KING CRIMSON (LP) In The Court Of The Crimson King. 1969. Atl SD 8245. EX

$

21

Here is King Crimson with their LP In The Court Of The Crimson King, An Observation By King Crimson.  From 1969.  On Atlantic SD 8245.  Label also shows ST-A-691700PR.   Matrix reads:  STA 691700-C  LW AT  W.   See the label photos for the song titles.

The cover is in great shape for 1969.  The corners are barely worn.  Spine side seam is in good shape.  Back cover great!  Inside gatefold is great!  Comes with an Atlantic inner sleeve. 

Vinyl:  Side 1:  I don't really see any surface scratches on this side, just some scuffing areas, but there is a tiny bubble at the end of the first song, 21st Century Schizoid Man. And a tiny dot on the last song, Epitaph, in the middle area.  The tiny bubble on the first song did not cause a skip or a pop, but it made it sound like part of a faint drum beat for a few turns.  That was funny!  So it actually blended into the music as some light drum beating.  The last song did have a tiny dot there, too, but that one I could hear just about 8 light tics on that one.  Nothing too dramatic, though. 

Vinyl:  Side 2.  The first song here also has that dark tiny bubble like on side 1.  It's in the same place!  This was a very quiet section of the song and that bubble sounded like a faint drum beat for about 10 turns!  Other than that, I only see about 3 super light surface scratches and a few areas of scuffing.  That did not cause any sound defects at all. I added two photos of the bubble and dot as the last 2 photos.

Here is a sound bite of the first song - side 1, first song - side 2, and then side 1 - 3rd song.  Playing about a minute of each song just before it hits the bubble for the first 2 songs, then a minute before the light tics on the 3rd song and they are lightly heard after the heavier music gets quieter.  About 8 minutes to listen to.  This way you can decide if it's no big issue.  Copy and paste the Filedropper link into a new tab and it should start playing on a music player in your PC. 

http://filedropper.com/filemanager/public.php?service=files&t=ffeada91a8dfda8c4e3ad20c18171ac8

I played it through on my Technics turntable and it played wonderful except for my description of the bubble/dot noise which was minimal.  The light scuffing didn't affect anything either. 

I rate the LP cover sleeve as Excellent (EX) and the vinyl gets an Excellent (EX) for 98% of the playback/sound quality due to the two bubble thumps and 8 dot tics.  But maybe a VG+ for the light scuffs for visual look under a super bright lamp, otherwise it's still shiny!

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Guidelines I use to rate the quality of these records (based on the Goldmine Grading Guide):

NM: Near Mint - Vinyl, still shiny, as if opened for the first time. No writing or stickers on the vinyl. No obvious scratches. Label: No writing or stickers and no fading of the label.

NM-: Near Mint Minus - Similar to NM but will have some very light scratches on the vinyl not affecting the sound quality. No writing or stickers on label and no fading (or ringwear) on cover or label.

EX: Excellent - Not quite a Goldmine Standard Listing, but being used by many now. Cover: No ink wear, minor creases to corners, no seam tears. Vinyl can have scratches, but not felt by your fingers. Sound quality must be mint. No more than 15% of the surface should have wear or scuffs on it. To me, EX is like a VG++.

VG+: Very Good Plus - Similar to NM- except that on the label, there may be a sticker or writing, but it shows very little wear. There may be only a couple light surface scratches on the grooves, but do not affect the playback with noise or skips. You may only see these scratches if you put them under a bright light and really look for them. The cover might have light creasing or minor seam or corner wear, but still in great condition to show off.

VG to VG-: Very Good to Very Good Minus - May not be that shiny anymore and you will see scratches without putting it under a bright light, but they still would not affect the quality of the playback. The sound quality is still pretty good, maybe a little noise, but not enough to detract from the listening experience. The label might have some fading around it, besides having stickers or writing. The cover may have obvious ringwear in the middle or around the perimeter of where the record was, maybe some side seam splits, or little tears at the top or side where the record goes back into. If less defects, then it's a VG. If it has all this just mentioned, then a VG-.

G, G+: Good or Good Plus - It doesn't mean the vinyl is trashed. It plays though without skipping, but may have heavy noise or fuzz sound because of age, quality, or worn-down grooves. Heavy writing or stickers on the label, ringwear is very obvious on label and cover probably has seam splits. But, amazingly, if you have special audio LP recording software, you could probably clean up those crackles and fuzzes, if you want to create a CD of it for yourself.

P: Poor - This is when the vinyl is warped to the point it warps the playback also. Or it's cracked, but it may or may not still play without a skip. If a picture sleeve is with it, this is torn or marked up bigtime. But someone may want to have it for nostalgia or even attempt to fix it.