Jethro Tull a Little Off Center

When records were mass produced in the '70's, quality control seemed to be a little lax.  I remember being in the habit of opening new records before driving home from the store to make sure there were no visual abnormalities with them.   I remember when I bought The Rolling Stones 'Some Girls' on day of release.  After searching for one that was 'good on the side'  (possibly a post on that topic later), I purchased one and opened it in the car before driving home.  Alas, it had a side 1 label on both sides.   Returned it.  Opened the next one in the store.  Same thing.  Got another.  Opened it in the store.  The glue holding the inner sleeve together was applied too liberally and seeped onto the record itself.  Back that one went.  Fourth time was the charm.  Got it home to discover a convex warp.  That was OK,  My turntable could handle it.

Below I present a copy of Jethro Tull's 'Thick as a Brick.'   I've had the original since I was in Junior High.  Needless to say, it's seen better days.  Found this one in the used bin.

As you can see, the label is a bit off center.  Congratulations, you have ten times more observational skills than the people working quality control at Warner Brothers.   You don't need a precision tool or a microscope to know something's wrong with this one.  Where the hell was Biggles?

Why would a fuss budget record guy like me buy such a thing from the used bin?  Well the copy I had from 1972 was a bit wornout.   Upon inspection of the grooves, this one looked pretty clean and was only 99 cents.   Whomever got this one first time around was too lazy to take it back and too scared to actually play it.  What I ended up with was a near mint condition record that I can't stand to watch play and I've got to be on guard at the end to make sure I get to the tonearm before the tonearm gets to the label.  Works for me.  This isn't one I play once a week or anything.