PENTANGLE Basket of Light RARER UK 69 Gimmick Cover LP

	£		24
	$		32

ONEADAYRECORDS – Delivering the Very Best Folk Music to the World

Please see my Detailed Packing Description Further Down with Picture & All Shipping Rates.

Artist or Band: THE PENTANGLE

Album Title: Basket of Light.

Producer: Shel Talmy.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Light Flight; Once I Had a Sweetheart; Springtime; Lyke-Wake Dirge; Train Song.

Side 2: Hunting Song; Sally Go Round the Roses; The Cuckoo; House Carpenter.

A Special Note About This Copy & Rarity: This album is not rare per se, but this early-pressed copy is a little different from a ‘standard’ one. This one includes the far rarer gimmick built-in plastic inner which was used on a few other albums around this time. It was a somewhat ill-conceived idea and was quickly dropped making them, particularly on this album quite rare. The foam edge to the entrance area reacted badly with the vinyl. In most cases, it left a mark on the record with few exceptions. It appeared as a dulled area, a bit like a pressing watermark and it ALWAYS sounds on the affected area. These gimmick inner covers, for this title were quickly withdrawn and replaced with standard covers. Whether the record company saw the errors of their ways or simply wanted to reduce manufacture costs is uncertain but the idea was flawed. A few other albums included this gimmick plastic inner and ALL suffer the same fate barring miracles. Other albums I know of which included it are: Mr Fox - ‘The Gypsy’; Colosseum - ‘Live’ and the Island sampler ‘El Pea’. This A1/B1 matrix record has no such residue marks that I can see. The reason being, the original owner has the good sense to keep this record inside a replacement lined inner hence the record still looks and plays with lovely clean sound and no foam reactions to the record’s surface. I have seen few of these on this particular title, practically all have the standard gatefold cover, e.g. as per this minus the built in inner plastic sleeve. It’s always nice to own the rarer and unusual even if the concept was flawed, so an unusual example of this classic folk album for the more serious collector.

Label/Format: Transatlantic – Original purple and white format.

Label Conditions: One ultra faint tone spot trace no side one (but look hard). Both look clean and attractive and with any spindle marks ultra few and faint.

Cat Number: TRA 205.

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: 140 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.

Original Year of Release: 1969

Matrix Nos: TRA 205 A-1 / TRA 205 B-1

Stamper Codes: 1 A / 1 A

Brief Artist & Album Info: The word unique is often overused but is fully justified with Pentangle. Classic jazz tinged folk-rock from one of the greatest UK bands of this genre. Basket of Light was the band’s third album of the six proper albums they made – five were issued on this label. This is simply another folk masterpiece from a band whose consistency of brilliance is almost unmatched within their field – Fairport Convention and early Steeleye Span apart that is (and even the sadly short-lived Trees, but they were more electric). Featuring the famous quintet of Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Danny Thompson (the greatest acoustic bass player ever?), Terry Cox and the fabulous Jacqui McShee on vocals. This album is arguably the very best they ever made and it even featured a hit single in ‘Light Flight’ which was used as the theme for the TV series ‘Take Three Girls’ at this time – I can just about remember it as my parents watched it, but even in my youth I was immediately attracted to his beautiful song. This is the much rarer example that includes the short-lived and badly conceived gimmick plastic inner sleeve and for once on such covers, it remains strongly intact and adhered. Glue darkening on left edge where it attaches to the cover is considered normal but this has reacted far less than most with any browning minimal. The cover itself is a very difficult one to find nice, a unlaminated gatefold with a single thickness front, this is nearly always seen rubbed, creased or ringworn, this has little to fault. The cover is somewhat misleading, depicting the band playing live, but this is a studio album and it has one of the most outstanding productions of this period I have ever heard and that is no exaggeration. A totally acoustic album, the sounds are all purely natural and in the age of digital electronics what a fantastic change this makes. As stated the record is devoid of any residue marks due to the good sense of the original owner. Few records with these almost bizarre inners escape so lightly and this album is totally playable and sounds great. A class album from the greatest acoustic folk band ever!

Cover Grade and Format: EX+, a gatefold format, unlaminated. Printed by MacNeil Press Ltd. Both front and back are made with single thickness card, again unique to this rare version. Later ones were standard back entry storage with double thick backs. This has the unique gimmick plastic inner sleeve and also the ‘av/pak’ text to the right with its ‘UK and World patents pending’ text. If this ever got patented it would have been a miracle, still one of the most bizarre and unusual ideas ever put on on a record sleeve. This text was removed from the standard and much more common versions proving this cover has NOT been tampered with from other gimmick covers (please see this text in close up).

Cover Front: Clean and attractive and clearly fragile being so thin. A couple of mild surface creases on the left edge show little and the lack of rubbing and sticker marks are always a bonus on this one.

Cover Back: The back is similar again, probably even better, the lack of ringwear is unusual and great news of course. I reitterate again, this back is also single thickness which is not standard for this album, purely unique for this rarer gimmick version.

Cover Inner Gatefold: The inside is of huge significance as mentioned already in some detail. The difference is the plastic inner that is attached to the right side of the centre fold. This is strongly attached and strong with just the very top and bottom slightly unstuck. This could easily be rectified if deemed necessary, I decided to let it be. The plastic inner is clear with little wear and any marks light and faint. These often scratch and mark badly especially when they were ‘used’, this not being the case on this one. The foam on the opening which was designed to protect the LP on entry and this looks almost as new with no mishapen areas, reitterating again the lack of use here. This pale grey foam always reacts to the vinyl surface if left inside even for a relatively short time, again not the case here, I have rarely seen this foam so neat and fresh, ths being fully adhered too. This gimmick inner clearly was a bad idea and it very quickly omitted from later copies and the av/pak credit (?) text was dropped too. The two inner faces show little wear at all and the plastic inner lack the ugly browning to it’s adhesive that most seem to have, any traces light and few.

Top Edges: Both neat and crisp with no thickening or burring.

Bottom Edges: Pretty much as above.

Right Edge(s), and Type: The front very sharp and neat, the back has mild traces of thickening when viewed end-on, this being somewhat critical.

Spine and Text: Solid but flimsy, quite straight and with minimal compression and folded straight. Some faint rubbing on the top foldline, again being critical.

Corners: All very neat and sharp and with barely any wear which for a cover like this is unusual.

Cover Summary: Do not underestimate the rarity of this cover variant, many collectors are still unaware this exists as the guides fail to even mention it. With such differences in cover design and rarity, how can such an error be allowed to happen? Anyway, it will prove very difficult to find much better and finding it at all is hard enough. One for the cover connoisseur but under no circumstances store the record inside it.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EX++ with no residue marks from the foam strip on the gimmick inner which is immensely hard to find. Not conceived I guess as a ‘gimmick’ when made, but thought to be a good idea to dispell the use of a conventional inner sleeve but it truly as a bad idea. The record is very clean, intense black, quite heavily pressed with a very nice shine. Clearly lightly played and as far as the early pressings go, this will prove very hard to find better with any surface marks being tiny, few and faint. This 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 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 copy plays up to and most all above its high visual grading with practically nothing to fault. Transatlantic were often a little inconsistent in pressing quality, but this is a fine one. An immaculately produced album and the sound takes you into the recording studio itself. Strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear - sound quality is astonishing with a wide dynamic range and very rich and detailed sound, this is a super-fi recording. The start of side two, with a solo glockenspiel is pristine and the instrument could actually be in the room with beautiful clarity and precise sharp ‘tings’. Jacqui McShee’s crystal clear vocals send shivers down the spine, any groove wear or distortion echo would destroy this beautiful recording but all is sharp and focused and every instrument from the high to the deep basslines of Thompson are focused and precise. Few copies will much play better and still gives the most wonderful sound and detail and any surface sounds are minimal and faint. Both channels are clean and sharp and stereo imagery from the acoustic instruments is sublime. The stunning natural sound of the ‘real’ instruments via analogue will never be beaten, this is pure class and higher-end systems such as Linn & Naim will revel, and reveal all the splendour this album has to offer. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this folk classic – yes you could say I rather enjoyed this one. This copy will prove very difficult to find significantly better that came inside this very collectable cover. Both record and sleeve can be highly recommended.

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’.