HAWKWIND (1st Album) 1970 UK BLUE LABEL 1st PRESS - LOVELY EXAMPLE.

	£		355
	$		470

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 – in fact I think these things should be banned as records WILL arrive damaged in them at some time. Here, you get what you pay for – SAFE PACKING in BOXES using 7mm DOUBLE-WALL STIFFENERS. Full details nearer the end of the listing.

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. I will always keep my P&P prices as low as possible, and even after yet another Royal Mail price hike from April this year, I have NOT raised my prices and will never compromise on solid, safe packing that is invariably heavier than most you will get. My P&P offers probably the best value-for-money for vinyl records available, and I even will pay for full 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. You WILL see the difference when my packet arrives.

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.

Album Title: Hawkwind

Producer(s): Dick Taylor and Hawkwind

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Hurry On Sundown; The Reason Is?; Be Yourself; Paranoia – Part 1.

Side 2: Paranoia – Part 2; Seeing It As You Really Are; Mirror of Illusion.

Label/Format: Liberty – Original blue format with matt finish and a very gentle hint of texturing.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and attractive. Moderate or less spindle marks which are generally light with modest visibility.

Cat Number: LBS 83348

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: 138 grams. A very good solid weight.

Country of Manufacture: England

A Special Note About This Record and its Rarity: The Holy Grail for Hawkwind album collectors. This debut on the blue label is a significant rarity with only a small, limited run made on this label before being repressed on the more familiar black format. Rarely seen or offered, this album has now almost reached legendary status and is almost as much searched for as Pink Floyd’s ‘Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ which is far easier to find in either mono or stereo. That album did sell well, but this quite similar album failed to do so, it failed to even break into the charts. Issued right at the end of the blue Liberty era, this is a genuinely rare record, the few that do surface are usually trashed or at best, substantially played. Purchased by certain types at the time, few were hi-fi enthusiasts, but substance-loving music addicts who enjoyed the lastest Freak-Out style music to blow their minds too. Now this is where this particular copy and owner differed from the average early Hawkwind listener. Firstly, he owned a quality stereo system, and, although the record has been played a few times, it has been done so with due care and never exposed to any basic system (and certainly never a mono one). Reputed to have been pressed in numbers ranging from 300 to 500 only, what state will those that survive be in these days? Most played on crude, less-than-worthy record players by stoned-out listeners – Hawkwind had this reputation and this is pure, classic psychedelic-acid-rock at its real and very best. The cover is incredibly wear-prone and this has little, just a little edge rubbing and (as usual) spine fading, but the main areas look impressive. An album over the years that had now been fully appreciated for what it is, often compared to the psych space-rock of the early Pink Floyd, but this being arguably even more ‘out there’. A wonderful experience, and this copy does it fine justice with mainly superb sound. A gentle, brief trace of surface sound within the pressing, at the beginning of the difficult start of side two, but not a great deal else. I have heard very few of these that will ever play ‘silent’ as it does have some quiet passages, but not too many. This classic rarity has more than just ‘survived’ those heady years, has still has the capability to thrill. The sound on the earliest issues always the very best possible, this has immense detail and sonic delivery of the music. Not quite pristine, but still a hugely impressive example that many fans and psych-rock collectors will cherish.

Original Year of Release: 1970

Matrix Nos: LBS 83348 A//1 1 1 2 / LBS 83348 B1 1 1 1 [practically the first-off-the-line]

Musicians: Dave Brock – vocals, six and twelve string guitars, harmonica, percussion; John A. Harrison - bass guitar; Huw Lloyd – lead guitar; Terry Ollis - drums; Nik Turner – alto saxophone, vocals, percussion; Dikmik - electronics.

Brief Artist & Album Info: Amazing to think this is almost a 46-year-old album, and the band, albeit in many different guises, are still recording and touring today. This is not so much a typical Hawkwind album and remains a fascinating curio, it merges 1967 psychedelia with spacy instrumentals that blend into early acid-rock, at times sounding like a less polished Pink Floyd circa Saucerful of Secrets. Not the most technically gifted band ever, this album received minimal attention when first issued, but its stature as one of the best British psych albums has grown immensely with time. Initially it was tried recording all the songs separately but that failed to work, so the whole album was recorded live in a studio in one take. Much of the music is free-form improvisation with spacy sounds and effects, totally captivating and compelling and certainly highly entertaining. The opening song is a pure Hawkwind classic, the untypical and brilliant ‘Hurry on Sundown’ with acoustic guitars and harmonica, but the long trippy ‘Be Yourself’ and ‘Paranoia’ with improvised guitar are far more typical. The front cover gives more than a clue of what to expect, with the band name spelt out in marijuana leaves, this mini-classic debut album is the embryo and catalyst of the acid-rock space band they later became with more than a fair degree of success. Needless to say, this album did not chart, and has now become a highly popular and collectable album to own, and that’s just a second-pressed black label copy. The Liberty blue is one of the most sort-after albums, of this genre, this side of the universe. This is a very fine all-round example with sound to match, the Hawkwind legend all started here.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT: and only downgraded a little because of the almost unavoidable rubbing on the edges and spine fade. An unlaminated, gatefold format with matt, smooth surfaces. Printed and made in England by E. J. Day Ltd. Includes the basic plain white unlined inner sleeve.

Cover Front: A lovely looking front with little to fault. Clean, fresh, vibrant and attractive with barely any rubbing, no sticker marks or issues. The odd very small tip crease and a few fine edge types mostly on the spine. This has survived the years very well indeed.

Cover Back: The back is largely the same with just a very narrow fade strip on the spine fold and a little on the top left corner edge area. Any rubbing gentle, little and faint, the lack of ringwear for which this cover so often suffers being a major plus, as is the lack of creasing.

Cover Inner Gatefold: Both faces look practically as made with deep fresh colour.

Top Edges: Light to moderate patchy rubbing, both straight and flush.

Bottom Edges: As above.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, mostly sharp with very little wear. Any thickening or burring minimal and light as seen viewed end-on. Record enters on the back edge, all guaranteed untrimmed or enhanced.

Spine and Text: Solid, mainly straight with minimal hint of compression. The surface has naturally faded, this very common on this spine that clearly is affected by natural light. Most of the text is still present, but white and not so easy to see on a now pale surface. This is folded lovely and square, so all edges meet up flush and parallel, which is always good news for the more discerning.

Corners: The corners have survived in very nice condition with only minimal tip rubs and neat pointed excellent definition retained. No bashes and minimal evidence of any minor dinks.

Cover Summary: Always a difficult cover and seldom seen this nice. Yes, some edge rubbing, natural light fading, but the more interesting main areas are very impressive. So this cover should please many collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: With the earliest 0770 (July 1970) manufacture date code, this is guaranteed the original inner. This has aged little with hardly any real wear, all edge unsplit with no tears or repairs. The polylining clear and fresh, both window circles superb and crisp. Minimal creasing, minor crinkle and very little age toning to the seam adhesive.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT: or very close to. A very fine visual copy that is very clean with equally fine shine and very solidly pressed. A copy with modest plays on evidence with any surface marks mostly very fine, light and faint as seen critically under bright angled light. No penetrating stylus scratches or inner sleeve dulling which this, and other vintage Philips made record often suffer. Visually a lovely rare 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: This quality album plays even above it’s high visual grading with little to fault. Offering 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 – a little gentle trace heard at the very start of side two – a gentle beginning that is so hard to find ‘perfect’. This purely within the pressing and quickly fading away, this is only minor and light anyway. Overall, a very clean pressing with no tracking issues, the detail and sonic delivery of the music is hugely impressive. Few copies will outperform this early pressing significantly I feel sure. Putting a 45-year-old record like this into true perspective: this has survived very well indeed. Even early black label examples are most-often seen badly scratched, very heavily used, abused and often trashed. Few blue label, true originals will surface a great deal better these days. I am sure this record has been played relatively lightly and has been generally well stored and carefully handled, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. Surface blemishes on vinyl this age will occur – fact – unless unplayed, and how many records ever truly are? Very little, if indeed anything really spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful album and copy. It will prove very difficult to find significantly better on this most prized first press label and can be 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.

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 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. 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 - 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 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 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired with Tellurium Black terminated cable). 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 14 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 – they offer next-to-no-protection, and should be banned, no ‘professional’ should consider using them in my opinion. 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’.