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, and records WILL arrive damaged in them at some time as most record buyers will already know. Here, you get what you pay for – SAFE PACKING in BOXES using 7mm DOUBLE-WALL STIFFENERS including full side protection and bubble wrap, the records removed from the covers of course. All this very safe packing means I lose money on every box I post, but safe delivery is, and will always be paramount. You WILL see the difference when my packet arrives. Also, I will pay for 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 if possible. PLEASE NOTE: I will NOT send any item, no matter what its value without a Royal Mail or courier tracking number. ALL my items must be signed and trackable to comply with Ebay delivery rules. Please do NOT ask me to make any exceptions to this rule as no country offers 100% reliable service without it.

Posting to Russia: Yes, I do post to Russia. But delivery can take longer 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.

ANY ITEM or ITEMS TO BE PAID WITHIN A MAXIMUM OF 6 DAYS or they will be cancelled – NO EXCEPTIONS.

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. Please only bid on my items if you want them.

Artist or Band: BOXER

Album Title: Below the Belt

Producer(s): Boxer, Richard Digby-Smith

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Shooting Star; All the Time in the World; California Calling; Hip Kiss; More Than Meets the Eye.

Side 2: Waiting for a Miracle; Loony Ali; Save Me; Gonna Work Out Fine; Town Drunk.

Label/Format: Virgin, original coloured twins format with matt, quite smooth surfaces.

Label Conditions: Both very clean, fresh and attractive with only a tiny few very light, fine and faint spindle marks and no wear around the hole area.

Catalogue Number: V 2049

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Warps: Few vintage records are ever perfectly ‘flat’, so some slight or very gentle arm movement is normal. If any record I offer has more than that, I will mention it, and it can be assumed all I offer should track without issues, even on budget turntables.

Weight of this Record: 114 grams.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity: Standard copies of this are moderately scarce. This copy is far rarer as it includes the withdrawn full frontal nude back cover. The standard front cover alone caused enough notoriety to stop some retailers selling the album, let alone displaying it. But the same graphic on the back, although much smaller, briefly appeared without the boxing glove covering the model’s lower area. So the cover was quickly reprinted again covering up the girl below. Most of these that surface without the censored back cover are promotional copies, this is the only non-promo copy I have seen with the first print full nude back sleeve. For Ebay rule purposes, I have done my own censoring of this cover with a digital program, but this covers shows all for real. It’s not hard to find this on the Net for those curious. Anyway, this is a rare retail copy of the totally uncensored first print cover version and in superb condition. This is not seen often.

Original Year of Release: 1975

Matrix Nos: V 2049 A-3 / V 2049 B-3

Run-Out Groove Etchings: KENDUN A EG / KENDUN B EG

Musicians: Ollie Halsall – guitar, keyboards; Mike Patto – keyboards, vocals; Keith Ellis – bass; Tony Newman – drums.

Brief Info: The first of three albums by Boxer. A fine rock set fronted by former Spooky Tooth member Mike Patto, the others all had quality prog-rock history as well. But this is mostly remembered for the full-on and daring cover that featured the model Stephanie Marrian (spelled Marian on the cover), posing nude. Predictably, the American version had a totally different cover with the band on the cover and no girl. First issue printings showed Stephanie baring all on the back cover, this caused even more protests than the front, so she was covered up with the band’s boxing belt logo – but still topless on both sides. One for cover-collectors and those who only want originals, the full frontal picture back picture cover is seldom seen. This a lovely copy, both cover and record in lovely clean condition and plays very well.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(++): a gatefold format with the front and back laminated, the inside is matt and smooth. This a very first, rare non-promotional example that includes the full-frontal nude girl on the back. This withdrawn and reprinted. Printed and made in England by Robor Ltd. Includes the plain white inner sleeve.

Lamination – Front & Back: Firstly, the red cover-ups on this ‘revealing’ cover have been digitally added to my pictures to comply witih Ebay rules on nudity – obviously, they are NOT on the real thing. The laminate retains fine shine and clarity, but not as shiny as some albums from the 1960s. By the mid-1970s, laminate was fast becoming a thing of the past. This has no lifting, any marks few, small and very light. Hardly any creasing with any rim impression or dulling on the back gentle and light. Both sides attractive (and certainly daring for an album cover), the full-frontal picture on the back is rarely seen.

Cover Inner Gatefold: The inside is practically as-made.

Top & Bottom Edges: All four barely worn at all with very close to total laminate coverage, a rub trace on the top front on the very left. Still quite straight and flush.

Right Edge(s), and Type: The front has a tucked and folded real edge that is barely worn at all. The rear entrance edges are clean, mostly sharp with any thickening little and light as seen viewed end-on. They are guaranteed untrimmed or enhanced.

Spine and Text: A very fine natural central hairline crease apart, that will always form purely on opening, this spine has little else to fault. Solid, straight with no compression and folded square, so the edges meet up very closely together and parallel. All text is perfect and unworn under the solid and unpeeled laminate.

Corners: Any tip rubs small and light, excellent or better shape retained with no knocks.

Cover Summary: A very strong all-round example of this very controversial, uncensored and original mid-1970’s cover, one that will prove very difficult to find much better. This seldom-seen item should please many, if not most collectors.

The Inner Sleeve: MINT(–): a plain white solid unlined inner with little to fault at all. Still clean, fresh, barely creased with all edges solidly intact with no repairs. This has the ‘PATENT Nos. 1,125,555’ text.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(+): a very fine visual copy that is very clean with equally fine shine and quite solidly pressed. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence with any surface traces very light, wispy and faint as seen critically under bright light. No penetrating stylus scratches, viewed in average room light, barely anything even registers. Visually a super record that should please many 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 equipment, all listed further down.]

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: With the uncompromising cover that caused quite a stir back in the mid 1970s, the music was often overlooked, this is a quality album, and it 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 a fine clean pressing with no tracking issues* or inherent pressing noises. Few available copies will outperform this early first pressing I feel sure. Both channels are clean and sharp, I am certain this record has been played very lightly and has been very well stored and carefully handled, almost certainly in a non-smoking environment. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this wonderful record. 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 grams. Records are a ‘contact’ format, and few will avoid the odd minor sound blemish.

I am one of the most established sellers on Ebay, trading since 2001 and offering the finest 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 all elements of the items I offer for sale. You may notice I only submit records quite 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 story. I will try to 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 near mint condition as the real rare items. All the pictures I use for your guidance are the item being offered with no digital enhancements. Room light factors can make things vary sometimes, that is hard to control, especially in winter. I hope the item below is to your liking – any questions can be emailed and I will do my best to answer you. I am enthusiastic, and have a fair degree of knowledge about many genres and I promise quality items. Please assume all records I offer have NO jumps, sticks, major 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 grams). Amps: Naim Supernait 2 with Project USB phono stage and Tellerium Black interconnects. Speakers: B&W 805 Nautilus (bi-wired with Tellurium Black terminated cable) with REL subwoofer. All records I offer on Ebay are cleaned on a professional Nessie 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 D7500 DSLR 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.

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 bid retractions. 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 only 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 2 days for communication and 7 days for payment to arrive – if not I will relist the item or offer to the runner-up.

My Guarantee: If any winning bidder is not satisfied with their purchase I will offer a complete refund if the item is returned in the same condition is was sent e.g. as per the listing pictures.

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, 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.