Sold Date: November 25, 2018
Start Date: November 25, 2018
Final Price: $39.99 (USD)
Seller Feedback: 3872
Buyer Feedback: 3

 •Artist: Various (see Other Info below)
 •Album Title: Wilderness America: A Celebration of the Land
 •Format: LP
 •Label: none (private press)
 •Country and Year of Release: USA, 1970s?
 •Cover/Record Grade: G+++/VG (but “Metropolis” plays within the Excellent range; see Other Info below for grading details)
 •Other Info: “Wilderness America: A Celebration of the Land, is a musical exploration of our place within the cycle of living things. All compositions were specially commissioned for this album and blended with natural sounds recorded in the wild.”  That’s what the liner notes say, but that’s only half the story.  This private record includes various artists, but has recently become known for the track “Metropolis,” which is a real nice modern soul/funk song that features Walter Hawkins, Harvey Mason, Mike Melvoin, and Lee Ritnour.  Wilderness America opens with a gorgeous piece by New Age/electronic musician Iasos.  Other pieces include “Mountain,” a gentle folk piece sung by David Riordan (of Sugarloaf fame, who wrote many of the tracks on this LP), and “Flight of the Egret,” a jazzy folk instrumental track.  Privately released in the U.S., probably in the 1970s.  Includes the custom inner sleeve with lyrics.  About the record grade: as stated above, “Metropolis”—the track probably of greatest concern to many considering buying this album—fortunately plays within the Excellent range.  The truth is that much of this album plays within the Excellent range, but there is a sizeable section on side 1 that has light ticks, and that’s why I graded it lower.

Payment and Shipping Information

U.S. Customers: Click on the Shipping and Payments tab above to find the correct price.  Package insured upon request.  Yes, I do combine shipping so if you purchase more than one item, you WILL save on postage!  I do not gouge on postage and packaging costs.  I send your records to you carefully packaged in a strong, OVERSIZED LP mailer (to avoid damage to the LP cover) with sturdy cardboard squares (to protect the record and the cover), but I make sure to only charge the amount needed to cover my actual costs.  If you have any questions about this item, feel free to contact me. 

International Customers: Please do not use the Checkout (Pay Now) option if you are paying for more than one item, or you may end up paying more for postage than is necessary, as eBay tends to calculate shipping and handling on the high side. Instead, wait for me to send you an invoice with the correct total amount due. I will do my best to contact you within one day of the auction’s end.  To find the price for shipping/handling to your country for this item, go to the Shipping and Payments tab above and select your country from the list.  Yes, I do combine shipping so if you purchase more than one item, you WILL save on postage!  I do not gouge on postage and packaging costs.  I send your records to you carefully packaged in a strong, OVERSIZED LP mailer (to avoid damage to the LP cover) with sturdy cardboard squares (to protect the record and the cover), but I make sure to only charge the amount needed to cover my actual costs.  If you have any questions about this item, feel free to contact me.

Grading Information

With very few exceptions, I play grade the records that I list.  (This means that I don't go by the way a record looks, only by how it plays.)  Sometimes when I have a group (or a “lot”) of LPs within a single listing, I will not play all the records, but this is fairly rare.

I use Mint (M), Excellent (Ex), Very Good (VG), Good (G), Fair (F), and (heaven help us) Poor (P), and I take each of these words at their literal meaning.  In other words, if I assign an LP a grade of “G,” that means to me that it really is in good playing condition, not fair or worse—for many dealers, a G (or even VG) grade is often really nothing more than a euphemism for a record that is in fair or poor condition.

I also use up to three plus signs (+) and up to three minus signs (-) to indicate varying degrees within a specific grade.  So, a grade letter followed by a “+” means the condition is slightly better than the grade letter by itself, and a grade letter followed by “++” indicates that the condition is yet another small step higher.  For example, a grade of Ex+++ means that the record is very close to being in the Mint range, but still just shy of it.

This may seem like a strange system at first glance but I use it because I feel that the standard grading systems are inadequate, as they simply don't allow for enough grades or degrees within those grades.  Many don't use Excellent, for example, which means that there is a jump from Mint down to Very Good—and there are a whole lot of grading possibilities in between those two, the way I see it.