John Mayall Looking Back.... Super Rare Decca Red Label, Gatefold sleeve

	£		23
	$		30

Artist or Band: JOHN MAYALL

Album Title: Looking Back.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Mr James; Blues City Shakedown; Stormy Monday; So Many Roads; Looking Back; Sitting in the Rain.

Side 2: It Hurts Me Too; Double Trouble; Suspicions (Part Two); Jenny; Picture on the Wall.

Label/Format: Decca – original and much rarer Unboxed format. (Please see my label scan).

Label Conditions: Both in quite stunning conditions – ultra clean and highly attractive with just a couple of light spindle marks on each side – this extraordinary ultimate first pressed mono record looks and plays practically as new.

Cat Number: LK 5010.

Mode / Speed: Mono / 33.3 rpm.

Weight of this Record: 136 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.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Rare as a genuine first pressed copy on the unboxed Decca format. Issued within the year of the label format change, this would not have been available very long before the change to the more familiar boxed version. Also finding classic mono recrods in such conditions is extremely difficult. This one looks and sounds barely even played.

Original Year of Release: 1969

Matrix Nos: ARL-8987.P-1A / ARL-8988.P-1A

Stamper Codes: 1 G / 1 G (the letters being slightly unclear but this is my best judgement).

Musicians: John Mayall – Jack Bruce – Eric Clapton – Roger Dean – Aynsley Dunbar – Mick Fleetwood – Peter Green – Keef Hartley – Dick Heckstall-Smith – John McVie – Mick Taylor.

Brief Info: Eleven tracks that shows Mayall’s musical progression over the previous five years and including the host of blues stars and musicians listed above. Looking Back is a collection of his Decca singles, most are scarce and all the tracks are in dynamic mono - the connoisseur’s choice for this era. This is a superb collection for the blues collector by arguably the greatest artist of the genre ever. A wonderful opportunity to own this scarce 1A/1A mono pressing on the unboxed format, this was a joy from beginning to end.

This Cover’s Potential for Wear: Moderate+.

Cover Grade and Format: EX++, practically Mint(-) and a lovely looking example. It’s laminated with Clarifoil front and back and a gatefold format with the front being only single thickness card making the perils of creasing all the more obvious. This was printed and made in England by Clout & Baker Ltd and has the mono/stereo peep-hole on the back. The red inner fills this hole and denotes this is a mono example.

Lamination & Front: Very attractive and solid laminate that has a more semi-gloss sheen finish rather than a full deep gloss. The front again is delicate being single thickness and very prone to creasing of which this has very little. The spine edge has a fine lift line and some lifting (shown in the photos) on the front only but this has minimal visibility and is only very thin anyway, most near the top half. I have found Clarifoil laminate in particular the most prone to this. Both sides still look really attractive with hardly any friction rub dulling on. Both front and back retain a real freshness and high attractiveness factor and the peep-hole on the back is immaculate with no burring.

Cover Inner Gatefold: immaculate

Top Edges: Little real wear at all, very slight trace of thickening to the thin front edge.

Bottom Edges: Slight rubbing and thickening to the back edge, as the weight of this album rests on this, this is of little surprise and few will ever avoid some.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, sharp with minimal traces of wear and no feathering. Record entered on this right outside back edge.

Spine and Text: A truly superb spine: Solid, straight, uncompressed and square, both right edges meet up perfectly together and parallel. All text is perfect and unworn under the solid and uncracked laminate. They rare get seen better than this.

Corners: The odd small chip and rub on the bottom ones. Obviously fragile but looking very neat with minimal wear or creasing.

Cover Summary: A very strong all round example of this somewhat fragile late 60’s cover, one that will prove difficult to find much better. This beautiful item should please many if not most collectors.

The Inner: EX, and red to indicate a mono copy through the spy-hole at the back. Lined and very deep red indeed with hardly any creasing and no major splits or tears. One edge has rubbed a little and the centre just gone through but the lining has remained totally secure. The window is supremely neat and sharp and the lining clear with no traces of gum browning on the outside.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: Almost certainly undergraded at EX++, just two or three fine surface marks that have NO sound whatsoever stops a certain Mint(-) grading. A superb visual copy that is super clean, shiny, intense black and heavily pressed on top quality Decca vinyl. A truly beautiful genuine first pressing that will prove incredibly hard to match or find better and all evidence suggests a copy barely even played. Visually a fantastic record that should please most-all collectors.

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This magnificent record plays even beyond its high visual grading with nothing 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 sound. The mono sound will seldom be heard better with most being affected by vintage record players that were never groove-friendly – we have all seen and heard such copies. Any surface sounds barely even register and no pops or clicks were noted and this is an exceptional clean pressing for a fairly testing album. Few copies will match or outperform this original mono pressing I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I feel very sure this record has been played very lightly and has been clearly well stored and carefully handled, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. Without any doubt whatsoever, totally unexposed to thick, worn mono needles - I doubt if the owner even owned a mono record player. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful Mayall album. This copy will prove very difficult to find significantly better and is strongly recommended.

POSTING & PACKING:  All records are sent insured next day. I can only post on a Saturday due to work commitments. So records will be sent the week after the auction finishes, providing the balance has been paid. All records are packed outside of the sleeve to avoid wear and boxed appropriately.

SHIPPING COSTS:

UK

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7

International

Record will not arrive next day, but they will be insured as above £10

I will only send a record of this quality insured to avoid any dispute.

Happy bidding.

Nick