TRAFFIC - JOHN BARLEYCORN MUST DIE 1ST UK ROUGH TEXTURED PINK i LABELS 1970 EX

	£		18
	$		24

TRAFFIC -
John Barleycorn Must Die

 1970 1st UK PRESS

ILPS 9116

Matrices: A/2  B/2

"STERLING" machined into the run out grooves. A true first UK Press with the far rarer rough textured pink "I" labels

On offer here is a VERY rare LP on the first press rough textured ISLAND label. 

Brief Artist & Album Info:

 John Barleycorn Must Die is a 1970 album by British rock band Traffic. As did most of their albums, it featured many different genres of music including art rock, jazz rock, and many psychedelic influences.

The album was initially intended by Steve Winwood to be a solo album, but when Chris Wood and Jim Capaldi joined him, it became Traffic once more. The album was originally dubbed "Mad Shadows".

After recording the album early in 1970, it was released by Island Records and United Artists in July of 1970. It became the first Traffic album to reach gold status.

TRAFFIC was a band from Birmingham, England, formed in early 1967 by Steve Winwood with Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason.

The group's distinctive sound, innovative recordings and collaborative songwriting (Which they attributed to massive pot smoking with Richard Ellis) influenced many other groups in the progressive rock genre in the late 1960s and early 1970s.[ Like many other groups of the period, Traffic was heavily influenced by the early recordings of The Band, and they also retreated to a country house (in Berkshire, England) at the beginning of their career in order to write and develop their material before making their live debut.

Vinyl: VG+.  Both surfaces retain their original deep, glossy sheen.  There are a couple of the usual sleeve retraction paper traces and a few shallow hairlines.   The record sounds sensational, the vinyl being the extremely thick variety like the early Island issues and the equivalent of a Rolls Royce in private motor cars.
 Outstanding audio delivery in all respects with a crystal clear, deep, rich, warm and detailed sound and on playback at a loud volume (which is how I always listen to my LPs prior to listing and it's always an immense pleasure to return to this one) there is barely any surface noise just very light static mainly between the tracks in the silent grooves. This is a beautifully clean pressing (and I must emphasise again how difficult it is to find a copy which plays this well). The whole LP sounds absolutely stunning and plays to a high standard with  clarity, no groove-wear and no distortion and is very strictly graded a strong EX  for replay  - great copy!! Of course, NO skips, NO jumps, NO ticks.

 Sleeve:  VG+.  "Printed and made by the E.J. Day Group". Great matt gatefold sleeve with hardly any crease, just the tiny one on the rear bottom corner. Perfectly flat with just light wear on the edges. The spine is 70% legible. No creases or writing whatsoever. NO seam splits.  The inside gatefold is a strong EX++. Cannot be faulted at all apart from the light shadow of a removed price sticker top right blink and you'll miss it.  An upgrade for most prog/psych collectors.

Labels: EX. Rough textured. Side 2 has "coke" written on it in red.

I have played this in FULL> The replay is ASTOUNDING!!! There are not any jumps, pops or skips.  Very remarkable for this 1970 vinyl!!!  The heavy vinyl with high groovewalls provide a fantastic audio experience with channelling not equalled by the later re-issue. I played this on my Technics turntable with a Linn cartridge and through my very revealing B&W three way speakers!!! A beautiful CLASSIC with supreme song craft, a joy to listen to!!!! 

ELUSIVE PROGMONSTER!!!!!  AN IMPOSSIBLE FIND!!!

****ELUSIVE PROGMONSTER!!!****PERPLEXING SONGCRAFT!!!***AN INSPIRATION TO MANY SUBSEQUENT TOPACTS!!!***

!!!!A VERY HARD FIND!!! Most have been bought up by collectors!! This is hardly offered these days as an original first press!!

 Sensational sound quality, I have played this through in its entirety and it was a great joy!!! NO skips or jumps. NO clicks, this is really a stunning heavy glossy jet black vinyl .Inspected under an intense lightsource and angled.

***This is a unique prime investment opportunity!!! Finding this album in any condition at all is nearly impossible!!! This is  a great and seriously collectable super album!!  You will buy into a piece of  prog jazz core history.*** 

Important : International postage will be registered and insured if over GBP 20.00.  These fees in England have gone up significantly last May. Please wait for my invoice before paying. Postage will be according to Royal Mail rates. Postage is NOT a money spinning exercise for me.

***This is a unique prime investment opportunity!!! Finding this classic album in any condition at all is nearly impossible!!! This is  a great and seriously collectable super album!!  You will buy into a piece of  superb prog history.*** 

This is a unique investment opportunity!!! The next prog album to go completely through the roof. Finding this album in any condition at all is nearly impossible so late in the day. Get this while you still can. This value of the album is only going to go one way ... up and up ... until it will be totally unavailable at all for a reasonable price.

Important : International postage will be registered and insured if over GBP 20.00.  Please wait for my invoice before paying. Postage will be according to Royal Mail rates. Postage is NOT a money spinning exercise for me.

Though there are rarely ever any problems with my items, I always try my very best to describe everything exactly!  PLEASE REMEMBER to contact me FIRST,  if you have any problems at all, before you leave feedback and star ratings, so I get a chance to turn any negative experience into a positive one!  I can always happily sort anything out for you, if you let me know you have a problem!  This way no one has to leave Negative/Neutral feedback - and we both walk away happy! Similarly with the amount of stars, anything less than a full 5 * rating is effectively detrimental to a seller's rating as lower ratings will incur higher Final Value Fees  and lower priority in the bidlists eventually making it unattractive to list items on Ebay at all. I know of at least one major previous Ebay seller who has decided not to list via Ebay again. Please do NOT bid if you cannot give me at least 1 chance to sort everything out to your FULL satisfaction in the unlikely event of a problem.  Thanks again!!

This an excellent investment opportunity!!! Any questions please ask me and I will try to answer soon.