HENRY COW "Unrest" 1974 UK VIRGIN 1st PRESS Nr MINT

	£		76
	$		101

  HENRY COW "Unrest" '74 UK VIRGIN 1st PRESSING Nr MINT BEAUTIFUL COPY OF THIS AVANT-ROCK MASTERPIECE
HENRY COW
Unrest

ORIGINAL UK VIRGIN (V 2011) FIRST PRESSING (May 1974) OF HENRY COW'S AVANT-GARDE/JAZZ-PROG-ROCK MASTERPIECE, "Unrest"
AND THIS COPY IS IN BEAUTIFUL CONDITION HAVING POSSIBLY NEVER BEEN PLAYED - THE LABELS ARE CLEAN AND BRIGHT WITH NO SPINDLE TRACES

THE RECORD HAS THE FIRST ISSUE BLACK & WHITE VIRGIN LABELS
FIRST PRESS MATRIX: V 2011 A-1U / V 2011 B-1U
VERY EARLY MOTHERS AND STAMPERS: 1/G and 1/P
AND IS HOUSED IN THE ORIGINAL FIRST ISSUE BEAUTIFULLY GLOSSY, OUTER LAMINATED SLEEVE "Printed and made by the E. J. Day Group, London and Bedford" (The cover art work was by artist Ray Smith and was the second of three "paint socks" to feature on Henry Cow's albums)

ORIGINAL COPIES OF THIS ALBUM ARE BECOMING INCREASINGLY SCARCE, AND TO FIND ONE IN SUCH SUPERB CONDITION IS RARE - FABULOUS LP AND VERY, VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

By this point Henry Cow consisted of guitarist Fred Frith, drummer Chris Cutler, bassist John Greaves, keyboardist Tim Hodgkinson, and, of particular importance to the band's sound at this point, bassoonist Lindsay Cooper.
As is so often the case with avant-garde rock & roll, it's the composed pieces that work best, and the fact that Frith is responsible for the majority of them is significant.
"Bittern Storm Over Ulm" is an absolutely brilliant demolition of the Yardbirds' "Got to Hurry," while the brief but lovely "Solemn Music" unfolds in a stately manner with atonal but pretty counterpoint between Frith and Cooper.
The improvised material succeeds in a more spotty way. "Upon Entering the Hotel Adlon" demonstrates how fine the line can be between bracing free atonality and mindless cacophony.
The unsettling but eventually gorgeous "Deluge," on the other hand, shows how well Henry Cow could walk that line when they tried; in this piece, random guitar skittering, scattershot drum clatter, and pointillistic reed grunts are eventually snuck up on and overtaken by softly massed chords and Cooper's gently hooting bassoon. The effect is startlingly moving.

TRACK LISTING:
Side One: "Bittern Storm over Ulm" (Frith) – 2:44 / "Half Asleep/Half Awake" (Greaves) – 7:39 / "Ruins" (Frith) – 12:00
Side Two: "Solemn Music" (Frith) – 1:09 / "Linguaphonie" (Henry Cow) – 5:58 / "Upon Entering the Hotel Adlon" (Henry Cow) – 2:56 / "Arcades" (Henry Cow) – 1:50 / "Deluge" (Henry Cow) – 5:52

LABELS: The 1st 'Black & White Virgin' labels are in MINT condition with NO wear, NO writing and NO spindle traces. THIS LP HAS POSSIBLY NEVER BEEN PLAYED
VINYL Visual: The vinyl itself still retains a DEEP, LIKE NEW, GLOSSY SHEEN and is practically UNMARKED
VINYL Audio: The audio is OUTSTANDING THROUGHOUT - CRYSTAL CLEAR, SHARP, STRONG and VIBRANT. On playback at a LOUD volume (which is how I always listen to my records prior to listing) there are NO scratches, NO sticks/jumps, just a a few isolated clicks/pops throughout the whole LP - nothing obtrusive or unexpected on an album which has remained unplayed for the last 36 years, and NO surface noise - in fact the run-ins and quiet passages (and there are many very quiet/almost silent sections) play just about as quietly as vinyl possibly can and the LP sounds STUNNING throughout playing to an extremely high standard with NO groove-wear and NO distortion (it's hardly, if ever, been played). Critically graded EXCELLENT++/NEAR MINT for audio I think a finer sounding copy would be pretty hard to locate indeed - TREMENDOUS LP
SLEEVE: The original 1st issue DEEPLY GLOSSY outer laminated GATEFOLD cover is CRISP, CLEAN and FRESH with virtually NO edge/corner wear to speak of and a straight and true spine with ALL text SHARP and BOLD. There is a little discolouration to the spine area and a crease to the back top edge (please see photos) but otherwise a fine EXCELLENT+

PLEASE HAVE A LOOK AT MY PICTURES - I USUALLY TAKE QUITE A FEW SO YOU CAN GET A CLEAR INDICATION OF EVERY DETAIL OF THE ITEM
I HAVE UPLOADED AS MANY PICTURES AS I CAN BUT I WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO SUPPLY ANY ADDITIONAL PHOTOS ON REQUEST
PLEASE CHECK OUT MY OTHER AUCTIONS FOR MORE RARE AND COLLECTABLE VINYL
AND PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT ME WITH ANY QUERIES YOU MAY HAVE
THANKS FOR LOOKING, CHEERS

PLEASE REFER TO MY 'ABOUT ME' PAGE FOR MORE DETAILED INFO ON MY PLAY-GRADING, EQUIPMENT USED, P&P etc

POST & PACKING
UK: 1st Class: FREE or £1.00 (recorded delivery)
EUROPE: Airmail: £5.00 or £8.50 (International Signed For delivery with tracking)
INTERNATIONAL: Airmail: £9.00 or £12.50 (International Signed For delivery with tracking)
***Any record (or combination of records) which sells for more than £40 MUST be sent by a trackable method ie INTERNATIONAL SIGNED FOR or RECORDED (UK)

UK bidders: PayPal or Cheque
INTERNATIONAL bidders: PayPal ONLY

REDUCED POSTAGE FOR MULTIPLE ITEMS (EACH ADDITIONAL LP: EUROPE & INTERNATIONAL £2.00)
I will combine postage for items purchased within any 10 day period. However, at the end of each 10 day period, all outstanding items will need to be paid for in full and will be posted to you. Any items purchased after payment will be included in the next 10 period. I am continually adding new items which may be of interest to you and it is impractical for me to allow payment to be postponed indefinitely in the expectation that you might wish to bid on future items. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation
Guarantee: I try to be as accurate and honest as possible when describing the condition of any LP but of course if you feel that I am mistaken and the description is inaccurate I will offer a complete, no quibble refund (through Paypal) upon return of the item
IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to a recent spate of bidders with no feedback not paying for records I must insist that all bidders with 0 feedback contact me first before bidding to confirm their genuine intention to buy the record otherwise their bid will be cancelled and they will be blocked. Sorry to sound so authoritarian but non payers are a real waste of not only my time but genuine eBayers

ALL RECORDS ARE PROFESSIONALLY CLEANED BEFORE DISPATCH AND PACKAGED WITH THE VINYL OUTSIDE OF THE SLEEVE TO PREVENT ANY 'KNIFING' DURING TRANSIT.
A PROTECTIVE POLY SLEEVE, QUALITY WRAPRO MAILER AND STIFFENERS ARE ALWAYS USED TO ENSURE THAT YOUR RECORD ARRIVES SAFELY I will email you when payment has been received to let you know when the item will be posted. Please leave feedback upon receipt of the item so that I know you have received it safely. Any problems please email me. Thanks  308 (GS 5.3.7 (308))