Cirkus - One, Rare Private Pressing in Great Condition

	£		124
	$		165

Cirkus - One

(RCB RCB 1 1973 UK LP)

Semi-legendary UK private pressing from a surprisingly good local progressive band who made an album which is a lot better than a lot of the major label releases of the time. Longish tracks with good guitar and keys, a decent vocalist (for once!), some odd lyrics at times, strange spacey sleeve design, a very professional sound, much better than a lot of the big money private pressings which sell for much higher sums.

This lot were a very popular local band around this area in the early seventies who pressed up limited amount of these albums, allegedly 1000 were made. Anyway, it’s now very hard to find even around here, this is the first spare I’ve had for about a year and it’s the best copy I’ve seen for ages.

Tracks:

You Are

Seasons

April 73

Song For Tavish

A Prayer

Brotherly Love

Those Were The Days

Jenny

Title Track: 1. Breach 11. Ad Infinitum

Condition: Sleeve VG+/ Record EX

Sleeve:

Standard gatefold sleeve design made from unlaminated very flimsy thin card which shows every little mark.

The front sleeve is one of the best I’ve seen in a long while. It’s very clean and there are no tears, writing or creasing anywhere. Also there is no ringwear which is highly unusual for this sleeve. There is a slight amount of rubbing wear on the black parts but that I’m afraid is inevitable with this sleeve. There is a small amount of wear in the top right corner right at the edge, level with the band’s name, nothing can be done about this.

The rear sleeve is also in good shape, very clean with no tears, no writing, no creasing, a small amount of light ringwear which looks worse in the photo than it actually is due to the angle at which the photo was taken and the flash used. Again, there is some very light rubbing wear to the black parts which is almost inevitable but nothing which spoils the actual design of the sleeve.

Inside the gatefold is pretty much perfect, there’s one small crease down in the bottom left corner which is very light and nothing to worry about but that apart, no writing, no tears and unusually no ringwear.

The spine is very thin and does have some moderate wear, more noticeable at the bottom but the writing is still just about readable.

The top seam is virtually unworn.

The bottom seam does have some moderate to heavy wear.

Not a perfect sleeve then but a good one, it'll be a while before you see a better one.

Record:

The record itself is in very nice condition. Like the sleeve it’s manufactured to a high specification while not using the best materials around. The vinyl for example is very thin, one of the thinnest UK albums I’ve seen but it’s a good clean pressing which carries the sound extremely well. This copy is extremely clean and still has a lovely dark sheen to the vinyl, any dust or dirt which was present has been removed using a professional Moth record cleaning machine leaving a record which looks and more importantly sounds very nice indeed. Under normal light it just looks lovely, there are no visible surface marks of any description . When held under a very harsh light a few light marks are revealed but these are just light hairline marks which are caused by taking the record in and out of the sleeve and are completely harmless and inaudible. The disc while being made of very thin vinyl sits on the turntable very flatly with no hint of any warping which is a bit unusual for this record as it usually has an inaudible edge warp.

The two labels are both in fine condition,very clean with no writing, tears or stickers anywhere.

When played the record sounds wonderful. This is one of my very favourite UK progressive albums and one of which I never tire so the volume was cranked right up when I played this copy. The sound is every bit as good as you could hope for, leaping from the speakers in a highy enjoyable manner, the bass and drums thunder along but when the more delicate acoustic guitar or piano pieces come along they sound just as good. No hint of any groove wear or distortion anywhere, the record has a very detailed sound, the result of an unusually good production for a private pressing, across a wide dynamic range which is reproduced here as cleanly and clearly as you could hope for. There was no unwanted surface noise at all noticed during the playback of this album, even between tracks was totally silent with no unwanted passive crackles, a real joy to listen to.

This is now a rare record, actually anywhere other than this area it has always been a rare record, but I’ve seen more copies than most as they do still turn up around here but this is the best copy I’ve seen for several years and you’ll wait along time before a copy which is significantly better than this one turns up.

What you can expect from me:

Fast friendly communication, quick postage with good strong packaging and the record will be exactly as described above, if you disagree with my description of the condition then a full refund is available (sorry, no refunds if you don‘t like the music!).

What I expect from you:

Good communication and quick payment, any disagreement’s (not that I’m expecting any!) can be settled amicably.

Payment and postage:

I’d prefer cheques from UK buyers but paypal is available if necessary, UK buyers can deduct 1.00 from the postage cost if using any payment method other than paypal. Overseas buyers must use paypal. I’m not responsible for any parcel after it leaves my hands, I will have proof that the parcel as posted and will help in any way I can in any dispute between you and the postal authorities but the decision on whether to insure a parcel or not is yours and as such the responsibility for the parcel is yours too however insurance is mandatory on any parcel sent outside of the UK, this is for your protection as well as mine, the cost of the insurance is included in the postage costs quoted.