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·      RORY GALLAGHER – IRISH TOUR ’74 –  RARE ORIGINAL 1974 POLYDOR RECORDS STEREO 2-LP SET (DOUBLE ALBUM) PD-2-9501

 

·      IF YOURS TRULY HAD ANY SAY , THIS WOULD BE ONE OF THE 10 ESSENTIAL ELECTRIC GUITAR ROCK ALBUMS OF ALL TIME, RIGHT UP THERE WITH JIMI HENDRIX'S FIRST THREE ALBUMS,  THE ALLMAN BROTHERS' AT FILLMORE EAST; ERIC CLAPTON'S LAYLA; LED ZEPPELIN'S PHYSICAL GRAFFITI, JEFF BECK'S TRUTH, STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN'S THE SKY IS CRYING, MIKE BLOOMFIELD'S SUPER SESSION AND PETER GREEN'S FLEETWOOD MAC'S THEN PLAY ON (DID I FORGET SOMEONE?)

 

·      ORIGINAL U.S. PRESSING

 

·      *** PROMOTIONAL COPY; THE RECORDS HAVE STOCK LABELS; HOWEVER, THE PROMOTIONAL STICKER ON THE COVER CLEARLY IDENTIFIES THE ITEM AS PROMOTIONAL ***

 

·      SPECIALTY RECORDS, OLYPHANT, PA PRESSING

 

·      ORIGINAL RED POLYDOR LABEL WITH BLACK PRINT.

 

·      The bidders should note that this is a rare Bob Ludwig-mastered “hot pressing” of this album, with his initials “RL” (Robert Ludwig) etched in the trail-off vinyl of the disc.

 

·      THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.S. PRESSING; THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING.

 

·      ORIGINAL GATEFOLD COVER

 

·      THICK, HEAVY VINYL PRESSING

 

·      CLEAN, WEAR-FREE LABELS

 

·      MATRIX NUMBER IN TRAIL-OFF VINYL (DEAD WAX) ENDS WITH '-1/-1/-1/-1'.  ON SOME LABELS,  SUFFIX '–1' DENOTES THE VERY FIRST, ORIGINAL PRESSING)

 

·      THE RECORD HAS A 'STERLING'  STAMP IN THE TRAIL-OFF VINYL (DEAD WAX) AREA, WHICH IS GENERALLY CONSIDERED A PROOF OF AUTHENTICITY OF THE FIRST PRESSING.

 

(►PLEASE SEE THE IMAGE OF THE COVER, LABEL OR BOTH, SHOWN BELOW)

(Note: this is a REAL image of the ACTUAL item you are bidding on. This is NOT a "recycled" image from our previous auction. What you see is what you’ll get.  GUARANTEED!)

 

 

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Irish Tour '74 is a double-album by Rory Gallagher, compiled from live recordings made at concerts on an Irish Tour in January 1974 at Belfast Ulster Hall, Dublin Carlton Cinema and Cork City Hall. "Back on My Stompin' Ground (After Hours)" was taken from a jam session during the tour on the Lane Mobile Unit. Irish Tour '74 has sold in excess of two million copies worldwide. An article in a Belfast daily newspaper stated: "Rory Gallagher never forgot Northern Ireland, he returned throughout the '70s when few other artists of his calibre dared come near the place."

 

Gallagher never enjoyed going into the studio to make records. Playing to a live audience was essential he thought to get the real energy needed for the kind of music he wanted to play. The members of his band felt the same way. Speaking about the Irish tour album keyboardist Lou Martin said "Albums were always done in a rush because we were on the road so much, and then we’d come back to London and it could be two weeks – like Blueprint was done in two weeks – and that is ridiculous,... but Irish Tour was an absolute highlight,... the band came to fruition in the Calling Card days, by that time we were well seasoned … everybody knew everybody else’s style of playing... The studio was not the best environment for recording. He wasn’t at his most comfortable or happiest, I mean a lot of people really adapted to it really well like The Allman Brothers or Little Feat. With Rory, if he didn’t have somebody to look at then he couldn’t feed off the energy. That’s why Irish Tour is such a good bloody album because it was recorded live, he got the crowd there with him singing along and sort of like urging him along… without the presence of an audience the recording process for Rory was a bit of a strain"

 

Gallagher's 1974 tour of Ireland coincided with one of the most tumultuous times in Belfast. Violence from IRA was erupting throughout the city even at rock concerts. As a result, most rock acts refused to play in the city. The day before Gallagher's scheduled concert in Belfast ten bombs went off at various locations around the city. Everyone expected Gallagher to cancel as all the other big names had but he went on with the concert and was rewarded with one of his best shows. A local Belfast journalist writing to describe the concert and the feeling said "I've never seen anything quite so wonderful, so stirring, so uplifting, so joyous as when Gallagher and the band walked on stage. The whole place erupted, they all stood and they cheered and they yelled, and screamed, and they put their arms up, and they embraced. Then as one unit they put their arms into the air and gave peace signs. Without being silly, or overemotional, it was one of the most memorable moments of my life. It all meant something, it meant more than just rock n' roll, it was something bigger, something more valid than just that."

 

Additionally, rock film director Tony Palmer filmed many of the concerts on the tour. He originally planned to use it for a television special, but he later found the footage so good that he released it as a theatrical motion picture. The accompanying album would be considered the "soundtrack" of the film.

 

 (EXCERPT FROM AN ONLINE REVIEW BY WIKIPEDIA.ORG)

 

The PROMOTIONAL, RADIO STATION-, AUDITION OR DEMONSTRATION COPIES AND RELEASES (such as the one we have here) were often distributed among the radio stations before the record was released to the public, sometimes as much as four months ahead. These records are generally considered to be the "first among equals", which is to say the VERY FIRST generation and the VERY FIRST pressings of the particular title; a PROTOTYPE and the earliest known official pressing of the record.

 

 

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·      CONDITION:

 

·      THE RECORDS:

 

(IMPORTANT NOTE: unless otherwise noted, ALL records are graded visually, and NOT play-graded!; we  grade records under the strong, diffuse room light or discrete sunlight)

 

(a)         WE GRADE THE VINYL AS STRONG NEAR MINT (APPEARS UNPLAYED). The original luster is very much intact, and the vinyl shines and sparkles almost like new.

 

(b)          The records are  pressed on a beautiful, thick, inflexible vinyl, which was usually used for the first or very early pressings. Usually, the sound on such thick vinyl pressings is full-bodied, vivid, and even dramatic. Do not expect to obtain such a majestic analog sound from a digital recording!

 

(c)         The records come in hi-grade MFSL PVC inner sleeves, which have - apparently with success - shielded the records from the harmful impact of elements over many years!

 

(d)         Of course, this is a full-bodied ANALOG recording, and not an inferior, digital recording!!!

 

 

·                          THE COVER

 

THE COVER IS NICE --- ABOUT EXCELLENT OR VERY GOOD++.

 

The following flaws or imperfections are noted on the cover:

 

-       Cover has some light ring wear (nothing significant); On the scale from 1 to 10 (1 being the least, and  10 being the most severe), we assess the severity of ring wear as 3; Inside gatefold has some light ring wear as well.

 

-       Cover has a minor wrinkle (crease) in the cardboard base on the front panel  (BARELY VISIBLE)

 

-       Visible shelf wear noted on the bottom seams

 

-       Cover has one corner slightly dinged (nothing significant)

 

 

NO OTHER VISIBLE FLAWS OR IMPERFECTIONS ON THE  COVER

 

 

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POSTAGE & SHIPPING:

 

We offer three postage rates for domestic orders: USPS Media Mail, USPS Priority Mail and USPS Express Mail and three rates for international shipments:  USPS First Class, USPS Priority International Mail, and USPS Express International Mail (in a small number of cases, we will, at our discretion and for purely technical reasons, substitute First Class Mail with eBay's Global Shipping, which is fundamentally the same service at about the same cost). INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS PLEASE NOTE: WE RECOMMEND (BUT DO NOT INSIST) that you select USPS International Priority Mail when making a payment.

 

INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE rates vary from one region of  the world to another. For SPECIFIC international and domestic postage rates, please click on " Shipping, returns, and payments" tab in the header of our listing.

 

 

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CRITICALLY IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

 

(A) All orders valued at $50.00 or more will be shipped fully insured against loss, damage or theft by ShipCover, eBay's contracted insurer, at our expense (B) Yes, we do combine items into a single shipment; in order to enable this feature, the winning bidders should WAIT until their last item of interest ends and ONLY THEN make a payment. Doing otherwise will result in multiple shipments to the same customer and forfeiture of multiple shipping charges already paid. (C) Because we do not play-grade our items, we do not know how the purchased item will play on the buyer's equipment. We can only make reasonable inference on the record's playing condition based on its visual appearance. (D) This seller will NOT cancel erroneous, frivolous and prank bids. The bidders can do so on their own, by visiting eBay's Site Map, then clicking on Bid Retractions link. (E) This seller does not specifically grade or describe certain items, such as: shrink (cellophane) wrap and accompanying extras (inserts, booklets, etc.); however, the presence of these items WILL be noted and accompanied by the gallery photo(s). (F) Please do not submit any bids on our items if you have insufficient user history. (G) Other than in very rare justified cases, failure to pay for the item you won amounts to a fraud and will result in a permanent ban on bidding on our future listings. (H) We will NEVER deliberately, knowingly or willingly provide a false, deceitful or misleading information.

 

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OUR REFUND POLICY :

 

WE OFFER UNCONDITIONAL MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE (POSTAGE INCLUDED) WITHIN 30 DAYS FROM THE RECEIPT OF THE MERCHANDISE, NO QUESTIONS ASKED; STILL SEALED ITEMS MUST BE RETURNED SEALED IN ORDER TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR A REFUND.   NO EXCEPTIONS!

 

 

FINE (BUT IMPORTANT!) PRINT

 

 (1) The year indicated in the title bar is the year of the original release,  NOT necessarily the year of the actual pressing; for the actual generation of the pressing, please see our item description (top section, the text in red letters). (2) Please do NOT bid based on the title bar, subtitle bar or item specifics box alone; instead, please read the entire description before bidding; (3) Absolutely NO order cancellations after the auction closes. ever, under any circumstances. We can ONLY cancel bids before the item closes. (4) We are unable to provide matrix-, stamper- or other pressing  information in the final 24 hours of the auction. (5) All disagreements and miscommunications can be - and will only be - solved in a civil and mutually respectful manner; please avoid puerile, offensive, abrasive or menacing language (6) This seller will accommodate all reasonable requests and - unless seriously molested - is generally a flexible, pragmatic and agreeable person.

 

Our love & appreciation for your trust, loyalty and business, always and forever;  Thank You & Good Night!

 

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