ALICE COOPER Killer RARER 1972 Import Calendar+Sticker.

	£		69
	$		91

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Artist or Band: ALICE COOPER

Album Title: Killer

Producer(s): Bob Ezrin.

Cat Number: K 56005.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Under My Wheels; Be My Lover; Halo of Flies; Desperado.

Side 2: You Drive Me Nervous; Yeah, Yeah, Yeah; Dead Babies; Killer.

Label/Format: Warner Bros – Original Green format. (Please see my label scan).

Label Conditions: Both clean and attractive with mainly light spindle marks and no wear around the hole area. A couple of more ‘scuffy’ ones on side one show more.

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: 131 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).

Country of Manufacture: Cover: Canada. Record: England. Imported covers for less than commercial overseas bands were sometimes used on early copies, they are much rarer here.

Rarity: Early copies with a 1972 calendar are quite scarce and in anything like fine, intact condition far more so. Most seen are later copies with the 1973 calendar and later still ones became a single format.

Original Year of Release: 1971

Matrix Nos: K 56005 A1 / K 56005 B1

Musicians: Alice Cooper – vocal; Neil Smith – drums; Dennis Dunaway – bass; Glen Buxton – guitar and Mike Bruce – guitar.

Album Information: Following two fairly obscure psych albums and the brilliant ‘Love it to Death’, all originally issued on Zappa’s Straight label, this fourth album was the first to appear on Warner from day one. This is king of the macabre at his very best and along with the previous album, a real favourite. Practically as dark as the previous album, this again has real menace and this before he really became a household name and pushed his showbiz ghoulishness still further. Songs of desperados, dead babies, killers and executions are the order of the day - you must remember that slow drum beat and organ to the scaffold before our Alice is hanged for his crime on the albums title track – a truly blood-curdling finale. But for me, the finest track on this gem is ‘Halo of Flies’, his full-throttle scream of the title still sends a shiver down by spine. This is a much rarer very early copy featuring the gatefold cover with the 1972 version calendar (please see close-up of this detail). A very few early copies included import covers, this one being Canadian which is thicker and includes a rare Warner brothers sticker for the UK market. correct K 56005 (UK) catalogue number. Somewhat unusual to put a label sticker on the front cover, but I can only think it was better than covering more important artwork on the back. Being a fairly complicated cover, maybe the UK versions were not readily available for the early copies, this is only speculation. This version has a slightly thicker spine with the band and title text. The 1972 calender is held on the main cover by delicate perforations, these always weakened over time and eventually became detached from the main cover. Many are indeed found with the calendar totally pulled off or even missing. Also later copies omitted the calendar altogether, to find an early version with a TOTALLY intact cover is very difficult. This has NO perforation pulls or any detached, that is a near impossible ask, but this one is fully intact and unsplit. So with real care, this fine cover can remain fully intact forever. Not only is this early calendar genuine proof of an early pressing, this cover is massively difficult to find without substantial wear. The early examples have thicker card with a more intense orange colour and a very matt finish. Usually the orange front fades, ringwears, chips and looks shabby and tired very quickly. This one is not perfect but one of the better and earliest ones I have seen for some time. Also the record enters via the centrefold making for even more damage potential. With usage, pressing on a single thickness spine with those vulnerable performations nearby, makes for a high-risk and very few will ever survive intact. With an A1/B1 record included that plays nigh-on perfectly, this is a very fine example of what is a very difficult record.

This Cover’s Potential for Wear: Very High Indeed: Seldom seen with an early calendar fully attached (and this guaranteed with NO repairs). The orange front is off-the-scale for rubbing and ringmarks.

Cover Condition and Details: Slightly difficult to grade this overall: with six full-size faces, these vary from Very Good to Near Mint. So an average overall grading of near Excellent will not be far out. All the main faces are described below. With so many of the early ones totally trashed and in pieces, this fully intact rarer Candian cover, imported for the UK market is in very fine condition. A gatefold format with open-out calendar flap, the year is 1972 on this one, most of the few found that have the calendar still attached are 1973 versions (or possibly later). This is certainly one of the better examples I have ever seen for this notoriously easily worn item. Unlaminated and with a very intense deep rich orange front cover, a sure recipe for wear and tear - tear literally for the calendar flap. As stated above, ALL the perforations for the detachable calendar are still in tact and strong. The rare Warner import sticker has never been removed.

Cover Front: This has rubbed and dulled around the record’s rim shape only moderately near the top and much less near the bottom and very little of the orange ink has been lost. There is a mildish and small corner dink on the bottom left, hence a fairly small crease. A few very small surface marks but the intense orange colour has not faded and this looks quite different to the much paler UK version. The K 56005 sticker is totally untampered with and has only mild grubbiness and razor-sharp edges. Slightly showing its age a little but with hardly any creasing and any wear to the massively vulnerable artwork fairly light, this menacing old snake still has excellent visual impact.

Cover Back: An exceptional back with really deep rich colour also, that eerie green hue rare looks much better than this. Few marks at all and any rubbing very light and little indeed. Barely any ringwear and as near crease-free as they ever get and marks few. This looks real nice.

Cover Gatefold Inner: The right (band) picture, is again in great condition with little wear at all. Again incredible intensity on the orange glowing faces this time, I have rarely seen one to better this. The left side seen in a mauve-purple colour, shows only mere traces of any rubbing and has somehow avoided ‘set-off’ from the opposite face, clean and virtually uncreased. When opened (fold at top) the gruesome intensity of the hanging Alice is immediately quite shocking and this was not well received by ‘clean-up’ campaigners of the time – nor indeed was the the content of some of the songs – it even includes added ‘gore’ just extra realism. This ‘calendar’ spread is in immaculate condition with barely anything to fault at all. The year is 1972 and reitterating this is an early example. I remind again, ALL performations on the fold are fully intact and even the fold itself has lost barely any ink. One of the Cooper classic covers and this Canadian import example is up there with the best I have seen. Far more robust than the flimsy UK version, but slightly more wear-prone. Seen somewhere near its best the superior intense colouring stands out more.

Top Edges: Some mainly light patchy rubbing, not much overall.

Bottom Edges: Some light to moderate patchy rubbing and a little thickened in places. Hardly unusual on this one of course.

Right Edge(s), and Type: This is the delicate perforated edge and it’s exceptional. This edge is closed and appears white as no ink could be applied to a perforated fold. A little running near the top and bottom when the perforations end.

Spine and Text: This remains solid, quite straight, with minimal compression with little wear and practically all the text intact and present with minimal traces of wear.

Corners: All (exposed) corners have rubbed a little with some creasing, few will ever escape on this type of cover. Overall these are reasonably good.

Cover Summary: Both UK and imported covers for this album are extremely wear-prone. Few survive intact let alone still attractive. The front snake artwork is rarely seen even close to excellent so I consider this Canadian version to be in very fine condition. Not connoisseur standard but it’s a fairly rare one and many, if not most fans and collectors will enjoy it.

The Inner: The UK-made plain white, unlined inner is in very good condition. Slightly darkened and aged but intact with little creasing and no edge splits and a neat window.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: A Very Good++, UK-pressed record, a few light surface marks and fine hairlines, these have NO sound at all, indeed this record plays with fantastic sound quality. Just a couple of gentle clicks were noted from a tiny, stubborn fragment that I could not quite remove, the only tiny blemish on this super record. A very fine visual copy that is clean with a fine shine, intense black and very solidly pressed. A copy modestly played on all the evidence. Visually a nice record that should please many collectors.

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 classic Cooper album plays above its 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 are minimal indeed and just a couple of minor clicks were noted and this is an exceptional clean pressing. I have heard several of these that have emitted crackle, especially on the funeral organ passage, this needs to be quiet and is here. Few copies will outperform this very early pressing significantly I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played fairly lightly and there is no degrading to the audio quality, the minor surface marks are ignored and proved superficial visual blemishes only. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderfully macabre record. This copy will prove very difficult to find significantly better and can be strongly recommended.

End Piece: One of rock’s greatest and legendary showman, still very much going strong today and long may he do so, I enjoy his radio shows on ‘Planet Rock’ immensely (when I get chance to hear). It’s astonishing to think this album is fast approach forty years old, and with all considered, its aged well (like the man himself really). This vintage album (his fourth) is really magnificent - Alice really knew how to shock and surprise. With its daring packaging and clean sounding vinyl this should appeal to his fans and collectors and merits high recommendation. Any doubts on anything, do not bid, but this is real nice and slightly more unusual than the norm.

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 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.

PACKING - THIS IS WHAT YOU GET - PLEASE SEE MY TYPICAL PACKING BOX PICTURE.

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 Moth 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 thick boxes (NOT Mailers or Cruciforms, these do not offer maximum protection). 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 THREE or EVEN FOUR 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. 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. Please see my picture of a typical finished box packet that will now be used on ALL transactions as from now. 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. These boxes and ultra thick double-wall stiffners 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 6,000+ items sold in over 8 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 stiffners 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 FOUR 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: 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 & 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 [£40 maximum]) = £9. (insurance optional extra £3). Add £2.50 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: ALL OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. USA (ANY PART OF); 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 [£39 maximum]) = £13. Add £4 per extra LP. (insurance 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: 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. 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 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’.