Here is the hard rock band Cactus with the selfl-titled LP from 1970.  With Carmine Appice, Tim Bogert, Rusty Day, and Jim McCarty.  On ATCO Records. (1970 Atlantic Recording Corporation.)  Back cover says "This album should be played at "high" level."   You can see the song titles on the back cover of the LP photograph I put on here by zooming in to it.  Matrix reads:  STC-701915-1S.

The cover does have a little ringwear showing at the top middle and bottom middle on the front.  Same for the back of the cover.  Some photos show a little seam wear and a little tear at the top upper seam, just 1" or so.  Comes with a plain white sleeve. 

Vinyl:  Side 1:  There are just a couple light surface scratches and some scuff areas that you only see under a bright lamp. 

Side 2:  There were a couple of long scuffs marks and some surface scratches, but nothing you could feel. 

But none of these marks affected the sound quality!  The record played extremely well.  No skips or pops.  The little bit of crackles I was listening for blended in just fine with the hard rock music! 

I rate the cover as Very Good (VG) to VG+ due to the ringwear and light wear at seams.  The vinyl I give as Very Good Plus (VG+) as the physical surface scratches don't really affect the sound quality. 

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Feel free to email me for more information on an item. Depending on your state, they may charge sales tax now and it may show up on your invoice.

SHIPPING:  Will ship within one-two days of receiving payment and will ship between Monday and Friday. Will ship in 45 rpm and LP mailers with inserts and bubblewrap for protection. Will provide tracking number also within the USA. Ships out of the Cleveland, Ohio area. I will ship via Standard Services USPS First Class mail to Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, and Japan for $14.00 shipping charges on one to two 7-inch 45 rpm records (under 8 oz.) and $24.00 for 12-inch albums (over 9 oz.). Canada shipments are approximately $12.00 for one or two 7-inch 45 rpm records (under 8 oz) and $17.00 for a 12" LP or two (over 9 oz).  For overseas countries, Ebay will email you the invoice which includes this shipping charge over and above the winning bid. You are responsible for customs' duties charges, if any.  Also, if buying 2 or 3 more records at the same time, don't pay yet, let me send you an invoice first that shows only one $4.00 shipping charge since I can put at least 3 records in one mailing box.

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Guidelines I use to rate the quality of these records (based on the Goldmine Grading Guide):

NM:Near Mint - Vinyl, still shiny, as if opened for the first time. No writing or stickers on the vinyl. No obvious scratches. Label: No writing or stickers and no fading of the label.

NM-: Near Mint Minus - Similar to NM but will have some very light scratches on the vinyl not affecting the sound quality. No writing or stickers on label and no fading (or ringwear) on cover or label.

EX: Excellent - Not quite a Goldmine Standard Listing, but being used by many now. Cover: No ink wear, minor creases to corners, no seam tears. Vinyl can have scratches, but not felt by your fingers. Sound quality must be mint. No more than 15% of the surface should have wear or scuffs on it. To me, EX is like a VG++.

VG+: Very Good Plus - Similar to NM- except that on the label, there may be a sticker or writing, but it shows very little wear. There may be only a couple light surface scratches on the grooves, but do not affect the playback with noise or skips. You may only see these scratches if you put them under a bright light and really look for them. The cover might have light creasing or minor seam or corner wear, but still in great condition to show off.

VG to VG-: Very Good to Very Good Minus - May not be that shiny anymore and you will see scratches without putting it under a bright light, but they still would not affect the quality of the playback. The sound quality is still pretty good, maybe a little noise, but not enough to detract from the listening experience. The label might have some fading around it, besides having stickers or writing. The cover may have obvious ringwear in the middle or around the perimeter of where the record was, maybe some side seam splits, or little tears at the top or side where the record goes back into. If less defects, then it's a VG. If it has all this just mentioned, then a VG-.

G, G+: Good or Good Plus - It doesn't mean the vinyl is trashed. It plays though without skipping, but may have heavy noise or fuzz sound because of age, quality, or worn-down grooves. Heavy writing or stickers on the label, ringwear is very obvious on label and cover probably has seam splits. But, amazingly, if you have special audio LP recording software, you could probably clean up those crackles and fuzzes, if you want to create a CD of it for yourself.

P: Poor - This is when the vinyl is warped to the point it warps the playback also. Or it's cracked, but it may or may not still play without a skip. If a picture sleeve is with it, this is torn or marked up bigtime. But someone may want to have it for nostalgia or even attempt to fix it.

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