McDonald And Giles - S/T LP, Pink Island, Nice copy

	£		80
	$		106

Hello and thank you for choosing to read this advert.

A word of introduction about myself first of all. My name is James and I’m 45 years old living in the North East of England. I’ve been collecting records for the best part of 30 years now and have amassed a vast amount of music of all genres during that time. Now however, it’s time for a bit of clear out. I’m not selling all of my collection but there are some titles I have duplicate copies of and others that I just can’t find time to listen to as much as I’d like to so these are the things that will be offered for sale here.

I’ve now been advertising on Ebay for about a year and for the most part everything has gone pretty smoothly and I haven’t been given any negative feedback which I guess means that people were happy with the deal they got. Ebay aside I have been buying and selling records mail order for over 25 years now and have satisfied customers and trading partners all over the world so I like to think that I have at least an idea of what I’m doing with regard to both the rarity and condition of the records I sell (and unlike a lot of ebay dealers I actually know something about the music too!). At least 3 well known ebay dealers (all with 4 figure feedback figures) buy their stock from me regularly and I have had no complaints from any of them in fact all of them regularly grade the records with a higher grade than I gave them!.

All records which I offer here are play graded all the way through on top class equipment and any faults I find no matter how small will be mentioned. All photos will be of the actual item for sale and will not be doctored in any way. Sleeves will be graded to the same exacting standards with any faults or anything else I think you need to know mentioned, remember that I am primarily a collector myself and I know what it’s like when that eagerly awaited parcel containing the record you’ve just paid a lot of money for arrives and when you open it the record looks and sounds like something the dog’s been eating his dinner off, I’ve been there too many times and I try my best to avoid that happening with anything I sell. I want you to be happy with your purchase so that you’ll but more from me in the future! Obviously though I’m only human so if I do make a mistake then any disputes will be settled to your satisfaction and I will give a full refund to anyone who buys anything and isn’t one hundred per cent happy with their purchase (although this obviously applies to condition only - I can’t guarantee that you’ll like the music!).

There’s one thing you definitely won’t find on any of my adverts though: there seems to be a real problem with ebay dealers overgrading their records (both the condition and the rarity). You know the sort of thing I’m talking about where everything is “STUNNING!!!!!!!” or “AWESOME!!!!!!!!” or “MASSIVELY RARE!!!!!!!!!!!!”. I just think that this sort of hype is funny. Does the inclusion of some buzz words and a load of exclamation marks make what are in most cases very ordinary records better and rarer than they actually are? - of course not. Are people actually taken in by this dishonest practice? - of course not. Record collectors are generally pretty clued up about how rare or otherwise the records they’re after are and don’t need a load of exclamation marks to tell them whether something is rare or not. I actually sell to a couple of these people so I know what sort of condition these records are in and I can guarantee that in the majority of cases there was nothing “stunning” about them. So, none of that on any of my adverts instead you’ll get honestly graded records presented in a way in which I would like to see items I buy graded.

Any comments I might make about musical content are entirely my own opinions so if I don’t like a record then I’ll actually say that I don’t like it but that doesn’t mean that you won’t! People like different things, which is a good thing you know, otherwise we’d all be listening to Kylie! Listen to the music for yourself and make your own mind up - don’t be swayed by anyone else’s hype!

Feedback: I don’t consider a deal concluded until you’ve told me that you’re happy with your purchase so feedback will be left when you have left positive feedback for me. If for any reason you’re not happy with your purchase then please get in touch, I’m a reasonable sort of guy and things can be worked out amicably without any need for negative feedback. At the end of the day I would prefer you to return any item you’re not happy with, I’d rather give you a refund than have an unsatisfied customer.

Terms Of Trade:

Postage:

UK: 1 LP £2.00 then 50p for each additional LP.

Europe: 1 LP £3.00 then £1 for each additional LP

Rest of the World :1LP £6.00 then £2 for each additional LP.

Payment:

UK: Cheque, Postal Orders or cash sent at your own risk by registered mail.

Rest of The World: I’d really prefer paypal but will accept IMOs or UK cash as long as it’s sent at your own risk by registered mail but please be aware that IMOs take ages to reach me (usually about 4 weeks) and I will not accept any responsibility for cash sent through the post - if it doesn’t arrive here then that is your responsibility.

Registered (insured) Postage is an extra £3 per package in the UK or £4 for the rest of the world and is recommended for valuable packages. If an item is not sent by insured mail and does not arrive at it’s destination or is damaged en-route then I can’t be held accountable.

Any record which sells for more than £60 will be sent post free in the UK, any record which sells for more than £80 will be sent post free anywhere in the world. Any record which sells for more than £100 will be sent post free by registered mail in the UK, any record which sells for more than £125 will be sent post free by registered mail anywhere in the world.

Right then that’s the boring stuff out of the way so now the bit you’re really interested in:

The Item For Sale Is:

Artist: McDonald and Giles

Title: McDonald and Giles

Release info: Island (ILPS 91260) Original 1970 UK Issue

Condition (Sleeve 1st) : EX/M-

Track List: Suite In C

   Flight Of The Ibis

   Is She Waiting?

   Tomorrow’s People The Children Of Today

   Birdman

Ian McDonald and Michael Giles formed half of the King Crimson line up responsible for their first album. They split from Crimson just after the release of “Court Of The Crimson King” and it’s impossible really to look at this album without speculating on how different Crimson’s second album might have been had the original line up stayed the same. I remember reading an interview with Robert Fripp some time ago who stated that this album was in part what the second King Crimson album was going to be like but after the departure of this duo they abandoned any plans and recorded “In The Wake Of Posiedon” instead.

This is a fine album and at times it does sound a bit similar to Crimson’s more melodic moments (the most obvious comparison being with “Flight Of The Ibis” which contains the original melody used by Crimson on “Cadence And Cascade”) but this is a far more light hearted album than anything Crimson ever recorded with parts of it being more reminiscent of the more frivolous Giles Giles & Fripp album which predated Crimson. Some of the drumming too is totally different to anything on a Crimson album, it’s almost funky at times which is something Crimson could never be accused of. Musically it has the complexity of Crimson but without the darker more aggressive sound and lacking Fripp’s guitar they’re forced to employ a more varied instrumental approach (which includes a guest appearance from Steve Winwood). Anyone with an interest in King Crimson would enjoy this album and even if you’ve no interest in Crimson then it’s an enjoyable progressive rock album in it’s own right.

Condition:

Sleeve: Pretty good. It’s an unlaminated EJ Day gatefold sleeve which is very prone to wear especially around the edges. The colours are still good and vividly bright although I have to say that the pink tinged photo of the duo plus girlfriends walking through a wood isn’t the most attractive sleeve I’ve ever seen, it does however reek of obscurity and it just looks like an interesting record.

The front is very clean with no tears creases or writing anywhere. The rear is in similar fine condition with no damage or obvious signs of ageing anywhere and most unusually for this one no ringwear. Inside the gatefold is just about perfect. The top seam has a small amount of light wear, this is odd in that the wear is on the front flap of the gatefold only, the top seam of the back flap is totally unworn. Odderer still is that the condition of the bottom seam is the opposite way round! The bottom of the front flap is unworn whereas the back flap has some light wear, in neither case is it anything serious though. The spine is unworn and has all of the writing clearly readable.

Both labels are very clean with no writing, tears or stickers. Both show some a moderate amount of spindle wear.

Record: Similar to the sleeve really, not mint but certainly not bad. It’s good quality thick vinyl with nice wide deep grooves which hold the sound well. It’s very clean and when held under a harsh lamp there are only a few very light hairline marks visible which are caused by taking the record in and out of the sleeve and are totally inaudible. It plays extremely well too with a great audio range. It’s pretty much silent between tracks and during the quiet parts of the music (and there are some quiet parts here so a good copy is essentail for enjoyable listening) and I can’t remember hearing anything which would spoil your enjoyment of what is a great record.

All in All this is a record which isn’t actually that rare but demand is high and nice copies aren’t spotted very often so should be grabbed with both hands when they do show up.

If you decide to bid for this item I wish you luck and if not, well, thanks for looking and remember to look at my other items for sale you may find something more to your taste there.