Sold Date: March 29, 2018
Start Date: March 24, 2018
Final Price: £22.00 (GBP)
Bid Count: 8
Seller Feedback: 339
Buyer Feedback: 58

Welcome to my retro auctions that offer the best of classic and collectable vintage vinyl records, ranging from the out-and-out classic to the weird and wonderful obscurities! With the revival of the vinyl records continuing apace, I find it increasingly frustrating how so many second hand outlets where I’d traditionally source used records, such as charity shops and boot sales, are clogged up with dealers unwanted dross and ubiquitous max bygraves & ken dodd type records! Then when they do have something interesting they very often haven’t even thought about checking the condition! I’ve had a life long love affair with vinyl and will be using ebay to share that with you and hopefully direct some of these treasures to the right home where they’ll continue to be used and enjoyed in the way they were intended, so here we have the fantastic album:  

VARIOUS – THE RURAL BLUES

This is a super collectable original Mono UK double vinyl LP box set released in 1966 on the XTRA label, part of Transatlantic Records, with the catalogue number XTRA 1035. This is a real collectors piece for the Blues scholar just as it was when originally appearing in the sixties, it features so many giants of the early 20th Century such as Robert Johnson, Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Willie McTell and Lightnin’ Hopkins to name just a few and best of all this box still has the original paper insert so the tracks can be listened to with full notated history to read through. A real treat!

The condition of both the records is fantastic and they just have to grade as a Excellent although many would argue they’re even better than that! The sound quality is wonderful across all four sides although this is a compilation of some very early recordings so some concession does have to be made for that with the audio! These albums have clearly had some use but there is no serious damage anywhere, they play extremely well with near silent run in grooves and if you do detect any surface noise then it’s totally non-intrusive and only adds to the whole authenticity of the listening experience!

The cover is a box sleeve grading as a Very Good! This really does remain a great looking sleeve that has not been written on or abused in any way, there’s really nothing bad to report with the condition beyond some very mild shelf wear and the all too inevitable ageing effect of three of the box corners having split open. That along with some mild scuffing across the top edge are the main factors in the grade but really that’s it and it is complete with paper inners and the paper insert with detailed liner notes; this really does remain a brilliant and collectable 52 year old package! Don’t miss out on this one!!

Gradings explained:

Mint – I only ever use this grade for a record that is brand new or one that has clearly never been played, Mint records will usually be sealed as well.

Near Mint – The record has been on a shelf between other records. The vinyl looks glossy and clearly has only been played a few times. There are no marks on the vinyl and the whole package is complete.

Excellent – Close to the above grade but there may be some very light marks where the vinyl has been in and out of the inner sleeve a few times, or tiny signs of use generally.

Very Good+ – A few further faults are acceptable, but nothing that really compromises the record visually or audibly. A little rub or light inaudible marks and occasionally a little background crackle but nothing that’s instrusive or spoils your enjoyment of the music.

Very Good – It’s seen a bit of use but is still very usable. Light pops and clicks, an edge split, light visible scratches. You can still listen to it and enjoy looking at it, but it is visually and audibly a used title.

Good – To be honest you’re making trouble for yourself here, as Good means Bad. The only reason to be selling something in this condition is if it’s something ultra rare and unlikely to show up again.

My love of records has been there all my life, from my infant days becoming hypnotized at my parents copy of Waterloo Sunset rotating on the deck, to my first purchase of a Wombles album and through my childhood years when everything from Pop, Rock, Disco, Punk, Electro, Indie, Reggae and so much more exploded in my ears and my brain and left me an incurable music addict for life! In the middle of the eighties a versatile Piano Man with an ear for a Beatle-esque melody and an unashamed love of the sounds of the fifties and sixties pointed me to music of the past to expand my pallet so, as the era of the CD arrived, a fascinating never ending journey of discovery brought the giants of earlier decades to my collection; a spidery expedition that goes backwards and forwards ad infinitum but crucially, can throw up a thrilling discovery on a daily basis. But as the CDs started to take over from vinyl in my collecting during the nineties, I noticed a phenomenon that other collectors were always talking about but I’d doubted to be true; namely that vinyl records do sound better than CD. It was on an original RCA copy of the Elvis Presley album ‘Elvis’ Golden Records’ and in particular the track ‘Hound Dog’. I’d become used to it on a CD I owned but on this 1958 pressed vinyl record the difference in audio was amazing. The guitars were on fire, the vocal soared and the drum roll seemed to rattle the room. This kind of resonance just wasn’t happening on the flat CD which, for all it’s crisp background silence, seemed lifeless by comparison. And this is something I’ve continued to marvel at over the years and particularly in the 21st century, as the tepid sonics of streaming have become commonplace, that to really get to the heart and soul of a recording, to totally experience the primal triggering of emotional responses to these vibrations, you have to search out a great quality vinyl pressing. It’s the only way!  

POSTAGE& PACKING

LP’s & 12” 
UK: FREE 
Europe: £6.75 1 x LP / £8.00 for 2-3 x LP’s 
**Rest of the world: £12.50 1 x LP/ £15.00 for 2-3 x LP’s

7” 
UK: FREE 
Europe: £4.75 1 x 7”/ £5.00 2-3 x 7” 
Rest of the world: £5.95 1 x 7” / £6.00 2-3 x 7”