FOTHERINGAY UK 1970 ISLAND TEST PRESS EX LP

	£		194
	$		257

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Artist or Band: FOTHERINGAY

Album Title: Fotheringay.

Producer(s): Joe Boyd.

Special Note: This is no ordinary copy of Fotheringay. This is an immensely rare, possibly even unique Test pressing and the very first made. The matrixes are: ILPS 9125 A // 1 1 1 1 & ILPS 9125 B // 1 1 1 2. The white labels are (clearly) hand-written and dated June, the month is was issued. The owner worked for Island records until they moved address. Test pressings are always rare items, few found their way out of the factories, the classics are most prized. Often given to band members or employees, as per this one, but many were left lying around on tables or well handled, hence a high percentage are seen swathed in marks and scratches and rendered unplayable. This beauty has little to fault and offers sound of the highest quality. It does have one fine mark that has around a dozen light ticks, this on ‘Ned Kelly’. One stylus mark on ‘Peace in the End’ has a couple or three also, these brief blemishes apart, there is nothing else to fault and this initial pressing has the cleanest actual sound I have ever heard on this album. So often this has distortion on the louder vocal parts by Denny, few seen to avoid it to some degree, but this Test pressing has none at all and this more than compensates for the few light ticks. This copy includes the original cover too, also very fragile and wear-prone, this is a very decent one one indeed with less rubbing and ringwear than many seen. An immensely rare item for the Island connoisseur and specialist collector. I can hardly imagine there are too many of these around and an opportunity to own what could conveivably be a unique item. Up there with the rarest items I have had to offer for sure, a one-off, if you lose it, I have no others and will anyone else?

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Nothing More; The Sea; The Ballad of Ned Kelly; Winter Winds; Peace in the End.

Side 2: The Way I Feel; The Pond and the Stream; Too Much of Nothing; Banks of the Nile.

Cat Number: ILPS 9125.

Label / Format: Island – White Label Test pressing with hand-written track listing and dated ‘June’ (please see my label scans).

Label Conditions: Light(+) spindle marks, clean and fresh and 100% genuine.

Cat Number: ILPS 9125.

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Weight of this Record: 135 grams. Average weight for it’s era.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: The pink label original is a scarce enough album. Finding one that will play anything like ‘perfect’ with a top grading cover is immensely difficult. A ultimate first Test pressing is beyond rare, it’s an almost impossible find. Look at the matrixes below, all are stamped in Roman type NOT scripted or scratched.

Original Year of Release: 1970

Matrix Nos: ILPS 9125 A // 1 1 1 1 & ILPS 9125 B // 1 1 1 2 (please see my close-up picture).

Brief Artist & Album Info: After Fairport Convention’s 1969 classic ‘Leige and Leif’, Sandy Denny left the band and formed Fotheringay. Just the one album was issued when they were still together, a self-titled folk-rock classic, and it features Sandy on vocals, piano and guitar; Trevor Lucas, ex-Eclection, on vocals, guitar; Jerry Donahue on lead guitar, backing vocals; Gerry Conway on drums and backing vocals and Pat Donaldson on bass and backing vocals. This is a wonderful one-off gem (until the belated issue of the second many years later) and is a highly prized album on the Pink Island label. Why this album failed to sell well is something of a mystery especially given the popularity of Sandy at this time. The band split and she persued a solo career before rejoining the Fairports in 1974. Featuring stunning artwork and a gatefold design, this cover is as nice to own as the record itself. Neither record or cover are easy find in top conditions: the cover suffers all forms of wear and the record often is less than well pressed. It’s a delicate album and often has surface sounds and crackle on the very quiet moments. Distortion to the more intense vocal parts are common when played on less than worthy equipment. This has none at all and apart from the few clicks mentioned above, this offers supremely clean sound that I swear have more clarity and detail. Sandy’s wonderful vocals make this lovely album a real joy, proving yet again to me her status as one of the finest female vocalists the UK ever had - her tragic loss, even now, is hard to take. Fotheringay rightly deserves its place in any quality folk or rock collection and this Test pressing is an unusually rare piece and way to experience it.

Cover’s Potential for Wear: Extremely high.

Cover Condition and Details: Very Good++. An unlaminated gatefold format with matt finish. Printed and made in England by the E. J. Day Group.

Cover Front: This main face grades nearer Excellent and looks really attractive. A few light edge creases and minor surface marks seen under light but the lack of rubbing is unusual. The very colourful artwork looks immpressive with a high degree of freshness, certainly one of the better fronts I have seen on this vulnerable cover for some time.

Cover Back: Massively intolerant and seldom seen devoid of significant wear. This has very slight ringwear but any ink loss is minimal and faint. Many seen have full circles of whiteness and look attrocious. My flash has over-emphasised the small amount present here. Some light surface marks and a small few light surface creases but overall, nice. It includes the original Basing Street address.

Cover Gatefold Inner: This has little to fault at all and will prove hard to find much better. Just wish I could have been in the audience to watch this fine band.

Top Edges: Light patchy rubbing.

Bottom Edges: More moderate patchy rubbing, hence the downgrade to the ‘very good’ area.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, fairly sharp with little wear and no feathering, guaranteed untrimmed. Record entered on the back edge, the front being closed.

Spine and Text: An outstanding spine that shows little wear at all. Solid and straight, and importantly, uncompressed and square with all edges meeting up flush and parallel. All text is present and unworn, any central creasing from opening tiny and faint.

Corners: The corners have rubbing ranging from light to moderate. Fine shape is retained.

Cover Summary: A cover crying out to be laminated but Island rarely bothered on their UK issues – many German-made Island albums were but I have never seen this as a German issue. I have rarely, if ever seen this cover with little wear, especially the back and edges, and the front often suffers too from price sticker removal marks, often removing large chunks of the delicate artwork. All considered, this is a splendid example that still offers fine good looks. Not for the perfectionist of course, but many collectors will enjoy it. The rarity of the record inside is the main priority here I feel.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: A little tricky to grade this definitively. Side one has a fine mark on ‘Ned Kelly’ that has around a dozen fine ticks as mentioned above and there is a stylus mark on the last song that has 3 or 4. Side two is little short of Mint(-) and plays with stunning clean sound. Minus these blemishes, it would be the best sounding copy of this record I have ever heard bar none. A very clean, shiny, intense black and solid Test pressing. A near Excellent all-round copy but in reality it’s better still and immensely rare.

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 miniscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This likely one-off Test pressing plays beautifully bar the brief ticks mentioned from the small marks. Some copies I have heard before have had considerable amounts of crackle or even distortion, this album does seem especially prone to this on ‘The Ballad of Ned Kelly’, where Sandy’s vocal gets quite intense. This can, and often does, break up and clip badly – not on this one, all remains pin-sharp and distortion-free. Beautifully recorded with a lovely clean production and sound, but often let down by the pressing quality, this was a sheer joy in terms of detail and focus. The lack of crackle a real bonus, the music so wonderful, the clicks almost washed over me. First-cut records are always extra special and they hardly get earlier than this do they? If the clicks are an issue, do not bid but the positives outweight the minor negatives on this very rare example. I am unlikely to ever see another example quite like this, it has to be one of the rarest records I have ever held, owned or offered.

Final Summary: An album always in demand and not getting any easier to find. Beautiful vocals and gorgeous songs, this an album you won’t want to end. Sandy’s vocals never fail to move me, always hitting the mark, every song she sung had class written all over it. Even with minor audio blemishes, it’s always a pleasure to offer this wonderful record – a Test pressing makes it an immensely rare one and the very first ever, on that basis alone it has to 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’.