The Perfect Circle 1977 OG Vinyl LP Inner City RARE Bay Area Funk VG+ TESTED

$

200

Now this is the kind of record that makes digging worthwhile.

This is the original 1977 U.S. Inner City Records ICR 114272 pressing of The Perfect Circle—the sole album from this Oakland-area outfit and a record that has developed a serious reputation among funk collectors, DJs and crate diggers. This isn’t the later rock band with the similar name. This is deep, independent Bay Area funk, produced by George Semper and released on his West Coast Inner City label.

And before we get to anything else, let’s talk about this particular copy.

The vinyl has visible marks and signs of having been played, so I’m keeping the grade at a conservative VG+. But I’ve cleaned this record multiple times and personally play-tested it all the way through, and it sounds substantially better than the vinyl might lead you to expect. There are surprisingly few pops and clicks, no skips, and the music comes through strong. This is not a visual-grade gamble—you know how this copy actually plays.

And once it starts playing, you’ll understand why people chase this thing.

The Perfect Circle was a seven-piece Bay Area funk outfit working with producer/keyboardist George Semper, whose arsenal here included clavinet, Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3, piano and string ensemble. Add electric bass, guitar, horns, flute, congas and percussion and you’ve got the ingredients for the thick, inventive sound all over this record.

“Dip Stick” hits hard right out of the gate. “For Your Funkification” brings the vocal funk, “Jungle Disco” gets wonderfully weird and rhythmic, and then there’s “The Hands of Time”—one of the cuts that has helped keep this album alive with DJs and collectors decades later. “Peaceful Funk” closes things out exactly the way that title suggests.

This isn’t slick, mass-market late-‘70s disco pretending to be funk. There’s jazz, soul, psychedelia and Bay Area grit woven through the grooves. The band’s sound has been described as a distinctly Bay Area fusion of funk, jazz, soul, folk and rock, and The Perfect Circle ultimately became a sought-after record internationally among DJs and funk collectors.

The jacket is G+ and definitely shows its journey: heavy edge and surface wear, paper loss, rubbing and general age-related wear are all visible. Please look closely at the photographs—they’re part of the description and show the exact copy you’ll receive.

But here’s the important distinction: the jacket looks rougher than the experience of actually listening to this record.

For somebody chasing a museum-piece jacket, this isn’t that copy.

For somebody who’s been trying to land an original 1977 pressing of a genuinely scarce Bay Area funk LP without spending clean-copy money, this gets considerably more interesting—especially because somebody has already done the work of cleaning it repeatedly and sitting through the entire record to find out what it actually sounds like.

VG+ vinyl. G+ jacket. Fully play-tested. Multiple cleanings. Minimal pops and clicks. No skips.

This one was made to be played.

Take a look around the shop while you’re here—there’s always another original pressing, hidden gem, or collectible waiting to be discovered, and I’m happy to combine shipping whenever possible.

MYSTIC GROOVES
Curated Vinyl • Music • Collectibles
South Florida • By Appointment
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