John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers – ‘Crusade’ – Rare Mono LP – 1st Press - Excellent+

	£		30
	$		40

John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers – ‘Crusade’ – Rare Mono LP – 1st Press -  Excellent+

Decca Mono LP LK 4890

Matrix nos.

Side 1:  ARL-7995-1A 1 B

Side 2:  ARL-7996-1A 1 K

By 1967 Eric Clapton and Peter Green were long gone from the Bluesbreakers, so John Mayall then grew his band to include a brass section and the precocious 17 year old Mick Taylor every bit the match for his predecessors. For me this Bluesbreakers incarnation produced some of Mayall’s richest, most authentic, but often under-rated work. He developed this bigger Chicago style band on ‘Diary of a Band’ and ‘Bare Wires’, but ‘Crusade’ is where it all started.

Having done some research I believe that this copy has all the characteristics of a first press of ‘Crusade’:

• Lowest possible matrix numbers – ‘ARL-7995-1A’ & ‘ARL-7996-1A’
• Earliest possible Metal Mother numbers for both sides – ‘1’
• Very low stamper nos on both sides – ‘B’ & ‘K’. Apparently Decca stamper codes are based on the word ‘Buckingham’. So side 1 is the 1st stamper from the 1st Mother, and side 2 is only the 4th from that 1st Mother.
• Non-Flip back cover
• Label design No5 (see ‘Decca Label Design’ on stonesondecca.com)
• Unboxed Decca and ‘ffrr’ logos
• Red labels with silver text and logos
• BIEM and NCB label credits are boxed adjacently with ‘GEMA’ unboxed below.
• p1967 bottom centre below band label credit
• Grooved inner ring under label
• Decca Inner sleeve No 4 (see ‘Basic Decca LP’ on stonesondecca.com)

This is a genuine UK blues classic, a great rarity, and much sought after, especially a Mono 1st press in such superb condition. I'm confident you won't be disappointed - hence my starting price.

Using the Record Collector Grading System I would rate this item overall as Excellent+.

I am not a dealer. This record comes from my own collection which I have been selling here on eBay for a few months. I don’t exaggerate the condition of my records.  Please take a look my feedback and you’ll see that previous buyers feel I have accurately graded my records in the past.

Cover

This LP has been housed in a clear plastic outer sleeve since purchase, therefore it is still in Excellent+ condition. The sleeve has a laminated non-flip-back front and matt rear cover. There are two or three very tiny barely visible creases at the spine, but no scuffs or ring wear. As you can see from the pictures it is clean and in outstanding condition with no writing or pen or pencil marks. It has no other significant marks and no tears. The spine is intact and legible and the corners are perfect. The inner sleeve is the poly-lined Decca original No4 with three boxes of technical text concerning stylus advice, the record and playing equipment, and although aged it is near mint.

Record

The record itself I would grade Excellent+. It has no significant blemishes at all that I can see.  The labels are clean and unmarked, with no writing, pen or pencil marks. There are no spindle marks.  The playing surfaces are gleaming, have no visible scratches and look as good as new. The reproduction quality is about as good as it got from a 1967 vinyl pressing - it's never going to be digital quality, but pretty good nevertheless.  There are no audible scratches or crackles other than the usual surface noise that you'd get with any new vinyl record. The lead in and play out grooves are clean and glitch-free. I have test played both sides from start to finish and the whole thing still sounds fat and bluesy.

I believe this is as close as you'll get to a mint condition original copy of this very rare Mono 1st press. Mayall had a niche market in the 60s so although this record was popular it was never a big UK hit so it will be very hard to find one at all let alone so well-preserved.

I'm happy to mail worldwide so if you want a price quote for p&p before you bid please let me know. Likewise if you have any questions I'm happy to answer. Thanks for looking.

Peter

Terms and Conditions

This record will be sent Royal mail 1st Class Signed For @ £5.00 p&p for the UK.  I mail all overseas destinations using ‘Royal Mail International Signed For’ with additional compensation protection for higher value items.

I use purpose made cruciform cardboard mailers. The record itself will be placed in a new inner paper sleeve and packed separately from the outer record sleeve and the original inner sleeve to avoid seam splits in transit. Within the cardboard mailer, the whole package will travel in a clear plastic outer sleeve packed in bubble-wrap.

If once you have received the item you are not satisfied, then if the item is significantly different from the description given here I will refund the purchase price provided that the item is returned in the condition it was sent - return p&p will not be refunded.