Holiday Special for the vinyl record collector on your list!

I’m listing some of my rare records and duplicates for the holiday season.

Packaged carefully and shipped within 1 business day from receiving your payment.

Please review my feedback as I pride myself in customer satisfaction.

 

Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy – Classic Records QUIEX SV-P – Sealed 

Sleeve Condition VG+

Media Condition Mint

Note: This record is sealed but has a corner bump in the upper right corner along with split at the top of the media. The outer plastic wrapping also has openings the top and right side of the media. I give it a sleeve condition of VG+. It is still sealed and never opened or played. DO NOT BID on this rare record, only to open it and then claim that it was damaged in shipping! Please read and review my eBay ratings as I pride myself in customer satisfaction. Please review all photos before placing any bids. This sealed record is from my own collection. Since it is sealed, it is sold as-is. I can therefore not be responsible for any factory errors, and I don’t accept returns. Thank you!

 

The Holy Grail!!!!

Label:    Classic Records – SD 7255

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Stereo, 200 gram

Country: US

Released: 2007

Genre:  Rock

Style: Classic Rock

Gatefold sleeve, lyric inner sleeve and obi.

Recorded at Electric Lady Studios (New York) and Olympic (London)

200 Gram Classic Records QUIEX SV-P Hand Made Super Vinyl Profile

Manufactured and distributed under exclusive license by Classic Records, Inc.

Prepare — no matter how many times you may have listened to their music, you've never heard Led Zeppelin like this before.

Houses Of The Holy features legendary tracks such as "The Song Remains The Same" and "No Quarter" while also showcasing the continuing evolution of the band's signature sound with the reggae-tinged "D'yer Mak'er" and the funk jam "The Crunge" The album has been certified diamond by the RIAA for sales of more than 11 million copies.

Houses of the Holy has become one of the most lauded and biggest selling albums in rock history. Despite its accessibility and commercial sound, it is also an ambitious work that demonstrates that the band had matured. On this, their fifth outing, each member takes a turn shining in the musical spotlight, supported perfectly by the musicianship of fellow bandmates. Each song is, in itself, an eclectic musical adventure: folk, Middle Eastern, blues, and even a hint of R&B/soul are all strong influences on this album. All in all, it is an exceptional collection. Considered by most led Zeppelin fans and audiophile critics as being the definite version of the phenomenal LZ title on vinyl, this Classic Records reissue was cut from the original analog master tapes giving new insight into the nuances in the music that were obscured on even original pressings.

In 2003, Classic Records launched its now famous Signature Blue Note Mono reissue series. As part of that series Classic developed an "authentic" 200 gram LP profile that replicated that of an original Blue Note record from the 1950's. Comparing a test pressing on the new profile versus the same title on the normal 180 gram pressing it was discovered that the 200 gram version sounded significantly better. The 200 gram pressing sounded louder, with more definition and solidity of notes across all frequencies and there was more detail - particularly low level detail like room or hall sounds, pages being turned, musicians whispering and automobile sounds outside the studio all became easier to identify. At first it was speculated inside Classic Records that the extra weight resulted in the better performance as no one could come up with a better answer given that the stampers were the same as well as the vinyl pellets used on both 180g and 200g pressings.

One day, Michael Hobson, the founder of Classic Records was discussing this unexplainable sonic discovery with the Legendary Mastering Engineer and Sheffield Records founder, Doug Sax when Doug, without hesitation stated "Ah Michael you've discovered the difference in a flat versus conventional profile". Puzzled, Hobson asked for an explanation which Sax described as going all the way back to 1950's mono pressings and what happened when stereo records came out in the early 1960's. Sax explained that in the 1950's when mono records had no vertical modulation (only lateral), pressing PolyVinylChloride PVC (plastic) records were more easily pressed on "Flat Profile" dies fitted to the pressing machines since the grooves on the mono stampers were all the same height (no vertical modulation). The molten vinyl was able to flow evenly across the stampers and fill properly during the molding (pressing) of the record. The problems started when stereo record cutting came into vogue producing stampers that had variable height grooves sticking up across the diameter of each stamper. Using the older mono pressing dies resulted in tremendous problems getting the areas between grooves of different heights to fill properly - a groove that is in front of another taller one often got passed over by the flowing molten vinyl resulting in "non-fill" which was audible and thus a "defective" record. Pressing plants don't like to press defective records and are always looking for high pressing yields or as few rejects as possible.

To solve the problem, the engineers developed a new pressing die profile which tapers from the center of the die, flattens in the middle of the diameter and then tapers again toward the outside of the die. The new profile was "concave" rather than flat. When you put a flat stampers onto the concave dies the stampers distort and are no longer flat - the grooves are no longer perpendicular across the stamper and by association across a finished vinyl pressing. This new die profile created "back pressure" on the flowing vinyl and solved the "non-fill" problem with stereo pressings and resulted in higher yields which was great for pressing plants and good for record companies who wanted good prices on pressings. The problem was and still is that the new profile records don't sound as good as they could because they are not flat across their profile. Using a micrometer across the diameter of a 1950's mono records reveals that the thickness is virtually the same across the record's diameter from center label to outer edge but not so for a newer stereo profile pressing which is convex across its diameter resulting from the concave profile dies / distorted stampers. This is the dirty little secret that Classic had rediscovered was known to old school experts like Doug Sax who founded Sheffield Labs in the 1970's.

After the discovery, Classic Records never looked back and all of its releases and re-pressings after 2003 were on the new 200 gram Flat Profile dies that were specially made for Classic. Some years later Classic discovered that the very same profile was used by JVC in Japan to produce the legendary UHQR pressings for Mobile Fidelity which are well known to sound better than the conventional Mobile Fidelity pressings of the same titles - it all makes sense now.

The long and the short of this is that Classic 200g Super Vinyl Profile (Flat Profile) pressings are as good as it gets for proper playback without groove distortion from non-flat pressings - Period.

 

Tracklist

              1. The Song Remains The Same

              2. The Rain Song

              3. Over The Hills And Far Away

              4. The Crunge

              5. Dancing Days

              6. D’yer Mak’er

              7. No Quarter

              8. The Ocean