully present and unworn (even the fine VO 1 number) with just the faintest possible, natural hairline crease seen from opening the cover that none can ever avoid (unless an unopened one can be found, pretty like eh?)

Corners: All corner tips have rubbed, mostly only small and general neatness is retained. Again few of these non-laminates avoid this and Vertigo covers rarely escape. Fine shape is retained.

Cover Summary: A strong all round example of this very fragile 70’s cover, one that will prove quite difficult to find much better. This attractive item should please many collectors but not the connoisseurs or the very discerning.

The Inner: The original polylined spiral inner is in a very fine Excellent condition. No edge splits (or repairs), a clear lining with neat window (one small crease on one side). Any general creases are few and light and any discolouration is very mild indeed. It is date coded 0470 (April 1970) so not a very first issue, but still very early.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: Near Excellent with just a few very fine and faint hairlines on each side. These have NO sound whatsoever and for a 40-year-old record, this is in super shape. A lovely visual copy that is very clean, shiny, intense black and very solidly pressed. A copy played a few times but this is still an immensely attractive record and sound quality is little short of perfect. Visually a super record that should please many, if not most 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 snippetts 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 superb Swirl gem plays even above its visual grading with nothing to fault. 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 barely even registered and no pops or clicks were noted and this is an exceptional clean pressing. Complex, sometimes blistering music, this sounds wonderful and all is fully focused, even Smith’s rasping reeds. Certainly one of the cleanest sounding copies I have yet heard and sadly not always the case. Few copies will outperform this early issue, of that I am certain. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record. This copy will prove very difficult to find significantly better and can be highly recommended.

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 - on average ONEADAY, a couple more at weekends if time permits, hence the name - time rarely allows for more as I Play-Grade virtually every record I offer in their entirety, 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 its 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. What you see is what you get and scanned labels will give a more accurate representation of the genuine colour than flash photography where light is variable. I cannot guarantee total accuracy for colours however but most will be very close. 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 Rondo Red moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2 grams). Amps: Naim Nait 5i with Project USB phono stage and Chord interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired with QED Silver terminated cable). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Moth vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too.

First-time, zero-rated bidders, who do not ask permission to bid, will be cancelled immediately and blocked – NO exceptions. For winning bidders who I consider excessively slow to make contact or submit payment, I will use my right to block future bids. If any bidder who wins in the final seconds is present to do so, surely they can at least email me to inform of intention and payment method? If swift or promp payment is a problem, please do not bid.

PACKING - THIS IS WHAT YOU GET - PLEASE SEE MY TYPICAL PACKING BOX PICTURE.

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 Moth 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 thick boxes (NOT Mailers or Cruciforms, these do not offer maximum protection). The record(s) 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 THREE or EVEN FOUR 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. 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. Please see my picture of a typical finished box packet that will now be used on ALL transactions as from now. I do not profit on posting and the cost of this lavish packing is NOT even charged for, I offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible for ultimate confidence. These boxes and ultra thick double-wall stiffners and bubble wrap 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 less than one in two thousand based on over 6,000+ items sold in over 8 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. Even one of these stiffners cannot be bent by hand, so what chance 3 or 4 inside a box? Oneadayrecords is a MAILER-FREE ZONE. I discount of course for multiple purchases with a maximum of FOUR records per box (one double can sometimes be included subject to total weight). I will not respond to questions on shipping costs as all the details are included here and on ALL of my adverts. Details below:

NOTE: First Time Bidders: I will cancel ALL first-time bidders with no feedbacks or excessive negatives who do not ask me if its OK to bid first – NO EXCEPTIONS.

Please Note: I will now offer any item to the runner-up after the mandatory Ebay 3 days if no contact is made by the winning bidder unless prior notice of any delay is given beforehand. The same applies if no payment is received within the mandatory 7 days so any bidder who has just lost out can still email me to reserve the item as priority second chance – it’s always worth asking.

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.

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7.50. (this includes insurance of £500). Add £2 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: EUROPE & SCANDINAVIA. (Airmail Only):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£40 maximum]) = £9. (insurance optional extra £3). Add £2.50 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: ALL OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. USA (ANY PART OF); 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 [£39 maximum]) = £13. Add £4 per extra LP. (insurance 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: Please do not bid if you have negative feedback unless checking first, I will cancel any bids I feel are timewasters. 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 neccessarily 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’.