ROLLING STONES Let it Bleed Orig UK COMPLETE

	£		188
	$		249

Hi, I am Mike, I have been a music collector for over 30 years now. I always still try to offer 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 interested collector. You may notice I only submit one or two items a day for Ebay; time rarely allows more as I Play-Grade every record I offer (on a Rega 3 deck with Ortofon cartridge) - 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. 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. A ten pounds record that plays close to new is as important to the collector as a 250 pound record that plays less well. 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. I hope the item below is to your liking - any questions can be emailed and I will do my very best to answer you. Good luck.

Please Note: I will now offer any item to the runner-up after the mandatory Ebay 3 days if no contact is made by the winning bidder. The same applies if no payment is received within the mandatory 7 days so any bidder who has just lost out can still email me to reserve the item as priority second chance. Item wants are always welcome - email me with anything needed, you never know - I may just have a copy in stock

Please read all the information carefully - these adverts take an age to compile properly - so it’s well worth a few minutes of your time to read the details thoroughly. I really cannot take any responsibility if any bidder fails to read any facts that are clearly stated in the advert.

Artist or Band: THE ROLLING STONES

Album Title: Let it Bleed

Cat Number: SKL 5025 Stereo (This was of course issued in mono too).

Label and Condition: Original Decca blue unboxed logos with ffss logo (full frequency stereo sound). Two beautiful very dark and clean examples showing only light and quite faint spindle traces, taken into context, the spindle traces are really very light for this hugely popular record, this is usually found well played or worse. Even more important is the total lack of any wear around the centre hole, no ink has been eroded; the fit around my Rega spindle is still very snug with no give whatsoever. This is a more accurate guide to number of plays and based on all the evidence this copy without doubt has only been only very lightly played. (Please see label scans for all information needed).

Country of Manufacture: England, UK

Rarity: Complete copies of this classic, a word used correctly for this one, are getting almost rare now. This stereo copy on the unboxed format, with the stickered cover and including that highly ellusive poster are fast becoming extinct now. Probably not quite as rare as the mono, but the gap is getting close between the two with available copies now drying up. Although a big seller (of course), this was not available that long on the unboxed format as this changed to the more common boxed format in 1970 - The 1970 Live album, Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out was never issued on as an unboxed album, making Let It Bleed the final Stones record to be issued unboxed. Lightly played copies in EX or better condition are rarer still.

Original Year of Release: 1969

Matrix Nos: XZAL-9663-P-1W and XZAL-9364-P-5W the tiny pressing stampers are 1 CC and 1 UC. This has to be an early pressing.

Brief Artist & Album Info: Another real gem and a pleasure to offer this important treasure. One of the genuine greatest albums ever made by this legendary band - and essential to any serious vinyl collection. No CD or reissue will do for this one. This is complete with original inner, poster and stickered cover as a UK early stereo copy. This is one of those albums that essentially has to be collected in mono and stereo - it has to be played loud too. The sound and mix are quite different and this is not just for the connoisseur, no-one could fail to be awestruck by this very special album and recording. The last Rolling Stones album to feature the presence of the band’s creator, Brian Jones, was a brilliant culmination of all their musical influences over the previous monumental decade. The power of the opening track, ‘Gimme Shelter’, will haunt many of us forever with the memory of the Altamont murder, Jagger’s top hat and scarf and the death of the 60s. The repeated line, ‘Its just a shot away’, complements the repetition of the naively profound lyric of the album’s last track: ‘you cant always get what you want’. The filling in-between, like the layered cake on the cover, is equally delectable. This copy on offer is a very strong one, the cover is very neat with little real wear, the poster is strong EX, unmounted, the odd minor mark and faint ruffling and the actual record looks superb and plays even better with near perfect top quality stereophonic sound. More details below.

Cover Condition and Details: EX graded conservatively - its almost worthy of a (+) really but I deliberately am being extra critical for this album, it’s a single format, laminated front, original sticker on front. Peep hole in back to identify mono/stereo copy from the colour coded inner - mono being red and stereo blue (this has the blue original customised track detail inner (not a lyric sheet). This peep-hole format cover was issed between 1968 to 1970. This cover was made of the quite thin card, not that dissimilar to the early No. 2 cover from 1965. Like that one too this cover was fragile and is often seen creased and laminate dry areas often result, so taking this into account too, this cover is probably undergraded at EX even more. This is a very fine example of one of most famous covers ever produced. A few light signs of wear but bearing in mind its age, scarcity and fragility this is a very fine example.

Cover Lamination: Shiny and clean with only a few very light hairline type creases that show up little - all but one on the edges, as far as creasing goes on this one, this has to be the most ‘crease-free’ one I have seen for ages. No peeling or nasty indentations. There is a small, light dry sliver near the spine edge near the bottom, this really is miniscule and compared to sum this hardly registers or even shows.

Cover Front: Attractive with little wear. Rich colour under that super solid laminate and no damage. The important original sticker is one of the neatest I’ve yet seen, it is unpicked and clean and without any doubt has never been removed and restuck down, any fading is very, very minor.

Cover Back: Not laminated and prone to rubbing and grubbiness, even severe discolouration. This little of the aforementioned, a hint of minor handling discolour but I mean light and any grubbiness is barely 1 on a scale of 10. This back is virtually crease-free and the almost mandatory press mark from the heavy record is very light indeed - this is not ringwear, the light pressmark is confined to the left record entry area and again is quite possibly the lightest I have seen for this. The end of laminate fold over is neat and has only a fine discolour line showing, way better than average I would say. The peep-hole cut out circle is perfect and devoid of any wear. A few faint surface marks but this back sets a high standard.

Top Edge: Unworn.

Bottom Edge: Unworn.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, sharp and unworn, no feathering. Record enters on right outside edge.

Spine and Text: Solid and square with little wear, text is perfect and unworn under uncracked laminate.

Corners: All four show a little minor wear, mostly on the very tips, a tad more on the spine edge corners but still only light really - remember this is 35 years old. All still nicely shaped.

Cover Summary: A lovely all round example of this fragile, classic late 60’s cover, one that could prove hard to find significantly better. This strong item should please most collectors, even the connoisseurs should consider this.

Poster Condition: It has the matt finish with a medium thickness of paper. It folds twice. It is clean and untorn or split. It has some quite minor ruffling, not really creases (on the right hand side) There is a fairly small stain that can maybe just be seen on my picture, its on the first stroke of the n in rolling - its light and really pretty minor really. Importantly the poster appears unmounted, it has no holes in corners, or anywhere else a far as I can see and no blue tack or cellotape marks at all front or back - so presume unmounted. This poster insert is quite ellusive now and will only rarely be found pristine, this is a strong EX poster, maybe better again, still being ultra cautious for this.

Inner Condition: Around EX, inners nearly always took some battering but this has come through its ‘use period’ better than most. The paper is very thin indeed and unlined, so little support hence some moderate ruffling but no splits or real tears (a couple of tiny nicks at the top entrance). This remains clean and all the tracks details are crystal clear and unworn. Its function too of filling the cover’s back ID hole is still maintained.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: Strong EX/EX+, clean and shiny and pressed on heavy vinyl with a jet black colour. This is a superb copy that shows only a few very faint surface traces/odd hairline mark. Any mark is totally superficial, this vintage copy is deep grooved and any mark is simply ignored, there is nothing even remotely deep anyway. Visually this sets a very high standard..

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: More like Mint(-), it exceeds even the high visual grade, it plays brilliantly and is a super pressing that is as quiet as any record I have heard - Decca were in a class of their own, originals and even the reissues. Virtually silent for the most part, this record’s sound and production is near legendary in stereo and mono. Available copies usually soon disappear, examples that have been only been lightly played are now quite rare. My play grading was a total joy - the sound is astonishing with dynamic and detailed sound with no degrading often associated with vintage copies - yes even stereo copies got abused and overused. The sound is clear and sharp and suffers no distortion whatsoever - even the linking grooves play close to silent throughout. Get this on to a quality deck and prepare to be astonished, this does the music quality full justice. (please refer to the paragraph below to put an album like this into perspective)

Mono vs Stereo: Always a matter of opinion. For any serious collector where there is a choice e.g. Beatles, Stones, Hendrix etc. both are essential. True Stereo albums give great imagery and presence whereas mono albums usually are more dynamic, louder and present the detail more clearly. Mono albums are far harder to find in genuinely top playing condition. Most were heavily played, particularly the truly great bands and artists, often covered in marks and scratches, many severe and labels that were a mass of spindle marks. The majority were played on vintage and unsubtle decks with heavy tonearms and thick styli (often sapphire, not diamond, that chipped more easily) that rendered heavy wear in a very short time to many a fine classic record. Wear to the delicate groove walls, particularly the innermost tracks to the labels were most vulnerable where the tracking angle became more severe and the backdrag actually stripped the delicate groove walls. This resulted in surface noise and mild/moderate distortion or worse. These old decks tracked by sheer weight and little of any refined engineering. Next time you see such a deck at a local record fayre, feel the weight of the arm, it almost makes you wonder how any records survived at all. The point of this paragraph is emphasise that when a truly clean, lightly played and great sounding 60s mono album (or stereo come to that) is offered, treasure it, because for sure thery are truly getting vary rare and precious - beware - demand only play-graded records.

Track Listing:Gimme shelter, Love in vain; Country honk; Live with me; Let it bleed; Midnight rambler; You got the silver; Monkey man; You cant always get what you want.

Album Played For Grading: Yes.

Final Summary: An astonishing album and a truly fine copy, this is pretty much investment quality and can only gain in value quickly - its better than cash in the bank. This copy should please most collectors, a close run thing for the perfectionist, that would be them to decide. This really is the crown jewels of Stones albums and remains totally essential - in both mixes - an unboxed copy is almost the cherry on the cake. The imagery on this stereo version is uniqu - this is real thing and nothing comes close. Its clear detailed sound takes you into almost into the recording studio and this is the definitive copy to own. This no way undervalues the mono version because both are vital, they are just different - some prefer one over the other, its a personal choice.. Let it Bleed charted at one in the UK and three in the US, its an album that always features high in any all-time greats list whether compiled by critics or the record buying public. Its true classic stature and timeless brilliance is etched into these vintage grooves forever - the only problem is a record this fine is almost too good to play, but on a modern deck this could last forever - one to cherish. - Mike.

Payment Details please read carefully:

Buyer pays: (UK) £2.50 P&P , for first-class delivery with standard £28 insurance. Items that sell over £80 will be sent via Special Delivery as standard at no extra cost which are insured for £250.

Europe: £4. This is covered up to £28 insurance and would be sent 1st-class airmail. A recorded airmail service is now in place for Europe too: this means any item will be fully insured to its true value, No customs sticker is needed for Europe, so this is a worthwhile investment. This costs extra £5, the item is tracked and the item has to be signed for - I will use this service to Europe as standard for very expensive rare items e.g. records over £125 at no extra cost.

USA, Canada, Australia, Japan and other Far Eastern countries etc: £5.50. This is covered up to £28 insurance and would be sent 1st-class airmail. Please note I do not profit on postage (my packing standards are high and the package weighs a little more).

Extra insurance with recorded delivery is available too for non-Europe countries but will cost an extra £5 also, the item will be covered for up to £250 or even £500 insurance for some detinations - customs label prices will be kept low.

I accept cash for payments worldwide in UK Pounds Sterling, Euros or US Dollars - but this at the senders own risk. Please send registered and insured if this method is chosen. I cannot accept responsibility if any cash payments do not turn up. This system is very reliable and rarely goes astray. The same goes for any shipped uninsured item, I can only try to claim for any undelivered or damaged article at basic insurance levels if no enhanced insurance is requested and paid for (unless the value threshold is high enough for me insure as standard, see above) PLEASE NOTE: I will NOT use surface mail, its too slow, with a higher risk of loss and damage.

Overseas bidders please note conversion rates for Pounds to Dollars and Pounds to Euros will be charged at 1.7 to cover PayPal or cash conversion costs.

PLEASE NOTE: Any PayPal user can now pay me with UK Sterling if they wish with no need to convert to US dollars (although they still can if they wish to). Any instant PayPal transaction from anywhere in the world will mean the item will be sent immediately - it makes deals fast and very efficient.

Mailing Details: All records are sent in plastic covers with the record taken out of the sleeve and sent in professional mailers with FOUR stiffners for extra protection (if space allows). More expensive items are also inserted into a de-luxe heavy duty padded bag AS WELL to give that extra protection. I truly want ALL my items to arrive to their destination in the same condition they leave me.

Potential Bidders: Please do not bid if you have negative feedback unless checking first, I will cancel any bids I feel are timewasters. I now only accept PayPal, International money orders or cash from overseas bidders (UK Sterling, US dollars or Euros). Cash, cheques, postal orders and PayPal are fine from the UK. I allow maximum 3 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive - if this does not happen I will relist the item and may send negative feedback unless an explanation is given. Fast deals get great feedback from me. Any questions - please ask. Please keep watch on my Ebays, I have other intesting items coming very soon. Thanks for looking.

My Guarantee: As listening to every single record I offer all the way through is difficult timewise, can I make it clear if any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund minus the Posting and All Ebay costs as long as the item detail has been read and understood. I will not refund if any defect detail is clearly stated on the advert and missed by the buyer. I still endeavour to play all the items in their entirity for grading if at all possible and is usually the case.