URIAH HEEP Look at Yourself RARE ORIG UK 71 1st Press LP

	£		141
	$		187

ONEADAYRECORDS – Simply Delivering Quality Music to the World.

Postage: UK £4.25. Europe £12. Rest of World £16. ALL signed for in quality, safe packaging – I NEVER use mailing envelopes.

NOTE: I now apply the Ebay ‘4-day’ rule for non-payment. I try to keep my P&P prices as low as possible after the very significant Royal Mail price increases and will never compromise on solid, safe packing.

Artist or Band: URIAH HEEP

Album Title: Look at Yourself.

Producer(s): Gerry Bron.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Look at Yourself; I Wanna Be Free; July Morning.

Side 2: Tears in My Eyes; Shadows of Grief; What Should Be Done; Love Machine.

Label/Format: Bronze – ‘Age of Man’ format with the original ILPS Island catalogue number and ‘i’ logo as clearly seen on the label scan. This also included on the first issue cover.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and highly attractive with just one or two fine and faint spindle marks and no wear around the hole area.

Cat Number: ILPS 9169.

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: 142 grams. Way above average and the heaviest copy of this I have ever had.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Scarce: and rarer still with the very first -1U/-1U matrixes as seen below. This one being little played and offering fantastic, little short of perfect sound throughout. This too with an little-worn cover with a superb super-shiny unfogged mirror and pristine frame cut-out. For me, the least-seen Uriah Heep original and the hardest in fine condition.

Original Year of Release: 1971

Matrix Nos: ILPS 9169 A-1U / ILPS 9169 B-1U [the earliest matrixes, even slightly later ones were not ‘1’s and omitted the PORKY etched credit]

Stamper Codes: 1 GA / 1 GD

Run-Out Groove Etchings: ‘PORKY’ [on side one]

Musicians: Ken Hensley - organ, piano, guitar, acoustic guitar, vocal; Mick Box - lead guitar, acoustic guitar; David Byron - lead vocal; Paul Newton - bass guitar.

Brief Info: Uriah Heep’s third album and first on Bronze Records, which at first came under the imprint of Island (ILPS) Records. This is an album that got them (and the owner) more noticed by the pretty amazing cover and the slightly more commercial sound. Still unpopular with the critics of the day but their fans loved them. It includes one of their greatest tracks, the brilliant ‘July Morning’, one of their live favourites. The sleeve has always been the utmost difficult part of this set, one that never wears well and that is something of an understatement. With a very large cut-out box and an ultra shiny insert that resembles a mirror, this is usually seen in very poor condition. The ‘mirror’ itself gets covered in scratches and gouges and dulls very quickly if not stored well. This one has one of the best ‘mirrors’ I have seen for decades, with few marks and supreme shine, the lack of dulling is rare and what a difference this makes seen like this. The frame area of the remaining cover is ultra delicate and seldom seen without edge burring and often torn. Here, the frame-end is crisp and sharp and totally unburred. Included also is the lyric insert which is also very nice. It did have a movement bottom edge split, but I neatly repaired it to avoid getting bigger, how almost indetectable. The thick and heavy record has light surface marks seen critically under light, but offers fantastic clean sound with any minor visual blemishes superficial with no audio affect at all. A very fine all-round copy that will please many collectors and most-all who want superb sound quality.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT: and probably undergraded at that. A cover seldom seen without often significant wear and damage. A single format, unlaminated with the front cut out square for the reflective part to fit into. This original was printed and made in England by the E. J Day Group – later ones that look very similar were made by Robor. Manufactured and distributed by Island Records.

Cover Front: One of rock’s near impossible front covers to photograph: any flash just reflects off and makes the mirror appear black – which is isn’t. No flash makes it appear dull and put artificial light on it and it reflects all that appears above it – just like a mirror should. The best way to describe the reflective surface is it appears like tight tinfoil. This one VERY reflective indeed and this still incredibly shiny and bright. A small few very light marks to the ‘mirror’ seen more under light. This retains a supreme shine and freshness that few will ever match. No dulling or friction rubs at all to his crucial centrepiece that will prove immensely difficult to find better. The purple box frame is pristine with no burring or splits, that equally difficult and unusual. The rest has minimal traces of rubbing but has a fine line surface mark on the right and a few creases, all but one being fine edge types. Minimal rim impression and no real ring wear, again a bonus. Not perfect, but it will never prove easy to find much better these days.

Cover Back: Again a little mainly light edge creasing but little else to fault on an uncompromising and wear-prone back. Clean, fresh and the lack of rubbing and especially ring wear to the unforgiving ink is a large and welcome bonus.

Top Edge: Barely any hint of wear at all, and still very straight.

Bottom Edge: Any rub traces tiny, few and faint, again straight.

Right Edge(s), and Type: The front has a proper folded edge as the front is double thickness that supports the mirror from the inside. This silver edge barely rubbed at all and still very neat indeed. The back very thin edge is very clean and sharp with hardly any wear. Any hint of thickening or burring very faint indeed as seen critically viewed end-on. This is guaranteed untrimmed. Record enters on this edge.

Spine and Text: This first format had a fairly thin spine that always seem to have natural crinkle, I would imagine a trait of the construction for holding the shiny part. This is solid and quite straight and importantly has little wear to it’s fragile surface. All text, including the original ILPS number, is fully present, unrubbed or worn to any noteworthy degree. Again, I have seldom seen this particular one with so much intact, this text is more often seen eroded and worn.

Corners: Any tip rubs are very small indeed and very fine to excellent shape is retained.

Cover Summary: This would have been a spectacular gimmick cover within the Vertigo Spiral range, but they had now made the move to Island-Bronze. When such a large amount of card is removed to make a ‘window’, for the mirror, the weakening of the cover’s structure is more than obvious. So the lack of damage and modest wear is a bonus. Not perfect, but many collectors will enjoy it for sure.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT” or close to. An unlined inner and with all the lyrics. The top opening has a wide recessed edge and even this is neat and sharp. Mild traces of rim impression with any grubbiness or marks gentle, few and light. As stated further up, a modest bottom edge movement split was very neatly repaired by myself to stop the possibility of further widening – it is almost inconpicuous. The back has two exterior flipbacks and both neat and undamaged, there are hardly any creases to the inner at all. With only the mildest hints of ageing, this fragile inner is in quite impressive condition overall.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: NEAR EXCELLENT: with little more than very fine surface marks under light or mild hairlines – there are no penetrating scratches on this record – hence no pops or clicks noted. A very fine visual copy that is clean, shiny, intense black and quite heavily pressed. Somewhat heavier than any other I have had, and my first worthy copy for quite some time anyway. A copy with modest plays on all the evidence, going by the superb labels, very few, but as stated, there are some fine surface marks evident if looked closely enough. Visually still a lovely record that should please many collectors, but not the visual perfectionists.

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 minuscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This much more elusive ILPS first issue record plays above it’s visual grading with practically nothing to fault. 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 barely even registered this is a superb pressing, I noted no pops or clicks – the fine surface marks or minor visual blemishes ignored. Few copies will outperform this top quality early pressing. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this elusive album which remains one of my favourite within their catalogue. This copy could prove difficult to find significantly better and the cover will rival or better most around. Taking the whole package, a copy I can strongly recommend, my first worthy example for what has been a considerable long time.

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 Terrarium Black 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 8,000+ items sold in over 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 2 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). All postage costs are below and at the top of the listing.

NOTE: First Time Bidders: Please ask 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] = £4.25

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £8. (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 [£50 maximum]) = £12 (enhanced 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 [£50 maximum]) = £16 (£17 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 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’.