Here we are going to look at 2 Billie Holiday records – a promo of Lady In Satin, and a nice copy of Songs for Distingue Lovers. I will describe each, and then share images and a video clip that combines them at the end of this post.
We’ll start with the Lady In Satin promo. This is actually one of 2 promos I have right now, but this is the best one for sure. The cover is clean and sharp on both front and back – no writing, no damages, and not even much wear to speak of. There is a bit of minor rubbing and normal shelf wear to it, but it is completely in line with the age of the record. The inner was replaced (I think) by a nice poly one, which has been good to the record over time – there are no scuffs to report.
The labels (white ones) are very clean and they don’t show any indication of being played. They are 6 eye Columbia, red text. I enjoyed play testing this one, even though I find the arrangements a little thick for my tastes. The orchestra sounds full and beautiful, Billie is captivating, and the wax is about immaculate. I did hear a random pop here and there, but with a simple, single wipe down it played about perfectly, to me. It is a Top Copy, all around – it would definitely be hard to find a better copy of this record. And I know – I have been lucky enough to have had 3 of them so far. 🙂
Here we will be looking at another great record, Songs for Distingue Lovers.
The cover on this one shows a bit of wear and age – it is not excessive, or what I would call damaged, but it is noted as follows – there is shelf wear and rubbing to both front and back, more to front than the back. Not excessive wear, but a few spots where there is some scuffing/whitening to be seen. I did see, upon a very very close inspection, that there is actually clear tape on the spine and top and bottom edges. It is very subtle, and was obviously done a long long time ago. I may have missed it before, because it is very very hard to see – but it is there.
Inner here is also a plastic one, so it helps to protect the record a little better than paper ones do sometimes…it is the case here. Labels are pristine – no spindle marks on them, indicating it wasn’t spun much, if at all.
The wax here is clean on both sides, free from scuffing or needle marks. When I viewed the wax under a super high intensity, bright light, I saw some random storage-related marks on it…a little on each side. I cleaned the side I spun in the play test – you can hear that it is a very clean, clear playback, but there are some occasional pops/clicks – they do not repeat on more than one revolution that I heard, anywhere on the record. It did not, in any way detract from the playback enjoyment for me – it sounded excellent. VG+ for sure. I played the whole record, though I clipped only a part of it in the video…I chose the roughest spot I could find in the vinyl. The random pops do nothing to detract how great this one sounds…a really really nice record.
