JOHN KONGOS Confusions About a Goldfish RARE ORIG UK 69 DAWN EX+ LP PLAYS GREAT.

	£		69
	$		91

ONEADAYRECORDS – Simply Delivering Quality Music to the World in Quality, Safe Packing.

Postage: UK £4.75 (£1 per extra record). Europe (including Russia) £12.50 (£2 per extra record). Rest of World (including ALL parts of the USA) £16.50 (£3 per extra record). All boxes signed for in quality, safe packaging – I NEVER use mailing envelopes that offer virtually no protection at all, and records WILL arrive damaged in them at some time as most record buyers will already know. Here, you get what you pay for – SAFE PACKING in BOXES using 7mm DOUBLE-WALL STIFFENERS including full side protection and bubble wrap, the records removed from the covers of course. All this very safe packing means I lose money on every box I post, but safe delivery is, and will always be paramount. You WILL see the difference when my packet arrives. Also, I will pay for insurance on any record that sells for over £100 at NO extra cost – that is UK and abroad. Also I aim to post the very same day after payment is received if possible. PLEASE NOTE: I will NOT send any item, no matter what its value without a Royal Mail or courier tracking number. ALL my items must be signed and trackable to comply with Ebay delivery rules. Please do NOT ask me to make any exceptions to this rule as no country offers 100% reliable service without it.

Posting to Russia: Yes, I do post to Russia. But delivery can take longer from the UK. So please be patient. I will submit a tracking number to the winning bidder, and when the packet arrives there it can be followed online using the Russian post website.

ALSO: I now apply the Ebay ‘2-day’ rule for non-payment to keep things moving – cash-flow is important for any small business.

ANY ITEM or ITEMS TO BE PAID WITHIN A MAXIMUM OF 6 DAYS or they will be cancelled – NO EXCEPTIONS.

FINALLY: Late payers, non-payers and ‘0’ bidders will now be blocked or cancelled at my discretion, as will any bidder who cancels a bid. Please only bid on my items if you want them.

Artist or Band: JOHN KONGOS

Album Title: Confusions About a Goldfish

Producer(s): John Schroeder

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Confusions About a Goldfish; At This Moment; Deserts of Mountains of Men; Seat by the Window; Go Home; Tomorrow.

Side 2: Flim, Flam Pharisee; It Was Easy; Blood; The Lady Wants You More; Coming Back to You; Amendment to Confusions About a Goldfish.

Label/Format: Dawn, original very deep orange format with matt, gently textured surfaces.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and attractive with only very few light, quite fine spindle marks and no wear around the hole area. Unlike many titles on this highly collectable label, this one plays superbly.

Catalogue Number: DNLS 3002

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps: Few vintage records are ever perfectly ‘flat’, so some slight or very gentle arm movement is normal. If any record I offer has more than that, I will mention it, and it can be assumed all I offer should track without issues, even on budget turntables.

Weight of this Record: 166 grams.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Scarce, few albums on Dawn sold in any great numbers.

Original Year of Release: 1969

Matrix Nos: DNLS 3002 A-2 *T STEREO / DNLS 3002 B-1 *T STEREO

Mothers / Stampers: C 1 / F 1

Brief Info: John Kongos is a South African singer and songwriter. He is known for his Baroque style of folk music – that a distinctive method of fingerpicking guitar used in folk and jazz music, he is also a very fine vocalist. Better-known exponents included Roy Harper, Nick Drake, Davey Graham, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn. This album is something of a ‘lost’ classic within this genre. Original issued on the Pye Record subsidiary label Dawn that specialised in underground and progressive music, their equivalant of EMI and Phonogram’s, Harvest and Vertigo. Pressing quality on Dawn is known to be variable, but this one plays superbly and appears little used. It came in an incredibly thin and flimsy textured cover, and against the odds, has survived well also. This album is a real gem, and for those unfamiliar, its strongly recommended.

Cover Grade and Format: NEAR EXCELLENT: a single unlaminated format made with very thin, flimsy textured card. Printed and made in England by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd, includes its polylined inner sleeve.

Cover Front & Back: This cover is up there with one of the flimsiest I have handled, certainly one to be cradled in two hands whilst holding or it will bend right over and crease. So amazingly, this has almost avoided creasing and has hardly any rubbing. Only gently aged with traces of discolouration, that on predominately white surfaces that will rarely avoid a little as the barest minimum. Both sides have intricate fine texturing making it even more prone to wear. The lack of sticker issues is more good news, this will never prove easy to find much better.

Top Edge: Very thin, but still straight with any rubbing relatively mild on white surfaces.

Bottom Edge: Similar to above with more rubbing towards the ends, but no splits or repairs.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Moderate quite patchy rubbing, the record enters on this fragile edge and is guaranteed untrimmed or enhanced.

Spine and Text: Again very thin indeed, but solidly intact with patchy surface rubbing. The majority of the perilous text still present with any clipping or letter erosion light, it is still largely readable as-seen.

Corners: Moderate tip rubbing, but being white card, this registers far less than it would have done on a darker design. Fine shape retained with no heavy knocks.

Cover Summary: ‘Fragile’ hardly covers this immensely delicate thin sleeve, given its flimsy build, this has actually fared generally well. It should please many collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT(–): this a heavy duty polylined white inner that has darkened with age, but has little else to fault. The Virgin Record stored in Oxford Street London put their stamp on one corner in red. It has little creasing, only natural paper crinkle, two crisp undamaged window circles and the polylining still fresh and quite clear. All edges unsplit with no repairs. This is UK patented with ‘Foreign Patents Pending’ text.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(+): a very fine visual copy that is very clean with equally fine shine and heavily pressed as the early orange Dawn label records were. Later copies on subsequent Dawn label formats became very thin. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence with any surface traces few, very light and faint as seen critically under bright light. No penetrating stylus scratches, viewed in average room light, barely anything even registers. Visually a super record that should please many, if not most 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 equipment, all listed further down.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This high-quality Baroque folk album plays even above it’s high visual grading with hardly anything to fault – that something I cannot always state on this label. Offering strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear – sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. Any surface sounds are minimal indeed and this is an exceptional clean pressing with no tracking issues* or inherent pressing noises. Few available copies will outperform this early first pressing I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played very lightly and has been quite well stored and carefully handled. Nothing of any note spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record, this only the second copy I have seen or had. It will prove very difficult to find significantly better and can be strongly recommended.

* As played-graded on a high-end Linn LP12 Sondek turntable with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Black moving coil cartridge tracking at 2 grams. Records are a ‘contact’ format, and few will avoid the odd minor sound blemish.

I am one of the most established sellers on Ebay, trading since 2001 and offering the finest 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 all elements of the items I offer for sale. You may notice I only submit records quite sparingly on Ebay as I Play-Grade every record I offer in their entirety – also on higher-end equipment – not just bits to guess a grade – visuals alone do not always tell a true story. I will try to 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 it’s good. I get just as much pleasure offering a relatively common record in near mint condition as the real rare items. All the pictures I use for your guidance are the item being offered with no digital enhancements. Room light factors can make things vary sometimes, that is hard to control, especially in winter. I hope the item below is to your liking – any questions can be emailed and I will do my best to answer you. I am enthusiastic, and have a fair degree of knowledge about many genres and I promise quality items. Please assume all records I offer have NO jumps, sticks, major 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 Quintet Black moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2 grams). Amps: Naim Supernait 2 with Project USB phono stage and Tellerium Black interconnects. Speakers: B&W 805 Nautilus (bi-wired with Tellurium Black terminated cable) with REL subwoofer. All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Nessie 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 D7500 DSLR 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.

PLEASE NOTE: I now exercise my right to open a dispute after the Ebay rule of TWO days if no payment is received. I will then cancel the dispute to end the bid, 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 as will any suspicious bids or bid bid retractions. 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] = £4.75

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7.50. (this includes insurance of £500). Add £1 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: EUROPE & SCANDINAVIA. (Airmail Only):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£50 maximum]) = £12.50 (enhanced Royal Mail insurance is an optional extra £3). Add £2 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]) = £16.50 (£17.50 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 only 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 2 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive – if not I will relist the item or offer to the runner-up.

My Guarantee: If any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund if the item is returned in the same condition is was sent e.g. as per the listing pictures.

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, 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.