Sold Date: September 12, 2021
Start Date: September 5, 2021
Final Price: £113.00 (GBP)
Bid Count: 45
Seller Feedback: 1036
Buyer Feedback: 0

DEEP PURPLE -

Self Titled

  HARVEST

 SHVL 759

1st UK Press 1969

Machined matrices: A-1   B-1

The album is, for me, one of the crowning glories of Deep Purple's history and never again would they be this beautiful, this varied or this brave. There isn't a single second of music I would ever want to change - it is, to all intents and purposes, a "perfect album". It has some of the soloist's greatest work and Jon Lord's finest writing. "April", a song in three parts, the middle section being a classical chamber work, pre-dates the Concerto and presents some familiar ideas which later cropped up in Lord's masterpiece. The rest of the album is track after track of peerless writing; "Blind is another Purple highlight with a stunning solo from Ritchie. Donovan's "Lalena" would, on the face of it, seem an unlikely choice for an aspiring rock band to cover - it certainly would have been an incongruous choice for Mark II but here the band could still do gentle and subtle and it is a fantastic interpretation, featuring a beautiful organ solo from Jon. This was notable as the last cover song that the band did - it was all original material from now on.

Never out of my top ten favourite albums of all time, I go back to this more often than any other Deep Purple album and it may even be the album I have played most of all. It's glory has never diminished, on the contrary it still seems to get better with every listen. Not many albums have had that effect on me!

It's also worth noting the album cover, a scene from the right-hand panel of Hieronymus Bosch's triptych "The Garden of Earthly Delights" with a small inset photo of the band discreetly morphed in. I'm sure I wasn't the only young fan of the band who found the delights of Bosch by this indirect method but I am eternally grateful.(review rateyourmusic.com)

Only 300-500 copies were initially pressed without the EMI box on label like on discogs photo. Later 1969 copies were identical (and are still considered first copies) but the EMI logo was in a box on the label (9 o'clock). This is indeed a very rare Deep Purple album!

Vinyl: EX.  Looks just very lightly played!! A couple of spindle traces. The audio is fantastic and this vinyl sounds out of this world, a majestic album that went largely unnoticed with poor distribution. Only a few hundred were ever pressed on this label without the EMI box, which was introduced a couple of weeks later. The audio has beautiful separation and there is barely any background noise. I played this twice in full and thoroughly enjoyed it. There are no marks or hairlines. Under a strong light source light wispy paper retraction traces are visible. In normal daylight it looks  flawless. Played in full on my Linn Sondek/ Rotel/B&W set-up. Needless to say NO jumps, sticks, clicks or ticks. The audio of this recording is simply outstanding and will be an upgrade to most collectors. Wow!!

 Gatefold Sleeve: VG+. Laminated gatefold sleeve with the famous artwork by Bosch. To the rear gate which has the opening for the vinyl a corner seam split of around 2 cm. All corners do have an amount of wear. Otherwise the sleeve is in fine condition without any damage or writing. the rear has a couple of light creases. The spine is legible. A very rare early Deep purple album that is increasingly difficult to still find as a first press.

This is a unique investment opportunity!!! The next prog album to go completely through the roof. The chance of finding this album in any condition at all is negligible so late in the day. Finding it in this splendid condition will prove nearly impossible!! Get this while you still can. This value of the album is only going to go one way ... up and up ... until it will be totally unavailable at all for a reasonable price.

Important : International postage will be registered and insured if over GBP 30.00.  Please wait for my invoice before paying. Postage will be according to Royal Mail rates. Postage is NOT a money spinning exercise for me.

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!!