TRAFFIC (2nd) RARE Orig UK 68 Island Pink Eyeball EX LP

	£		73
	$		97

ONEADAYRECORDS – Delivering Quality Music to the World

Please see my Detailed Packing Description Further Down & All Shipping Costs and Options – NOTE: I now apply the Ebay ‘4-day’ rule for non-payment.

Artist or Band: TRAFFIC

Album Title: Traffic

Producer(s): Jimmy Miller.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: You Can All Join In; Pearly Queen; Don’t Be Sad; Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring; Feelin’ Alright?

Side 2: Vagabond Virgin; Forty Thousand Headmen; Cryin’ to Be Heard; No Time to Live; Means to An End.

Label/Format: Island – Original pink format with black and orange eyeball logo and rough textured surfaces.

Label Conditions: Both in super condition, especially considering the great age of this first issued record. Beautiful pastel-pink colour with a very high degree of freshness and barely any handling traces to the gorgeous surfaces at all. Spindle marks are few and fine and faint, indeed, side one has hardly any at all and this vintage Traffic classic plays beautifully throughout.

Cat Number: ILPS 9081T.

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: 151 grams. A very impressive weight and pressed on very thick vinyl, actually feels heavier.

Country of Manufacture: England.

Rarity: Quite rare as a first pressing, like most of the rock issues on Island that were issued initially on the ‘eyeball’ logo, most were repressed on most of the subsequent formats, and quickly too, as most versions came and went quickly, sometimes within just a few months. Finding the very first pressings that offer such clean and impressive sound and a cover with an intact booklet is never easy. Issued in 1968, still a time when many were still playing and indeed purchasing mono records, this album was never actually issued in the single-channel mode, hence many of these were subjected to heavy tracking on lesser, very basic record players. And we all know what damage and wear that usually inflicted…

Original Year of Release: 1968.

Matrix Nos: ILPS 9081 T A // 2 & ILPS 9081 T B 5

Brief Artist & Album Info: Following the psychedelic rock classic debut this second album sees Traffic offering an even more mature work and includes some of the finest songs any incarnation of this band ever wrote, the track listing should tell its own story. An album that peaked at No 9 in the UK and a respectable 17 in the US, this is a beautifully packaged set only lacking the laminate protection to protect it’s fragility. Finding the textured label first issues is getting harder and harder, especially with the record little played and offering the highest quality sound. Although the cover on this copy has a little wear, the record itself has little and plays beautifully. Another one of the heavy-pressed vintage Island rock classics that always give a buzz when held and heard.

Cover’s Potential for Wear: Very high indeed: another typical unlaminated Island gatefold cover this time it has a delicate book inside. Few of these escape ringwear, grubbiness and excessive rubbing, many look really shabby and the books are often ripped out or damaged with creasing and even stains. This has little like that for sure, but does have a little wear as explained below.

Cover Grade and Format: NEAR EXCELLENT: I think a fair grading for a very uncompromising cover that is more often seen in tatters. An unlaminated gatefold format with matt, smooth surfaces. The inside gatefold has exterior flipbacks on the top edges. Also inside is a four sheet (8 sides) book that is held very firmly together with a single staple in the middle and then double stapled and punched into the spine. The cover was printed in England by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd.

Cover Front: One of the really difficult Island covers, this one still looking attractive without the usual heavy rubbing seen on the majority. There are some fine surface creases, mostly near the top edge, but visibility is low and these show little with normal viewing. A couple of the corners have creased: the spine top and bottom right have possibly taken light impacts at some point, but hardly disastrous. Any marks or grubbiness is minimal and a good degree of freshness remains and the lack of surface rubbing a real bonus. This sets a pretty high standard overall.

Cover Back: The back has a little mild grubbiness and faint toning spots on the white areas near the top and the top spine corner crease is seen a little more. But the positives outweight the relatively minor negatives. Overall pretty clean and no rubbing at all to the graphic. The lack of ringwear is very significant as few will ever avoid it, especially with a 150 gram plus first pressed record inside.

Cover Inner Gatefold & Book: This fragile centrefold is in quite impressive condition overall. The very edge of the left face has a very mild and small toning mark but little elsewhere. The corner creases are lightly seen again. Both the delicate flipbacks are totally undamaged and solidly adhered, and considering one rests against black ink, show minimal traces of set-off. The booklet is in superb condition: still as robustly attached as when made, the three original staples are totally unloosened and are practically devoid of tarnishing. The centrefold with the white backdrop has just a couple of tiny tone spots (but look hard). The pages are all uncreased and clean with no tears. Unusually intact and solid and overall, quite age defying.

Top Edges: Little to fault on these.

Bottom Edges: The back edge has little wear at all, the front one has light to near moderate patchy rubbing. These resting edges, especially on heavy covers and contents rarely will escape even this lightly affected.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, mainly sharp with little traces of wear and no feathering, both are guaranteed untrimmed. The record enters on the back edge.

Spine and Text: A superb spine: very solid and robust, straight, uncompressed and square with barely any traces of wear at all. Even the fragile folds are near wear-free too, and that is unusual. The two original staples as solid as when punched in all those years ago, they now appear darkened but not appearing rusted. All text is pristine perfect and unworn, finding a spine much better on an original cover will prove difficult.

Corners: Moderate rubbing on the bottom right pair and this has creased from a low-impact dink from the past. The top opposite pair have little wear and very strong definition. The spine pair have little rubbing with just fairly mild low-impact dink on the top.

Cover Summary: A classic Island cover and one of the most difficult to find in fine condition, with that in mind, I think a near excellent grading is accurate for this still attractive and intact example. This should please many collectors but not quite good enough for the highly discerning.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT: a heavy duty polylined plain white inner that has aged little. Mild glue darkening on the seams with a tiny few small tone spots but little else. Two immaculate window circles and ultra clear lining that has minimal crinkle. All edges secure with no repairs and virtually crease-free.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(+) / EXCELLENT: with just a surface mark on ‘No Time to Live’ that has NO sound – a superficial, non-penetrating surface mark. Any other marks are ultra fine, very few and faint and I have quite possibly undergraded this very impressive record. A very clean record that retains fine shine and intense blackness. A thick heavyweight first pressing too, how many available ones will look or sound better will be few. A copy I know that has been very lightly played and visually a lovely record that should please many, if not most collectors.

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 snippets 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 Island classic plays even above it’s visual grading with practically nothing to fault. Strong, distortion-free sound (never take this for granted, some songs on this album are very prone to clipping with echo and high frequency degrading), all frequencies are sharp and clear - sound quality is very high indeed with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. Barely any surface sounds and no pops or clicks were noted. This is one of the very best copies of this album I have yet heard from whatever the label design or vintage and few copies will better it significantly. The audio quality and details from a first issue are (in most cases) second to none, and this gives a very impressive account. Both channels are clean and sharp with no irritating noise or crackle coming from either, a robust and quality very early Island pink pressing. It will prove difficult to find significantly better for enjoyable clear sound and merits strong recommendation.

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/Hercules/Cirkus with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Rondo Red moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2 grams). Amps: Naim Nait 5i with Project USB phono stage and Chord interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired with QED Silver terminated cable). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional VPI-17 vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too. Pictures taken with a Nikon D5000 SLR Digital Camera.

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 prompt payment is a problem, please do not bid.

PACKING - THIS IS WHAT YOU GET.

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, often the very next day after payment is received or within two to three days maximum (unless on holiday). I only use FIRST-CLASS Mail. The record’s cover will be placed within a BRAND NEW soft protective sleeve and the actual record will be professionally cleaned on my new VPI-17 Pro vacuum system to give ultimate clean grooves and playing surfaces and the best possible looks and ultimate sound quality. 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. All records are posted in professional boxes (NOT Mailers, these do not offer any real protection). The record(s) are 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 at least TWO, ULTRA THICK stiffeners for maximum extra protection – these are FOUR TIMES thicker than commercial stiffeners and are custom-made for oneadayrecords. Really rare and expensive albums will even be Double Boxed if deemed necessary and possible. When larger boxes are used, the thick record and stiffener ‘sandwich’ is then thickly embedded into bubble-wrap to bulk out the record inside the box to centre the item inside to reduce the risk of damage still further. Printed address labels are used for clarity as well as a sender label. 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 the cost of this lavish packing is NOT even charged for, I offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible for ultimate confidence. The boxes and ultra thick double-wall stiffeners and bubble wrap make a near impregnable fortress for safe shipping and this is used inland and overseas for ALL my records, not just the rare and expensive. I will invoice any winning bidder as soon as possible after the auction ends. My ‘loss’ or ‘damage rate’ is less than one in two thousand based on over 7,000+ items sold in nearly 10 years of Ebay trading and I consider that pretty exceptional. The only damage rate acceptable for this seller is ZERO and I think my packets will offer just that. It would take a vicious postman or postal service to damage these for sure. Even one of these stiffeners cannot be bent by hand, so what chance 3 or 4 inside a box? Oneadayrecords is a MAILER-FREE ZONE. I discount of course for multiple purchases with a maximum of FIVE records per box (one double can sometimes be included subject to total weight). I will not respond to questions on shipping costs as all the details are included here and on ALL of my adverts. Details below:

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 now exercise my right to open a dispute after the Ebay rule of FOUR days if no payment is received. I will then cancel the dispute to end the, again after the mandatory FOUR days and then offer the item to the runner-up or relist. The non-payer will also be blocked from my Ebay site and they take the Ebay consequences (a strike or removal from the system). Small businesses need prompt payment to trade and these strict rules WILL be applied. If you cannot pay, DO NOT BID.

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 (FIRST-CLASS Recorded Delivery with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) [Signed For] = £4.

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7.50. (this includes insurance of £500). Add £2 per extra LP.

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

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£46 maximum]) = £10. (Royal Mail insurance is an optional extra £3). Add £3 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: ALL OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. USA (ANY PART OF); South America; New Zealand; 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 [£46 maximum]) = £14. Add £4 per extra LP. (Royal Mail insurance is an 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 time-wasters. 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. I will not refund if any defect detail is clearly stated on the advert and missed by the buyer, so read the item description carefully. If any overseas collector does not understand anything in my listing, please email and ask me to help. Thank You.

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 necessarily 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’.