Twas Brillig Promo 45 Date 1550 E- Condition Dirty Old Man/This Week's Children

$

43

Greetings everyone! Thank you very much for stopping by another of my ebay record auctions. I appreciate that you took the time out of your busy schedule to click on my listing and have a look at what I have to offer!  Normally, all records that I list on ebay are my own property.  However, the record business that I work for, and have for the past 19+ years, has requested me to take some of the recent stock that has come through and list it here on ebay.  Please don't worry, everything is on the up and up, the business knows, and I have the approval to do so.  Mainly because the part of the business I work in is online only, not their walk-in retail store.  Problem is, my part of the business recently moved, and is still without internet access. So, to generate some income, I have been going through some stock that has not been added to the store's inventory-I will NOT "cross sell" between Ebay and other sites, you have my promise! But to (hopefully) garner some revenue, I get to go through it first, and give you folks first "dibs".  The first time I tried auctioning for the business, it was 10 day listings, but I have been requested to make these listings the standard 7 day.  The items I am listing are ones that I believe are scarce and/or would be excellent additions to any serious collector's selection. The opening bid prices are higher than ones I use for my own auction listings, but they are for the most part more valuable and scarce than some of the records I list for myself (Though if you'd like to have a look at my own records I have listed, I wouldn't mind!).  All proceeds of listings I do for the business will go to the business, minus the selling fees that Ebay takes. I hope that I/the store will have something you would like for your very own.  Let's see what's available this time! 
Okay, though this is getting listed before I get home from my vacation-thanks to the ebay “scheduled listings” overcharge, er, surcharges, I figured it couldn’t hurt to get things going again, even if I’m not home yet. But I’ll be back by the time this closes, and will check on my listings while away, so don’t worry, I’ll be around somehow, someway!
This time up, We have a 1967 Promotional 7” 45rpm release on the Date Records label, label #2-1550, by ‘Twas Brillig. This is the single of “Dirty Old Man” b/w “This Week’s Children”. I think I may have seen this single a few times in the past, back when the business I worked for was still running record auctions (pre-ebay, and have been ceased since), and I don’t think it ever made it through auctions without bids. Not to mention, a co-worker had put this aside for listing on ebay quite some time ago, but apparently never got around to getting it listed, so I figured why not give it a try now? I wasn’t sure what kind of music would be on this, as Date was pretty eclectic in the genres of their releases, and this turned out to be some really heavy garage rock! And by heavy, I mean the vocals are powerful and dramatic, and the music is gritty with a ton of organ playing! There’s a lot of guitar work-very fuzzy and distortion filled, while the rhythm section of drums and bass fill the beat with some nice thumping action in the background. Though the titles might lead one to believe there was a stream of consciousness about them, it’s actually coincidental, as “Dirty Old Man” is pretty much sung about a geezer who’s looking for thrills from the younger generation, and the singer doesn’t sound happy about it, basically telling him to back off, and stop being predatory. “This Week’s Children” has lyrics that many literature classes would have people remember, “Monday’s child is full of grace” etc., but ‘Twas Brillig lets folks know that the children they’re talking-or perhaps warning-about aren’t the “nice” kids, but rather the ones to beware of! Not the happiest of records I’ve heard, but with the garage rock sound that’s do heavy and almost menacing, it still packs a punch, nearly half a century later! The playing surface really doesn’t look all that great, as it has storage wear, scuffs, needle marks and a few scratches-and this really could stand a good, thorough cleaning as well. There are a few white spots scattered about on the “Dirty Old Man” side that kind of look like paint too. However, even with all this wear, and need of cleaning-both sides did play through without any problems from the needle-no getting stuck at any point or skipping around, and the sound was much better than expected! There was some crackling, but nowhere near as much as I’d thought, as it never overwhelmed the music or vocals-not that these vocals could get drowned out-the singer’s voice is too strong! If I went by looks alone, this would have gotten my V+ grading, but I honestly do believe the sound was good enough to let me give it my slightly less than average grading of E-, so I’m sticking with that for now. That’s my grading though, and my grading is considered non-standard. If you are considering placing a bid, please read the paragraph below, as it will show you my gradings and their respective descriptions. The labels have storage wear, abrasions, and staining/discoloration, however the text is still not too difficult to read. If you need more pictures or have any questions, please send them to me, and I will reply as soon as possible.

My Grading is as follows: M (Mint)-ONLY for Still Factory Sealed Records ONLY! No 45 nor 78 will ever get this grading. E+, minimal wear, perhaps only needs cleaning. E, a few light marks, maybe some minor background crackle and/or hiss. E-, light marks, crackling (nothing major), scuffs, etc.. Not great, but still quite playable. V+, More marks, scuffs, needle marks, scratches-but nothing that would make the needle skip. Will have background noise that even with a cleaning will still be around. V. Worn. Scuffs, scratches, can be noisy, but still (probably) won’t cause the needle to skip nor get stuck. V-, Noisy? You bet! Worn? Oh yeah. Playable? Sure, but don’t expect it to sound all peachy keen. P. Bleah! Playable perhaps, but do so at your own risk. Don’t trash a new needle on it. Only used on records considered rare enough for “fill in” purposes to a collector-or to those who do digital restoration.   

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IMPORTANT NOTE FOR NON-U.S. BIDDERS!!!!
All items I sell will be sent with postage printed up from eBay. This way, the prices are automatically listed for customs purposes and cannot be altered. Yes, this does mean that the customs people will know the value, but since I get a bit of a price break on postage, I can keep the prices low for you-the buyer.  I will not "mark item as a gift", just so you can evade import rules.  The people at my post office know me, and they will check overseas packages for inspection.  I hope you will understand my position about this, my apologies if you are not able to comply.
Also, international bidders, the price listed for postage on my listings are for domestic mailing.  I wish I could send overseas for that price, but reality speaks different.  I place a fair price on all international postage.  Watch for the invoice if you win.

ALSO-I need to let international bidders know of a certain problem that doesn't always happen, but will arise from time to time.  All International mail sent from this region has to go through the U.S. Postal Service sorting center in Sandston Virginia, by our local airport.  This sorting center has been named the least efficient sorting center in the entire U.S. Postal Service.  They prove this from time to time by mis-routing packages.  If this happens-and I will monitor the delivery-usually it will add at least an extra week for it to arrive.  If there are any problems, please contact me first, and I will do what I must to make sure you are satisfied with the order.
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All items that are sent to a U.S. address will have delivery confirmation (at my cost) attached, as I have found that it helps...a lot!....to ensure that packages are truly en route to the customer.  This is for both of our sakes.  I will be using USPS "Media Mail" as my primary shipping method, however, if needed, and for an extra charge, I can ship with "Priority Mail", and if i can get away with it for the price, I really like 1st Class, but that's weight-dependent.

Oh yes, if you are the winning bidder, and you are in the Commonwealth of Virginia, I'm afraid you are going to have to include the 5.3% Virginia State Sales Tax.

Paypal is my preferred method of payment, if you need another way, please contact me before bidding.  Or, if you have any other questions about this listing, or any of my listings, please feel free to contact me.  I will answer any & all questions as quickly and concisely as possible.

Also, I do have other listings available as well, and if you would be interested in more than one item, I have no problem with holding onto wins in case you would like to combine wins to save some money instead of multiple p&h costs.