NAZARETH Rare UK 1971 Orig Pegasus Debut. MINI CLASSIC

	£		100
	$		133

ONEADAYRECORDS – Delivering Quality Music to the World.

Artist or Band: NAZARETH

Album Title: Nazareth.

Producer(s): David Hitchcock.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Witchdoctor Woman; Dear John; Empty Arms, Empty Heart; I Had A Dream; Red Light Lady.

Side 2: Fat Man; Country Girl; Morning Dew; The King is Dead.

Label/Format: Pegasus – original format with the stunning ‘A’ side flying horse design. (Please see my label scans).

Label Conditions: Both very clean and attractive with barely any spindle marks and no wear around the hole area. One of rock’s most beautiful graphic labels for sure. The original owner, for some reason, underlined four songs neatly and finely in red as can be seen on my scan.

Cat Number: PEG-10.

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps: Assume all records I offer have no warping of any significance and all tracking is easy and effortless and should play on all turntables and even ‘budget’ decks.

Weight of this Record: 137 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 135 to 145 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, many 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 50 records from these eras.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Quite rare as first pressing on Pegasus, later repressed on the Peg label. The books massively undervalue this elusive album, but that is no real surprise is it?

Original Year of Release: 1971

Matrix Nos: PEG 10 A-2U / PEG 10 B-2U

Mother & Stamper Codes: 1 R / 1 R [one of the earliest pressings I have yet seen for this album being within the first 600 made]

Run-Out Groove Etchings: ‘PORKY’ / ‘PECKO’

Musicians: Dan McCafferty - vocals; Darrell Sweet - drums; Pete Agnew - bass guitar, guitar; Manny Charlton - guitar. Guests: Dave Stewart - keyboards; Pete Wingfield - keyboards; Pete York - percussion; B.J. Cole - steel guitar.

Brief Info: Scottish hard rock band fronted by the powerful vocalist Dan McCafferty. This was their self-titled debum and what a treasure it is too. It failed to cause much attention and failed to sell at all well. First pressings are highly elusive, it was only available for a very short time on the Pegasus label before being repressed in 1972 on Peg. The cover was also changed, this original is ultra flimsy, soft, thin and fragile, few are seen even a highly respectable VG. Those that surface are often shredded, very grubby and torn with deep, ugly ringwear. The PEG cover was more robust and protected. This 1971 mini-classic has some stunning songs included and none better than the sublime ‘Morning Dew’, co-written by Bonnie Dobson and Tim Rose, one of my favourite songs of all-time and Nazareth’s rendition is truly superb. For me, and by some distance, the best Nazareth album ever, this is now becoming highly sort-after, especially the elusive first pressing which is becoming harder to harder to find. This is a nice copy with an attractive cover, it has blemishes but try finding one without. The record has a few surface marks but they have little to no effect on sound and this plays exceedingly well for what is a highly challening recording. I have yet to hear any copy of this record devoid of some crackle on the final songs on each side, this being my very best one yet with little unwanted. Truly, this is a magnificent album that (for me anyway), they never came close to matching again.

This Cover’s Potential for Wear: Very High++ and near impossible to find with little wear.

Cover Grade and Format: EX(-) and do not underestimate just how hard this one is find even this good. One of the most flimsy and lightweight covers of its era, this bends over if not held in two hands. A single, matt cover with textured surfaces and made with very soft card that is highly prone to wooliness. Printed and made in England by the E. J. Day Group.

Cover Front: The front is very nice indeed and in context of this cover, it’s quite exceptional with not a lot to fault. A little mild edgewear and corner rubs can be seen, I can hardly imagine ever finding one of these with none. Any mild friction will rub these unforgiving and delicate surfaces, anyway, mild here. Clean and devoid of ringwear, the only issue are a few light surface creases that have minimal visual impact. Being honest, this is the best I have yet seen.

Cover Back: The back is pretty much the same as the front, if anything, better still. The lack of ringwear is particularly noteworthy.

Top Edge: Lightly rubbed near the left corner, the only part with black ink, the rest is white so any friction blemishes are invisible. This is unsplit with NO repairs and wooliness has not occurred.

Bottom Edge: This has patchy rubbing, most near corner tips and centre, again no splits which are common on this one.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, reasonably sharp with little wear and no feathering, guaranteed untrimmed. Sightly thickened in places with the odd small thumb burr, this being quite critical. Record enters on this edge and removal without wear to this edge near impossible. I truly feel this record has not made the trip out many times.

Spine and Text: Patchy rubbing again but no splits, most text present with just the ‘A’ and ‘Z’ in ‘NAZARETH’ clipped.

Corners: All have rubbed, most apparent the bottom pair, decent shape retained.

Cover Summary: A more than highly respectable all round example of this ultra fragile early 70’s original format cover, one that will prove very difficult to find much better. I think more than acceptable blemishes or minor wear, sometimes covers are so frail and delicate, compromises have to be made or go without, this is hardly a common one either. This still attractive item should please many collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: The plain white unlined inner is included in super shape. The original female owner signed her name along with the date of purchase (12.5.72) and included the price (£2.08). This is quite clean with minor seam glue browning and only one small split on the bottom edge with minimal traces of creasing.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: Properly graded Very Good as it does have a few surface marks, these being practically all superficial with minimal effect on sound, most are only scuffs. This record has way better than average sound for what has always been a challenging album. A fine copy that is clean with a decent shine, intense black and solidly pressed. Although it has a few, most-all superficial surface marks, I feel sure it’s been played only very modestly. It will please many collectors but clearly not the perfectionists.

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 fine record exceeds its visual grading with little to fault. Sound quality is high with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. Any surface sounds are minimal with very few or noteworthy clicks noted. This pleased me immensely, it was possible one or two of these visual blemishes could have sounded, but barely any do. Also knowing this album, I know the final song on each side is highly prone to distortion and major sound issues. With delicate strings and intense sound, few will avoid them. Most-all avoid often heavy clipping and sound degrading, just one play on an unworthy deck will spoil these critical songs. Here, both play well with any clipping minor and light, indeed the best I have heard to date (and by some distance too). Not pristine, but very acceptable indeed and very little spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record. This copy will prove difficult to find significantly better for sound as a very early ‘first issue’ on Pegasus. Musically, strongly recommended, slight caution for the absolute sound and visual purist. It simply depends on the sensitivity of the equipment used to play this one. My LP12 takes no prisoners and sometimes it can be too revealing. A delightful album that, given all the facts on rarity and fragility I would be more than happy to own and enjoy – you decide – any doubts…

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 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.

PACKING - THIS IS WHAT YOU GET - PLEASE SEE MY TYPICAL PACKING BOX PICTURE.

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 Moth 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 thick boxes (NOT Mailers or Cruciforms, these do not offer maximum protection). 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 THREE or EVEN FOUR 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. 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. Please see my picture of a typical finished box packet that will now be used on ALL transactions as from now. 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. These 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 6,000+ items sold in over 8 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 stiffners 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 FOUR 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); 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 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. 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 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’.