The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs 2xLP 1st US Press 1987 Sire / Rough Trade Allied 

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41

The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs 2xLP 1st US Pressing 1987 Sire Records / Rough Trade. Allied. Condition is "Used". Shipped with USPS Media Mail.
I believe that this is the first U.S. pressing of this compilation. Label variant with 'SIRE™' (rather than 'SIRE®' or 'SIRE')
Includes brown paper record sleeves with the following printed on one corner of each: '©1987 SIRE RECORD COMPANY MADE IN U.S.A. 9 25569-1'
Gatefold sleeve The letters "E,A,S, and T" are embossed on the labels around the center hole on sides 2 and 4, indicating that it was pressed at an Allied Records pressing plant. 
The records look to be in really good shape for the most part. Sides 1, 2 and 3 each have just a handful of Light scratches. A couple of them are a bit long (2 to 3 inches) but all are Light and unlikely to affect the sound much. Side 4 is a little bit more scuffed up but still not too bad. It has what I would call "a bit more than a handful" of Light scratches and scuffs, and one single scratch that I would call medium severity. Still not likely anything bad enough to cause a skip, or to cause too much audible disturbance, but side 4 may have some pops or clicks here and there or perhaps a bit of surface noise. VG
Both plain brown dust sleeves are present and in good shape. One of them is almost perfect except for a couple very short seam splits. The other is in similar condition but also has some ripples, as if it got a bit of moisture damage. VG+ / G
The cover also looks pretty respectable but does have a few dings. There is Very Light (almost invisible) ring wear on front and back. The front cover has a small yellow splotch (maybe paint?) and the slight remains of a sticker smudge at the top right corner, (see picture) but has no veins at all. The back cover has a slight stain from moisture damage along the top edge and a slightly warped area about half the size of a hand at the top left corner (also moisture damage.) Keep in mind that this is a gatefold cover, so there are 4 sides and this ripple only affects 1 of those (the back side.) There is only Light wear to the corner tips and one corner has a very tiny crumple (less than a centimeter. Also pictured) The spine edge has only Light wear and MOST of the title text is intact. Over all, this cover still looks really good and would rate higher if not for the wavy bit of moisture damage that I mentioned on the one corner. Because of that though, I will only give it a G++

Grades that I use are G-, G, G+, G++, G+++, VG, VG+, VG++, VG+++/EX, NM. I won't be describing anything as M or MINT unless it is unopened and the packaging is completely unblemished. Records that have never been played but HAVE been opened, will be described as Near Mint or NM. These are the adjectives that I use when describing damage: Very Light, Light, Moderate, Severe, Catastrophic. To describe damage in between those ranks I say things like: "Moderate leaning towards Severe," "Moderate leaning towards light," or "In between Light and Moderate"...just for example.