KEVIN AYERS Bananamour SCARCE Orig UK Harvest 73 EX LP

	£		209
	$		277

ONEADAYRECORDS – Delivering Quality Music to the World in 2010.

Artist or Band: KEVIN AYERS

Album Title: Bananamour.

Producer(s): Kevin Ayers.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Don’t Let it Get You Down (For Rachel); Shouting in a Bucket Blues; When Your Parents Go to Sleep; Interview; Internotional Anthem.

Side 2: Decadence; Oh! Wot a Dream; Hymn; Beware of the Dog.

Label/Format: Harvest – original format with ‘The Gramophone Co Ltd’ on the label rims. Also ‘The Gramophone Company Limited’ text at the 9 o’clock position. (Please see my label scan).

Label Conditions: Both very clean and attractive with only very light / light and mainly faint spindle marks and no wear around the hole area.

Cat Number: SHVL 807.

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: 140 grams. [These days, many modern Audiophile reissues are pressed on super-heavyweight 180 gram vinyl. Only a small percentage of ‘vintage vinyl’ was ever pressed this heavy. Records pressed in the 1960s averaged around 135 to 145 grams. Records pressed in the 1970s were usually lighter and averaged more around 115 – 125 grams. Some records pressed around 1973 were very thin and light due an oil crisis and shortage around this time. Some records were even issued on recycled vinyl from this period and sounded poor with crackle and surface noise evident from the very first play. If any record I buy is deemed ‘recycled’, I will never offer it, I have a very simple test to detect these records if I suspect this to be the case other than audible imperfection. Some records from this period were even pressed on other materials the most notable was ‘Dynaflex’, used by RCA around this time. Although inferior to vinyl, this at least mostly sounded reasonably acceptable but pressings on this material were wafer thin and flimsy. Beyond the 70s, many records often became thinner and lighter still but most played fine but were never quite the quality as from the ‘Golden Era’]. (This was based on ‘average’ weights for 50 records from these eras.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Originals of this one are moderately scarce especially in very fine condition. The cover is incredibly wear-prone and is rarely seen without significant ringwear of which this one has little. Special mention must be made on a booklet that (possibly) came with a tiny (TINY) few initial pressings. This seems a little uncertain due to its massive rarity and this is NO exaggeration. It may have even been a promotional booklet or only available with ‘demo’ copies. Whatever, it has 16 pages and it’s a lovely item. Although listed in the price guides with the book at crazy, almost ridiculously low values, making such a copy seem achieveable, the truth is, the book is one of the rarest inserts ever made. Just everyone I have asked about this have never seen one before and many even doubt if it even exists. Well it does, I actually acquired one earlier this year (at vast cost) and decided to make a repro for myself. I know of only two people, both serious collectors who actually own an original, and the times I have seen this album on ‘wants lists’ with the book is almost countless, almost proof initself this book is massively rare. So with this very early-pressed copy of this record I include a repro of the original booklet as a FREE example to the winning bidder to make this album like complete. You, the collector are bidding on the album itself, nothing else. Finding the original book is truly a near impossible task, and that is using the word ‘impossible’ in its correct context. Why the price guides are misleading people into thinking a ‘Bananamour’ book is only a scarce item is beyond me. When was the last time anyone actually saw one? – HAVE INDEED you EVER SEEN ONE?

Original Year of Release: 1973

Matrix Nos: SHVL 807 A-3 / SHVL 807 B-3

Mother & Stamper Codes: 1 GR / 1 GR

Musicians: Kevin Ayers – Guitar, Vocals; Archie Legget – Bass, harmony vocals; Eddie Sparrow – Drums; Steve Hillage – Lead Guitar; Mike Ratledge – Organ; Robert Wyatt – Harmony Vocal; David Bedford – Orchestral Arrangement; Howie Casey – Tenor Saxophone; Dave Caswell – Trumpet; Tristan Fry – Cymbal; Lyle Jenkins – Baritone Saxophone; Ronnie Price – Piano; Barry St. John – Vocals; Liza Strike – Vocals; Doris Troy – Vocals.

Brief Info: The former Soft Machine man, this was Ayers fourth ‘solo’ album that ended his first series of Harvest titles. Slightly more accessible than his more experimental early works and including some lovely haunting songs that pays tributes to Nico (Decadence), the pivitol track on the album and ‘Oh! Wot A Dream’, for Syd Barrett. Both get a page in the book as can be seen in the page close-ups. Now featuring a new band, this has a different sound, but Ayers distinctive vocals are dominant throughout. Earlier this year, I offered a copy of this album with an ultra rare promotional ‘Family Tree’ insert, a totally original insert that few people would have even knew existed. Do not confuse that with the 16-page book that also exists but is rarely, if ever seen either. This copy does NOT include an original book and only one in many thousands (or less) ever will. What is included is a FREE repro version taken from the original, just a little piece of icing on the cake for the winning bidder.

This Cover’s Potential for Wear: Very High++. Within the Harvest catalogue, few are more wear-prone than this. The deep purple ink is totally unforgiving and most seen are badly rubbed and ringworn. This shows only light signs of wear and is up there with the best I have personally seen.

Cover Grade and Format: EX+, an taking this one into context, it’s a strong EX+ too. An unlaminated gatefold format with the front and back quite heavily textured. The inside is smooth. The outer card is quite soft and intensely coloured, it usually suffers all the perils of rough handling, price sticker damage, creasing, ringwear and bad storage and few will even look half this good. Printed and made in England by Garrod & Lofthouse (but you will need a magnifier to see the imprint).

Cover Front: Up there with the most delicate and fragile covers on this famous progressive label. Retaining incredibly rich and deep colour with only mild handling traces and a light fine rub near the top edge at the centre. One or two other even fainter rubs near a couple of the edges, but truly this front will be hard to find better than this. Any creasing is minimal and light and most of any present is confined to the spine edge. This unforgiving front will prove difficult to find much better.

Cover Back: The back is even more prone to wear as the record rests against the back card. Hence ringwear is so often rife on most-all examples seen. Somehow this one has almost avoided it with just the faintest or ring arcs at the very top, they hardly get less than this. Again clean and fresh and devoid of any significant creases. The lack of ‘speckle’ on the raised areas of the texturing is also a major bonus.

Cover Inner Gatefold: Both faces have little to fault and look real nice.

Top Edges: A tiny few minute chips or rub trace, again impossibly difficult to find with nothing and they will never be found too much better.

Bottom Edges: Faint rub traces near right corner area.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Both edges clean and quite sharp with no feathering. Slight thickening to the back in places when viewed end on but neat and guaranteed untrimmed. Record enters on this back edge.

Spine and Text: The spine is almost unworn and only one in many ever will be. Solid, straight, with any compression very mild, still folded squarely to the right edges meet up closely together. All text is present and unworn, yes true, there is barely any rubbing at all to the intense violet ink.

Corners: Tiny tip rubs and that’s being quite critical too, and there appears to be NO tip-ins. All retain very fine shape.

Cover Summary: An age defying and exceptional all round example of this immensely fragile and unforgiving, original 70’s cover, one that will prove incredibly difficult to find much better. This beautiful item should please many collectors.

The Book: A superb repro of the genuine article and it looks fantastic, I do not wish to give too much away and let the winning bidder savour this incredibly rare item. Remember, this is a free gift to the winning bidder, few will have ever seen the original.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EX+ / EX with just a very small mark near the start of side two that has around half a dozen moderate clicks, the only blemish of real note on the entire record. Any other visual blemishes are ultra fine and faint surface marks that have no effect on sound at all. In content, the one tiny relevant mark is minor on a record well into its thirties. A super visual copy that is clean, shiny, intense black and very solidly pressed. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence. Visually a super record that should please most collectors again, but if those six clicks are a problem, do not bid.

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 snippetts 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 wonderful Harvest record plays up to, and most all above its high visual grading with little to fault bar the aforementioned clicks which are only brief. Strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear - sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. Any surface sounds barely even registered and no other significant pops or clicks were noted and this is an exceptional clean pressing. Kevin Ayers albums are critically revealing and often they have surface sounds or even mild distortions, this has none at all and plays really well for most of its entirety. Few copies will better it significant I feel certain. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played modestly and has been clearly well stored and carefully handled, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. Little, bar the aforementioned obvious spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this excellent record. This copy will prove difficult to find better and can be strongly recommended.

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 with Ittok Mk IV arm and Ortofon Samba Moving Coil cartridge (tracks at 1.8 grams). Amps: Naim Nait 5i with Project USB phono stage and Chord interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Moth vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too.

First-time, zero-rated bidders, who do not ask permission to bid, will be cancelled immediately and blocked – NO exceptions. For winning bidders who I consider excessively slow to make contact or submit payment, I will use my right to block future bids. If any bidder who wins in the final seconds is present to do so, surely they can at least email me to inform of intention and payment method? If swift or promp payment is a problem, please do not bid.

POSTING & PACKING: 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, mostly the very next day after payment is received or within three days maximum (unless on holiday). All records are posted in professional boxes (NOT mailers) with the record(s) 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 TWO VERY THICK stiffners for even extra protection – these are FOUR TIMES thicker than commercial stiffners and are custom-made for oneadayrecords. Really rare and expensive albums will even be Double Boxed. The cover will be placed within a BRAND NEW heavy duty soft protective sleeve and the actual record will be professionally cleaned on my Moth Pro vacuum system to give ultimate clean grooves and playing surfaces and the best possible looks and ultimate sound quality. Printed address labels are used for clarity as well as a sender label. 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. 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 offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible. I will invoice any winning bidder as soon as possible after the auction ends. My ‘loss’ or ‘damage rate’ is less than 0.1 per percent based on over 5,000+ items sold in over 8 years of Ebay trading and I consider that pretty exceptional. I discount of course for multiple purchases with a maximum of FOUR records per packet. I will not respond to questions on shipping costs as all the details are included in the advert.

NOTE: First Time Bidders: I will cancel ALL first-time bidders with no feedbacks or excessive negatives who do not ask me if its OK to bid first – NO EXCEPTIONS.

Please Note: I will now offer any item to the runner-up after the mandatory Ebay 3 days if no contact is made by the winning bidder unless prior notice of any delay is given beforehand. The same applies if no payment is received within the mandatory 7 days so any bidder who has just lost out can still email me to reserve the item as priority second chance – it’s always worth asking.

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 (SECOND Class Recorded Delivery with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) [Signed For] = FREE. This is the new Ebay rule. HOWEVER I STRONGLY URGE UK WINNERS TO PAY THE £3 FOR THE FIRST-CLASS SERVICE AS THE PACKETS WILL ARRIVE MUCH FASTER AND SAFER.

1 LP (FIRST-CLASS Recorded Delivery with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) [Signed For] = £3.

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7.50. (this includes insurance of £500).

Posting & Packing: EUROPE & SCANDINAVIA. (Airmail Only):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£39 maximum]) = £8. (insurance optional extra £3).

NOTE: I NO LONGER SEND TO THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION. ANY BIDS WILL BE IGNORED.

Posting & Packing: ALL OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. USA (any part); 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 [£39 maximum]) = £12. (insurance 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: Please do not bid if you have negative feedback unless checking first, I will cancel any bids I feel are timewasters. 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 minus the Posting and All Ebay costs as long as the item detail has been read and understood. I will not refund if any defect detail is clearly stated on the advert and missed by the buyer. If any overseas collector does not understand anything in my listing, please email and ask me to help.

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 neccessarily 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’.