JEFFERSON AIRPLANE Bless It's Pointed… RARE ORIG UK 69 MONO

	£		29
	$		38

ONEADAYRECORDS – Simply Delivering Quality Music to the World.

Postage: UK £4.25. Europe (including Russia) £12. Rest of World £16. ALL signed for in quality, safe packaging – I NEVER use mailing envelopes.

PLEASE NOTE: Overseas packets that go through the customs system, can take up to 4 to 6 weeks to process and deliver, this IS normal. For Russia, this can take even longer and is out of my control, so please be patient.

ALSO: I now apply the Ebay ‘4-day’ rule for non-payment. I try to keep my P&P prices as low as possible and will never compromise on solid, safe packing that is invariably a little heavier.

Artist or Band: JEFFERSON AIRPLANE

Album Title: Bless Its Pointed Little Head

Producer(s): Al Schmitt.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Clergy; 3/5s of a Mile on 10 Seconds; Somebody to Love; Fat Angel; Rock Me Baby.

Side 2: The Other Side of Life; It’s No Secret; Plastic Fantastic Lover; Turn Out the Lights; Bear Melt.

Label/Format: RCA Victor – full size format (Please see my label scan).

Label Conditions: Both clean and fresh with any marks or blemishes tiny, minor and faint. The most important factor is the lack of spindle marks of which there are very few. A crucial factor for any mono record and this copy plays superbly.

Cat Number: RD 8019.

Mode / Speed: Mono / 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: 130 grams A very good solid weight record.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Quite Rare in mono: very few of these would have been pressed in the single channel mode. By 1969, the mono record was in fast decline with few new albums even being mixed in this form. This was hardly a big seller with originals sold being mostly stereo.

Original Year of Release: 1969

Matrix Nos: X2PP 9478 2 / X2PP 9479 2

Musicians: Grace Slick - Vocals; Marty Balin - Vocals, Bass; Jack Casady - Rhythm Guitar, Bass; Spencer Dryden - Drums, Percussion; Paul Kantner - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals; Jorma Kaukonen - Lead Guitar, Vocals.

Brief Info: A live album, the band’s first, recorded at both the Fillmore East and West in the autumn of 1968 and released in 1969. An essential album as it includes five songs previously unissued on their previous titles. The familiar songs now sound very different with a much heavier sound and overall this is a terrific vintage recording. The interpretation of Donovan’s ‘Fat Angel’ is particularly interesting and the albums finale, ‘Bear Melt’ is an 11-minute improvisation where the band swap instruments. This early mono copy has a more open sound with wide grooves. Clearly hardly played and offering top sound with barely anything unwanted. A mono copy that has survived those heady times and few will match or better this. For the small few who bought this album in mono, most did so (obviously) to play on a mono record player. But this shows no evidence visually or aurally. Finding these is never easy, finding one barely even run-in in vinyl terms, is near impossible. For fans of this most wonderful of bands (up to 1969 anyway), this is truly essential.

Cover Grade and Format: NEAR EXCELLENT: this probably being a little cautious. A single format with front laminate, This covers the closed folds and ends on the spine edge on the back. It includes it’s own dedicated mono number, both mono and stereo versions were briefly made. Printed and made in England by Robert Stace. I had to shoot these pictures a fraction out-of-focus to avoid Moray pattern, a trait dot graphics will show when photographed or scanned.

Cover Front: The front is nice: the laminate retains a very fine shine, freshness and clarity with minimal traces of any lifting and any of the minor light dulling only seen under angled light. Very little creasing either, any traces are fine and faint and mostly on the edges as hairline types that few will ever avoid as a bare minimum. This will not be too easy to find better.

Cover Back: A very difficult back to photograph because of Moray, again a little out-of-focus. This has aged a little with mildly darkened rim impression towards the top area, again so few will ever avoid this unless the record was stored outside the sleeve – few ever would have been. A little minor grubbiness and the odd tiny tone spot or two, but in context of unforgiving unprotected back, this has fared quite well. A small reference number is written in fine ball pen near the top right corner, quite likely by the retailer for identification.

Top Edge:One very small tone spot, little else to fault with mostly smooth laminate.

Bottom Edge: Almost as made with even the panel ends sharp.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean and mostly sharp with little wear. Any thickening or burring very mild, little and light as seen viewed end-on. Record enters on this edge that is guaranteed untrimmed.

Spine and Text: Solid, but fairly thin with minimal compression, the ends pinched in manufacture and both are very neat. Quite straight with all text perfect and unworn under the solid and uncracked laminate, well centred too, this often set either way.

Corners: Any tip wear very light and small indeed, and very fine to excellent shape retained.

Cover Summary: A strong all-round example of this classic late 60’s cover, one that will prove difficult to find much better. A true mono cover that would have been printed only in limited and quite small numbers and phased out fast. This one should please many collectors, but with a few clues to age and the small number id on the back, not for the perfectionists.

The Inner Sleeve: NEAR EXCELLENT: a plain white unlined open inner. this has aged a little with moderately light discolouration to the seams with some adhesive browning. Both circles neat and crisp and all edges unsplit with no repairs. This has the ‘PATENTS APPLIED FOR’ text.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(++): and almost a nit-picking margin off Mint(-). A superb visual copy that is very clean, shiny, intense black and solidly pressed. A copy hardly even played on all the evidence with any surface traces almost minuscule and few mono examples will ever appear (or sound) better. Visually a superb record that should please most-all 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 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: Still possibly an under-appreciated record and that should not be. This captures the real edge of this psych-era band – the production a little raw, but it sounds just right to me for this time. This offers strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear - sound quality is high within the limitations of a 60s live recording with a good dynamic range and detailed sound. Any surface sound barely even registers and no pops and few clicks were noted. The difficult quiet spoken intro is always hard, but here plays beautifully, and quite possibly the quiestest I have yet heard. Few copies will match let alone outperform this early UK mono pressing I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played very lightly and has been generally well stored and carefully handled. The vinyl appears hardly even run-in in vinyl terms and has avoided any abuse from the Dansette era. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this record which I think offers ever better sound than the stereo. This mono record will prove very difficult to find significantly better and can be strongly 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 Terrarium 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 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. The boxes and ultra thick double-wall stiffeners 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 8,000+ items sold in over 10 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 stiffeners cannot be bent by hand, so what chance 2 inside a box? Oneadayrecords is a MAILER-FREE ZONE. 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 FOUR days if no payment is received. I will then cancel the dispute to end the, 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 and they take the Ebay consequences (a strike or removal from the system). 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] = £4.25

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £8. (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 [£50 maximum]) = £12 (enhanced Royal Mail insurance is an optional extra £3). Add £3 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 (£17 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’.