Item Description
FIREBALL Ritchie Blackmore / Ian Gillan / Roger Glover / Jon Lord / Ian Paice The golden light about you, show, me where you re from, The magic in your eye bewitches all you gaze upon.
You stand up on your hill and behop all around you, They wonder where you re from, oh, yeah, They wonder where I found you, Oh, my love it s a long way, Where you re from it s a long way, I tried to understand you, I tried to love you right, The way you smile and touch me, always sets my heart alight, Your lips are like a fire burning through my soul, And people ask me where you re from, They really wanna know, Oh, my soul it s a long way, Where you re from it s a long way.
Magic woman wrecking up my soul, Things you tell me have never been told, Magic woman I don t know, Electric before me, I love you so, I love you so.
You re racing like a fireball dancing like a ghost, You re Gemini and I don t know which one I like the most, My head is getting broken and my mind is getting bust, But now I m coming with you, down the road of golden dust, Oh, my love it s a long way, Where you re from it s a long way.
DEEP PURPLE: Fireball LP.
UK VERY FIRST PRESSING, RELEASED SEPTEMBER, 1971.
Gramophone Co.
Ltd.
IS ON THE LABEL RIM AT 10 O CLOCK, COMPLETE WITH THE RARE VERY FIRST ISSUE ONLY, DOUBLE SIDE TEXTURED PURPLE WHITE LYRIC INSERT....IN AMAZING MINT CONDITION NOT FORGETTING THE FIRST EDITION GATEFOLD COVER, UNIQUELY TEXTURED INSIDE AND OUTSIDE, THEN A LITTLE MATTER OF AN UNPLAYED, MINT VERY FIRST PRESSING RECORD GREEN HARVEST LABEL: SHVL 793.
.
MAITRIX: SHVL 793 A - 2U / SHVL 793 B - 3U In my long term, genuine experience with Fireball I have never seen a lower maitrix than the above, an - 2U ending on Side 1 was a common enough starting point for EMI pressed records in the early 1970 s and beyond.
That side is cannot be challenged and unless I am physically shown anything lower than - 3U with every one of the many, many exclusive features unique to the UK very first pressings.
Even the printing colour tones are far deeper and more vivid than the immediately following gatefold covers, I will detail everything as I get to them.
I am so convinced - 2U / - 3U was indeed the very first pressing, I will state that as a fact, of course re-issues might have a lower Side 2, but I have never seen one either UNIQUE TO FIRST PRESSINGS, SIDE 1 ONLY, HAS A VERY EARLY MASTERING LOGO THAT WOULD EVOLVE INTO FULL MESSAGES TO THE ARTISTS.
THEY WERE BECOMING KEEN TO OF HAVE GEORGE PECKHAM S SUBLIME VINYL MASTERING, SLIGHTLY LATER IN 1971, THE NEXT CONVERTS WOULD INCLUDE TWO OF THE UK S SOUND PERFECTIONISTS, JOHN LENNON AND JIMMY PAGE FOR Imagine Led Zeppelin llll ALBUMS.
George hand scribed this early logo to the right side of where he machine stamped the above maitrix, conveniently for my photo of that side, then compiled into a picture with Side 2 s maitrix.
PEK The staggering sound George mastered for the first pressings of Fireball, began an attachment with Deep Purple records and the simple PEK logo would grow and prosper into very amusing variants, messages to artists would occupy over half of the run-out grooves, George Harrison s 1976 Extra Texture immediately comes to mind when George left Apple to form Dark Horse.
With my own ever growing details and info expanding on these pressing details, I must concentrate on them here and move on.
EMI STAMPING CODES: PO 1 / OT 2 A huge selling album and this very first presing has a first and second mother, with the previous comment.....
EMI s BOXED LOGO AT 9 O CLOCK ON Harvest LABELS, HAD BEEN DISCONTINUED JUST BEFORE Fireball WAS PRESSED, LITERALLY A MATTER OF DAYS.
THE LABEL RIMS HAVE Gramophone Co.
Ltd.
AND NOT EM Records Ltd.
TEXT FOUND ON THE COPIES PRESSED BETWEEN SEPTEMBER, 1971 AND MARCH, 1973.
YOU CAN ALSO SEE HOW ANOTHER OTHER LABEL MAJOR TEXT FOR SEPTEMBER,1971 AND MARCH, 1973 LATER PRESSINGS.
Made In Gt.
Britain WAS ALSO STILL IN THE ORIGINAL 1960 s POSITION, LOCATED AT 12 O CLOCK AND PRINTED ABOVE THE THIN GREEN CIRCULAR BORDER SEPARATING THE CREDITS FROM THE THE OUTER RIM TEXT.
AFTER MARCH, 1973, Made In Gt.
Britain WAS MOVED FROM 6 O CLOCK TO APPROXIMATELY 4 O CLOCK, BUT NOW TO THE END OF THE OUTER RIM TEXT.
VERY FIRST ISSUE ONLY, DOUBLE SIDE Fireball LYRIC INSERT, MEASURING 11 x 11 , PRINTED IN PURPLE ON A WHITE BACKGROUND.
A TOP QUALITY INSERT, WITH THICK TEXTURED PAPER, SO THICK IT IS ALMOST LIKE CARDBOARD, EXPENSIVE TO MANUFACTURE AND RESTRICTED TO JUST SOME OF THE VERY FIRST EDITIONS.
Only mistakenly assumed to be lost, but the very first ever Deep Purple insert in a album, was not inside all of the first issue gatefold covers, so a Mint, unused insert is a very rare item indeed.
Nothing could prevent some degree of wear to the textured gatefold cover, not even an unpayed record was immune from that, but for the sheer age, I was amazed to see the white background was still the precise pure white of September, 1971.
Not even a hint of ageing, handling or use, positively no stains, creases or greasy fingerprints etc.
Please see my pictures where both sides are fully shown, I used a black background for the contrast, but I could have taken the pictures on the light neutral background, as the rest of the pictures without needing the contrast.
The front compartment was glued shut so the insert had be stored against the record in the back, with that in mind, any faint impression is too light to take seriously aftert 44 years unremoved or handled.
THE LYRIC INSERT IS IN UNUSED, MINT CONDITION.
ORIGINAL 1971, Harvest PROMO INNER SLEEVE POLY-LINED WITH LP COVER PICTURES, FIRST INTRODUCED IN 1969 WHEN Harvest WAS FOUNDED.
THE PICTURED ALBUMS WITH CATALOGUE NUMBER WERE NEVER CHANGED AND THE SAME DESIGN WAS IN USE UNTIL 1973.
Unused without any tears or splits, just some ageing of it s 44 years of age and that has to include the glue seepage from the seams and fixing the polythene lining, fully contributing to the ageing appearance of the very absorbent textured paper.
Only a few minor record impression related creases that formed naturally, regardless of not being used.
THE UNUSED INNER SLEEVE IS IN EXCELLENT / NEAR MINT.
Garrod Lofthouse PRINTED GATEFOLD COVER, WITH THICK TEXTURING OUTSIDE AND AS MENTIONED, ALSO ON THE INSIDE.
THE PRINTING HAD REALLY VIVID AND DEEP COLOUR TONES, THE IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING COVERS HAD PALER COLOUR TONES AND THE INSIDE PANELS POSITIVELY HAD A FLAT, SMOOTH TOPSURFACE.
INSIDE THE GATEFOLD THE DATE CODE FOR THE FIRST PRESSING COVER S PRINTING: 7109 September, 1971.
I can only give an honest and personal opinion about the materials and design of covers like this.
I wish the above never happened to any cover, after personally experiencing how poorly Fireball , Roy Harper s Stormcock and Pink Floyd s Meddle, those 1971 gatefold covers had exactly the same problems.
After the deluxe lamination of In Rock, it was a step backwards to introduce a raised or embossed, textured matt surface, especially when Fireball and Stormcock had such a dark background.
The raised matt areas instantly rubbed from being assembled, packaged, distributed to record shops, who now had to handle and stack them....before we bought them brand new.
This hardly has any of that rubbing, minimalised by never being used to access and replace the record.
The design itself weakened the overall structure and they developed a flimsy appearance, EMI s 1971 records were massively thick and heavyweight, the mistake was at least realised and the design was quietly dispensed, just to add to the wear problems, first edition covers had the same textured embossed surface inside.
The inside artwork replicated a black white version of the outside artwork, supplemented by the five individual Deep Purple musician pictures in live action, this inside has survived exceptionally well.
Why give a cover such a delicate textured top surface without stiff, strong, heavy duty cardboard? It does has the unavoidable record impression and related paper edge lines, just some minor rubbing to the extremities, but as minimal as it possibly gets after 47 years.To justify that comment, the embossed spine is outstanding and virtually perfect with the red lettering is unfaded and looking superb.
Completely clear of rubbing and ageing, some of those edge lines are around the central area of the edges adjoining the spine as usual, plus a few gentle ripples, but that would apply to any spine from any decade.
A solid and strong spine means the cover itself has not turned into a frail weak state, but still sturdy and way, way, way above the average condition, which this certainly is.
The edges.
corners etc.
have that as minimal rubbing as it gets as well as the two outside panels, the colours of the outside artwork are still as first seen in September, 1971.
Taking pictures with dark background is never ideal for details, but not the artwork colours, they can be seen in the pictures and hopefully how sturdy the overal condition actually is, you need look further than the incredible Mint condition of the lyric insert for how the design and materials are 100 responsible for any negative cmments, plus of course the natural standing in storage for all those years.
Mint does not exist for this first edition Fireball gatefold cover and nothing can alter the unused status I now have grade, when the whole principal of grading any item, hinges on use , which this did not have THE COVER IS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION.
THE IMMACULATE, AS NEW LABELS DO NOT HAVE ANY SPINDLE ALIGNMENTS, THE RECORD IS ALSO LITERALLY AS NEW.
WITH THAT JUST PRESSED BEAUTIFUL GLOSSY SHINE AND WITHOUT ANY SCRATCHES OR MARKS.
I ALWAYS FEEL OBIGED TO A ADD A REMINDER ALL RECORDS WERE HANDLED AT THE PRESSING PLANTS AND RECORD SHOPS, ANY FEATHER LIGHT, NEAR INVISIBLE TRACES ARE CERTAINLY NOT VISUALLY OBVIOUS.
THE HEAVYWEIGHT VERY FIRST PRESSED RECORD IS IN UNPLAYED, MINT CONDITION.
SIDE 1 Fireball No No No Demon s Eye Anyone s Daughter SIDE 2 The Mule Fools No One Came DEEP PURPLE Mark 2 Ian Gillan - lead vocals Ritchie Blackmore - lead guitar Jon Lord - keyboards Hammond organ Roger Glover - bass Ian Paice - drums All Songs Written By Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice.
Recorded September, 1970 - June, 1971 At De Lane Lea Studios, Olympic Studios, The Hermitage.
Engineered BY Martin Birch, Lou Austin Alan O Duffy Mastered By George Peckham Produced By Deep Purple January, 2017 was the first time I ever sold a first pressing of Fireball in 16 years on ebay, previously I have listed just about every UK Deep Purple album, Fireball had eluded me due to the poor state of the covers, the heavily / worn out scratched records of the Fireball first pressings.
So I am really delighted to locate another true Mint unplayed record, had this been a low selling, non charting album, that would be expected, but the UK September, 1971 first issues hit No.1 and proceeded to reside in the charts for 25 weeks.
Taking the constant immediately following originals being pressed in great numbers up to the March of 1972.
Even after that, the true greatness of Fireball and an ultimate heavy rock masterpiece beyond compare, EMI continued pressing the album, yet I could not find any of that vast volume for 16 years Enough of pressing details, I had to say that to explain I decided not to play the record myself, I know the sonic properties George Peckham embedded into the deep grooves of EMI s finest vinyl, the sound will blow your socks off.
To my fellow vinyl lovers of the very heavy or progressive persuasion, living abroad requiring translation, that last English expression might not make sense when translated, it refers to the staggering impact of Deep Purple at their most potent....well, at least equally as potent as the Deep Purple In Rock album.
How could they possibly follow a masterpiece of heavy rock album like In Rock ? Deep Purple / Mark II were more than capable of that and even surpass In Rock, the unchanged line-up set about that in the Autumn of the same 1970 In Rock introduced a new brand of staggering red hot rock.
They were in no hurry and Fireball was an appropriate title, they were on fire and the new songs were nothing less than as inspired as the band s performances.
I m not sure if everyone is aware that the UK version was altered for Japan, America and Canada, Demon s Eye was substituted for Strange Kind of Woman, in Britain it was released as a successful single and it reached No.8.
Right from the mechanical sounds that began the album, Deep Purple exploded with real venom on the title track, Fireball flattened the listener with a hammer like blow, the trademark Jon Lord organ was in genius mode and the sheer power of the mastering set the audio standards EMI handled with ease.
It was not all serious and heavy, a wonderful Ian Gillan performance of Anyone s Daughter was very funny, meanwhile Ritchie Blackmore produced searing blues guitar to give the track an even more earthy feel and sound, Cream did the same during their most intensive psychedelic music.
Not playing the record is very restrictive, one of my most loved tracks is the extra length Fools, here the band stretched their individual and collective talent to such an extent, you felt Deep Purple were heading into progressive music Elements of that was there on the fantastic No One Came, did the band ever play better than this? If Mark 2 was going to push their boundaries to the limit, the resulting ending of the album left you breathless with only one thing to do, turn the record over and be blown away all over again Why the records are in such a terrible state today, 1971 was rather a long time ago now and if you also loved through that really exciting period in the 1970 s, Deep Purple were just inspired out of their skins in 1970 and 1971.
The perfect way to finish a description I waited 16 years to write....
the saying, less is more comes to mind.
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