QUEEN A Night at the Opera RARER UK Factory Sample LP

	£		54
	$		71

ONEADAYRECORDS – Delivering Quality Music to the World.

Please see my Detailed Packing Description Further Down & All Shipping Costs and Options – NOTE: I now apply the Ebay ‘4-day’ rule for non-payment.

Artist or Band: QUEEN

Album Title: A Night at the Opera.

Producer(s): Roy Thomas Baker and Queen.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Death on Two Legs/Dedicated to…; Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon; I’m in Love with My Car; You’re My Best Friend; ’39; Sweet Lady; Seaside Rendezvous.

Side 2: The Prophet’s Song; Love of My Life; Good Company; Bohemian Rhapsody; God Save the Queen.

Label/Format: EMI – Beautifully customised format and another Factory Sample as can be seen on my label scan.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and attractive with any tiny spindle traces, few and very faint.

Cat Number: EMTC 103 (YAX 5063).

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 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: 117 grams. A typical weight for this record.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: A very popular album that sold in big numbers, but not so easy to find with a very clean cover (for more than obvious reasons) and so often the record plays noisy with inherent crackle and even distortion. ‘The Prophet’s Song’ is known to be hard to find that plays without unwanted noises – here it plays superbly with practically nothing unwanted. This being a Factory Sample will be harder to find and although it has a few light surface marks, it plays very well indeed with any blemishes very few, brief and light. Side two has three or four fine hairlines that have no sound at all and overall, this is a very fine pressing – and with a very clean and attractive cover and, very unsually, an unsplit inner. This copy also has two very low stampers with first ‘1’ mother codes. Most Queen albums have high-run codes, ‘1’s being difficult enough to find, but single letters, with ‘R’ being only second after ‘G’ (in runs of 300) being very rare indeed.

Original Year of Release: 1975

Matrix Nos: YAX 5063-2 / YAX 5064-2

Stamper Codes: 1 M / 1 R [this rarer Factory Copy is one of the earliest pressings you are ever like to see or be offered]

Run-Out Etchings: ‘BLAIRS’ on both sides.

Musicians: Freddie Mercury – lead vocals, piano, jangle piano, backing vocals, woodwind vocaliszations; Brian May – guitars, ukelele, backing vocals, lead vocals, toy koto, harp; Roger Taylor – drums, percussion, lead vocals, brass vocalisations, backing vocals; John Deacon – bass, double-bass, electric piano.

Brief Info: Queen’s fourth album and arguably most their famous ‘landmark’ issue. This includes the massively successful ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ which spent several weeks topping the singles charts – and at a time when it actually had relevance. An album that was also showing more diversity with various styles of songs and beautifully recorded with reference standard high-fidelity sound. The complexities of the production and engineering is of outstanding quality and the vocal arrangements of the famous single still astonish even today. Shame it’s so often let-down by less than wonderful pressing quality, the standard being variable at best. The cover again mentions no synthesisers were used. Superbly packaged, this album sold very well but is never too easy to find in top conditions. The cover, more often than not, becomes very yellowed, toned and grubby and is far less seen still a nice shade of white. A very popular record, most often seen with a swathe of spindle marks and clearly well played. Light, or little played examples inside still incredibly attractive covers are much more of a premium. Factory Examples are seldom seen or offered and this one is far better pressed than many I have heard in the past.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(++): an unlaminated gatefold format with matt finish. The front emblem being embossed. Printed and made in England by Garrod & Lofthouse and also includes the Trident logo inside. The original wide top opening inner sleeve is included too.

Cover Front, Back and Inside: This is immediately pleasing to the eye as it lacks the grubbiness, darkening, nicotine staining and yellowing so many are seen with. Any traces of discolouration or grubbiness are ultra faint and minimal. The lack of marks and the impressively clean surfaces are due to cover protection by the owner, that is the only chance this one has of remaining looking attractive after all these years. I am not saying this is pristine, but it will take something quite special to better all the surfaces on this unforgiving cover. The lack of creasing and significant marks is always a tough ask, but this barely any and the fabulous emblem on the front is immaculate. Both inside faces of the centrefold look practically Mint as made.

Top & Bottom Edges: All four still very white and looking great with barely any friction traces or marks. Being white, these of course will show any minor blemish but these will be hard to find better and all four remain very straight too.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Both little short of as made. The front is tucked and folded, not cut in manufacture. The open back is incredibly sharp and precise and is guaranteed untrimmed.

Spine and Text: Immaculate: the spine is in supreme condition also. Solid, robust and quite thick. Straight, uncompressed and folded square, the edges meet up quite closely together and all parallel. The manufacture trim not quite flush but still neat and that’s out of my control. All text is perfect and unworn and incredibly, still very white again without any toning from light exposure or nicotine.

Corners: Probably getting boring now, but. All corners are in fantastic condition with no creasing, dinking or rubbing worthy of note. All have superb pointed shape and great definition.

Cover Summary: An exceptional example of this classic mid-70’s cover, one that will prove very difficult to find much better. With the majority really showing their ages (and poor storage history) freely, this is a very impressive example. This classic cover should please most Queen collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: MINT(-): an illustrated unlined card inner and one of the very few of these I have seen with NO edge splits or repairs. This has the wide recessed top opening with different angle cut corners, one still traditionally square. Minor record impression and a fine surface crease on the back that shows little. The lack of rubbing and ageing makes this inner impressive to the eye and few will better it. This will be posted inside the cover to avoid setting-off on the white cover’s surface.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELELNT: and a little difficult to grade really as side two does have three or four fine surface marks, but they have NO sound whatsoever and this copy plays superbly – and not all will that is for certain. A lovely visual copy that is very clean, shiny, intense black and solidly pressed. The card inner is particularly hard and harsh and I guess many, if not most had the record rammed inside when being packaged (or even used by the majority). Few of these will escape a few light surface marks as the very least, similar hard cover albums were the same, one that springs to mind is Led Zeppelin’s ‘Physical Grafitti’, the record’s on that suffer the same fate as do many of the mid-70s Pink Floyd albums. Most collectors will know this of course anyway. The really important matter is this has hardly been played and also the sound quality is outstanding. For visuals an excellent grading does not do it justice and side one has barely any blemishes at all.

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: This landmark, groundbreaking and classic record plays above its visual grading with very little to fault. Strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear - sound quality is astonishing with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. From the beginning this band wanted high sound standards and this again is beautifully produced with immense power and detail. A real high fidelity masterwork that has arguably the best imaging ever made. Devoid of any noteworthy surface sounds and no pops or significant clicks were noted and this is an exceptional clean pressing that on any quality system, will excel. The opener on side two, ‘The Prophet’s Song’ is very difficult to find clean – many copies simply crackle and those ultra complex multi-tracked vocals are ruined, often by mild distortion and cutting sounds. NO such issues on this one, that difficult song plays superbly, even the passage where the grooves get dark and compressed, that is where the issues usually lie, but have no fears here. Few examples will match or outperform this certainly better pressed Factory Sample I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp and all those incredible vocals are sharp, precise and focused, and just listen to that beautiful punchy double-bass on ’39, only the analogue record will offer such incredible clarity and detail. I know this record has been played very lightly and has been clearly well stored and carefully handled within in a non-smoking environment. Demo and Factory Samples will sometime acquire the odd mark or two within the factory, remember, these were not really made for distribution and never ended up in shop racks for sale. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record. For audio quality and clarity, this copy will prove immensely difficult to find 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 QED Silver 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 7,000+ items sold in nearly 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 3 or 4 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). I will not respond to questions on shipping costs as all the details are included here and on ALL of my adverts. Details below:

NOTE: First Time Bidders: Please as 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.

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7.50. (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 [£46 maximum]) = £10. (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 [£46 maximum]) = £14. Add £4 per extra LP. (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’.