JIGSAW Letherslade Farm 1970 ORIG UK PROG PSYCH RUBBLE SOUNDS plays VG+ LISTEN

$

60

JIGSAW Letherslade Farm

Original 1970 LP on the UK Philips label.  Vinyl plays VG+ to VG++, no marks, looks shiny, well kept.  Cover in VG++ shape.  Also well cared for.  A nice copy of a very hard to find album!

Yeah, this is the same Jigsaw who blew it all Sky High during the advent of disco pop, but yeah, this is also five years earlier, so don’t expect any synth beats and Moroder rhythms to come creeping out of the grooves on Letherslade Farm.  And thank God too, because this one tops the 50-minute mark, and that’s enough time for FOUR endless Donna Summer mixes.  Instead, this one’s strictly for British popsike connoisseurs – fans of English whimsy like Kaleidoscope (the UK band), Nirvana (the UK band), and Procol Harum (the Estonian band… just kidding).  Sung by someone who sounds just like Colin Blunstone of the Zombies.  So why then, in a day and age when every conceivable outtake, alternate take and answering machine message from Procol Harum has been lovingly reissued, the kids in Jigsaw can’t even get their debut album remastered in the trendy new CD format yet?  Well now, that’s a good question. 

Maybe it’s the fact that the great popsike songs on Letherslade Farm are positively buried between some of the most confusing, esoteric comedy “skits” this side of a Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band album.  I mean, let’s face it, if you’re not British, you’re not going to get any of the spoken word stuff, and if you are British, you’re too drunk to care.  They even toss off a few parodies of old-time music too – poking fun of doo-wop in “Danny” and old scratchy 78 rpms in “Can I Have This Dance?”  Guys, listen – Ray Davies just called.  He wants to remind you that there are some things in life not worth remembering. 

But persistence is a virtue, and if you can dig your way through all the rejected Monty Python sketches, you’re rewarded with a handful of beautiful, lost British psych pop treasures, none of which seem to appear anywhere else (meaning: on compilations, you see).  There’s the stunning “Weaver’s Answer,” all fragile Kaleidoscope/Nirvana folk psych genius.  “Say Hello to Mrs. Jones,” one of the greatest outtakes from Odyssey and Oracle that the Zombies didn’t write.  And the chunky Rubble contender “Seven Fishes,” a kinda proto-prog psych thing that would’ve fit nicely on that Spacegirl and Starman compilation a few years back.  The Jigsaw puzzlers even get off a brilliant Cream rip on “Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind,” which quotes Shakespeare but pretty much steals from Baker, Bruce and Clapton.  And Lord knows, Clapton would never steal anything that wasn’t his – isn’t that right, George Harrison? 

So if you take out all the sketches and jokes here (and there are a lot of ‘em), Letherslade Farm is a pretty solid, often brilliant British popsike album that ranks right up there with Nirvana’s All of Us and Kaleidoscope’s Faintly Blowing, yet still hasn’t seen a single reissue after all these years.  And not only that, it’s far rarer than you’d think – showing up about once a year and becoming quite the in-demand item.  Which is amazing, really, considering you can still find used copies of the “Sky High” 45 at the thrift store down the street. 

The less exciting stuff

Media mail shipping with delivery confirmation starts at $4.00 in the US, with each additional record only $1 additional shipping.  Overseas shipping has, unfortunately, gone way up in the fast few months, which translates to $15 for the first LP to Canada ($3 each one thereafter) and $24 for the first LP everywhere else in the world, with each add'l LP an extra $5 (so it pays to buy more, nudge nudge wink wink).   I accept payments through Paypal. 

I try to grade as best as I can, and I list as many blemishes/imperfections I can find (writing, ringwear, scuff marks, etc.) – Also, please note that I DO listen to these albums – I may not listen to every track, but my grades are based on LISTENING, not just looking at it, since chances are you’ll be listening to the record you buy, not just looking at it.  Most of the albums I sell are the ones I’ve enjoyed for years – and I treat my records with kid gloves.  But sounds speak louder than words, so check out the sound clips below – they’re from the actual record you’re bidding on. 

SHIPPING AND PACKAGING

Listen, I buy a bunch of records too (when I’m not getting outbid at the last second, which is more often than not) – and I know what it’s like to get a rare, one-of-a-kind album packaged dangerously in a flimsy bubblewrap package.  I hate that too.  So rest assured, I ALWAYS package albums with stiff cardboard reinforcements, same for 45s.  And yes, the records are removed from the sleeves (for albums).  I ship out once a week, every Friday, because I have a regular day job.  But I’d be willing to give that up if you’d all be so kind as to bid my items up to stupidly high amounts. 

 For more security and international tracking, you may request GLOBAL PRIORITY MAIL - but bear in mind the cost of this service is upwards of $30.  For expensive items, however, it may be well worth it.  Unfortunately, there isn’t a cost-effective way of tracking parcels to foreign countries yet, and shipping times vary depending on your country’s postal system.   Italy in particular seems to be really bad at delivering packages quickly, or delivering packages at all, now that you mention it.  I will always email you when your package ships, but once it’s on its way, please don’t ask me when it will arrive because I don’t know.  If the world’s postal systems can ever agree on a universal tracking system that’s affordable, I’ll be the first to use it.

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN…

I will always leave positive feedback for successful transactions, and would appreciate the same in return.  All I ask of you is the following – please pay for your items within 14 days of the close of auction.  Compared to other sellers, that’s a generous amount of time, so if you don’t pay within 2 weeks, then I have to assume something’s wrong.  You’ll get an Ebay payment reminder at that point, and possibly a decapitated horse head in your bed.  If, after 30 days, you still haven’t forked up the cash, I’ll relist the item and yell at you if I ever see you in town.