Honeybus: Story Deram SML 1056 UK ,Rare Psychedelic Pop

	£		66
	$		87

RECORD TITLE/ CAT.NO: Honeybus "Story" UK Deram SML 1056

BACKGROUND INFO:  A one-hit wonder who will always be associated with their classic hit " I Cant Let Maggie Go". This was their posthumous release by Deram in 1970 which consists of new material and does not include "I Can't Let Maggie Go".Must say it sounded rather Beatlesque especially the title track"Strory".Suffice to say, this is their only official release if one does not include their compilation reissue on See For Miles titled "At Their Best". As Record Collector Price Guide 2008 lists this at 90 pounds, I have used one-third of that as a starting price of 30 pounds with no reserve, taking into account both the results of my grading which is given below as well as the shipping costs incuured.

GRADING SYSTEM: I follow the Record Collector and Goldmine grading system and usually play grade them. When in doubt I tend to give a lower grading.In this respect, I rarely  give a Mint grading as I never believed that any record cover especially from the 50s or 60s can be in Mint condition. Even if it is sealed, I would not say its Mint,except in very rare cases, as I found even sealed albums can have some minor flaws like edges being affected etc.

CLEANING: It was cleaned on a Clearaudio cleaning machine using Loricraft's L'Art Du Son cleaning compound (which was favourably reviewed in Record Collector magazine some months ago).

PLAY GRADING: I play grade them on a Linn Sondek LP12 with a Naim ARO arm and a Lyra Helikon SL cartridge through an active 3 pack Linn/Naim DBL system. Without trying to sound like a snob, I would like to highlight that the cartridge (or needle as some might term it) is in the US$2000 range. This is to indicate the care I put into my records by using high quality equipment/accessories for playback. Though it may not be an extremely high end system, it does allow the music to flow and is revealing and transparent.

RESULTS AND GRADING:

Cover: I would rate the front cover, which is laminated,as only Excellent. Altough it is clean with no tears or writing on it, there is some  creasing caused by ringwear on the laminate. The back cover, though not laminated fully (it is the early cover with the punched hole on the top right hand corner as can be seen in the picture), is also clean and free of tears. There is a visible ring wear between 10o'clock position to around one o'clock position.I would rate the cack cover as a strong Very Good.

Record: The record itself is in a Near Mint shape on visual examination. It was unplayed. I actually got it from a shop which was clearing their old stocks but as Singapore has high humidity and the shop did not store them properly in a humidity controlled environment, the cover was somewhat affected, hence the ring wear. There were no spindle marks and no visible scrathes and scuff marks. The shine and lustre was still excellent. It played between Excellent to Near Mint. There was very little surface noise even in the silent grooves between tracks and even that, I attributed to static. I have provided  pictures for prospective bidders.

DELIVERY: I have indicated a shipping charge of 8.5 pounds but this is with registration. I strongly suggest registration as the postal authorities tend to be more cautious with such modes of postage. I do not impose handling charges, just cost of postage and packing materials.Winners of more than one item will have their postage costs adjusted accordingly to cost.I usually place them between 2 very strong corrugated boards and wrap them with several layers of shrink wrap. They are then placed in a LP carrier corrugated packs. So far, the people who bought from me generally gave me private feedbacks showing appreciation for the packing, including a 190 pound Black Sabbath single I sold recently. Usually I make it a point to post them the morning following payment if such payment is effected within a few hours of bids closing. As we are 8 hours ahead of GMT so successful bidders dont fret if I dont reply for a few hours as your E mail might have been sent during our nights.

AFTER SALES SERVICE /FEEDBACK: Generally, I  believe that the sale is concluded only when the buyer has the record in his hands and in this respect will inform them of the postage registration details etc. Futhermore I tend to drop Emails after a week to see if they received it. In addition to the Ebay feedback, I would appreciate it if buyers could drop me a note after they received it with any suggestions on how to improve further as I am still quite new to Ebay and would appreciate your valuable advice and comments.

MODE OF PAYMENT:I prefer Paypal but would consider other modes of payment. I used to advertise in Record Collector 2 years ago as "Sreedharan" and used to accept even cash in a registered envelope though IMOs might be a lot safer..