VAN MORRISON Astral Weeks UK 1968 Orig LP

	£		206
	$		273

Artist or Band: VAN MORRISON

Album Title: Astral Weeks

Cat Number: WS 1768 .

TRACK LISTING:

Side 1: “In the Beginning’’: - Astral Weeks; Beside You; Sweet Thing; Cyprus Avenue.

Side 2: “Afterwards’’: - Young Lovers Do; Madame George; Ballerina; Slim Slow Slider.

Label/Format: Warner Bros – original orange format – please look and enjoy, this title will not be seen on them very often. (Please see my label scan).

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and highly attractive with only very light and faint spindle marks and no wear around the hole area. I have never seen this title as a genuine original with better, cleaner labels that give strong indications of few plays.

Country of Manufacture: England.

A Special Note and Rarity: Original orange WB copies of this wonderous record are very rare make no mistake about it. Even the early green label repressings are not so easy either - but an orange ‘Astral’ is a very special record. The sadly out-of-touch price guides until recently gave few clues of the real rarity of this album as an original – that said the value is now rising apace. It did not chart, sold in very small numbers and has always been very elusive and most that show up are trashed. It’s classic status remains undimished and demand for orange label originals is high amongst serious collectors. Although the record has a few light and fine marks – as most albums of this great age will as a very least – I consider this an exceptional copy as the few that surface are usually trashed and unplayable. All but one of these marks have no sound, but a fine one on ‘Beside You’ does have several low-level clicks. This incredibly intense song makes them notice less, I was concentrating more on Van’s amazing vocals and the words more than a few mild clicks that soon passed anyway. Morrison takes you to a different world here, this man was on a creative high here and was truly inspired – a massive change in direction from the classic RnB of Them. Few noticed it on issue, even fewer shelled out to buy a copy and those special orange labels were not available for very long before being replaced to the more familar green format. I have never and doubt if ever will find a pristine original of this album but this one is the very best I have ever had even with the mild blemish to the aforementioned song. The cover has aged little and remains very attractive and undamaged. It has the original WS 1768 number of course along with three large rear flipbacks. An impossible album to categorise, simply file this album under ‘genius’.

Original Year of Release: 1968

Matrix Nos: WS 1768 A-2 *T STEREO and WS 1768 B-2 *T STEREO.

Stamper Codes: A 1 / D 2

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: A substantial 151 grams. [These days, many modern Audiophile reissues are pressed on super-heavyweight 180 gram vinyl. Only a small percentage of ‘vintage vinyl’ was ever pressed this heavy. Records pressed in the 1960s averaged around 140 to 150 grams. Records pressed in the 1970s were usually lighter and averaged more around 115 – 125 grams. Some records pressed around 1973 were very thin and light due an oil crisis and shortage around this time. Some records were even issued on recycled vinyl from this period and sounded poor with crackle and surface noise evident from the very first play. If any record I buy is deemed ‘recycled’, I will never offer it, I have a very simple test to detect these records if I suspect this to be the case other than audible imperfection. Some records from this period were even pressed on other materials the most notable was ‘Dynaflex’, used by RCA around this time. Although inferior to vinyl, this at least mostly sounded reasonably acceptable but pressings on this material were wafer thin and flimsy. Beyond the 70s, records often became thinner and lighter still but most played fine but were never quite the quality as from the ‘Golden Era’]. (This was based on ‘average’ weights for 20 records from these eras. Later pressings were usually lighter still).

Brief Artist & Album Info: After the disbandment of Them and a hurried issued Blowin Your Mind, Van Morrison took a short time out and then issued one of the greatest albums ever made - I say this unreservedly and with full conviction - it remains, and always will in my personal top ten albums ever (I actually placed this at nine in my ‘fun-250’ I listed at Christmas on the Net). Recommended and worshipped by the critics for well over 30 years, this underground masterpiece has now become part of the establishment. It cries to be listened to without interruption, which may explain why it failed to reach either the UK or US charts. It wanders and weaves, repeating themes and lyrics as if one song, yet we never tire of ‘gardens wet with rain’, ‘champagne eyes’ or the wonder of how Morrison can make a place like Ladbroke Grove seem so hauntingly evocative. The record is also a great educator in opening your eyes beyond pop, to soul and jazz, and although Morrison continues to return to its themes again and again, this is his core. A true timeless classic of immense beauty and sung with such power and emotion it takes you through highs and lows of joy and sadness. For me one of the greatest lyrical albums ever made, even surpassing the greats like Dylan and Cohen - no music-lover can fail to be moved by this record. This one album alone made this man immortal and it has and never will age. I swear when I was play-grading this copy the shiver and tingle factor rush down my spine came like no other album can make happen. This is a deeply mystical experience, at times almost too intense (‘Beside You’), Morrison puts his entire soul into this song. Divided by the two sides, called ‘In the Beginning’ and ‘Afterwards’ this album has eight tracks, and not even a second of time is wasted, every track is sublime. Few songs can move like ‘Madame George’ or ‘Cyprus Avenue’ and the beauty in ‘Sweet Thing’ and ‘Ballerina” is beyond my words. Delicate strings, interweave with guitar and occasional reeds. The acoustic bass, played by Richard Davis, formerly with Miles Davis’ band gently pulsates from the speakers from this amazingly perfect production. The whole album has an interstellar musical feel and the musicianship throughout is quite magnificent. This record is so very special, to offer a copy as an original is almost an honour and to own one a privilege. Not only is this aural experience difficult to track down, its even harder in anything like decent conditions. With a record that generally plays beautifully and a very attractive original cover, this is a copy way above average. For a delicate 40-year-old record it’s in lovely overall condition and will not realistically be easy to find much better. Bought by the few but cherished and well played for those who did. Of the only two I have seen before, one was significantly marked, the other similar to this one – even though rare, I still will not offer poor playing copies, this album deserves the utmost respect. With such stunning music and mostly clean sound that is totally distortion-free, the odd minor blemish is acceptable to me. A few light clicks on such gems are almost the norm at the very least – I just hope the winning bidder enjoys this monumentous experience even half as much as I did.

Cover Condition and Details: EX+, a single format with a laminated front, three large rear flipbacks, printed and made by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd.

Cover Lamination and Front: The very best example of the famous cover I have ever seen. The laminate is very solid and super clear and still retaining a high gloss shine with barely any friction rubbing or dulling. All if fully adhered with no lifting or blistering, wonderful news for maximum good looks. The lovely artwork of the young Morrison still looks lovely to the eye and has gorgeous deep rich colour. Marks are modest as is any wear, there is no peeling or chipping, even the corners are neat. There are some surface creases but only a couple can be deemed anything close to ‘moderate’ and with normal visibility even these have modest visibility. A few hairline types around the edges are near impossible to avoid on any cover and only a near moderate half moon type lies away from the sides. The laminate ends slightly short of full width on the right edge but even this exposed strip is clean and unchipped avoiding any grime build-up. Overall this front remains highly attractive and given its great age, still in superb condition and, significantly, its the original. Now forty years old, this will take some beating.

Cover Back: This predominately white and unprotected back shows little real wear but has very slightly darkened with age and has fairly mild handling traces but little grubbiness. Some slight toning to the left edge but creasing and ringwear has been avoided and all the artwork and text is unworn. The three vulnerable flipbacks are in supreme shape too and will prove near impossible to find better. With no damage and minimal traces of any end burring, these are really exceptional. Very clean and firmly adhered with no grime-line formation on their ends which are generally very neat. A very few light surface creases and all laminated. Over the years, these could have been badly damaged or buckled from rack or case storage but this has been avoided and they all still look exceptionally neat. An impossibly difficult predominately white back, few will better this significantly and it looks just right for its significantly vintage.

Top Edge: Barely any noteworthy wear on this one.

Bottom Edge: Barely any wear again, a couple of tiny laminate chips only.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Solid and still quite sharp with only very modest thicking to the very edges when viewed end-on, feathering has been avoided as has any softening, again good indication the record has been removed modestly. Record entered on this right outside edge.

Spine and Text: A superb spine too: Solid, quite straight with minimal compression. All text is perfect and unworn and the laminate remains very solid and totally uncracked (and even this has fantastic shine).

Corners: Little wear of note, just tiny tip rubs and small tip crease on a couple. All retain very fine shape and definition.

Cover Summary: A lovely and attractive all round example of this rare classic 60s cover, one that will prove very difficult to find much better and with an orange labelled record inside, well ultra difficult. This highly pleasing and attractive item should please most collectors.

The Inner: A plain white polylined inner was included with the copy and this too is excellent.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: To grade this lovely record EX(-) is hardly doing this justice. With most all originals of this very rare album in such poor condition, this is worthy of a higher grade. A very clean record with fine freshness and shine and pressed on very heavy, thick vinyl. Marks of modestly few and most are fine scuffs or hairlines that have no sound. Just one mark, as mentioned already, has penetrated the surface hence a few mild clicks on ‘Beside You’. This mark is incredibly fine and I hoped it would be ignored but not quite so. The clicks, of which some are obscured by Morrison’s immense vocal power anyway, are fairly brief and caused me minimal irritation, the powerful song captivated the mind rather than any mild blemishes. Still a very fine copy, remember what this could have been subjected too, pretty incredible to avoided anything really damaging and the actual sound quality untarnished. This album was not issued in mono and I would wager many of the few sold initially were played on Dansettes or similar heavy-armed record players. Deep grooves that store incredible sound value and detail and have little degrading in sound quality. It’s just so rare to find a copy minus groovewear distortions or major clunks and pops. Any jolt or drop from those mono needles would have rendered much deep and heavier marks that could have written-off this classic. No such worries here, these indeed are the cleanest playing surfaces I have seen on any ‘orange’ Astral Weeks.

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 snippetts 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 is a record to really get excited about and it’s always a slightly nervous experience to play-grade a genuine rare classic for the ‘first’ time. As soon as the stylus made contact and I heard that gorgeous bassline and strings the tingles began - only the most stunning records and recordings give me this sensation - sounds daft?, well I simply tell it the way it is. This record is gorgeous, the details and clarity make for a very special experience. The emotion from Morrison’s vocals simply flow from the speakers. This is such an emotional trip, you wont be listening out for the odd faint tick or crackle - there are only a gentle few anyway on ‘Beside You’ as mentioned more than enough already. Tracking throughout is easy and effortless and hasten to add no jumps or sticks – the music and vocals just flow. Even better there are no hints of sound degrading or groovewear. All songs play beautifully – minus the mark, this would be near unbeatable and this very early pressing takes you into the recording studio itself. Again I emphasise this was played on one of the most revealing decks ever made, an LP12, it reveals all what’s good and bad on a record and takes no prisoners in revealing all, and with most all being good, I would say that’s a high percentage for a record this age. Few albums, from any genre, take you to a different place quite like Astral Weeks, beautiful is too small a word for this one. A monumental issue and super rare with the orange labels, why this failed to sell initially is a mystery to this very day. Even with the odd minor sound blemish this record does this title near full justice, it will take a very special copy to better it significantly. Let’s be totally honest, few vinyl records this age will be blemish-free from start to finish, and many will be marked and unlistenable with horrendous distortion and noise. This delicate and complex recording still has marvellous sound and only the most critical of listeners would not be happy with it. Given all the facts it’s a record I am delighted, even privileged to offer and its one I am happy to strongly recommend – and those gardens are still wet with rain.

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 with Ittok Mk IV arm and Ortofon Samba Moving Coil cartridge (tracks at 1.8 grams). Amps: Naim Nait 5i with Project USB phono stage and Chord interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Moth vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too.

First-time, zero-rated bidders, who do not ask permission to bid, will be cancelled immediately and blocked – NO exceptions. For winning bidders who I consider excessively slow to make contact or submit payment, I will use my right to block future bids. If any bidder who wins in the final seconds is present to do so, surely they can at least email me to inform of intention and payment method? If swift or promp payment is a problem, please do not bid.

POSTING & PACKING: What You Get: I usually post on Fridays, most will arrive Saturday to make signed-for delivery easier. All records are posted in professional boxes (NOT mailers) with the record(s) 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 TWO thick stiffners for even extra protection. The cover will be placed within a BRAND NEW heavy duty soft protective sleeve and the actual record will be professionally cleaned on my Moth Pro vacuum system to give ultimate clean grooves and playing surfaces and the best possible looks and ultimate sound quality. Printed address labels are used for clarity and well as sender label. 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. Customers requests or special needs for P&P will be respected if at all possible but NOT surface mail abroad. I never make profit on posting and offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible. I will invoice any winning bidder as soon as possible after the auction ends, with the total costs including ‘standard’ or ‘optional extra insurance’ P&P – ALL UK and Russian packets go out non-negotiable Recorded Delivery. My ‘loss’ or ‘damage rate’ is less than 0.1 per percent based on over 4,000+ items sold in over 7 years of Ebay trading and I consider that pretty exceptional.

PLEASE NOTE: I will now only send packets to Russia with Recorded Delivery at a cost of £7 per single LP. If this is unacceptable to Russian collectors, please do not bid. I only want my records to arrive safely and this gives packets a better chance to do so. Also ALL UK packets will be sent with either Recorded or Special Delivery as standard (both have to be signed for). All shipping costs and rules can be found after my description. If they are not acceptable, please do not bid.

NOTE: First Time Bidders: I will cancel ALL first-time bidders with no feedbacks or excessive negatives who do not ask me if its OK to bid first – NO EXCEPTIONS.

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 unless prior notice of any delay is given beforehand. 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 – it’s always worth asking.

SHIPPING COSTS & OPTIONS:

Posting & Packing: UK & CHANNEL ISLANDS all now sent Recorded Delivery:

1 LP (First Class Recorded Delivery with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) [Signed For] = £4 (OPTIONAL).

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7 (OPTIONAL).

Posting & Packing: ALL EUROPE & SCANDINAVIA (NOT RUSSIA, see below) (Airmail Only):

1 LP (Small Packet Standard with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) = £5.

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with included Insurance to Item’s ‘Sold’ Value, £500* Maximum) = £9 (OPTIONAL).

Posting & Packing: RUSSIA (Recorded Only, if this is unacceptable, please do not bid):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ only £7) = £9 (OPTIONAL extra insurance as above).

Posting & Packing: ALL OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. USA (any part); Australia; Canada; Japan and other Far East; (Airmail Only: I NEVER use Surface Mail):

1 LP (Small Packet Standard with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) = £8.

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with included Insurance to Item’s ‘Sold’ Value, £500* Maximum) = £13 (OPTIONAL).

* If Rules allow for that country.

PLEASE NOTE: I always get a Royal Mail ‘Proof-of-Posting’ receipt for ALL packets that are sent out and I am happy to prove this to any customer who wishes to see it via email.

Payment Conditions:

I prefer PayPal or cheque from UK winning bidders. I can accept PayPal from overseas bidders.

The customer can choose their method of shipping with the exception of second class or surface mail overseas – these I will NOT use. The winner bidder chooses his/her posting method and if uninsured is chosen, its their decision and they have to stick with it, I can accept no responsibility if an item is lost in the post. I can only try to claim at standard levels if no enhancement is chosen (£35).

Potential Bidders: Please do not bid if you have negative feedback unless checking first, I will cancel any bids I feel are timewasters. 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 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. If any overseas collector does not understand anything in my listing, please email and ask me to help.

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 neccessarily 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’.