Joni Mitchell Blue 1977 Reprise MS 2038 Reissue Gatefold LP Play Tested

$

38

• Joni Mitchell.
• Blue.
• Reprise MS 2038 1977 Reissue LP.

Item Details
Manufactured in: USA
Recorded: 1971 At A&M Studios Hollywood, CA
Original Issue: June 22, 1971
This Issue: 1977 (based on matrix and label design)
Label: Reprise MS 2038
Runout Deadwax Matrix Numbers:
Side 1: (etch:) MS-1-2038 RE-2 LW-2 (stamp:) 1
Side 2: (etch:) MS-2-2038-RE-2 LW-2 (stamp:) 2
Was bought new by this seller many years ago and now offered from his private collection (you have absolutely known provenance). Has had just a few plays only on an expertly setup high-end audiophile turntable, arm, and cartridge. Has never been exposed to heat or tobacco smoke and always stored vertically in a specially designed record cabinet (Rackit) to prevent warpage.
Was cleaned on a VPI HW 16 with Audio Intelligent solutions and ultra-pure water rinse (50X purer than distilled water) before my pre-sale sound check. I wear nitrile surgical gloves while cleaning and play testing to avoid any chance of transferring finger oils to the vinyl.

Very sensitive play testing was performed straight off my Ayre P-5xe fully balanced phono preamp over Sennheiser HD 600 headphones using a Schiit Audio Valhalla 2 tube headphone amp fitted with Voskhod Soviet matched tubes (see last photo).

Track list
1: All I Want, My Old Man, Little Green, Carey, Blue, .

2: California, This Flight Tonight, River, A Case Of You, The Last Time I Saw Richard.

I never take "distant" photos nor the so-prevalent type with the LP sticking halfway out of the jacket. I take close-ups under photo lamps so you can see nearly everything I describe in the jacket grading. It is virtually impossible to know the true vinyl condition from any photograph. That takes very bright and close visual inspection PLUS play testing with thorough coverage on high resolution equipment.
Grading Details
Note: Grading LPs by text characters is subjective and at best are only a guide as no two used records are of exactly the same quality. Please, refer to both my photo evidence and detailed descriptions to judge by YOUR OWN grading standards. Questions are always welcome. eBay no longer allows me to enter separate grades for each side of the sleeve or record so you may not see any in the box above but are listed below. Play quality is personally most important to me so vinyl visual qualities are graded and described in detail separately for your complete assessment.

Outer Jacket Inspection/grading:
VG+/VG+
On the front there is the start of ring wear at the top and bottom edges. There are 2 flecks of abrasion at the top left corner as seen in the photo. There are 2 mild horizontal surface indentations across the top. All four corners have some moderate rubbing wear and the top & bottom edges have lighter wear from shelf sliding. The rear face face has a little more extensive ring wear than the front with some abrasions in the middle as seen in photos. The rear has the same horizontal indentations leading me to believe it was manufactured that way.  The jacket is still very sturdy with no split seams or staining

Vinyl visual inspection/grading:
NM--/NM-
Side 1 looked nice and glossy except for a few nanometer-thin polishing trails from sleeve sliding.  Under close tilting I found a very light and thin reflective hairline extending from the middle of T3 through T4. I made a note to listen very carefully through that area to see if that line caused any repeating ticks per revolution (see play grading details below). Side 2 looked very clean deeply reflective and glossy. I found only one short hairline bridging T1 & T2 and made a note on that for checking during play test.

Play Testing:
NM--/VG++
Extensive play testing was performed after visual inspection. I listened to the beginning, middle, and end of each track for a few minutes on each needle drop. Some tracks were played all the way through. I also listened to all lead-in, lead-out and transition grooves between each track. Continuous written notes were taken. Here is rundown of each side from my notes.

Side 1 Play
The lead-in grooves into T1 had the very typical mild crackle that extended a bit into the first few seconds of T1 but then quickly disappeared. Joni's voice and dulcimer were beautifully recorded on this track. While listening to this track I was impressed by how clear and clean the music sounded and how quiet the vinyl was. T2 sounded very clean and the transition grooves were pretty quiet as well. T3 is an older song of Joni's that has been highly acclaimed by other musicians and it is a gem. During this song I did detect a few random high frequency ticks with low energy that did not distract from the music except for one single tick that did. T4 has always been one of my favorites and it was nice and clean. The last title track ("Blue") was just gorgeous in musical and sound quality. I listened long enough and carefully enough to conclude that the hairline I observed visually did not produce any repeating ticks. It was thus only on the very top surface of the vinyl and did not affect the groove modulations. I would have easily graded a solid NM for this side but for the vinyl artifacts noted above that I think need a double minus downgrade.

Side 2 Play
On track 1 I picked up 3 separate random ticks of moderate volume during the first 1/8" of groove length. I wouldn't describe them as "pops" but they were noticeable enough to reveal here. The rest of the track was fine. T2 was very clean, and there were no repeating ticks running between T1 and T2 that could be attributed to the hairline seen during visual inspection. I thought T3 had a few more random low level background ticks than other tracks on this side but is was a top pick for me and I enjoyed listening to it very much. T4 opens beautifully with Joni's dulcimer and her extraordinary voice. The recording and mastering sounds very intimate and has great purity. The vinyl also stayed very quiet throughout the track. My notes said: "perfect!" T5 was another of my favorites and it too was clean & clear. Just Joni and her piano. I was torn a bit trying to decide on a letter grade for this side as I felt it laid somewhere between VG++ and NM-. I settled on VG++ because of those 3 ticks in the start of T1 and wanted to be more conservative for the final overall grade.

Aside from the above noted vinyl pressing artifacts, I was impressed with how much both sides sounded "new" like a fresh LP first out of its jacket. I think this historic album could bring much listening pleasure to a new owner.

Packaging

• Record will be placed outside the jacket to protect against seam splitting.
• Original blue inner sleeve is not included separately as it was replaced some years ago with a better archival type.
• After cleaning the record has been placed into a new MFSL-style "rice paper" plastic sleeve. This will keep vinyl surfaces free of dust or abrasion during shipping and ultimate buyer usage.
• Outer jacket is contained in a new clear polyethylene protective sleeve.
• Sent in good quality record mailer with cardboard stiffeners.

Shipping

• Shipping will be via USPS Media Mail for a flat charge of $3.98 per single album sale.
• A combined shipping discount is available on multiple sales completed on the same day($3.98 plus $0.50 for each additional LP).
• If you do buy more than one LP  on the same daydo not pay immediately but wait for my all-combined invoice. A discount for the combined items will show on that invoice. Then, once payment is received, the items will ship.