YARDBIRDS - FIVE LIVE YARDBIRDS LP COLUMBIA 1st Press

	£		80
	$		105

The very hard to find, ultra rare early first pressing of the Yardbirds first LP; "FIVE LIVE YARDBIRDS" on COLUMBIA EMI 33SX 1677 ~ (1964 MONO)

The record is stamped with the matrix numbers:-

"XAX 2725-1N" on side 1 and
"XAX 2726-1N" on side 2, with
Mother marks "1" and Stamper marks "GD" on side 1 and "R" on side 2.

The matrix numbers are also printed on the labels and the numbers indicate that the LP is from the very first pair of Mothers, side 1 being from the 10th Stamper and side 2 from the 2nd Stamper; this then is an extremely early and GENUINE FIRST PRESSING copy of this rare LP!!

It also has the raised centre section typical of the DECCA contract pressed records at their Kingston pressing plant and equally typically has the "K" and "T" of the KT purchase tax code raised from the centre section under the side 2 label, (hopefully, clearly visible in the pictures).

So, this auction is for a very desirable first pressing copy of the very rare and highly collectable first LP from (the) YARDBIRDS, featuring eleven tracks that were the basis of the band’s set at the time, recorded live at the first opening night of the 90 Wardour Street version of The Marquee Club on 13th March 1964, in a manner so as to capture as much as possible the real sound of their live performance at the time. It was a one-shot "as-is" recording and even with the limitations of doing that via live mikes on each amplifier, etc. done without the benefit of DI boxes, on a couple of four track tape machines in a small, stuffy club, it captures all the essence of the relatively small, hard driven PA and the guitar amplifiers and so succeeds pretty well really!
This has the correct cover and the correct black label ground with silver print of the COLUMBIA GRAMOPHONE LTD, with the COLUMBIA and "Magic Notes" trademark logos in bright blue. No reserve.

Check my bidder's feedback - you will see I describe my records 100% truthfully so you can bid in confidence!

The record itself is clean on both sides and plays perfectly; it has got some *surface marks, (see the pictures), but these are completely inaudible, VERY minor surface noise, (except for just a little on the lead in and lead out grooves, as is usual and entirely normal), NO crackles, clicks or pops and NO jumps; it has been played quite a lot and so does have some spindle marks on the labels, but they are still clean and have no marks or writing or stickers, etc. There is just one small 10mm tangential scratch which puts a very slight click on to about four rotations of the very start of side 1 of the record, but it’s not obtrusive and in any case only ocurs over Hamish Grimes’ cack handed introduction to the set!
I cannot detect any audible degradation in terms of frequency loss, distortion or fuzziness, etc. and it still sounds the same as when it was new.
This record still plays very well and to evaluate it properly, I have just played it VERY LOUD, to make sure and to properly assess it for this listing, (interesting actually - I had forgotton how the influence of ska had crept in to the London music scene - they go into a bit of skanking on a couple of tracks, which I had completely forgotten!)

There is a just visible warp of under 0.5 mm peak to peak at the record’s periphery and a minimal offset to the centre hole, which I estimate to be well under 0.8 mm peak to peak so it runs pretty true and plays beautifully; (there is no audible effect from these very low levels of mechanical movement, but I am stating these parameters from now on to further improve the accuracy of my estimates of the records I offer on eBay).

*Surface marks are either a sort of matt area marking over the record surface, (usually from the plastic inner liners of some sleeves and probably due to pressure from adjacent records when stored - caused I believe by migration of the plastisizer from the polythene inner sleeve onto the vinyl surface), or they may be faint lines originating from the withdrawal and reinsertion of the record back into it’s sleeve, or both. Such markings will always be present in a record that has been played and may be quite obvious or may be so faint to be only discernible by holding the record at an angle under a strong light, but these are cosmetic only and are NOT scratches, which are a deeper, mechanical damage caused by actions such as dropping or knocking the arm so it skates over the record surface, (or worse!)
Such scratches, as I define them, WILL be clearly visible and will definitely be audible at the very least and I shall state if they are there, as well as defining the level of any surface marking.

The flipback cover is the original laminated front "Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd." one and still clean and bright, with very minor crease marks on the spine and edges and minimal edge feathering from record accessing, but no writing, slight age browning and no tears. It does have a split at the top, which is repairable, some very slight ring wear on the lamination foil, (but none on the unlaminated back), and very slight corner wear, but no shelf wear.

Using the Record Collector grading system; the vinyl is still VERY GOOD on both sides, as is the sleeve, the cover is graded GOOD.

I will always provide the best images I can of the actual record surfaces and labels so that bidders can actually SEE the condition of the vinyl itself in all respects, (any dust specks you may notice on the images are always inside the damn camera lens assembly!). I make no attempts to "tidy" items up to deceive bidders, or play around with the images - all I will do to my eBay listing images is crop the image size to maximise it for bidders inspection and adjust the contrast and brightness, simply because the stupid automatic camera keeps taking very faint pictures!
These details are rarely shown with records offered by others on eBay - ever heard of the expression "do not buy a pig in a poke"?

With me, WYSIWYG.

As a Richmond lad, I followed ERIC CLAPTON as he progressed from local band THE ROOSTERS at a party gig, then a local Church Hall, club gigs and then into THE YARDBIRDS as they took over the residency spot at THE CRAWDADDY from THE ROLLING STONES, then on to THE MARQUEE club and so on....., later replaced by JEFF BECK from another great local band, THE TRIDENTS, (after Eric left). I was lucky to be in the right area at the right time and saw both guitarist’s first gigs with the band, so can vouch that this record does convey their live sound at the time pretty well. (Jeff of course is NOT on this album however!!)

This LP has good provenance as I bought the album new, via a friend in a record shop who ordered it for me before it was issued, so can vouch for it’s history; nearly all my records were purchased new and so are from my own personal collection, built up since the early 1960’s and have genuinely been played very little and then only on quality turntables, (Garrard Zero 100, Lab 80 and Goldring GL75), set up with a low tracking force, using Shure, then Grado then Stanton cartridges over the years. All records have been dry stored, vertically, in the dark in a proper custom made record shelving system and only ever played by myself and NEVER loaned to anyone and especially, never, ever partied!

If you are interested in early British R & B and Progressive Rock Bands and the USA West Coast bands of the time then please add me to your favourites as I do have some rarities that I have never seen on eBay. I generally do not go in for all the b******s about rare first pressings and the excessive detailing of group histories  and track details that I see other sellers boring eBay members with and will describe the records honestly, just indicating the basics.
Having said that, this one IS an early first pressing, as many of mine are, so it merits special mention!

The packed weight of this item is estimated at 240g and signed for postage via 2nd class Recorded Delivery is shown as £1.90 to UK addresses, insured to £34.00, (if the final value goes over this, then I shall send it Special Delivery in the UK, insured to £500.00 at £4.75).
LP’s are now packed sealed in a water protecting bag and protected using stout recycled cardboard with double edge stiffeners which is more work and adds a bit to the packed weight, but I found this method to be far superior to the available record mailers and I want my buyers to get their records undamaged.
No packing charges are added; you just pay what I pay!

NB: This item may be picked up in person, or will be despatched securely, so it will need to be signed for on delivery; I will not send it care of a business address without written acceptance of your liability for loss, theft or damage, nor to a PO box.
Carriage charges, where indicated, are for zone 1 UK post codes only. If you are in other zones or are an overseas bidder, you can get an estimate of carriage costs by checking with the www.royalmail.co.uk web site, entering the package dimensions and estimated volumetric shipping weight shown above and choosing the International Shipping options, plus an additional insurance fee if appropriate to the item's final value, but please note that additional packing may increase the packed weight and hence the actual cost.

Payment may be by bank transfer, Pay Pal, cash if collecting in person, or cheque, but please note that I am now very reluctant to accept cheques over £100 net and am also advised by the bank that I must wait at least 12 working days for clearance on both cheques and bank transfers before items can be despatched or picked up; this means that items will not be released on average until two weeks have elapsed from a transfer or a cheque's deposit at the bank, so please be patient!
International buyers paying by PayPal should expect to pay an additional 6% on JUST the shipping part of the transaction, to cover the doubled PP International Transactions fee, which I will add to the eBay invoice.
NB: If you wish to pay by postal order(s), you should be aware that these are treated exactly the same as cheques now and so you should contact me first before sending any.

Please confirm your full address when completing the transaction via the eBay and PayPal notes system to avoid delays on despatch; I now check identifies before sending items because of fraud attempts

I will immediately cancel the bids of anyone who has only just joined eBay, or is bidding from Cambodia or Nigeria, etc. (including any winning bids at the last second); sorry, but I am fed up with losing fees that eBay will not refund!

The auction is for "Five Live Yardbirds", the VERY rare first LP by The Yardbirds; it is an ORIGINAL 1964 UK MONO 1st Pressing on the very early Blue/Black Columbia label and is EVEN from the first Mother set and has early Stamper marks to boot!
THIS LP IS SERIOUSLY RARE ANYWAY AND SUCH EARLY FIRST PRESSING COPIES ARE VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND! THIS WAS THE YARDBIRDS FIRST & RAREST LP and even second and third pressing copies in good playing condition are very, very hard to find -

The record labels are in clean condition (see pictures) with minor hole wear, NO writing, and barely ANY spindle marks AT ALL!! The vinyl is in EXCELLENT condition. Most 60s LPs are usually totally worn out, and almost unplayable; this one is still good and has NO scratches, NO hairlines, NO scufflines, and only a VERY few of the VERY lightest paper scuffs that are only just visible! It is also great to find that the record plays as well as it looks, with NO pops, NO clicks, NO jumps, and hardly any crackle! There is the usual surface groove noise on the run in/out grooves, but not in any part of the music AT ALL! - this is normal and EXACTLY how this record was pressed; EVERY SECOND of the music plays with 100% PERFECT & CRYSTAL CLEAR sound quality!
The sound quality is still excellent, with NO distortion and NO groovewear either! The record must grade VERY GOOD+ and is NOT overgraded in any way, I stick to the Record Collector grading system standards - as my feedback clearly shows. The LP is in its ORIGINAL Emitex inner sleeve which is in VERY GOOD condition and the type with a tracing paper type inner which, unlike the polythene inners used later, does not put any surface marking onto the vinyl. The FIRST PRESSING "Garrod & Lofthouse Co. Ltd. Patents Pending" front laminated, flipback cover is in good condition with NO edge wear, NO spine wear, only slight corner wear, only a VERY few light creases (cover is VERY flat looking indeed!), VERY shiny laminate with no ring marks, and NO writing! The opening edge is straight with NO feathering and only very slight delamination, but there is a split at the top centre, which is repairable. The unlaminated back of the cover is in good condition with some grubbyness, slight age yellowing, NO ring marking rubbing and NO writing The cover must grade VERY GOOD- if not better and is still hard to find like this!! THIS LP IS NOW SERIOUSLY RARE IN SUCH GOOD PLAYING CONDITION AND VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND AS A VERY EARLY FIRST PRESSING LIKE THIS - SO DON’T MISS OUT ON THIS WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY!!!!

Please CHECK OUT THE PICTURES - I always try to show the vinyl from all angles to show the true condition - THERE IS NOTHING TO HIDE! It really is a GREAT playing LP and it is truly extremely unusual to find such clean playing copies of this ultra rare album. THIS WILL BE YOUR ONLY CHANCE TO BUY AN ORIGINAL 1964 UK MONO 1ST PRESSING OF "FIVE LIVE YARDBIRDS" BY THE YARDBIRDS, IN EXCELLENT CONDITION!!