Sold Date: June 20, 2021
Start Date: June 13, 2021
Final Price: £343.01 (GBP)
Bid Count: 23
Seller Feedback: 1000
Buyer Feedback: 350

 SPRIGUNS (OF TOLGUS) -

REVEL WEIRD AND WILD

DECCA

1st UK Press 1976

SKL 5262

Machined matrices: ZAL-14743.P-1W and ZAL-14744.P-2W

MUSEUM/UPGRADE CONDITION

WORTHY OF INVESTMENT AS THIS ALBUM IN SUOPER CONDITION WILL GO UP IN VALUE ALL THE TIME!!

  THE ULTRA RARE 1ST PRESS 'PICTURE/LYRIC' INSERT - IS IN ABSOLUTELY SUPERB CONDITION!!!!  The ORIGINAL 1st Press 'Robert Stace' Laminated Cover is in BRILLIANT condition!!!!  It has NO edge wear, barely ANY spinal wear AT ALL (virtually NONE!), NO splits,  NO rips, NO tears (cover is VERY flat looking indeed!), shiny laminate, NO annotations, and NO writing!!!!  The opening edge is beautifully straight with barely ANY feathering AT ALL!!!!  Even the unlaminated back of the cover is in BRILLIANT condition with NO grubbiness, NO yellowing, barely ANY rubbing AT ALL, NO sticker marks, and NO writing!!!!  The cover must grade EX if not better!!!!  THIS LP IS SERIOUSLY RARE AND VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND LIKE THIS - SO DON'T MISS OUT ON THIS INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY!!!!

Mike and Mandy Morton formed Spriguns of Tolgus as an acoustic duo at their own folk club in Cambridge, England, in 1972. They took the name "Spriguns" from a malignant Cornish pixie and Tolgus from a tin mine in Cornwall. Initially the band relied on traditional songs, particularly ballads, from England, Scotland and Ireland and were similar in sound to Steeleye Span.

The Mortons were joined by Rick Thomas (fiddle) and Chris Russon (electric guitar), producing soft-focus electric folk on a self-financed tape recording, Rowdy, Dowdy Day (1974). This drew them to the attention of Steeleye Span's Tim Hart, who produced their first vinyl album, Jack with a Feather (1975), contributing the song "Seamus the Showman", beside traditional material such as the Child Ballads's "Flodden Field" and "The Twa Magicians" (the last of which Steeleye Span had recorded the year before) and the Irish songs "Let no man steal your Thyme" and "Curragh of Kildare". The album, despite a very short run of pressings, together with Hart’s involvement, helped increase the band’s profile sufficiently to gain attention from a major label.

In 1976 they signed with Decca, shortened their name to Spriguns and recruited a new band of Dick Powell (keyboards), Tom Ling (fiddle), and Chris Woodcock (drums), which gave them a fuller and rockier sound. The resulting album Revel, Weird & Wild (1976) was again produced by Tim Hart. It relied exclusively on material penned by the band, particularly by Mandy Morton, but many of these were reworkings of traditional material.

For the next album Time Will Pass (1977) only Powell and Ling were retained and  Wayne Morrison (guitar) and Dennis Dunstan (drums) were recruited. This was a relatively lavish attempt to break through into the mainstream, with orchestral arrangements undertaken by Robert Kirby, who had worked with Nick Drake and the Strawbs and production by Sandy Roberton, who had overseen Steeleye Span's early folk albums. The band now sounded very much like a prog rock outfit with folk overtones and Mandy Morton was the only songwriter. The album sold next to nothing and only reportedly a few hundred copies were pressed. Most of these did not have the lyric/photo insert.

 Very Rare and this classic Spriguns album will rarely be seen or offered. The record, apart from a couple of odd paper scuffs (as light as they ever get) and storage traces (yes this is rather old, but totally defies it), is wonderful and plays very well' IT IS LITERALLY IN UNBELIEVABLE OVER THE COUNTER CONDITION.  Truly a remarkable copy and just one of several from this amazing collection. These progressive gems and classics are to be treasured, they rarely ever show up or made available for sale especially like this.

Vinyl:  EX+ to NM.  Not any spindle traces. Barely played and quite possibly unplayed before my grading test play. The audio is exquisite and this vinyl sounds out of this world, a majestic classic. The audio has beautiful separation and there is no background noise. There are no marks and no discernable hairlines. This vinyl looks and sounds great with a beautiful glossy sheen. Under a strong light there are a couple of paper retraction traces, these are completely invisible in normal daylight and even new vinyls will have these. I played this in full and thoroughly enjoyed it. Beautiful clean and loud audio. I was even tempted to keep this as it will be very hard to find this ever again, it is indeed mega rare these days.  Only two or three went up for sale this last year. Needless to say NO jumps ,clicks or anything untoward. I don't think a better one will ever be presented!!

Sleeve: EX.  Wow!! Fantastic looked after front laminated sleeve without any issues. Beautiful deep unfaded colours.. A  completely legible spine. No tears, no writing. The album has been kept in a protective sleeve!!  No writing, no marks , no splits or tears!! A crisp opening. Probably one of the better ones ever to be found for this phenomenal album. A phenomenally rare album and rumoured to only have been pressed in a quantity of just 400 to 500. How many would have survived over the last 42 years??

Lyric insert / poster NM: This still retains the insert which in itself is a relic that is enormously difficult to ever find.  It folds out to reveal the artwork and has band photos to the rear. This item is often missing in auctions.

International postage will incur an extra fee for tracking if over £30.00. Please wait for me to send you an adjusted invoice before paying. The tracked fee will be at actual Royal Mail grade. I do not profit from postage and actually undercharge.

Though there are rarely ever any problems with my items, I always try my very best to describe everything exactly!  PLEASE REMEMBER to contact me FIRST,  if you have any problems at all, before you leave feedback and star ratings, so I get a chance to turn any negative experience into a positive one!  I can always happily sort anything out for you, if you let me know you have a problem!  This way no one has to leave Negative/Neutral feedback - and we both walk away happy! Similarly with the amount of stars, anything less than a full 5 * rating is effectively detrimental to a seller's rating as lower ratings will incur higher Final Value Fees  and lower priority in the bidlists eventually making it unattractive to list items on Ebay at all. I know of at least one major previous Ebay seller who has decided not to list via Ebay again. Please do NOT bid if you cannot give me at least 1 chance to sort everything out to your FULL satisfaction in the unlikely event of a problem.  Thanks again!!

This an excellent investment opportunity!!! Any questions please ask me and I will try to answer soon.

This an excellent investment opportunity!!! Any questions please ask me and I will try to answer soon.

Though there are rarely ever any problems with my items, I always try my very best to describe everything exactly!  PLEASE REMEMBER to contact me FIRST,  if you have any problems at all, before you leave feedback and star ratings, so I get a chance to turn any negative experience into a positive one!  I can always happily sort anything out for you, if you let me know you have a problem!  This way no one has to leave Negative/Neutral feedback - and we both walk away happy! Similarly with the amount of stars, anything less than a full 5 * rating is effectively detrimental to a seller's rating as lower ratings will incur higher Final Value Fees  and lower priority in the bidlists eventually making it unattractive to list items on Ebay at all. I know of at least one major previous Ebay seller who has decided not to list via Ebay again. Please do NOT bid if you cannot give me at least 1 chance to sort everything out to your FULL satisfaction in the unlikely event of a problem.  Thanks again!!

This an excellent investment opportunity!!! Any questions please ask me and I will try to answer soon.