SPRING LP Neon Label

£ 136

$ 180

£ 136 Sold For

Jan 19, 2006 Sold Date

Jan 12, 2006 Start Date

11 Number Of Bids

Great Britain Country Of Seller

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Description

Copies of this record come along very infrequently. This album is catalogue number NE6, issued in 1971, on the NEON label - a truly rare record. I've owned it from new and looked after it well (always been kept in a sleeve and only played on a high quality turntable). I've been watching it's price rise over the last few years and, unfortunately, now need the cash.

This album shows signs of careful use, there are no hairlines and surface marks. Although I'm a pure music lover and not a professional collector/expert, I'll do my best at grading it..... I would grade the vinyl visually as EX. The audio quality is VG, especially for an album over 30 years old. The triple-opening outer sleeve has very minimal wear on the edges and spine - overall I would grade as VG.

Spring has a legendary status among keyboard wonks; while many bands bubbled up from the creative ferment of the English progressive scene in 1970, only Spring was cheeky enough to employ three mellotronists in its lineup. To anyone familiar with the exasperating unreliability of the Mellotron, particularly when on the road, it's staggering that this band managed to record and tour for two years without either murdering each other or their instruments.

The band formed in Leicester in 1970, and their unusual lineup was soon noticed by others. In 1971 the band released its first and only eponymous release. Featuring a combination of massed Mellotrons, melodic guitar and smoky vocals, it's comparable in some ways to the Moody Blues or the more pastoral moments of King Crimson. The album's dramatic trifold cover of a fallen redcoat trailing blood into a stream quickly made it a favourite among vinyl collectors.

Although a second album was nearly completed, the band split apart before it could be released. The band members drifted into careers in production and session work; guitarist Ray Martinez went on to play in Airwaves; drummer Pique Withers, after a slight change of name to the more suitably twangy Pick Withers, surfaced as a member of the newly formed Dire Straits in 1978.

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