CROSBY, STILLS & NASH Scarce UK Plum EX++ LP & Insert

	£		26
	$		34

Hi, I am Mike, now 48 and have been a music collector and enthusiast for over 34 years now. We all wish we could turn back the clock and buy those wonderful brand new records from the 60s and 70s, but alas, this is not possible; so I always try to offer the finest and most accurately described and graded records I can find. No vinyl/music lover really would choose to buy second-hand, but this is only way now to own these valuable, prized and elusive items now. 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, 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 (on a Rega 3 deck with Ortofon cartridge) - 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 reader – 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. The only thing I cannot guarantee one hundred percent is exact colour matching - this depends on the lighting at the time and that is out of my control, but I feel sure most items will be very close to the actual real item. Variation can sometimes occur too in colour of the label scans and labels taken next to the sleeve with a digital camera, the scanned full label pictures should be the most accurate. If any picture I take looks more flattering than the actual item for any reason, I will clearly state the fact in the advert. 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 or sticks or writing on covers or labels unless clearly stated to the contrary. Thanks for your interest and Good luck – MIKE.

Album Title: Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Producer(s): Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Track Listing: Side 1: Suite: Judy Blue Eyes; Marakesh Express; Guinnevere; You Dont Have to Cry; Pre-Road Downs. Side 2: Wooden Ships; Lady of the Island; Helplessly Hoping; Long Time Gone; 49 Bye-Byes.

Cat Number: 588189.

Mode: Stereo.

Weight of this Record: 121 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]. (This was based on ‘average’ weights for 20 records from these eras. Later pressings were usually lighter still).

Label/Format and Conditions: Atlantic, original red and maroon (‘Plum’) format. Beautiful clean examples that show very light/light spindle marks. A copy clearly lightly handled I have scarcely seen cleaner plum labels than these for this title.

Country of Manufacture: Gt Britain.

Rarity: Scarce, and the plum copies with the rare insert included are scarcer still. Also finding a copy with a really lovely cover is getting incredibly difficult and that’s no understatement for this title. Anyone who is familiar with this near impossible cover will understand. This sleeve is in fantastic condition as is the record and insert which makes a copy like this far more elusive.

Original Year of Release: 1969

Matrix Nos: 588189 A2 11 38 and 588189 B2 12 6

Brief Artist & Album Info: A much loved work these days, often regarded in the past as inferior to the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young classic Déjà vu simply because it’s less varied, and of course Young is not featured. The quality of the harmonies is simply breathtaking. Three youthful men singing songs about their relationships and changing partners. All songs are magnificent – Graham Nash’s coy ‘Lady of the Island’ (about Joni Mitchell), Stills’ opus-like ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’ (about Judy Collins) and a slim Crosby singing of his sadly deceased sweetheart Christine on ‘Guinevere’. But for me the finest track is the sublime ‘Wooden Ships’ yes the same song covered by Jefferson Airplane on their masterwork Volunteers. A point worth noting about this song on the early copies is the censoring of the line: ‘Say, can I have some of your purple berries?’ This line which tries to come out of the right hand speaker, is completely obscured and phased out – the obvious drug reference was clearly a worry back in 1969 and deemed to risky to leave uncut. Such censoring on the Jefferson Airplane version also from 1969 was deemed unneccessary, but they laid down their rules on that album, which even included the word M****F***** which RCA only let go reluctantly. I thought this edit was highly significant of mention because it makes the record sound like groove-wear but I assure you all the early copies are the same with the ‘berry’ line mixed-out. Just to make matters more laughable, the full lyrics are printed on the lyric insert – how ironic is that? This mini-classic reached 25 in the UK and 6 in the US and includes that large folded lyric insert. This original cover for this album has to be contender for one of the most fragile ever made (I know I may have said this before for other sleeves and am sure to say again): but this truly is ultra difficult to find with little wear. Its quite heavily textured and printed on very soft paper, the type that frays just by looking at it! It wears so easily, finding a copy that looks anything like excellent is an achievement, I would think this is more EX++ and approaching the near impossible Mint(-) and few get seen like this. Later copies had this soft textured paper replaced by a traditional harder card cover which was often glossy too. This cover is fully textured inside and out and soft, all the main faces are magnificent with virtually zero ink loss or rubbing – never, ever take this for granted – I hope my picture do this one justice. Only the bottom edges show mild rub wear but this is as light as I have yet seen - many around are so edgeworn they even break right through leaving actual holes - this is light years from that, and even the very large spine on this copy has all its text fully intact, near perfect - now that is unusual. The record too is superb, a gorgeous plum copy, one of the last pressed on this label as the cover has the transition Kinney sticker on the back. A truly beautiful recording but delicate with intricate harmonies, this looks and plays superbly and most collectors should love this gorgeous complete set.

Cover’s Potential for Wear & Damage: Very high indeed. That is something of an understatement, few if any will even exist today with zero wear and finding one with this little is a huge achievement. One microscopic blemish on this one (and that is using the term correctly), there is a tiny pin-head hole on the front and back (top right and top left respectively), none at the bottom. These are so tiny I almost missing them until the close examination for grading. This blemish is so tiny I wont downgrade for this and will grade as if not present – you, the potential bidder decide yourself how much a pin-prick mark lessens this magnificent cover.

Cover Condition and Details: EX++ (at the very least), some would grade higher considering this is often found falling apart, filthy dirty with as much link lost as still attached – it’s even very prone to fading. It’s a gatefold format with moderate texturing and very soft card that rubs and damages so easy. The more it’s handled, the more it seems to soften, the edges become woolly and not pretty at all. This one remains quite firm with little wear at all which is conclusive proof this one has been handled little. It includes the scarce insert and was printed and made by the E. J. Day Group, London. As stated, this stunning cover does have a tiny pin-prick holes as mentioned already above. This final ‘Plum’ cover includes the original 588189 text and the large transitional Kinney sticker. A truly magnificent item, and one of the great late 60s covers - Crosby’s mostache is terrific too.

Cover Front: Wow, this should speak for itself, and it seldom gets seen like this. Super attractive, clean and totally unworn – the only tiny blemish is the single pin-prick. I cannot emphasise enough how hard this one is to find devoid of rubs. Not only that, this is unsoftened and has no creasing. Colours are subtle and pastel-like, but very strong and totally unfaded and the texturing is gorgeous with no stains or toning. All ink present right down the edges where just faint rub traces can be seen on the spine fold but look very hard to see any. No scuffs or indentations, this front is truly exceptional and even brand new ones often never made it to the racks like this. I feel this will be near impossible to find much better – the tiny pin hole for me on a cover like is hardly worthy of mention – but of course I have – several times already.

Cover Back: Near identical in every way but being the more vulnerable back the lack ringwear or even a pressmark is remarkable – I can hardly believe this myself. The K40033 Kinney sticker is almost as new and has clearly never been removed or tampered with. This transition sticker was included on the ‘Plum’ numbered covers before being reprinted with the new number and the non-plum green and orange labelled records. These front and backs are exceptional and it just proves even the most delicate wear-prone covers can survive indefinely when treated with the respect they deserve (I just can wait to get this back into a protective sleeve).

Cover Gatefold Inner: Totally unrubbed, deep colour and breathtaking, just the two tiny pin holes are only just visible and one tiny edge nick on the bottom right, this is almost nit-picking small. This even thrilled me on opening. Take another look, please – What a BEAUTY.

Top Edges: Just the odd ultra faint rub trace.

Bottom Edges: Light rubbing only, probably the least possible on this one. Just sliding this cover in and out of a protective cover will rub this impossibly soft paper-card. In context this edge rubbing is minimal.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Very clean, very sharp with virtually no wear and NO feathering, again almost impossible to avoid, but this one has (and I totally guarantee, this has NOT been trimmed, some ultra mild burring is just about evident with end-on viewing). Record entered on right outside back edge.

Spine and Text: This is one of those spines that will rarely, if ever ben found with some wear, damage or defect. This one is solid, quite straight, minimal compression with a slight left-to-right tilt, quite thick and square, both right edges meeting up very closely together. This has just a couple of very small and faint surface scuffs and mild surface crinkle that may indeed have been like this from new. Very little surface rubbing at all and the artwork is 99 percent all still fully intact and strong as is all the spine text lettering which is bold, black and sharp. Ther is very faint rub traces to the top fold line but little at all on the bottom one, the odd tiny chip. All said, this near impossible spine is in splendid condition.

Corners: All corners have rubbed a little, as you would almost realistically expect. But any wear is light and neat and largely confined to the tip areas. All still retain an attractive shape too.

Cover Summary: Easily one of the best ‘Plum’ covers I have seen for this classic album. I can say these won’t appear this clean and unworn often and its a pleasure to offer such an important cover looking this attractive. This strong item should please most collectors – forget the tiny pin holes, they barely even show.

The Insert: Mint(-), clean, white and crease-free bar the fold. In this case, folds, this has a double fold like the spine of a cover. Both deep and sharp and I would assume it was made this way. All edges crisp and sharp and virtually mark-free, no splits, no tears. A lovely insert to make this set complete.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EX++, near Mint(-), clean and shiny with barely a mark to be seen other than faint surface traces under light. This must rank as one the best copies of this one I have ever seen. All the evidence points to a record played very little confirmed by near perfect sound quality.

Album Played For Grading: Yes.

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: A copy made right at the end of the Plum-Line and these will be the most elusive copies of all. Quite a delicate recording at times but this plays superbly with no distortion or groove wear. Fine sound, especially the vocal harmonies that show practically no audio stresses at all. The bass on this album has always been a little ‘woolly’ but no problem for a top system. Few if any surface sounds and no pops or clicks were noted. This is a fine pressing, and it needs to be for full enjoyment, nothing heard on play-grade spoilt my pure delight in hearing this beautiful album again. I state again, the loss of volume on the right channel on ‘Wooden Ships’ is quite intentional and was just the over sensitive censor-man phasing out the reference to ‘Purple Berries’. This super clean record should please all collectors.

End Piece: This trio made beautiful music with sublime harmonies, all at the peak of their powers and rarely sounding much better than here. When such a clean, complete all round copy comes along on the Plum label it’s one to treasure. The classic cover with the young artists, this is pure rock history and seen so clean it’s a treasure. I don’t think I will ever find the totally perfect cover for this title, but this may be nearly as good as it ever gets. I almost think this came with edge rubs from new, it certainly would not take much handling from record buyers in the shop racks to damage it that’s for sure. I really enjoyed hearing this classic again and most collectors will enjoy this one too. If this album is needed, its almost too good to let go.

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’.

My Terms For Bidding

Debutant Bidders: Many sellers refuse first time buyers: I do not follow this practice (everybody has to start somewhere), but I would appreciate any first timer letting me know their intentions for payment method and very prompt communication, preferably before any bid or soon after the auctions ends. This gives confidence that their intentions are honourable, and I in return guarantee extra special good feedbacks to get zero rated Ebayers off to a flying start to help them with future transactions.

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. Item wants are always welcome - email me with anything needed, you never know - I may just have a copy in stock. I buy quality single items and collections also (I am regularly told I offer the best prices – please Email me if you have items for sale).

Payment Details please read carefully - I know its boring but essential:

UK First Class: = £3 or Special Delivery (Next day, fully insured), the best service available = £7.00

Europe Air Mail: = £4 Insured & Signed For: £8.00.

Overseas, non-Europe e.g. USA, Japan, Australia etc. Airmail:= £7; Insured & Signed For (where available) = £11.00. Doubles add extra £1. Reductions for multiple items for all.

Any item that sells for over £75 will be sent Special Delivery in the UK at no extra cost. Items over £100 get the same service Overseas. This gives peace of mind for the winning bidder and myself for valuable items. Reduced postage of course for multiple items.

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 (£30).

Mailing Details: Please note I do NOT profit on postage, in fact I lose money on most packets (my packing standards are very high and the package weighs a little more - I simply refuse to compromise with poor packing. All records are sent in plastic covers with the record taken OUT of the sleeve and sent in professional mailers with FOUR proper stiffners for extra protection (if space allows). More expensive items are also inserted into a de-luxe heavy duty padded bag AS WELL to give that extra protection. I truly want ALL my items to arrive to their destination in the same condition they leave me. I will also include in most cases a brand new inner, but will include the original inner if available.

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

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.