Stud debut album 1st Israeli press on the Pax label - Rare

	£		25
	$		33

Rare Israeli 1st press copy of Stud's excellent 1971 self-titled album on the Pax label.
Sleeve is still glossy and mainly intact, but has a small tear halfway down the right-hand side (by the opening) of the front cover.  There is also some light ringwear on the top half of both sides, and on the back there is the signature, in biro, of a previous owner(not me!).
Vinyl is in excellent condition and and features no marks, smudges etc.
Playback is pretty excellent, no pops, hisses, jumps or interruptions.
Label: ISK 1084
Vinyl: EX Sleeve: VG
Formed by former members of Taste, Family, Blossom Toes and Eric Burdon's Animals, Stud were a British/Irish outfit who issued three excellent albums of top-notch, guitar-led prog-rock between 1970 and 1973.
Initially a trio, the original line-up consisted of vocalist/guitarist Jim Cregan (ex-Blossom Toes), and two former members of Rory Gallagher's blues rock outfit Taste in bassist Richard McCracken and drummer John Wilson.
After signing a deal with Decca's progressive imprint Deram, the trio issued their self-titled debut in 1971, before undertaking a hectic touring schedule that included shows in Germany, France and the UK. 
Notable for a pair of lengthy epics in '1112235' and the bustling 'Horizon Parts 1 & 2', the group's debut was critically well-received yet sold  poorly in the group's homeland. They did, however, enjoy success in Germany, and after leaving Deram, Stud signed a deal with the BASF label, who decided to concentrate their efforts on building the group's German fanbase.
In 1972, and in preparation for their next album, guitarist/keyboardist John Weider, formerly of Eric Burdon's Animals and Family, was added to the line-up, and the group returned to the UK to record follow-up album 'September', which featured a slightly bluesier sound and one of Stud's best songs in the form of the delicate rock ballad 'God Knows'. 
'September' was issued in both the UK and Germany, yet sales were once again disappointing. Unable, or unwilling, to continue for much longer, the quartet spent the latter half of 1972 on tour, before announcing that their next album would be their last.
Titled 'Goodbye: Live at Command', Stud's final release, which was also issued on the BASF imprint, was a live-in-the-studio effort which picked up where second album 'September' left off. Like it's predecessor it was initially a criminally underrated record, though the reputation of all three of Stud's albums has improved hgely over the intervening decades.
Stud eventually called it a day during the early months of 1973, but it wouldn't be the end for individual members.
Jim Cregan teamed up with Weider's old group Family before enjoying stints with Steve Harley & The Cockney Rebels and Rod Stewart's backing band; John Weider teamed up with ex-Tomorrow frontman Keith West in the short-lived pop-rock outfit Moonrider, issuing one self-titled album in 1975. Following Moonrider, Weider went on to enjoy a brief if rather unsuccessful solo career.  Finally, John Wilson and Richard McCracken both returned to Rory Gallagher's side for a series of live dates with the newly reconstituted Taste, although they wouldn't record any new material. 
Stud may not not have set the world alight, yet they did leave behind three excellent albums of hard-edged, guitar-orientated progressive rock. Arguably the best of the three albums was their self-titled debut, and those who enjoy the sounds of fellow prog-rock outfts Family, Babe Ruth, Camel, Fuzzy Duck, Uriah Heep, Gravy Train and Jonesy should find much to their liking.