PACIFIC DRIFT Feelin’ Free RARE ORIG UK 1970 EX DERAM NOVA LP, RARELY SEEN GEM.

	£		122
	$		162

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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: PACIFIC DRIFT

Album Title: Feelin’ Free

Producer(s): Wayne Bickerton

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Plaster Caster’s U.S.A.; Tomorrow Morning Brings; Feelin’ Free; Just Another Girl; Garden of Love; Norman.

Side 2: Grain of Sand; Greta the Legend; Going Slow; God Has Given Me; Happy Days.

Label/Format: Deram Nova (a small subsidiary of Decca) with matt gently textured surfaces.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and attractive with only relative few quite light spindle marks and no wear around the hole area. This rare album appears modestly played and sounds great.

Catalogue Number: SDN 13

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps or Lateral Movement: Assume all records I offer have no significant warping or lateral movement to cause sound or tracking issues. All should play fine even on budget turntables.

Weight of this Record: 157 grams.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Rare. Deram Nova were a small subsidiary of Deram, who were part of the Decca group. The bands and artists who appeared on it were more obscure progressive acts outside the mainstream with scant commercial potential. Few albums were made on this scarce label, and fewer still sold anything like well. There were several really brilliant albums issued on Nova, and all are at least interesting. However, most quickly disappeared into obscurity and deleted, the label itself was short-lived as well and folded quickly issuing only 22 albums in the UK before it did so, all albums on Dera, Nova very collectable especially for prog-rock fans.

Original Year of Release: 1970

Matrix Nos: ZAL-9405.P-1W / ZAL-9406.P-2W

Mothers / Stampers: 1 U / 1 U

Musicians: Barry Reynolds – lead vocal, lead guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar; Brian Chapman – piano, organ, harpsichord, vocals; Graham Harrop – bass guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals; Lawrence Arends – drums, percussion, vocals. With: Jack Lancaster – flute.

Brief Info: Formed in England in the late 1960s, this was the first and only album by Pacific Drift. A very fine set, but largely going unnoticed like most others on this small Deram progressive subsidary Nova label. The lack of any real success, the band followed many other progressive bands at this time and folded – the Nova label did same short afterwards making the band and label a collectable piece for fans of this brand. This a very fine stereo copy that appears only modestly used. The cover has fared well and the record plays superbly with no more than a tiny few gentle ticks on ‘Tomorrow Morning Brings’ that register little and disappear fast with most of the song playing perfectly – as do the rest of the songs. Finding a much better copy of this will prove very difficult and this my first copy for many years.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT: arguably better. A single format with front Clarifoil laminate, this covers all the folds and ends on the back via the spine edge. The main back is matt and smooth and includes the mono/stereo peep-hole, the blue inner sleeve denotes this is a stereo copy. A very late album into the 1970s that was still available in both modes. Printed and made in England by Upton Printing Group and includes the Decca blue inner sleeve in superb condition which is crucial as it helps form part of the main cover.

Lamination & Front: The laminate retains excellent shine, freshness and clarity with minimal hint of dulling and barely a trace of lifting. Any creasing fine and light mostly near the edges with any marks or rim impression light. The graphic looks superb retaining lovely deep colour and hardly aged at all. Overall, attractive and impressive, as well as elusive.

Cover Back: The wear-prone back has little. Minimal rubbing or creasing, or even ageing for a surface what will seldom wear well. The peep-hole is crisp and totally undamaged virtually as-made. A fine looking back to complement the impressive front.

Top & Bottom Edges: Both smooth, straight and unworn.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Mostly sharp with any thickening tiny, very patchy and light, hardly any really. Record enters on this edge.

Spine and Text: Solid, straight with some reasonably light patchy compression, the ends are pinched in manufacture. The text is unworn under the solid and unpeeled laminate.

Corners: Any tip rubs or creasing tiny and light, very fine to excellent shape retained with no heavy knocks.

Cover Summary: A very strong all-round example of this rare and wear-prone early 1970’s cover, one that will prove very difficult to find much better. This attractive item should please many collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT(++): and arguably better. These vintage inners are rarely seen much better than this. This the correct blue stereo inner to fill the main cover peep-hole, this is still very clean and fresh, overall, hardly aged at all. No creasing, any crinkle gentle and light with two pristine window circles and the polylining clear and fresh. All edges naturally intact and the blue colour deep and fresh.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT: a very fine visual copy that is very clean with fine shine and heavily pressed on robust quality Decca-made vinyl. A copy with modestly light plays on all the evidence with any surface marks very light, wispy and faint as seen critically under bright light. Viewed in average room light, hardly anything even registers. Visually a super record that should please many 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 ‘lost’ obscurity plays even above it’s high visual grading with hardly anything to fault bar the tiny few very light ticks mentioned above on track two, hardly any and they disappear fast, and register little, little else at all on the rest. 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 a very clean pressing with no tracking issues* or inherent pressing noises. Few available copies will outperform this early first pressing I feel sure. The 1 U / 1 U mothers and stampers mean it was one of the very first pressed ‘U’ being the second in the pressing sequence. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played modestly and has been generally well stored and carefully handled, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. Nothing of any real note spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this lovely record. 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.