CATHY BERBERIAN Beatles Arias RARELY UNIQUE 67 UK EX LP

	£		22
	$		29

ONEADAYRECORDS – Delivering Quality Music to the World.

Artist or Band: CATHY BERBERIAN

Album Title: Beatles Arias.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Ticket to Ride; I Want to Hold Your Hand; Michelle; Eleanor Rigby; Yellow Submarine; Here, There and Everywhere.

Side 2: Help!; You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away; Yesterday; Can’t Buy Me Love; Girl ; A Hard Day’s Night.

Label/Format: Polydor (Please see my label scan).

Label Conditions: Both very clean and attractive with only very light and faint spindle marks and no wear around the hole area.

Cat Number: 583702.

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: 140 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 135 to 145 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, many 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 50 records from these eras.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Scarce: I really cannot imagine this sold in any great numbers.

Original Year of Release: 1967

Matrix Nos: 583702 A1 1 3 2 / 583702 B1 1 1 5

Brief Info: Catherine Berberian was an American composer, mezzo-soprano singer, and vocalist. Here she puts her interpretation into 12 Beatles songs. Is this a novelty or serious recording? Well I am not really sure, but it’s brilliant either way. Blending Mozart with Lennon & McCartney is a brave thing to take on but it works to perfection. Very contemporary, even bordering on the avant garde, this is a record I have immediately fell in love with and will be played many more times in the future after my download to disc for my own use. For those with an ear for the mildly bizarre, unusual and strange, this is quite ‘out there’ stuff, in places it actually had me laughing out loud. The lady pushed the borders of her art and worked with many of the more challenging composers including Stravinsky, Cage and Bussoti. What is certain, you have never heard these songs sound quite like this before. What the Fab Four made of this I have no idea, being issued in 1967, this was issued right in the middle of ‘Peppermania’. This is a very nice copy, the cover has aged with blemishes on the back, the front is lovely – and with superb artwork for those with a sense of humour. The record looks hardly played but does have a light mark on ‘Eleanor Rigby’ that has a small few very gentle ticks, but little else to fault on the rest of the record. Not quite sure how I have missed this all these years, but the wait was worth it, I can hardly wait to play it again. For fans of artists like Zappa, who pushed music into different directions and opened so many new boundaries, this is a must-have item, this is totally unique and is strongly recommended.

Cover Grade and Format: VG++ (the front more EX). A single format with front laminate. Printed and made in England by Ernest J. Day & Co Ltd.

Lamination & Front: Apart from a few mild surface creases that have little visual impact, this lovely colourful front has little else to fault. The artwork is as ‘out there’ as the music enclosed and clearly this has elements of novelty and humour. The laminate is ultra clear, fresh and shiny, all is fully adhered too. Any surface marks are light, few and faint and there is barely any traces of friction rubs or dulling. A lovely front – say AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Cover Back: The back has a little grubbiness and toning around the edges and a stain near the spine edge, not overly big but present and visible. Minus this and spine rubbing, this would have been easily an excellent grade cover. Little rubbing, no ringwear and away from the edges, quite clean. Beginning to think I have undergraded this a little because it does look fine to the eye.

Top Edge: The left corner has rubbed but the rest has little to fault, nice and straight too.

Bottom Edge: Barely any wear up to the corner tips, again straight.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, quite sharp with little wear and no feathering, guaranteed untrimmed. Record enters on this edge.

Spine and Text: The spine has moderately and consistently rubbed and barely any text remains. This had no laminate protection and being thin, it simply has worn. Still quite solid, straight and uncompressed, but it’s the spine that mainly let’s this cover down (but who wants to look at a spine with great artwork on show?)

Corners: All corners have rubbed with reasonably neat shape retained.

Cover Summary: A generally attractive Very Good cover, the front lovely, the back mostly fine, just the spine rubbing really. Still I am sure this will not be seen or offered too often, and this will still please many collectors, but at this grading, clearly not the more discerning collector.

The Inner: The original plain white, polylined inner is included, it has one heavy corner crease and some age darkening or toning. That apart, not alot else to fault, grades around EX(-).

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: Undergraded EX, A super visual copy that is very clean, shiny, intense black and very solidly pressed. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence, just the one very small mark on track four as mentioned above with a small few, very gentle and faint ticks. Side two has one very light surface mark with no sound at all and both playing surfaces are very clean and fresh looking. Visually a super record that should please many, if not most 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 lovely record plays for most-all above its high visual grading with nothing to fault bar the minor aforementioned ticks on ‘Eleanour Rigby’. Strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear, vitally important on such a vocal extravaganza. Sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound, this is a real hi-fi recording and the lady herself could almosts be in the room with you. Studio quality stereo sound, this is fantastic. Any surface sounds are minimal indeed and no other pops or clicks were noted and this is an exceptional clean pressing. Few copies will outperform this early pressing significantly I feel sure. Practically nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this truly wonderful record, this bought a real smile to my face and actually made me titter. This is one that needs to be experienced, I cannot really explain this well enough, but its a unique experience and I like things ‘original’, in the sense of performance. Beatles songs have been covered hundreds of times by many different bands and artists, but never quite like this. This record will prove difficult to find significantly better and can be strongly recommended. ‘I Got a Ticket to Riiiiiiiiiiiiide!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! – absolutely priceless.

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: 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, mostly the very next day after payment is received or within three days maximum (unless on holiday). 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 VERY THICK stiffners for even extra protection – these are FOUR TIMES thicker than commercial stiffners and are custom-made for oneadayrecords. Really rare and expensive albums will even be Double Boxed. 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 as well as a 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 ‘Signed-For’ posting is NOT an option anymore. I do not 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. My ‘loss’ or ‘damage rate’ is less than 0.1 per percent based on over 5,000+ items sold in over 8 years of Ebay trading and I consider that pretty exceptional. I discount of course for multiple purchases with a maximum of FOUR records per packet. I will not respond to questions on shipping costs as all the details are included in the advert.

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] = £3.

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

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

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£39 maximum]) = £8. (insurance optional extra £3).

NOTE: I NO LONGER SEND TO THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION. ANY BIDS WILL BE IGNORED.

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 ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£39 maximum]) = £12. (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 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’.