Item Description
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WE CURRENTLY HAVE MORE THAN 1,000 LISTED
ITEMS
CRESSIDA ASSYLUM
INSANELY RARE ORIGINAL BRITISH
PRESSING, EASILY ONE OF THE RAREST BRITISH ALBUMS OF ANY KIND IN EXISTENCE - ORIGINAL 1971 VERTIGO UK
STEREO LP 6360025
ORIGINAL U.K.
PRESSING PLEASE NOTE: THIS ITEM COMES
FROM THE INCREDIBLE, SINGLE-OWNER COLLECTION WE ACQUIRED A WHILE AGO, IN WHICH
ITEMS ORIGINALLY BOUGHT BY THE OWNER FROM THE MID- 60s to THE MID- 70s WERE KEPT IN A
NEAR-LABORATORY, TIME-CAPSULE CONDITIONS AND IN PRACTICALLY CLIMATE- AND
HUMIDITY- CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT.
CONDITIONS OF SOME OF THESE ITEMS RANGE FROM IMPECCABLE TO TRULY UNBELIEVABLE.
SOME OF THESE BEAUTIFUL
MUSEUM PIECES LOOKED SO PERFECT THAT WE HAD TO REINSPECT AND RE-EXAMINE THEM A
FEW TIMES TO MAKE SURE THEY ARE NOT RECENT REISSUES REST ASSURED THEY ARE NOT
-- THESE ARE ALL 40-50 YEAR OLD FIRST PRESSINGS AS YOU MAY NEVER FIND AGAIN
ORIGINAL BLACK AND
WHITE SWIRL VERTIGO LABEL SWIRL ON ONE SIDE, BLACK AND WHITE ON THE OTHER .
THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.K.
PRESSING THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A
COUNTERFEIT PRESSING.
ORIGINAL, THIN CARDBOARD COVER EUROPEAN STYLE
ORIGINAL GATEFOLD COVER, MADE OF THICK CARDBOARD AMERICAN
STYLE
ORIGINAL TEXTURED COARSE, NOT SMOOTH OR GLOSSY
COVER.
CLEAN, WEAR-FREE LABELS
THE MATRIX NUMBERS ARE - A SIDE 1 Y //
1 v 420 1 1 1 .
B SIDE 2 Y // 1 v 420 1 1 1 a small V character is
actually a small triangle for which we don t have an appropriate symbol on our
keyboard
THICK, HEAVY VINYL
PRESSING
CLEAN, WEAR-FREE LABELS PLEASE SEE THE
IMAGE OF THE COVER, LABEL OR BOTH, SHOWN BELOW Note:
this is a REAL image of the ACTUAL item you are bidding on.
This
is NOT a recycled image from our previous auction.
What you see is what you ll
get.
GUARANTEED In the great lottery of pop,
a question that frequently has to be asked is why one group and not another?
Why are groups such as The Moody Blues, King Crimson and even dear old Gentle
Giant venerated, while equally lyrically and musically powerful bands such as
Cressida are left, discarded as the forlorn dummies heads on the beach on the
cover of Asylum? It is a hard question to answer at the best of times and even
harder when you reacquaint yourself with the group s small but perfectly formed
oeuvre.
By 1969, the
decade-and-a-half-old form of rock and roll was clearly here to stay.
The music
had already traveled from the 2:30 jangle about love into song cycles, heavy
riffing and, thanks to the proliferation of psychedelic substances, a new
mysticism.
Summers of love had been and gone and even places like Beckenham in
Kent were having free festivals.
A man had landed on the moon and on record,
the cosmos was the limit.
With their name taken from Greek mythology - the
daughter of soothsayer Calchas, Cressida betrayed her eternal love Troilus, of
whom Shakespeare wrote so eloquently the group are one of those glorious
footnotes that make progressive rock so very interesting.
There may be few today who
can recall the power and the glory of Cressida, but the music they offered
during the brief sliver of a recording career is truly more than ripe for
reappraisal.
The group was formed in the late 60s by keyboard and mellotron
player, Peter Jennings.
Adding Angus Cullen on vocals and guitar, John Heyworth
on guitar, Kevin McCarthy on bass and lain Clark on drums, the group gained a
reputation as a fierce live act, their music full of delicate passages and
interludes of storming complexity.
With Cullen s sweet, lyrical voice and an
obvious nod to The Moody Blues, Cressida became one of the first signings to
Vertigo, the recently-founded progressive rock offshoot of Polydor records.
Vertigo were very much in
the mould of forward-thinking new record labels, well away from the suited and
stuffy mainstream.
With an almost arbitrary A R policy Patrick Campbell
Lyons from the original Nirvana scouted for the label for a while , Vertigo
sought to release music by acts that reflected the Zeitgeist perfectly.
All
with that incredible spiral logo revolving on the label: if the music didn t
blow your mind, then the graphics certainly would.
So, after releases by
Colosseum, Juicy Lucy, Manfred Mann, Rod Stewart and Black Sabbath, Cressida s
eponymous debut album, VO 7 became the seventh release on Vertigo.
Their second album,
Asylum Vertigo 6360 025 released later that year, was a very different
endeavor from the first album.
The album was a denser, darker affair, relying
less on Cullen s vocals.
Ex- Donovan, Ginger Baker s Airforce and John Martyn
reedsman Harold McNair played on the album, adding to its deeper, lilting feel
than its predecessor, which focused more on instrumental passages and elaborate
arrangements.
The subject matter was also far less mystical than their
contemporaries.
Munich or to give
it its full title, Munich 1938 Appeasement Was The Cry, Munich 1970 Mine To
Do Or Die is tremendous fun: with its subtle organ parts and great dual lead
guitar as well, it can be seen as the group at their very zenith.
Again
produced by Byrne, Asylum featured orchestration and musical direction from
Graeme Hall who had recently also worked with Shadows offshoot Marvin, Welch
Farrar.
The album remains the jewel in their crown Changes were afoot at
Vertigo, and by late 1971, the group found themselves without a contract.
Quietly, like so many of the era, they split up.
Drummer lain Clark went on
to play with Uriah Heep for a year and John Culley became a member of another
lamented prog act, Black Widow.
Paul Layton returned to simpler pastures with
the New Seekers and the special guest who had so enlivened the instrumentation
on Asylum, Harold McNair, was to die tragically from cancer in 1971.
Little has
been heard from the others since.
The Vertigo label, ironically, was
reactivated by Universal in 2003 for bands such as The Rapture.
We may never know why the
group failed to ignite as some of their contemporaries but what we do know, is
we have two beautiful, much-loved albums.
And whereas we might be over familiar
with our copies of In Search Of The Lost Chord and In The Court Of The Crimson
King, Cressida and Asylum are full of sweet, yearning and strange, unfamiliar
surprises, yet to be discovered.
EXCERPT FROM AN ONLINE REVIEW BY DARYL EASLEA, ALL MUSIC
GUIDE /ALLMUSIC.COM/
CONDITION:
RECORD IMPORTANT NOTE:
unless otherwise noted, ALL records are graded visually, and NOT play-graded
we grade records under the strong,
diffuse room light or discrete sunlight a WE
GRADE THE VINYL AS STRONG NEAR MINT.
The
original luster is very much intact, and the vinyl shines and sparkles almost
like new.
b
The record comes in a poly-lined Made-in-England Vertigo stock inner
sleeve, which has - apparently with success - shielded the vinyl from the
harmful impact of elements over many years c
The record is pressed on a beautiful, thick, inflexible vinyl, which
was usually used for the first or very early pressings.
Usually, the sound on
such thick vinyl pressings is full-bodied, vivid, and even dramatic.
Do not
expect to obtain such a majestic analog sound from a digital recording d
Of course, this is a full-bodied ANALOG recording, and not
an inferior, digital recording
COVER THE COVER IS NICE --- ABOUT
EXCELLENT OR VERY GOOD VERY CLOSE TO NEAR MINT The following flaws or
imperfections are noted on the cover: -
A minor glue residue barely visible apparently a minor
leftover from the cover s production is
visible in one corner may be possible to dissolve or erase, but we did
not attempt to a similar spotty glue residue noted along the spotted line on
the inside gatefold nothing significant -
Cover shows JUST A HINT of yellowing on both sides,
apparently from aging.
Yellowing is
also noted on the INSIDE gatefold -
Cover has one corner slightly worn / dinged nothing
significant -
Minor shelf wear noted on the seams nothing significant NO OTHER IMPERFECTIONS
ON THE COVER: -
No split seams-
No ring wear-
No cut-out drill holes.-
No cut-out corners-
No saw-marks or indents-
No dirt/dust rubbing stains friction marks caused by rubbing against
other covers -
No wrinkles or creases-
No writing-
No stamps-
No peel-off marks-
No mold or mildew spots-
No stickers or labels-
No water damage-
No razor marks, scratches, pressure marks, lines, streaks, or cuts.-
No warping-
No bar codes-
No RIAA stamps or stickers.
POSTAGE
SHIPPING: We offer THREE postage rates for both Domestic
and International Mail: Media Mail, Priority Mail and Express Mail for
domestic, and First Class, Priority International Mail, and Express
International Mail for international orders.
INTERNATIONAL
CUSTOMERS PLEASE NOTE: WE RECOMMEND that you pay for USPS International
Priority Mail OR International Express mail when making a payment in order to
obtain tracking information, which is NOT available for First Class
International shipments.
INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE rates
vary from country to country.
For SPECIFIC international and domestic postage
rates .
While you can be rest assured that , please note that damage,
loss or theft in transit is always possible, and in the case of some countries even
PROBABLE.
To discuss this potential problem and ensure flawless delivery,
please contact us thru eBay BEFORE placing a bid.
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QUESTIONS ASKED THE BUYER PAYS FOR THE RETURN POSTAGE Still sealed items MUST be
returned sealed in order to be eligible for a refund Some restrictions apply.
Please read our complete refund policy before placing a bid.
for the full text of our policy 2001,2007
MDJ.
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