MOODY BLUES On the Threshold… Orig UK 1969 Deram EX LP

	£		88
	$		116

ONEADAYRECORDS – Delivering Quality Music to the World.

Artist or Band: THE MOODY BLUES

Album Title: On the Threshold of a Dream.

Producer(s): Tony Clarke.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: In the Beginning; Lovely to See You; Dear Diary; Send Me No Wine; To Share Our Love; So Deep Within You.

Side 2: Never Comes the Day; Lazy Day; Are You Sitting Comfortably?; The Dream; Have You Heard (Part 1); The Voyage; Have You Heard (Part 2).

Label/Format: Deram – Original massively large red format (Please see my label scan).

Label Conditions: Both clean and attractive with only light spindle marks, minor handling traces near the hold on side one (minor finger mark).

Cat Number: SML 1035.

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Weight of this Record: 145 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. Some records pressed around 1973 were very thin and light due an oil crisis and shortage around this time. Some records were even issued on recycled vinyl from this period and sounded poor with crackle and surface noise evident from the very first play. If any record I buy is deemed ‘recycled’, I will never offer it, I have a very simple test to detect these records if I suspect this to be the case other than audible imperfection. Some records from this period were even pressed on other materials the most notable was ‘Dynaflex’, used by RCA around this time. Although inferior to vinyl, this at least mostly sounded reasonably acceptable but pressings on this material were wafer thin and flimsy. Beyond the 70s, records often became thinner and lighter still but most played fine but were never quite the quality as from the ‘Golden Era’]. (This was based on ‘average’ weights for 20 records from these eras. Later pressings were usually lighter still).

Rarity: Moderate, not too hard to find this album, but the early pressed large Deram label copies are much harder especially in fine conditions. Most seen are later examples with the small Deram logo labels.

Original Year of Release: 1969

Country of Manufacture: England.

Matrix Nos: ZAL-8827-2W / ZAL-8828-2W

Stamper Codes: 1 C / 1 I

Brief Artist & Album Info: It’s been something of a ‘Magnificent’ Moodies weekend, this was their fourth album, the follow-up to the stunning Days of Future Passed and In Search of the Lost Chord. It features their most famous line-up of: Justin Hayward, vocals, guitar, cello; John Lodge, vocals, bass; Ray Thomas, vocals, harmonica, flute, tambourine; Graeme Edge: drums, percussion, vocals; Mike Pinder, vocals, mellotron, organ, cello. A wide and varied array of instrumentation that blends beautifully to create some of the most inspired and brilliant songs of the late 60s. Few bands thrill me more today from this period than the Moodies, like many, if not most, I too discovered them later than I care to admit (but I was quite young at this time). Sublime melodies that use that most wonderful keyboard instrument, the mellotron regularly – that lovely delicate ‘whooshing’ sound that gave their music a uniquely haunting edge. Along with Hayward’s perfect vocals which include poetic readings, this was innovative pop-psychedelia that evolved into early progressive music. Easy on the ear with infectious songs that remain in the subconscious for hours after playing. I remember from my schooldays hearing the wonderful single ‘Nights in White Satin’, reissued from ‘Days’, it left a lasting impression – I even had this song played at my wedding in 1984. This album is one of around seven essential albums to own, they set standards of excellence few ever could match. I have several more of their albums on offer at the moment, and more to follow soon.

This Cover’s Potential for Wear: Quite high, the inner book often becomes detached and damaged and this copy has the early massively wide spine that obviously is more prone to wear and compression.

Cover Grade and Format: EX++ with the book fully attached. Being so thick and heavy, this is a delicate but when found like this, a thing of immense beauty. A gatefold format, laminated with Clarifoil front and back, this covers all the closed edges and wraps inside the cover on the bottom edges, there are no flipbacks. The 14-page book is very secure with three original staples, two of which are solidly into the outer spine as manufactured. These have tarnished slighly inside. It was printed and made in England by Garrod & Lofthouse and still has the ‘Patents pending’ text. The back has the peep-hole mono/stereo indicator which is filled with either a blue (stereo, as here) or red, mono inner sleeve.

Front, Back and Lamination: Both sides absolutely gorgeous with incredibly dark but vibrant, rich colour with beautiful artwork. In fact this cover is a work-of-art initself and rarely have I seen it better. The laminate is smooth, clear and shiny and devoid of any major blemishes or marks. One light crease on either side and all is fully adhered with no lifting or blisters of any real note, a tiny trace on one edge being the only one. Any friction rub or dulling is very light and faint as is any record impression on the back. This is so fresh and eye-pleasing, there are hardly any surface marks to be seen even under light and clearly this vintage gem has clearly been well looked after. The peep-hole on the back is pristine with no burring or damage to the hole rim.

Cover Inner Gatefold: The solidity of the lyric book is unusual and refreshing, most work loose and many become detached altogether, this being rock solid and unstressed or even loosened. All pages very clean and looking hardly handled. The right side band picture is stunning and looks fantastic. The left inside front is very clean indeed and has avoided set-off from the dark ink opposite and few will ever avoid this at the very least.

Top Edges: Both neat and unworn and retaining all laminate, almost as made.

Bottom Edges: As above.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean and quite sharp with minimal traces of any wear and no feathering, guaranteed untrimmed. Minor burr traces when viewed end-on but only slight in context. Record entered on right outside back edge.

Spine and Text: This has the less wide spine format that appears more rounded. A very fine spine it is too, delicate with the extra pressure of the book weight to support. Solid, straight with minimal compression but a minor fold ridge formed with opening. All text is perfect and unworn, no tarnishing to the exterior staples that remains ultra tight. No peeling of the laminate at all which is smooth and clear.

Corners: All very neat indeed and these too are delicate. Slight burr to the top back left but any tip rubs are tiny and all retain very fine shape and will prove difficult to find much better.

Cover Summary: One of the classic 60s covers and it will seldom be found much better with a much rarer large format label record inside. It will please most collectors I feel sure.

The Inner: The original blue polylined Decca-style inner is included in a fine near EX++ condition. This has no window which is correct for the earliest pressings, this has the date code of 10-69 which confirms its originality. Barely any creasing at all and the polylining remains fully intact. No splits on the edge seams and even the top entrance edge is neat and sharp, there is hardly any traces of glue darkening or toning. A super-fine inner for its considerable vintage.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EX at the very least this early-pressed example has little more than ultra fine and faint surface marks. Those fine types that just catch angled light, totally superficial and non-sounding and few records ever avoid these at the very least. Very clean, shiny, intense black and heavily pressed – a top quality UK Deram pressing, even the edges feel machine smoothed and not razor sharp like many. This without doubt has been played little and sounds great.

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 snippetts 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 super record even exceeds its high visual grading with practically 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 stereo mix is wonderful and very different to the mono version – both formats are essential in my opinion. All Moody Blues albums are vintage hi-fi favourites, the recording quality and pressings are second to none. The production and audio quality was ahead of its time and even today, some 40 years after issue, still astonishes. Few records this great age will play ‘silent’ in their entirety and the odd tiny blemish is considered by most as normal. There is little to fault on this record and it will take an amazing example to better this one significantly. Both channels are clean, sharp and totally unstressed, clearly been well stored and caringly looked after, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. Often the flute and mellotron on vintage Moodies albums can distort with an echo type reverb caused by groove wear – a mild distortion that ruins the beautiful sound. There is none of this present on this fine copy and all is well focused and defined – if not, I would not even offer it. Most collectors know the perils of what records of this era had to face – their ‘best play’ days were often sadly brief and only a tiny percentage can withstand being played on modern, critically revealing stereo equipment. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this classic album. From the very beginning of ‘I am…’ to the recurring sound loop of the final run-out grooves, you will know you have something very special here. This copy will prove difficult to find significantly better on the early format, repressings are far easier, but nice to have the really early-pressed examples that still give that extra edge in sound and fine details.

End Piece: One of the greatest albums of the 1960s by one of the greatest ever bands from any era. A copy worthy of this title, timeless, classic progressive popular music. Its amazing to think that the next album was arguably even better, it just proves what a fantastic band The Moody Blues truly were. Any music lover cannot fail to enjoy this album visually and aurally – treat your deck, ears and eyes to something special and don’t let this slip through the Net again.

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 with Ittok Mk IV arm and Ortofon Samba Moving Coil cartridge (tracks at 1.8 grams). Amps: Naim Nait 5i with Project USB phono stage and Chord interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Moth 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.

POSTING & PACKING: 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, mostly the very next day after payment is received or within three days maximum (unless on holiday). All records are posted in professional boxes (NOT mailers) with the record(s) 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 TWO VERY THICK stiffners for even extra protection – these are FOUR TIMES thicker than commercial stiffners and are custom-made for oneadayrecords. Really rare and expensive albums will even be Double Boxed. The cover will be placed within a BRAND NEW heavy duty soft protective sleeve and the actual record will be professionally cleaned on my Moth Pro vacuum system to give ultimate clean grooves and playing surfaces and the best possible looks and ultimate sound quality. Printed address labels are used for clarity as well as a sender label. 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. 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 offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible. I will invoice any winning bidder as soon as possible after the auction ends. My ‘loss’ or ‘damage rate’ is less than 0.1 per percent based on over 5,000+ items sold in over 8 years of Ebay trading and I consider that pretty exceptional. I discount of course for multiple purchases with a maximum of FOUR records per packet. I will not respond to questions on shipping costs as all the details are included in the advert.

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 (SECOND Class Recorded Delivery with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) [Signed For] = FREE. This is the new Ebay rule. HOWEVER I STRONGLY URGE UK WINNERS TO PAY THE £3 FOR THE FIRST-CLASS SERVICE AS THE PACKETS WILL ARRIVE MUCH FASTER AND SAFER.

1 LP (FIRST-CLASS Recorded Delivery with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) [Signed For] = £3.

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7.50. (this includes insurance of £500).

Posting & Packing: EUROPE & SCANDINAVIA. (Airmail Only):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£39 maximum]) = £8. (insurance optional extra £3).

NOTE: I NO LONGER SEND TO THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION. ANY BIDS WILL BE IGNORED.

Posting & Packing: ALL OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. USA (any part); 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]) = £12. (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 timewasters. 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 minus the Posting and All Ebay costs as long as the item detail has been read and understood. I will not refund if any defect detail is clearly stated on the advert and missed by the buyer. If any overseas collector does not understand anything in my listing, please email and ask me to help.

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 neccessarily 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’.