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

Postage: UK £4.95. Europe (including Russia) £12.95 (£1 per extra record). Rest of World £19.95 (£2 per extra record). All my records are sent in boxes and the price of them has increased over time and these are my first price increases for nearly 10 years. Royal Mail prices have also gone up again. I will never compromise on 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 and 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 couple of very light, fine and faint spindle marks on each and no wear around the hole area. Another one purchased new by one owner who put his records to tape, this appears hardly played.

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 Record: 137 grams.

Country of Manufacture: England

Rarity & Info: 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 outcry to stop some retailers selling the album, let alone displaying it. But the same graphic on the back, although much smaller was deemed unacceptable uncovered. It very briefly appeared without the boxing glove covering the model’s lower area. So the cover was quickly reprinted covering up the more controversial area with the band’s logo. Most of these that surface without the censored back cover are promotional copies, this is one the few non-promo copies I have seen with the first print full nude back sleeve. The original owner of this must have been an early bird to get a copy of this one as it was almost immediately withdrawn from sale. For Ebay rule purposes, I have done my own censoring of the sensitive areas, but this shows all for real on the front and back. It’s not hard to find this on the Net for those curious, which makes a nonsense of me censoring it really – but rules are rules I suppose. In America both the front and back cover were changed not allowing such a revealing sleeve at all. UK copies offered from America are often described as ‘uncensored’, but that meaning just the front cover, a genuine uncensored UK cover only really means the back cover where the girl really does bare all. Although frowned upon by many, the front was allowed to remain as is. The featured model is Stephanie Marrian who was the first page 3 girl in the UK newspaper ‘The Sun’, first appearing in 1970. This is a rare retail copy of the totally uncensored first print cover version and in superb condition. This is not seen often and now sort-after and very collectable.

Original Year of Release: 1975

Matrix Nos: V 2049 A-3 / V 2049 B-3 with 1 / 1 mother stampers

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 band that had a great live reputation, fronted by the former Spooky Tooth member Mike Patto, the others all had quality prog-rock history as well. They played a brand of quite heavy blues orientated rock and features quality guitar playing by Ollie Halsall. The album gained notoriety 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 sleeve 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 the genuine first-print originals, the full frontal picture back picture cover is seldom seen as it was almost immediately withdrawn. This a lovely copy, both cover and record in very clean condition.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(+): arguably better. 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 model on the back. This withdrawn and reprinted in haste. Printed and made in England by Robor Ltd. Includes the original black Virgin logo inner sleeve.

Lamination – Front & Back: Firstly, the white paper cover-ups on this ‘revealing’ cover have been added to comply with Ebay rules on nudity. This first print back leaves nothing to the imagination. The laminate retains excellent shine and clarity with minimal creasing or dulling. More importantly on a dark cover, this has avoided any lifting, and any marks or blemishes few, fine and faint. Only a gentle hint of dulling around the rim area on the back that few can hope to avoid.

Cover Inner Gatefold: A moderately light crease near the top right apart, this inside is practically as-made.

Top & Bottom Edges: All four barely worn at all with full laminate coverage. Still straight and flush with barely even a hint of wear.

Right Edge(s), and Type: The front has a tucked and folded real edge that is unworn at all. The rear entrance edges are clean, mostly very sharp with any thickening minuscule.

Spine and Text: Practically as-made bar an ultra fine natural hairline crease purely from opening. 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 tiny and light, excellent or better shape retained with no knocks.

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

The Inner Sleeve: EXCELLENT: a black unlined Virgin Records logo inner printed both sides. This has the ‘PATENT Nos. 1,125,555, 1,325,071 and 1,072,844’ text. Only one corner creases stops a higher grading, this has little else to fault with all edges solidly intact.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(+): a very fine visual copy that is very clean with equally fine shine and 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: This quality album plays up to, and most even above it’s high visual grading with little to fault. Offering strong clear sound with a warm production perfect for the material included. Any surface sounds are minimal with just light hints towards the end of each side. Overall a mostly clean pressing with no tracking issues*. Few available copies will outperform this early first pressing significantly I feel sure. I am certain this record has been played little and has been generally well stored and carefully handled within a non-smoking environment. Little of note spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this lovely record. It will prove difficult to find significantly better and can be highly 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.

Payment Conditions:

I prefer PayPal from­ 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.