Surfin' Safari/ 409

Now here's a collectable for the serious Beach Boys fan! The 45 itself is a strong EX, but the real excitement is the picture sleeve, which has to be the best one the group ever released, here represented in Near Mint form. This was the group's second chart single, and the first to crack the top 40. Oddly, the much-loved B side, "409", was never available from Collectables when they had a pretty decent current inventory of Beach Boys reissues. (That inventory is nearly depleted now, in 2016.) Note: The picture sleeve has a small, light "CT" inked on the A side (see scan), but the B side is clean; the colors are bright and vivid, and the paper has minimal wrinkling and no ringwear, grading Near Mint overall. The 45 has Near Mint labels, but with a "CT" inked on the A side. The vinyl is lightly scuffed, grading a strong EX, and the A side audio matches that grade. (My wife couldn't hear the very slight distortion, a sign of somewhat worn vinyl, and I believe it's mostly from one channel.) The audio on "409" is better — nearly Mint!