JACKSON HEIGHTS Ragamuffins Fool Vertigo Spiral, Poster

	£		121
	$		160

Hi, I am Mike, I am 46 and have been a music collector and enthusiast for over 33 years now. We all wish we could turn back the clock and buy those wonderful brand new records from the 60s and 70s, but alas, this is not possible; so I always try to offer the finest and most accurately described and graded records I can find. No vinyl/music lover really would choose to buy second-hand, but this is only way now to own these valuable, prized and ellusive items now. 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, hence the name - time rarely allows for more as I Play-Grade virtually every record I offer in their entirity, not just bits to guess a grade (on a Rega 3 deck with Ortofon cartridge) - 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 reader – 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. 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 or sticks or writing on covers or labels unless clearly stated to the contrary. Thanks for your interest and Good luck – MIKE.

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. 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. Item wants are always welcome - email me with anything needed, you never know - I may just have a copy in stock. I by quality single items and collections also (Email me please if you have quality items for sale).

Debutant Bidders: Many sellers refuse first time buyers: I do not follow this practice (everybody has to start somewhere), but I would appreciate any first timer letting me know their intentions of their intended payment method and very prompt communication, preferably before any bid or soon after the auctions ends. This gives confidence that their intentions are honourable, and I in return guarantee extra special good feedbacks to get zero rated Ebayers off to a flying start to help them with future transactions. NOTE: I WILL NOT ACCEPT BIDS FROM UNREGISTERED USERS, I will cancel them immediately, and sorry, I cannot give valuations on people’s personal items just for their own curiosity, no item can be accurately valued blindly.

Please read all the information carefully - these adverts take an age to compile properly - so it’s well worth a few minutes of your time to read the details thoroughly. I really cannot take any responsibility if any bidder fails to read any facts that are clearly stated in the advert - Thankyou.

Artist or Band: JACKSON HEIGHTS

Album Title: Ragamuffins Fool (that includes the very rare poster)

Track Listing: Maureen; Oh you beauty; As she starts; Bebop; Catch a thief; Ragamuffins Fool; Chorale; Chips and chicken; Poor Peter; Bellyful of water.

Label/Format: Vertigo (full original spiral format with smaller spiral on side 2 with outline Vertigo.

Cat Number: 6360 077.

Mono or Stereo: Stereo.

Label Condition: Beautiful clean examples that show only very light spindle traces and no wear around the centre hole whatsoever. This stunning copy looks hardly played. (Please see label scans for all information needed).

Country of Manufacture: England, UK

Rarity: Very scarce, a copy with the poster is rare and rates as one of the very hardest complete Spirals to find. This poster makes the Black Sabbath Master of Reality poster look common, this album in comparative terms sold hardly any.

Original Year of Release: 1972

Matrix Nos: 6360077 1 2 240 11 3 and 6360077 2 2 420 11 6. Two very small separate codes appear to be 04/04

Brief Artist & Album Info: Their second album on the Spiral label and includes a near mint poster. Quality progressive rock, as you might expect from the label alone. Modest sales for sure, this is a tough one to find even without the poster, complete this is near the very top for Spiral rarities. This is a strong copy too, the near impossible cover, as per usual on Vertigo, unlaminated and delicate with dark ink, is very solid, the poster which has a faint trace on mounting on the back is near mint and the record itself could almost pass for new (bar the light spindle traces). One for the serious spiral collector, as long as a little cover wear can be tolerated, this complete copy will rarely show up.

Cover Grade and Format: EX. A scarce single format and unlaminated. This has embossing on front and back. It was printed and made by Howards Printers (Slough) Ltd. The top right back as 6360 077 VO Price Code. The LP comes in its Spiral inner, a neat and clean one that has just slightly toned over the years. The hugely important poster is superb and just has faint mounting evidence on the back corners (a light mark, NO pin holes). The folds are strong and unweakened or torn. Clean and attractive, there is a tiny light crease on the bottom left but little else to fault and this is as minor as it gets. This poster has the WARNING—Copyright subsists in all recordings issued under this label etc.

Cover Front: Another of those collector’s difficult covers to find in top shape. Well this looks really quite nice. Rubbing is minimal on this front and there is no dreaded ringwear that would destroy this one. Its clean with just one tiny chip on the bottom right. Fine embossed symbols are scattered around the perimeters of the front and back as well as the box that surrounds the Jackson Heights text. Hardly any creasing bar the customary faint spine edge hairline types. Minimal indentation marks and even surface marks are minimal. This delicate front sets a high standard.

Cover Back: Very similar to the front, the top and bottom has a little more rub traces but taken into context this is real nice and will rarely be found much better.

Top Edge: Light rub traces, a little more towards the corners.

Bottom Edge: Light+ rubs, getting moderate towards the corners.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, sharp with only faint whites in the odd place. Record entered on right outside edge.

Spine and Text: Solid and square and nice to see the text virtually perfect. The top pand bottom has very pronounced tapering which is retained the but sharp edges have rubbed, more on the top one.

Corners: All four show a little wear, mostly on the very tips. All still reasonably shaped.

Cover Summary: A fine all round example of this very fragile and wear-prone early-70’s cover, one that could prove very hard to find much better. This strong item should please many collectors.

Poster: As stated this is close to mint.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: Mint(-) A superb copy with just the odd faint surface trace, but look hard to see any - anything is superficial and nothing sounds. Super clean and shiny, and jet black. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence. Visually a very nice record that should please most collectors again.

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This super record plays up to its high visual grading with little to fault. Strong, undistorted sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear. No pops or ticks from memory and a fine pressing, any surface sounds are minimal indeed. Both channels are clean and unstressed, I feel very sure this record has been played little and has been well stored and looked after, likely in a non-smoking environment. Little, if anything spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this rare prog gem. This copy will prove near impossible to find significantly better.

Mono vs Stereo, an overview: Always a matter of opinion which is better or more important. For any serious collector where there is a choice e.g. Beatles, Stones, Hendrix etc. both are essential. True Stereo albums give great imagery and presence whereas mono albums usually are more dynamic, louder and present the detail more clearly. Mono albums are far harder to find in genuinely top playing condition. Most were heavily played, particularly the truly great bands and artists, often covered in mark and scratches, many severe and labels that were a mass of spindle marks. The majority were played on vintage and unsubtle decks with heavy tonearms and thick styli (often sapphire, not diamond, that chipped more easily) that rendered heavy wear in a very short time to many a fine classic record. Wear to the delicate groove walls, particularly the innermost tracks to the labels were most vulnerable where the tracking angle became more severe and the backdrag actually stripped the delicate groove walls. This resulted in surface noise and mild/moderate distortion or worse. These old decks tracked by sheer weight and little of any refined engineering. Next time you see such a deck at a local record fayre, feel the weight of the arm, it almost makes you wonder how any records survived at all. The point of this paragraph is emphasise that when a truly clean, lightly played and great sounding 60s mono album (or stereo come to that) is offered, treasure it, because for sure they are truly getting vary rare and precious - beware - demand only play-graded records. As a general guide to rarity, mono was the far more common format from 61–65; Around 66–67 the balance was roughly equal, then from 68-69 the balance swung more to stereo, making monos from these dates far scarcer, even rare - this guide is important and effects values greatly.

Album Played For Grading: Yes.

Final Summary: Not a band I know a huge amount about and this for sure is the very first copy I have ever seen or heard of this particular album. The band on this one were: Lee Jackson, vocals, bass, percussion, 6 string guitar, harmonica; John McBurnie, vocals, 6 strong and 12 string acoustic guitars, mellotron, piano and Brian Chatton, Vocals, piano, electric piano, organ, mellotron. A pretty rare album, a few fellow music lovers have told me this is way rare than even the books value. The poster is possibly the rarest in the prog world, many have never even seen it. A strongly recommend this complete item with only minor reservations for the lightish cover edgewear, if you own a near mint version of this cover you have a very rare piece, treasure it. Good luck again – Mike.

Payment Details please read carefully:

UK First Class: = £2.50; Recorded Delivery (Recommended) = £4.00 Special Delivery (Next day, insured up to £250), the best service available = £6.00

Europe Air Mail: = £4 Insured: £8.00

Overseas, non-Europe e.g. USA, Japan, Australia etc. Airmail:= £7; Insured with recorded delivery (where available) = £11.00

Singles: (Packed to the high standards of the LPs)

UK First class: = £2.00 Insured: £4

Europe Air Mail = £3.00 Insured: £5.50

Overseas, non-Europe (as above) Airmail £3.50 Insured: £6.00

Doubles add extra £1, triples add extra £2. Box sets add extra £3 (£4 overseas and Europe)

Any item that sells for over £85 will be sent Special Delivery in the UK at no extra cost. Items over £125 get the same service Overseas. This is gives peace of mind for the winning bidder and myself for valuable items. Reduced postage of course for multiple items.

The winner bidder chooses his/her posting method and if uninsured is chosen, its their decision and they have to stick with it, I can accept no responsibility if an item is lost in the post. I can only try to claim at standard levels if no enhancement is chosen (£28). PLEASE NOTE: I will NOT use surface mail, its too slow, with a higher risk of loss and damage.

Mailing Details: Please note I do not profit on postage (my packing standards are high and the package weighs a little more. All records are sent in plastic covers with the record taken out of the sleeve and sent in professional mailers with FOUR professional stiffners for extra protection (if space allows), I do NOT use old cardboard boxes or cereal packets for protection. More expensive items are also inserted into a de-luxe heavy duty padded bag AS WELL to give that extra protection. I truly want ALL my items to arrive to their destination in the same condition they leave me. I will also include in most cases a brand new lined inner, but will include the original inner if available and in a condition to be given.

I accept cash for payments worldwide in UK Pounds Sterling, Euros or US Dollars - but this at the senders own risk. Please send registered and insured if this method is chosen. I cannot accept responsibility if any cash payments do not turn up. This system is very reliable and rarely goes astray. The same goes for any shipped uninsured item, I can only try to claim for any undelivered or damaged article at basic insurance levels if no enhanced insurance is requested and paid for (unless the value threshold is high enough for me insure as standard, see above)

Overseas bidders please note conversion rates for Pounds to Dollars and Pounds to Euros will be charged at 1.7 to cover PayPal or cash conversion costs.

PLEASE NOTE: Any PayPal user can now pay me with UK Sterling if they wish with no need to convert to US dollars (although they still can if they wish to). Any instant PayPal transaction from anywhere in the world will mean the item will be sent immediately - it makes deals fast and very efficient.

Potential Bidders: Please do not bid if you have negative feedback unless checking first, I will cancel any bids I feel are timewasters. I now only accept PayPal, International money orders or cash from overseas bidders (UK Sterling, US dollars or Euros). Cash, cheques, postal orders and PayPal are fine from the UK. I allow maximum 3 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive - if this does not happen I will relist the item and may send negative feedback unless an explanation is given. Fast deals get great feedback from me. Any questions - please ask. Please keep watch on my Ebays, I have other interesting items coming very soon. Thanks for looking.

My Guarantee: As listening to every single record I offer all the way through is difficult timewise, can I make it clear if any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund minus the Posting and All Ebay costs as long as the item detail has been read and understood. I will not refund if any defect detail is clearly stated on the advert and missed by the buyer. I still endeavour to play all the items in their entirity for grading if at all possible and is usually the case.