Here, we are taking a look at my for-sale copy of Helen Merrill’s rare and wonderful self-titled debut from 1955 on Emarcy.
The main thing to see and understand with this one, apart from kind of normal aging, are two issues: the bottom edge is split, just under halfway from the mouth; and, there is a storage-related blemish/mark on side two that covers almost 2 songs (the last two are most affected). Beyond those issues, this plays out very very well – I cleaned it with a Spin-Clean, and it sounded really awesome.
The cover, as mentioned, has the unfortunate bottom edge split. The top edge, mouth, and the spine are old and a bit worn, but not splitting the same way. The front picture is still in solid shape and the laminate on the front retains a pretty clean, consistent shine – so the wear is not articulating in specific ring wear that I saw…but there is surely some light wear and age to the front.
The back, however, is showing considerably more age. It is dirty and yellowing, and there are some noted crinkly bits…look in the image below, toward the upper-level row of images. You should be able to clearly see that although there are these age issues, you can still clearly read all the LP’s liner notes.
The inner seems to be original, but I put the LP in a new, poly-lined paper sleeve to treat it better. I left the original inner in the record for you. The labels are clean, and the spindle holes only show moderate playing ever happened, to me.
As for the wax, this has a really, really LOVELY playback. 
I acknowledge everyone has different standards, but this one plays well, and I will do all I can to help you hear it.
I didn’t see any major marks on side one, though I did see a couple very small ones. When I spun it, I did hear some occasional pops/crackle, but I did not hear anything persistent or distracting in any way. I would rate it very solidly as VG+, and some people might even grade it higher. I have a pretty sensitive needle, too, so I believe I would accurately hear anything in there. Side two, I was more concerned because there is the visual issue I noted above. However, I did not really hear it in playback – so much so, that I decided to make a clip of it (see it below).
I intentionally clipped the end of song 2 into the final one, because as you can see in the zoomed image, this is the problem area for sure. But if you listen to the clip, while there may be occasional pops from this issue it is NOT a constant rubbing or clicking – it remains, as with the rest of the record, more random than a steady, which is why I consider it a VG+ playback. Some might disagree with me, but I clipped it to let you judge for yourself.
I could not upload the video clip to YouTube as I normally do, because it infringed on Copyright issues, so it is a .MOV file here. But if you want to hear more of this record to buy it from me, I am happy to oblige – I can’t get much better quality than the clip shows below, but I can do more of the record to show you how clean and nice the playback is. If you want to know more, set up a deal or I can help you better understand its condition in any way, email marty@hoxboxrecords.com.
Click any image to zoom it, and use the browser to get back here.
