HAWKWIND (1st) SCARCE EARLY UK 1970 LIBERTY BLACK EX LP

	£		32
	$		42

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Artist or Band: HAWKWIND

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 – Black format (please see my label scan).

Label Conditions: Both in super conditions: fresh, clean and attractive with only very light and faint spindle marks. For those who bought early copies of this album, most played them heavily and usually on less than wonderful, unsubtle equipment.

Cat Number: LBS 83348.

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Weight of this Record: 138 grams. Of no lesser quality or weight than the ultra rare blue label first.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: First pressings of this classic psych-prog album were issued on the Liberty blue format and are very rare indeed and now command huge prices, even if conditions are down (as many are). Almost immediately repressed on the new black format with different matrixes but that’s only real difference. Of equal or even more importance to this seller is the playing quality of the record on offer and this still scarce early black copy delivers. I have seen horrendous examples of this one, played ruthlessly and covered in massive scratches with dulled and grubby surfaces and covers – I will not look at them twice, and leave well alone. These early acid-rock albums were usually bought by younger more experimental music fans of time, few were carefully stored and looked after thus finding them in the aforementioned conditions is more the norm. This copy has a very clean and modestly played record with only a few minor surface marks and a cover with far less wear than many. It plays great with little unwanted and such copies are pretty hard to find now as increased interest and demand for this legendary debut album rises. So a black label is not as rare as a blue, but conditions are a major factor for these types.

Original Year of Release: 1970

Matrix Nos: LBS 83348 A-2U / LBS 83348 B-2U

Stampers: 1 L / 1 GA

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 now a 40-year-old album now and the band, albeit in many different guises, are still recording and touring today. This is not really so much a typical Hawkwind album and remains a fascinating curio, it merges 67 psych 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 and is 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 sort-after and collectable album to own. So set your controls for the heart of the turntable – yeah man!

This Cover’s Potential for Wear: Very High: this has always been an uncompromising cover and few survive even looking decent. Prone to all forms of wear that time and heavy handedness and poor storage has to offer.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(-): an unlaminated gatefold format with smooth matt surfaces. Printed and made in England by E. J. Day. Great artwork and a very clean example that remains attractive. Most seen are badly rubbed, very grubby, ringworn and often with major sticker tear damage.

Cover Front: Retaining excellent colour with any rubbing very light and modest and the same goes for creasing, most of any few present are fine edge types, mostly on the spine. Still clean with a high degree of freshness, any fine and faint surface marks are only really seen under light. Some minor edge and corner rubbing does show a little with any burring near the top corners still being pretty small. Overall, a very fine front so the superb artwork can still be enjoyed to the near maximum.

Cover Back: Quite similar to the front but a light ring arc rub at the bottom, few ever avoid this as the very least. A ruthlessly wear-prone cover that takes no prisoners are seldom looking half this nice. Mildish rubbing on the spine fold also but little else. Often seen with deep penetrating ringwear, fading and grubbiness, this had largely avoided all of this and the general lack of creasing is also good news. Again, a few light marks seen under light, but this will better many, if not most seen.

Cover Inner Gatefold: A small mark near the top left corner but this apart, little else to fault.

Top Edges: Moderate rubbing on the front, less on the back.

Bottom Edges: A above, but the opposite way round.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean and sharp with little wear and no feathering or trimming. Record enters on the back edge.

Spine and Text: The spine has little real wear but a flattened a little. Solid, quite straight with a less than moderate tilt to the right. This not folded dead dead square but only a fraction out, this almost seems the normal for this one. The right edges meet up quite close but not quite parallel. The really good news is, all the test is present and unworn.

Corners: The corners have rubbed but far from excessively. Around moderate with the odd tiny trace of feathering (top front right). Mostly retain fine shape.

Cover Summary: With the main four faces and a very decent spine all looking strong, this is still a very fine example of this no-nonsense cover that always seems to fair badly. Given all the facts, this has withstood the test-of-time well with most wear on the edges, but even this is mainly neat. No for the highly discerning collector, but I feel many, if not most will enjoy having it.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT(-): a plain white unlined, solid format inner. Some age darkening, less than moderate, and some glue browning on one rear seam. One crease of note, on the back top left corner. The edges are unsplit and for a inner this age with quite heavy record inside all this time, not at all bad overall.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT: and with any few surface marks very fine and faint only seen under light. Very clean, shiny, intense black and very solidly pressed. A title so often in very poor condition, even trashed, the majority bought initially by those of a certain type, rarely hi-fi buffs – you know what I mean, these were heavily used and so often abused by less than sensitive users and equipment. To see any early copy in this clean and little marked condition is a pleasure. This trip into the psych-acid world – still relatively new at this time – will seldom be heard a great deal better via vinyl than this and it will 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 miniscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This somewhat groundbreaking record plays even above its high visual grading with very little 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 psych sound and production. A lovely rawness the band desired and it works to perfection. Any surface sounds registered little with just the odd sporadic light click or two noted on the utmost quiet passage that will prove nigh-on impossible to avoid totally. The impossibly quiet beginning to side two with its bendy solo bass has mainly clean sound, often veryt noisy with inherent crackle and even distortion, this has little with any crackle, very brief and faint, few will have less. This plays focused and precise and was very enjoyable indeed - a gateway into that recording studio where this was recorded live. Nothing of any real note spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this now in-demand record – now regarded as a classic within its field and justifiably so. It should please many collectors needing this record and should not break the bank like a blue label copy is likely to these days.

End Piece: Who would have thought some 40 years after this album was first conceived, the Hawkwind band would still be performing with their legendary leader Dave Brock still at the flight controls? A well worthy copy with just enough minor visual blemishes to remind just how old this is. Remember, the blue pressing was only available for the briefest of time with only a tiny run ever made. Get this on to your deck and transport yourself away to those distant stars with the kings of speed. High recommendation is mandatory.

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 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.

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.

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 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. The 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 7,000+ items sold in nearly 10 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 stiffeners 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 FIVE 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); 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 [£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 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’.