KATE BUSH The Kick Inside RARER ORIG UK 1978 NEAR MINT LP, SUPERB SOUND/COVER.

	£		39
	$		51

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, and records WILL arrive damaged in them at some time as most record buyers will already know. Here, you get what you pay for – SAFE PACKING in BOXES using 7mm DOUBLE-WALL STIFFENERS including full side protection and bubble wrap, the records removed from the covers of course. All this very safe packing means I lose money on every box I post, but safe delivery is, and will always be paramount. You WILL see the difference when my packet arrives. Also, I will pay for 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 if possible. PLEASE NOTE: I will NOT send any item, no matter what its value without a Royal Mail or courier tracking number. ALL my items must be signed and trackable to comply with Ebay delivery rules. Please do NOT ask me to make any exceptions to this rule as no country offers 100% reliable service without it.

Posting to Russia: Yes, I do post to Russia. But delivery can take longer 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.

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. Please only bid on my items if you want them.

Artist or Band: KATE BUSH

Album Title: The Kick Inside

Producer: Andrew Powell

Executive Producer: David Gilmour

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Moving; The Saxophone Song; Strange Phenomena; Kite; The Man With the Child in His Eyes; Wuthering Heights.

Side 2: James and the Cold Gun; Feel It; Oh to be in Love; L’Amour Looks Something Like You; Them Heavy People; Room for the Life; The Kick Inside.

Label/Format: EMI original format with matt, very gently textured surfaces.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and attractive with barely a spindle trace to be seen. This one of the best-pressed copies I have heard to date and it appears hardly played.

Catalogue Number: EMC 3223

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps: Few vintage records are ever perfectly ‘flat’, so some slight or very gentle arm movement is normal. If any record I offer has more than that, I will mention it, and it can be assumed all I offer should track without issues, even on budget turntables.

Weight of this Record: 135 grams.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: The title itself shows up fairly often, but finding the earliest pressed copies in top conditions is a far different story. The first issues included a fully laminated cover. So many seen are later pressings with an unlaminated cover or even on the EMI Fame label. This is a very impressive example and clearly hardly played, and offering fantastic sound. Yes this one is beautifully pressed and was a pure joy to play-grade from beginning to end. The cover is of similar quality as well. Pressing quality is often an issue with this album, but this one failed to disappoint. Forget modern repressings, nothing compares to an original manufactured and mixed as it was intended to be.

Original Year of Release: 1978

Matrix Nos: YAX 5389-3 / YAX 5390-21

Mothers / Stampers: 2 GOP / 3 GGL

Etched Messages: ‘REMEMBER YOURSELF!’ is on side one run-out grooves.

Brief Info: Discovered and greatly endorsed by Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour, who features as executive producer, this beautiful debut album made number 3 in the UK charts, but failed to sell well in the US where it failed to even chart. An amazingly original and quite stunning record, Kate’s vocals took a nation by storm via the gorgeous ‘Wuthering Heights’ and this album was justifiably a huge success as was most everything she did afterwards. So not the rarest title I have ever offered, but such a lovely early pressed copy that looks and plays superbly is very special indeed. Appearing little played, this is a challenging recording with complex grooves for that remarkable vocal – it can wear and damage easily, and often have I heard this album crackle and break-up. This sounds sublime with clear, crisp, distortion-free sound and housed in an impressive fully laminated cover. Lyrically sensitive and performed with brilliant backing, it has to rank as one of the greatest ‘surprise’ debuts ever issued. This is a record that will be hard to find better – as far as debut albums go, this was very special – a Strange Phenomenon indeed!

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(++): a single, fully laminated format as only the earliest pressings were. Printed and made by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd. This includes the original 1978-made EMI text inner sleeve.

Lamination – Front & Back: Beautiful artwork for one of the greatest female popular music albums ever. This does it near full justice being fresh and clear with fine shine and freshness with minimal dulling – a trace under light at the top and bottom from the record rim that is rarely avoided. There is no lifting and just one surface crease of not on the front bottom edge. Any others are very fine edge types, and only three or four of those, few will have less. Importantly, there is no fading, even to the very vulnerable spine surface that often bleaches out in natural light. The back can often have issues due to the laminate having three end strips ends. These can often stick and pull with the dark red-brown ink being damaged and lost, but this has only minimal tiny trace near the bottom edge. Such a shame EMI decided to drop laminate from later examples, but they spared no expense initially, and this, like the album itself, is a piece of quality art. This example does it superb justice as seen.

Top & Bottom Edges: Both straight and smooth with barely any wear and retaining strong unfaded colour.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, very sharp with barely any thickening. This is guaranteed untrimmed or enhanced, the laminate exposed end strips still wide and clean. Record enters on this edge.

Spine and Text: Immaculate, very thin, but still solid, straight with barely any compression. The laminate fully retained and the natural brown colour still deep and unfaded or changed by light. All the text is strong and present, this perfectly centred on the very narrow depth. So many of these totally wash-out when exposed to sunlight, and to find one with virtually as-issued colour retained is never to be dismissed lightly.

Corners: All crisp and very sharp with barely any traces of tip rubbing at all. No knocks or dinks.

Cover Summary: A very impressive example of this famous and beautiful 1970’s cover, one that will prove difficult to find much better. Nothing beats owning a first issued cover, especially when found this nice. It should please many, if not most collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: NEAR MINT: hardly aged with the paper still nicely white, just one tiny tone spot. Unlined and solid, this has the EMI text as seen with the 378 (March 1978) manufacture date, just a couple or so weeks after issue. All edges solid with no splits or repairs, not hard creasing, any traces gentle and light.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: NEAR MINT: a superb visual copy that is very clean with equally fine shine and very solidly pressed with something above average weight – this is often thinly pressed, this copy being one of heaviest originals I have held. A copy appearing hardly played on all the evidence with any surface traces minuscule, even viewed critically under bright light. No penetrating stylus scratches, viewed in average room light, barely anything even registers. Visually a super record that should please many, if not most 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 equipment, all listed further down.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This classic debut album plays up to it’s high visual grading with hardly anything 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 and this is an exceptional clean pressing with no tracking issues*. Sometimes this can be crackly or have clipping issues, but this one was a pure delight to play-grade, the detail and smoother presentation of an original when well-pressed is second-to -none. Few available copies will outperform this early pressing significantly I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played very lightly and has been generally well stored and carefully handled within a non-smoking environment. Nothing of any note spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record. It will prove very difficult to find significantly better 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 grams. Records are a ‘contact’ format, and few will avoid the odd minor sound blemish.

I am one of the most established sellers on Ebay, trading since 2001 and offering the finest 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 all elements of the items I offer for sale. You may notice I only submit records quite 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 story. I will try to 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 near mint condition as the real rare items. All the pictures I use for your guidance are the item being offered with no digital enhancements. Room light factors can make things vary sometimes, that is hard to control, especially in winter. I hope the item below is to your liking – any questions can be emailed and I will do my best to answer you. I am enthusiastic, and have a fair degree of knowledge about many genres and I promise quality items. Please assume all records I offer have NO jumps, sticks, major 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 grams). Amps: Naim Supernait 2 with Project USB phono stage and Tellerium Black interconnects. Speakers: B&W 805 Nautilus (bi-wired with Tellurium Black terminated cable) with REL subwoofer. All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Nessie 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 D7500 DSLR 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.

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 bid retractions. 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 only 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 2 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive – if not I will relist the item or offer to the runner-up.

My Guarantee: If any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund if the item is returned in the same condition is was sent e.g. as per the listing pictures.

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, 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.