Oliver. Standing Stone. Uk Original 1st. Blue Cover. Mega Rare Acid/psych/folk

OLIVER.
STANDING STONE.
UK Original 1st.
Blue cover.
MEGA RARE ACID/PSYCH/FOLK.
UK PRIVATE PRESS ORIGINAL UK ISSUE WITH RAREST BLUE COVER.
OLIV Records OL 1 STEREO 1974.
Stamped matrix at top read B.B.C.
and at the bottom OL1-SIDE-1 OL1-SIDE-2.
On the back cover it states: All audible song and notes conceived and uttered or fingered by OLIVER CHAPLIN with a contribution from some smaller winged creatures.
Recorded mostly on the farm in Wales during early 1974 within shouting distance of the Standing Stone.
Everything was recorded by Oliver directly onto a Teac 4 channel machine using one microphone and/or direct injection guitar - no synthesized sounds.
Subsequently mixed by CHRIS CHAPLIN.
And from comes the following review An ultra-rare and expensive privately pressed album by a certain Oliver Chaplin which is an amalgam of folk, blues, progressivism and psychedelia.
All the material was written by Oliver.
Its highlights include Freezing Cold Like An Iceburg, which sounds very like Captain Beefheart In Vain, which has been likened to Pink Floyd s More Soundtrack Flowers On A Hill, which has a sort of ragtime feel Cat And The Rat, a length piece of guitar-driven progressivism and the folky Primrose and Orbit Your Factory.
His brother Chris Chaplin had been employed as a BBC Sound Engineer and worked on the BBC s Hendrix sessions, which explains why the sound quality on the 50 minute album is so good.
250 copies of the album were issued originally in a plain blue cover with black letters.
When the covers came back from the printers the shade of blue was so deep the liner notes were almost illegible and an olive green sleeve was substituted.
Most copies were given to family and friends but copies were passed to Radio One deejays Brian Matthew and Alan Black.
The latter was keen to feature it on his show but was reluctant to do so when it wasn t available in the shops.
After refusing to sign a contract for the album to be distributed through Virgin Records because he considered the record industry corrupt Chaplin returned to his native Wales.
Condition.
COVER VG The cover has ringwear and edgewear and is slightly creased.
No tears or seam-split though.
RECORD VG There is slight crackle throughout only noticeable in the quieter sections with the odd pop and click .
No major scratches but the occasional short light scratch.
Retains a good sheen and plays well throughout.
A great listen.
No skips/jumps.
I ve not tried cleaning it so a deep clean might well improve the slight crackle.
An extraordinarily rare and wonderful record