CAPTAIN BEEFHEART Lick My Decals Off, Baby UK 73 REPRISE Nr EX LP, SUPERB SOUND.

	£		31
	$		41

ONEADAYRECORDS – Simply Delivering Quality Music to the World in Quality, Safe Packing.

Postage: UK £4.75 (£1 per extra record). Europe (including Russia) £12.50 (£2 per extra record). Rest of World (including ALL parts of the USA) £16.50 (£3 per extra record). All boxes signed for in quality, safe packaging – I NEVER use mailing envelopes that offer virtually no protection at all, and records WILL arrive damaged in them at some time as most record buyers will already know. Here, you get what you pay for – SAFE PACKING in BOXES using 7mm DOUBLE-WALL STIFFENERS including full side protection and bubble wrap, the records removed from the covers of course. All this very safe packing means I lose money on every box I post, but safe delivery is, and will always be paramount. You WILL see the difference when my packet arrives. Also, I will pay for insurance on any record that sells for over £100 at NO extra cost – that is UK and abroad. Also I aim to post the very same day after payment is received if possible.

Posting to Russia: Yes, I do post to Russia. But delivery can take up to 4 to 6 weeks from the UK. So please be patient. I will submit a tracking number to the winning bidder, and when the packet arrives there it can be followed online using the Russian post website.

ALSO: I now apply the Ebay ‘2-day’ rule for non-payment to keep things moving – cash-flow is important for any small business.

FINALLY: Late payers, non-payers and ‘0’ bidders will now be blocked or cancelled at my discretion. As will any bidder who cancels a bid. I do not like this practice as it is most often used to phish out the price to beat. Ebay does not approve and neither do I – so only bid on my items if you want them.

Artist or Band: CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & THE MAGIC BAND

Album Title: Lick My Decals Off, Baby

Producer(s): Captain Beefheart

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Lick My Decals Off, Baby; Doctor Dark; I Love You, You Big Dummy; Peon; Bellerin’ Plain; Woe-is-uh-me-bop; Japan in a Dishpan.

Side 2: I Wanna Find a Woman That’ll Hold My Big Toe Till I Have to Go; Petrified Forest; One Red Rose That I Mean; the Buggy Boogie Woogie; The Smithsonian Institute Blues (or the big dig); Space-Age Couple; The Clouds Are Full of Wine (not whisky or rye); Flash Gordon’s Ape.

Label/Format: Reprise tan format with matt fairly smooth surfaces. No Warner logo, this copy pressed in 1973.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and very attractive with only a small few spindle marks.

Catalogue Number: K 44244

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: 104 grams. This may be quite a light pressing, but it plays superbly with no faults. It actually surpasses many of the Straight originals I have previously heard.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Captain Beefheart albums did not sell in great numbers, a cult artist mostly bought by fans or the curious. Most who bought this album did so when first issued in 1970, I have seen far more Straight copies than this Reprise repressing. Notoriously difficult to find with even a decent cover which is often rife with heavy ring wear, creasing and severe rubbing. This is one of the finest copies I have seen for some time.

Original Year of Release: 1970 [when Zappa’s Straight label folded around 1973, this album was repressed on Reprise]

Matrix Nos: K 44244 A1 / K 44244 B1 [both punched, clear and sharp]

Run-Out Groove Etchings: ‘KIP’ / ‘KOL’

Musicians: Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) – vocals, bass clarinet, tenor sax, soprano sax, harmonica; Drumbo (John French) – percussion, broom; Zoot Horn Rollo (Bill Harkleroad) – guitar and glass finger guitar; Rockette Morton (Mark Boston) – ‘bassius-o-pheilius’; Ed Marimba (Art Tripp) – marimba, percussion, broom.

Brief Artist & Album Info: Captain Beefheart’s second recording initially issued on Frank Zappa’s Straight label consolidated the artistic freedom expressed on its predecessor Trout Mask Replica (still for me, one of the greatest albums ever made). Avant Garde blues-based rock and free jazz melt into a montage of sound. Jagged guitars and ravaged soprano saxophone splinter through the mix while ex-Mothers of Invention drummer Art Tripp, herein renamed Ed Marimba, brings new rhythmic possibilities to the Captain’s heady sound. Beefheart prowls around the proceedings with consummate ease, his expressive voice and wonderful use of the English language, which echoes bluesman Howlin’ Wolf, emphasizing the adventurous, playful nature of both music and lyrics. By demolishing previous notions of tonality and structure, van Vliet inspired a whole generation of post-punk disciples, from Pere Ubu to Sonic youth. An album for long periods out-of-print and only relatively recently available on CD. An artist popular with the critics, but far to ‘out-there’ for casual listeners, Beefheart’s music was so groundbreaking and cutting-edge he was (usually) too extreme and uncommercial to ever be popular or mainstream. Few could understand his music and remains a cult artist with sales being only very modest. Decals is amongst his most challenging work, often referred to as a mini Trout Mask Replica. This second legendary set did not even chart in his native US but surprisingly did make No 20 in the UK after more than the usual promotion. Following the usual trend, great and deceased artists work attracts more attention as the years pass, and Don van Vliet is more understood and appreciated by more listeners than just the critics and musically adventurous. A challenging artist (with music and paint), a musical genius and most of his albums should be included in any serious collection – you may just never want to listen to ‘Pop’ music again.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT: or very close to. A single unlaminated format with matt, smooth surfaces. Printed and made in England by Shorewood, includes the plain white inner sleeve.

Cover Front & Back: A very difficult cover, this is seldom seen without major rubbing, ring wear, creasing and sticker issues. This one in impressive condition and has been cover-protected for large periods so has largely avoided the usual problems. Any rubbing or creasing little and light, certainly no ugly deep penetrating ring wear that blights most. Few handling traces of the revealing matt dark surfaces and no sticker issues, any marks fine and faint. This first Reprise cover still includes the early Straight logo on the bottom right corner area as-seen. For one of rock’s most uncompromising covers, this has survived the years generally well.

Top Edge: Straight and showing little rubbing, but the right end has almost certainly had a neat touch-in in the past.

Bottom Edge: Similar again with any rubbing patchy and light, the odd neat enhancement possible/likely.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, mostly sharp to very sharp with any thickening little and light as seen viewed end-on. Record enters on this edge that is guaranteed untrimmed.

Spine and Text: An impressive spine, and few are these days. Solid, straight, any compression light, all text fully present and practically unworn as-seen, this is hard to find fully intact on this one.

Corners: Light to moderate tip rubs with very fine shape (or better) retained with no knocks.

Cover Summary: Shorewood matt covers seldom age well, experienced collectors will already know thiat, and put into real perspective, this has fared very well indeed. The main surfaces remain impressive with just the odd trace of edge enhancement by a clearly fussy previous owner – these neat and discrete. One to please many collectors, and indeed, could prove an upgrade for some?

The Inner Sleeve: NEAR EXCELLENT: a basic plain white unlined inner with only a little creasing near the top opening edge. The paper naturally darkened a little to politely remind of age, all edges now intact with a couple of tiny neat split repairs by myself to stop them widening, they hardly even register.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: NEAR EXCELLENT: a very fine visual copy that is very clean with excellent shine and quite solidly pressed. Very fine wispy surface marks seen under bright light, hardly even registering in average room light, there are no penetrating stylus scratches. Also very well pressed – not always the case – this complex album plays superbly well. Visually a splendid 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 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: Following up ‘Trout Mask Replica’ was a near impossible task, but this album more than pulls it off. This amazing and very complex album plays even above its high visual grading with hardly anything to fault. This offers strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear – sound quality is superb with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. Any surface traces minimal and no tracking issues*. This band sounded like no other, the strange and unusual musical structures can be followed easily on this excellent example and recording. The Captain’s vocals are in terrific form, all remain focused and clear with no stressing to the highly intricate information that create his unique sound. Few available copies will outperform this first Reprise example significantly I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp and this vintage copy has suffered no needle abuse from the past, the wispy surface blemishes almost certainly from dry-cloth cleaning from the distant past and do nothing. Nothing spoilt the experience and pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record, one of the most challenging in the ‘rock’ field ever pressed to vinyl. Brilliantly out-there, unique and weird, there will never be another quite like Don van Vliet and his Magic Band. Both record and cover could prove difficult to find significantly better and can be very strongly recommended.

* As played-graded on a high-end Linn LP12 Sondek turntable with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Black moving coil cartridge tracking at 2.2 grams. Records are a ‘contact’ format, and few will avoid the odd minor sound blemish.

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 as I Play-Grade every record I offer in their entirety – also on higher-end equipment – 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 it’s 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 the item being offered with no digital enhancements. Room light factors can make things vary sometimes, that is hard to control, especially in winter. 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. 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 Quintet Black moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2.2 grams). Amps: Naim Supernait 2 with Project USB phono stage and Tellerium Black interconnects. Speakers: B&W 805 Nautilus (bi-wired with Tellurium Black terminated cable) with REL subwoofer. 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, better quality packaging costs, I offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible for ultimate confidence. The boxes and ultra thick double-wall stiffeners 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 minuscule in over 17­ 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. 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 TWO days if no payment is received. I will then cancel the dispute to end the bid, 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 as will any suspicious bids or bid withdrawals. 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] = £4.75

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7.50. (this includes insurance of £500). Add £1 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: EUROPE & SCANDINAVIA. (Airmail Only):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£50 maximum]) = £12.50 (enhanced Royal Mail insurance is an optional extra £3). Add £2 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]) = £16.50 (£17.50 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’.