GRATEFUL DEAD Anthem of the Sun RARE ORIG UK 1968 FIRST-PRESS & MIX SOUND EX+ LP

	£		91
	$		120

ONEADAYRECORDS – Simply Delivering Quality Music to the World.

Postage: UK £4.75 (£1 per extra record). Europe (including Russia) £12.50 (£2 per extra record). Rest of World £16.50 (£3 per extra record). All boxes signed for in quality, safe packaging – I NEVER use mailing envelopes that offer virtually no protection at all. More details on this nearer the end of the listing.

Posting to Russia: Yes, I do post to Russia. But delivery can take up to 4 to 6 weeks from the UK. So please be patient. I will submit a tracking number to the winning bidder, and when the packet arrives there it can be followed online using the Russian post website.

ALSO: I now apply the Ebay ‘4-day’ rule for non-payment. I try to keep my P&P prices as low as possible even yet another Royal Mail price hike, I will never compromise on solid, safe packing that is invariably a little heavier.

Artist or Band: THE GRATEFUL DEAD

Album Title: Anthem of the Sun.

Producer(s): The Grateful Dead.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: That’s It for the Other One; Cryptical Envelopment; Quodlibet for Tenderfeet; The Faster We Go, The Rounder We Get; We Leave the Castle; New Potato Caboose; Born Cross-Eyed.

Side 2: Alligator; Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks).

Label/Format: Warner Bros – original deep orange format with matt smooth surfaces (Please see my label scans).

Label Conditions: Both superb and side two immaculate: very clean, fresh and attractive with only a tiny few mainly very light and faint spindle marks. Three or four on side one, side two, one tiny trace only. Finding this vintage original better will prove beyond difficult.

Cat Number: WS 1749.

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: 156 grams. A typical heavyweight WS pressing.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Rare: few people in the UK shelled out to buy a first issue of this album. It ranks as one of the most elusive in their catalogue. This first issues includes the original sound mix that was changed in 1972 when repressed again making this the copy for the connoisseur ‘Deadhead’. The repressings have an extended matrix number with the letters ‘RE’ added. Only the orange and very early green ‘WS’ label and matrix copies offer the original mix sound.

Original Year of Release: 1968.

Matrix Nos: WS 1749 A-1 *G STEREO / WS 1749 B-1 *G STEREO

Mothers / Stampers: C 1 / D 1 [the earliest copy you could possibly find, A 1 / B1 most likely test pressings]

Musicians: Jerry Garcia - lead guitar, acoustic guitar, kazoo, vibraslap, vocals; Bob Weir - rhythm guitar, 12-string guitar, acoustic guitar, kazoo, vocals; Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan - organ, celesta, claves, vocals; Phil Lesh - bass, trumpet, harpsichord, guiro, kazoo, piano, timpani, vocals; Bill Kreutzmann - drums, orchestra bells, gong, chimes, crotales, prepared piano, finger cymbals; Mickey Hart - drums, orchestra bells, gong, chimes, crotales, prepared piano, finger cymbals; Tom Constanten - prepared piano, piano, electronic tape.

Brief Info: A much more complex and innovative album compared to the debut, the band wanted to change their sound and give this studio album more a feeling of what they sounded like live. All the material was original and band-written. The history of the production and mix of this album has always been complex and even Garcia admitted it sounded too far out with an intricate mixture of multi-instruments and crazed psychedelia that uses live edits and studio sound all intermixed together. It was remixed in 1972 with a different sound and feel to the material. Regarded as a classic of it’s type and a ‘Deadheads’ favourite, this had low commercial potential, especially outside the US and finding this album has always proved difficult. A heavy-press in supreme condition, the sound has barely anything to fault and the cover is equally lovely. One of the earliest made or seen with the orange labels, both record and cover could prove major upgrades for many collectors.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(++): and was VERY tempted to grade Mint(–). A single format with front laminate. This wraps around the closed edges and ends on three external rear flipbacks. The main back panel is matt and smooth finished. It has the original WS 1749 on the back, front and spine. Printed and made in England by Garrod & Lofthouse with the ‘Patents pending’ text.

Cover Front: Stunning artwork that looks absolutely immaculate when laminated as only the early pressings were. The richness of the beautiful artwork colour has to be seen for real to be fully appreciated and this retains a lovely shine and clarity that brings out all the superb details. All fully adhered with no lifts or blisters and only under light is a little quite gentle dulling around the very thick, heavy record’s rim seen. Unless the disc is stored outside of the cover, this is near impossible to avoid and few will show much less. A tiny few light edge hairline creases that are also close to impossible to avoid, but barely anything detracts from the beauty of the richly coloured graphic. The right edge has an unprotected strip where the laminate ends naturally short of full width, but even this vulnerable area has barely a hint of any wear (and NO tip-ins). One of the classic acid-psych covers of this period and a considerable work-of-art – try finding it much better.

Cover Back: The back is also outstanding and a perfect match for the wonderful front. The main panel is unprotected and vulnerable, but has hardly aged at all with any marks, grubbiness or blemishes minuscule. Unrubbed with no ring wear or even rim impression, this is in truly age-defying condition. The flipbacks are superb as well with barely any hint of grubbiness or burring to their ends. All solid and even the laminate retains rich shine with just a mere couple of hairlines on the spine edge. The lack of discolouration and fresh looks makes for an exceptional back.

Top Edge: Straight and smooth with just one chip little bigger than a micron – why do I even both to mention such trivia?

Bottom Edge: Looks immaculate and even this storage edge laminate is incredibly shiny.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, mostly very sharp with barely any wear and guaranteed untrimmed or enhanced in any way. Barely even thickened or burred, even viewed end-on. The record enters on this edge that also is unlikely to be found neater or cleaner.

Spine and Text: An exceptional spine also in very fine condition, almost as made. Solid, straight, with only a little quite gentle compression towards the top, this has neatly tapered ends in manufacture. All text is perfect and unworn under solid, clear, unpeeled and uncracked laminate that also retains a very smooth finish to the finger tip. Put white, shiny and unaged.

Corners: All the corner tips are crisp and neat with excellent to near mint shape retained. The odd small rub only and no dinks or creases.

Cover Summary: All aspects of this cover are exceptional and truly it defies is vast age. The gentle dulling on the front is the only minor issue for perfectionists, but viewed full-on, it barely even registers. A gorgeous work-of-art and it will prove immensely difficult to match or find better, it should please most-all collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT: a plain white inner with barely a crease to be seen and all edges unsplit with no repairs necessary, the window circles pristine, the lining very clear. This is British patented with ‘Foreign Patents Pending’ text. A little darkened on the adhesive area of the seams, so gently reminding of age, but fully intact and looking very nice.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(+) / EXCELLENT(++): a super visual copy that is very clean, shiny, intense black and heavily pressed. A copy only very modestly played on all the evidence and another rare gem from a very well looked-after collection. Any surface marks are very few, mostly ultra fine and faint as seen critically under bright angled light, there are NO penetrating marks, thus this plays devoid of pops or clicks. Visually a super record that should please most-all collectors. These rare acid-psych albums rarely get seen or offered so clean and very modestly played and looked after. Mainly bought by younger people prepared to experiment with new music of the time, few were hi-fi buffs, thus original items like this are at a real premium and are seldom offered.

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 snippets 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 amazingly preserved record plays even above it’s 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 full dynamic range and unique original sound – I remind, this was remixed in 1972 making the original mix scarce as this did not sell in any great numbers – and I would suggest not too many even pressed here in the UK on the orange or first repress green labels prior to the remix. Any surface sound hardly even registered and no pops or clicks were noted and this is an exceptional clean pressing. No old pile-driver mono stylus have been inflicted on this beauty. A thick and heavy record with deep grooves, this will rarely be seen or offered better. Few copies will match let alone outperform this rare ultra early issue I feel sure. With many Warner records with A1 and B1 stampers Test pressings this could be the earliest commercially available copy seen. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played very lightly and appears carefully handled and superbly stored. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record that will be a ‘Deadheads’ delight. My highest recommendation is more than justified.

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 Terrarium Black terminated cable). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional VPI-17 vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too. Pictures taken with a Nikon D5000 SLR Digital Camera.

PACKING - THIS IS WHAT YOU GET.

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 new VPI-17 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 boxes (NOT Mailers, these do not offer any real protection). The record(s) are 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 at least TWO, 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. When larger boxes are used, 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. 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. The boxes and ultra thick double-wall stiffeners 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 10,000+ items sold in over 12 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 stiffeners cannot be bent by hand, so what chance 2 inside a box? Oneadayrecords is a MAILER-FREE ZONE. I discount of course for multiple purchases with a maximum of FIVE records per box (one double can sometimes be included subject to total weight). All postage costs are below and at the top of the listing.

NOTE: First Time Bidders: Please ask me first.

PLEASE NOTE: I now exercise my right to open a dispute after the Ebay rule of FOUR days if no payment is received. I will then cancel the dispute to end the, again after the mandatory FOUR days and then offer the item to the runner-up or relist. The non-payer will also be blocked from my Ebay site and they take the Ebay consequences (a strike or removal from the system). Small businesses need prompt payment to trade and these strict rules WILL be applied.

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] = £4.75

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £8. (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 [£50 maximum]) = £12.50 (enhanced Royal Mail insurance is an optional extra £3). Add £3 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: ALL OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. USA (ANY PART OF); South America; New Zealand; 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 [£50 maximum]) = £16.50 (£17.50 for double sets). Add £3 per extra LP. (enhanced Royal Mail insurance is an 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: I will cancel any bids I feel are time-wasters. 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 necessarily 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’.