SHOCKING BLUE At Home - SCARCE ORIG UK 1969 PENNY FARTHING EX++ LP inc 'VENUS'.

Sold Date: May 1, 2016
Start Date: April 24, 2016
Final Price: £103.99 (GBP)
Bid Count: 19
Seller Feedback: 7492
Buyer Feedback: 166


ONEADAYRECORDS – Simply Delivering Quality Music to the World in Quality, Safe Packing.

Postage: UK £4.75 (£1 per extra record). Europe (including Russia) £12.50 (£2 per extra record). Rest of World (including ALL parts of the USA) £16.50 (£3 per extra record). All boxes signed for in quality, safe packaging – I NEVER use mailing envelopes that offer virtually no protection at all – in fact I think these things should be banned as records WILL arrive damaged in them at some time. Here, you get what you pay for – SAFE PACKING in BOXES using 7mm DOUBLE-WALL STIFFENERS. Full details nearer the end of the listing.

Posting to Russia: Yes, I do post to Russia. But delivery can take up to 4 to 6 weeks from the UK. So please be patient. I will submit a tracking number to the winning bidder, and when the packet arrives there it can be followed online using the Russian post website.

ALSO: I now apply the Ebay ‘2-day’ rule for non-payment to keep things moving – cash-flow is important for any small business. I will always keep my P&P prices as low as possible, and even after yet another Royal Mail price hike from April this year, I have NOT raised my prices and will never compromise on solid, safe packing that is invariably heavier than most you will get. My P&P offers probably the best value-for-money for vinyl records available, and I even will pay for full insurance on any record that sells for over £100 at NO extra cost – that is UK and abroad. Also I aim to post the very same day after payment is received. You WILL see the difference when my packet arrives.

FINALLY: Late payers, non-payers and ‘0’ bidders will now be blocked or cancelled at my discretion. As will any bidder who cancels a bid. I do not like this practice as it is most often used to phish out the price to beat. Ebay does not approve and neither do I – so only bid on my items if you want them.

Artist or Band: SHOCKING BLUE

Album Title: Shocking Blue At Home

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Venus; Boll Weevil; I'll Write Your Name Through the Fire; Acka Raga; Love Machine; I’m a Woman.

Side 2: California Here I Come; Poor Boy; Love Buzz; The Butterfly and I.

Label/Format: Penny Farthing with matt, smooth surfaces.

Label Conditions: Both superb: very clean, fresh and attractive with only a couple of light, fine and faint spindle marks and no wear around the hole area. This elusive UK original appears hardly played with sound to match.

Cat Number: PELS 500

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps: Assume all records I offer have no warping of any significance and all tracking is easy and effortless and should play on all turntables and even ‘budget’ decks.

Weight of this Record: 131 grams. A very good solid weight.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Scarce, and under-valued by guides. As a UK original, this is quite elusive and never easy to find in better condition. One of best albums on this iconic label.

Original Year of Release: 1969

Matrix Nos: PELS 500 1Y//21 420 1 1 4 & PELS 500 2Y//1 420 1 1 3

Musicians: Mariska Veres - lead vocals; Robbie van Leeuwen - guitar, sitar, backing vocals; Klaasje van der Wal - bass; Cor van der Beek - drums.

Brief Info: The second Shocking Blue album, a band originating in the Netherlands, this the first to feature singer Mariska Veres and guitarist Robbie van Leeuwen. Veres certainly got the band noticed with her beautiful looks and strong voice, the vocals are sung in English. Unfortunately in the UK, pretty much a one-hit-wonder when ‘Venus’ peaked at No 3 in the chart, the follow-up only just scraping into the top 50. When first issued in their native country, the worldwide hit ‘Venus’ was not even included on the album. Glad to say it was on this elusive UK-pressed Penny Farthing original. Shocking Blue play a blend of rock, pop and psychedelia with use of the sitar. This is a lovely example with only minor wear to the cover, and the record appearing hardly played. This album is sometimes the subject of a pressing fault – well there are certainly no tracking issues – but the sound does dip in volume very slightly on ‘Love Machine’, if that is the documented issue, not sure. But every copy of this album I have heard is just the same, and being honest, it is only very subtle and it could easily go unnoticed anyway. So a really lovely example on a scarcer, but classic UK label. A band I feel deserved better international success, most of their sales largely confined to Holland and Belgium. All will know the mini-pop-classic ‘Venus’, but there are other wonderful delights on this great album as well. Strongly recommended.

Cover Grade and Format: NEAR EXCELLENT: a single format with front laminate. This covers all the folds and ends on three back flipbacks. The main rear panel is matt and smooth. Printed and made in England by Garrod & Lofthouse, includes a Philips/Polydor style inner sleeve.

Lamination & Front: With lovely artwork, did the band at this time want to be the Dutch Jefferson Airplane? This has only gently aged overall. The laminate retains excellent shine, freshness and clarity with no lifting and minimal creasing. Any present being mostly very light and fine, showing little with normal viewing. Faint and light dulling around the rim shape under light that few avoid totally with the fine exposed strip on the right is a little grubby. Still attractive, and nice to see the Penny Farthing logo on a very good album, there were few really good albums issued on this quite elusive label.

Cover Back: The unprotected main panel has only minor traces of grubbiness or marks. The main issue, albeit small, is a rub to the catalogue number near the top right, or would have graded full excellent. Under a magnifier, this appears as a very gentle scuff, possibly from a sticker from the distant past? No creasing and hardly any trace of ringwear, just look at the stunning picture of singer Mariska Veres. All three flipbacks are solid with minimal traces of grime to the laminate ends, just a little burring to the bottom ones end here-and-there. Given the age factor, both front and back are impressive.

Top Edge: Thin, but mainly straight, smooth with no surface wear.

Bottom Edge: Largely the same, possibly a fraction less straight being critical.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Mostly sharp with very little wear. Any thickening or burring minimal and light as seen viewed end-on. Record enters on this edge that is guaranteed untrimmed or enhanced.

Spine and Text: Solid, quite thin again, but straight with minimal compression, the ends are quite deeply pinched in manufacture. These fragile area retain fine shape, just a hint of scuffing to the top one’s surface. All text is perfect and unworn under the solid and uncracked laminate, this also very well centred for good measure.

Corners: Tiny tip rubs and a couple of small tip creases. Very fine shape mostly retained witn just a minor dink to the top right.

Cover Summary: A strong all-round example of this elusive late 1960’s cover, one that could prove difficult to find much better. This attractive Penny Farthing cover should please many collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT(+): the Polydor/Philips style polylined inner is in very fine condition. Only gently aged with the usual discolouration, mostly to the seam adhesive areas. Barely creased, two pristine crisp, undamaged window circles and the lining mostly clear and still fresh. No edge splits or repairs. This is date-coded 1/0470 (April 1970), reiterating an early example.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(++): a very impressive visual copy that is very clean with equally fine shine and very solidly pressed. The merest hint of inner dulling seen under light, barely registering, on a scale of 1 to 10, barely even a half. This a common trait of these inners, here as light as it gets and almost wondering why I even mentioned it. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence with any surface trace marks few, ultra light and faint as seen critically under bright angled light. No penetrating stylus scratches, this appearing little handled or used. Visually a super record that should please many, if not most collectors.

Album Played For Grading: Yes. [I play ALL records I offer before submitting to Ebay, also the record is played in its entirety unless clearly stated otherwise. I do NOT play snippets or joining grooves to check for sound quality and quietness – I play from the beginning to end via clinically revealing B&W speakers that include the legendary tweeter from their awesome Nautilus range that reveals every blemish or minuscule sound present on any record.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This superb pop-psych album plays even above it’s high visual grading with hardly anything to fault. Offering strong, distortion-free sound, all frequencies are sharp and clear - sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. Any surface sounds are minimal indeed and this is an exceptional clean pressing with no tracking issues*. I have mentioned the dip in volume on song five on side one, which is totally normal on all UK copies, this could even go unnoticed as it is quite subtle anyway. Few copies will outperform this very early pressing significantly I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played very lightly and has been generally well stored and carefully handled. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record. Shocking Blue are far more than must another ‘pop’ band, with distinctly psych overtones, this is a mini-classic of its type. It will prove very difficult to find significantly better and can be strongly recommended.

* As played-graded on a high-end Linn LP12 Sondek turntable with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Black moving coil cartridge tracking at 2.2 grams.

Now one of the most established sellers on Ebay and still offering the finest and most accurately described and graded records I can find. I pride myself on offering a variety of genres to keep my site as interesting as possible. I will rarely offer any record that falls below a true Excellent grading, unless its of a certain rarity which will justify offering a lesser grade. I try, to the best of my ability to describe as accurately and as honesty as I can all items I offer for sale with all the relevant information I can think of to help any potential bidder and collector. You may notice I only submit records sparingly on Ebay as I Play-Grade every record I offer in their entirety – also on higher-end equipment – not just bits to guess a grade - visuals alone do not always tell a true or full story. I will mention any defects or flaws no matter how small that I notice to be fair as possible to any interested collector – I am very fussy and my buyers have the right to be too. Every record I offer, whether it be a common or rare item deserves the same respect as far as I am concerned and will be treated the same - just because an item is rare does not always mean it’s good. I get just as much pleasure offering a relatively common record in stunning near mint condition as the real rare items. All the pictures I use for your guidance are taken with a digital camera or scanned - they are NOT improved, cleaned-up or made better looking than they are with camera trickery or enhancing with digital programmes. Room light factors can make things vary sometimes, that is hard to control, especially in winter. If any picture I take looks more flattering than the actual item for any reason, I will clearly state the fact in the advert and vice-versa. I hope the item below is to your liking - any questions can be emailed and I will do my very best to answer you. I am enthusiastic, and have a fair degree of knowledge about many genres and I promise quality items - bid with confidence - excellence comes as standard and so does Near Mint regularly. Please assume all records I offer have NO jumps, sticks, warps or writing on covers or labels unless clearly stated to the contrary. Thanks for your interest and Good luck – MIKE.

Equipment Used for Play-Grading: I now play-grade ALL the records I offer (unless clearly stated to the contrary) on the following equipment:

Deck: Linn LP12/Hercules/Cirkus with Ittok Mk II arm and Ortofon Quintet Black moving coil cartridge (tracks at 2.2 grams). Amps: Naim Supernait 2 with Project USB phono stage and Tellerium Black interconnects. Speakers: B&W 704 Floorstanding 3-way Monitors (bi-wired with Tellurium Black terminated cable). All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional VPI-17 vacuum machine before play-grading for the cleanest and best possible sound and will include a brand new lined inner and protective cover too. Pictures taken with a Nikon D5000 SLR Digital Camera.

PACKING - THIS IS WHAT YOU GET.

What You Get: To confirm to the strict Ebay rules on shipping, I must now send ALL my packets ‘Signed-For’ with NO exceptions. Both buyers and sellers want their packets to have a safer journey and this is not a bad thing.

I now offer the fastest possible posting, often the very next day after payment is received or within two to three days maximum (unless on holiday). I only use FIRST-CLASS Mail. The record’s cover will be placed within a BRAND NEW soft protective sleeve and the actual record will be professionally cleaned on my new VPI-17 Pro vacuum system to give ultimate clean grooves and playing surfaces and the best possible looks and ultimate sound quality. You will NOT get tired, dull looking, dust infested records inside worn and foggy covers with tatty inners from this seller and that’s a promise and guarantee. All records are posted in professional boxes (NOT Mailers, these do not offer any real protection). The record(s) are REMOVED from their main cover to avoid edge splits and placed within a brand new polylined inner. The record’s original inner will be included if available. The boxes are then reinforced with at least TWO, ULTRA THICK stiffeners for maximum extra protection – these are FOUR TIMES thicker than commercial stiffeners and are custom-made for oneadayrecords. Really rare and expensive albums will even be Double Boxed if deemed necessary and possible. When larger boxes are used, the thick record and stiffener ‘sandwich’ is then thickly embedded into bubble-wrap to bulk out the record inside the box to centre the item inside to reduce the risk of damage still further. Printed address labels are used for clarity as well as a sender label. Customers requests or special needs for P&P will be respected if at all possible but ‘Signed-For’ posting is NOT an option anymore. I do not profit on posting, better quality packaging costs, I offer probably the best-value and safest shipping possible for ultimate confidence. The boxes and ultra thick double-wall stiffeners make a near impregnable fortress for safe shipping and this is used inland and overseas for ALL my records, not just the rare and expensive. I will invoice any winning bidder as soon as possible after the auction ends. My ‘loss’ or ‘damage rate’ is minuscule in over 14 years of Ebay trading and I consider that pretty exceptional. The only damage rate acceptable for this seller is ZERO and I think my packets will offer just that. It would take a vicious postman or postal service to damage these for sure. Oneadayrecords is a MAILER-FREE ZONE – they offer next-to-no-protection, and should be banned, no ‘professional’ should consider using them in my opinion. I discount of course for multiple purchases with a maximum of FIVE records per box (one double can sometimes be included subject to total weight). All postage costs are below and at the top of the listing.

NOTE: First Time Bidders: Please ask me first.

PLEASE NOTE: I now exercise my right to open a dispute after the Ebay rule of TWO days if no payment is received. I will then cancel the dispute to end the bid, again after the mandatory FOUR days and then offer the item to the runner-up or relist. The non-payer will also be blocked from my Ebay site as will any suspicious bids or bid withdrawals. Small businesses need prompt payment to trade and these strict rules WILL be applied.

SHIPPING COSTS & CONDITIONS – THESE comply with EBAY’S RULES - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:

Posting & Packing: UK & CHANNEL ISLANDS all now sent via Recorded Delivery:

1 LP (FIRST-CLASS Recorded Delivery with Standard Royal Mail Insurance) [Signed For] = £4.75

1 LP (Special Delivery with Standard £500 Maximum Insurance) [Signed For, Next Day] = £7.50. (this includes insurance of £500). Add £1 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: EUROPE & SCANDINAVIA. (Airmail Only):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£50 maximum]) = £12.50 (enhanced Royal Mail insurance is an optional extra £3). Add £2 per extra LP.

Posting & Packing: ALL OVERSEAS (non-European) e.g. USA (ANY PART OF); South America; New Zealand; Australia; Canada; Japan and other Far East; (Airmail Only: I NEVER use Surface Mail):

1 LP (Small Packet ‘Signed For’ with Standard Royal Mail Insurance [£50 maximum]) = £16.50 (£17.50 for double sets). Add £3 per extra LP. (enhanced Royal Mail insurance is an optional extra £3)

Payment Conditions:

I prefer PayPal or cheque from UK winning bidders. I can accept PayPal from overseas bidders or direct payment into my bank account.

Potential Bidders: I will cancel any bids I feel are time-wasters. A maximum 3 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive - if not I will relist the item or offer to the runner-up. Fast deals get great feedback from me. Any questions - please ask and thanks for looking.

My Guarantee: If any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund. I will not refund if any defect detail is clearly stated on the advert and missed by the buyer, so read the item description carefully. If any overseas collector does not understand anything in my listing, please email and ask me to help. Thank You.

SOME GENERAL GUIDES TO WEAR AND CONDITIONS TO HELP YOU DECIDE

My Use of Description Terminology: Surface Marks = Superficial, usually light marks, hairlines or light scuffs that rarely sound. Scratch = a needle mark that goes below the record’s surface, some will sound, some will not, my play-grade will inform. Original = a record that has been pressed with the first label design which does NOT necessarily mean a very first pressed record. First Pressing = A record that I believe or know to be a genuine very first pressed record. I do not claim to always know for sure, and that’s why I state the stamper and matrix numbers if at all possible, for those who claim to know what they all mean, the information is there for the collector to decide. I prefer to use terms like ‘Early Copy’ rather than ‘First Pressing’ if I am not totally sure. Surface Sound = Mild, light sound, usually light crackle or similar. Distortion = Break up of the actual sound caused by groove wear or damage from a chipped stylus – the most undesirable form of unwanted sound, vintage mono records were the most prone to this happening but not exclusively so. The symptoms of distortion are high frequency clipping, moderate constant crackle or an echo type sound quality. Violin, piano and vocals are most prone to groove-wear distortion. Feathering = Fraying or softening of the entry edge of a cover. Covers with feathered entrance edges are more likely to have had the actual record inserted and removed more than a non-feathered, sharp-edged cover which are always far more attractive. Set Off, actually a printer’s term for dark ink leaving mild residue on pale or white ink when rested upon. e.g. when a gatefold cover has black ink closed against white, this can leave some black residue on the pale area – this is mostly unavoidable or course.

The Argument for Vinyl Original sound and mix (mono mixes are rarely available on CD), high quality sound on clean copies (played on a hi-end dedicated analogue system – breathtaking sound!), beautiful, large format covers, artwork, inserts and even full size posters etc; huge investment potential, and the pleasure of owning ‘the real thing’.