GILGAMESH - 1st UK Press Black/White Caroline ORIG. INNER NM OMG CONDITION

	£		49
	$		65

GILGAMESH

CAROLINE (Virgin Subsidiary)

  1st UK PRESS 

 CA 2007

Splendid prog/fusion album with a possibly unplayed vinyl in unbelievable NM condition!!!

The original basis of Gilgamesh was Gowen and drummer Mike Travis, the two working together on a band project with guitarist Rick Morcombe. The original Gilgamesh line-up consisted of Gowen, Travis, Morcombe, Jeff Clyne and Alan Wakeman on saxophone.

The band's line-up took a while to stabilise, with, for example, Richard Sinclair depping for Clyne on their debut performance in January 1973; soon afterwards it settled on the quartet of Gowen, Travis, Phil Lee on guitar (recommended by Travis) and Neil Murray on bass. Regular gigs followed throughout 1973, including two special performances co-headlining with Hatfield and the North which included a "double-quartet" set consisting of a 40-minute composition by Gowen. A demo tape was also recorded for gig- and contract-hunting purposes.

In late 1973, Murray was replaced by Steve Cook, but gigs subsequently became ever sparser, despite a series of radio sessions for the BBC's jazz programmes. For one of those the quartet were augmented with a second keyboard player, Peter Lemer. In 1975, Gilgamesh finally secured a contract with Virgin's subsidiary label Caroline Records, and recorded their debut album in downtime at the Virgin-owned Manor Studios, with Hatfield's Dave Stewart acting as co-producer.

Gowen and Stewart had become friends over the previous months and discussed a possible collaboration, but Stewart was hesitant about being in two bands simultaneously. WhenHatfield and the North finally broke up in mid-1975, Stewart joined Gilgamesh as auxiliary member, playing one gig and a couple of radio sessions with the group. Meanwhile plans were laid for the Stewart-Gowen collaboration, which eventually materialised as National Health and also (briefly) included Gilgamesh guitarist Phil Lee. Gilgamesh themselves ceased operations in late 1975 following the cancellation of a proposed Scottish tour.

After leaving National Health, in 1977 Gowen reformed Gilgamesh as a rehearsal-oriented unit with Murray, Lee and drummer Trevor Tomkins (a longtime collaborator of Lee's) for occasional rehearsals. A second album was recorded in June 1978, Another Fine Tune You've Got Me Into (released 1978 on Charly Records), with Gowen, Lee, Tomkins and bassist Hugh Hopper, but the band had no further existence. Gowen died a few years later in 1981.

VERY RARE DUTCH  LP, with a FANTASCTIC late-60s FLOYD Picture Sleeve on the front and a nice description on the back of the Sleeve.  A great item with AMAZING early PINK FLOYD PICTURE SLEEVE!

THE VINYL PLAYS SUPERBLY ALL THE WAY THROUGH BOTH SIDES. 

THE STEREO REPRODUCTION IS SUPERB AND EVERY NOTE IS HEARD CLEARLY AND CRISPLY.  NEEDLESS TO SAY, NO STICKS OR JUMPS!

On offer here is a very rare LP by the Canterbury scene band GILGAMESH. A UK only original complete with its original rarely seen inner sleeve. The album was produced by Dave Stewart of earlier quality bands EGG and ARZACHEL. 

     The absolute rarity of this album is not to be underestimated. It hardly ever surfaces nowadays. This is an absolutely gorgeous super heavy slab of early quality vinyl which is in great  condition without any marks or hairlines!! This has a lovely deep glossy sheen!! Hauntingly beautiful songcraft!!! Immense quality jazz fusion/prog album that ticks all the right boxes and incredibly hard to find. I have twentyfive years experience in grading. It doesn't get any better than this!!

Please, also have a look at my other albums on sale this week

!!!!AN IMPOSSIBLE FIND!!!GORGEOUS  ALBUM!!! BARELY PLAYED IF NOT TOTALLY UNPLAYED!!! This is SOOOOOOOOOOO very rare!!!!!

****ELUSIVE CANTERBURY SCENE  PROG MONSTER!!!****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, leave alone in this stunning condition!! This is an album that is on many prog collectors wishlists and it is only the second time I have ever come across it. Scarce??? I surely think so!!!

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

Vinyl:  NM.  A sensational find!!! I have played this in FULL twice over> fantastic audio, a joy to listen to!! This is the true official 1st stereo press.  I first played for a general listen and a second time for a more detailed observation. Probably unplayed. There are no hairlines, no marks and looks absolutely pristine without even any spindle marks.  Fantastic songcraft!! I am very glad to be able to report that this is a fine slab of vinyl without any problems at all and as such worthy of inclusion of any great prog collection.   Of course NO jumps/clicks/skips etc.

Sleeve:  EX+.  A sleeve that will be hard to better. This one being matt and mainly white in colour is of course extremely vulnerable. It is an extremely difficult album to find but in this great condition nearly impossible!! A small name to the back top left, done very discretely and not at all intrusive. The spine is 100% and so are the edges. NO writing. 

Inner sleeve: NM. This is the original inner sleeve which is not a generic company sleeve like most of this album that have been sold in auctions but the specific GILGAMESH inner with catalogue number CA 2007 and   "PAT TOWNING  -GILGAMESH"  printed in white to the top opening section. Again this inner sleeve is as good as it gets and looks like it was issued yesterday. 

Labels: NM. Not a mark!!! Possibly unplayed!!

***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  psych history.*** 

             This is a unique investment opportunity!!! The next psych 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 45.00.  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.