Early Faint "Phantom" Turntable/Vinyl Signal???

This is very common and very normal.  Fuhgeddaboudit.

Yah, I've heard it before, but never knew what it was.  Last time I had a decent vinyl set up was in the early 2000s (TNT/Grasshopper/Audible Illusions) and remember it, but the rich vibrant knowledge base which is the internet was nascent at that time and it never occurred to me to look into the phenomenon.  If it's normal, I'm cool with that.  But what causes it?

I think it’s tape bleed. ??

Print-through from the original tape to the next layer and/or signal modulation from neighboring grooves. It’s also known as pre and post echo.

Its called pre-echo. Record grooves are originally cut into a very soft special wax. This wax is so soft it deforms easily. Sometimes if the grooves are not spaced widely enough apart the squiggles from the music being cut deforms the wax enough to create a very weak copy of itself in the preceding groove. If you watch a record when you hear the pre-echo you will notice when it comes around one full turn that's when you hear the original sound. 

Once you know what it is you will notice it happens quite a lot. Sometimes like Harry Belafonte at Carnegie Hall its almost like he sings "Sylvie" twice each time. Part of the charm of vinyl.