Sold Date: June 1, 2024
Start Date: May 25, 2024
Final Price: $19.99 (USD)
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LED ZEPPELIN 'PRESENCE' FIRST PRESSING SWAN SONG SS 8416 EMBOSSED GATEFOLD TEXTURED INNER  
LED ZEPPELIN "PRESENCE" LABEL: SWAN SONG SS 8416 RELEASED: MARCH 31, 1976 EDITION: FIRST U.S. PRESSING ~ EMBOSSED ~ GATEFOLD RECORDED/MIXED AT MUSICLAND STUDIOS ~ MUNICH ~ NOV/DEC 1975 LACQUERS CUT AT ATLANTIC STUDIOS ('AT' stamped in matrix) ALBUM SLEEVE DESIGN: HIPGNOSIS & GEORGE HARDIE RECORDING ENGINEER: KEITH HARWOOD PRESSING PLANT: PRESSWELL ('PR' IN MATRIX) MATRIX (SIDE A): ST-SS-763559-E PR ATLANTIC STUDIOS MATRIX (SIDE B): ST-SS-763560-F AT ATLANTIC STUDIOS PR
CONDITION: VINYL: EX  JACKET: VG+  INEER SLEEVE: VG++
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I've been going thru my massive vinyl record collection these past few weeks and pulling out some LPs that I thought that someone else would want for their collection. I've been collecting records for over 45 years and it's time to pass some of them on to the next generation of collectors.
This week on EBay I am offering up this rare original U.S. First Pressing of Led Zeppelin's 'Presence' that I've had in my collection for nearly 50 years.
These early First pressings sound absolutely amazing. When you crank it, the sound stays intact and it doesn’t lose anything.
The sound on this First Pressing has powerful dynamics, lots of depth, warm detail and a full bodied soundstage. Great instrument separation with great vocal presence. Clear crisp guitars, great heavy bass, and thunderous punchy drums.
Most Zeppelin fans also agree that these Presswell pressings are generally considered to be the best-sounding pressings at the time. They have a more clear, vibrant, and punchy dynamic sound.
This album has been repressed, re-released, and remastered over the years, but as a Led Zeppelin fan and Zeppelin vinyl collector, this is the copy you want; an early First Pressing, Presswell pressing, and a nice embossed jacket, gatefold and textured inner sleeve.
It's really the only way to hear this album as the band intended.
If you like Led Zeppelin and collect their records, this is a fantastic original First Pressing record to add to your collection.
~~~~~~ 'Presence' was Led Zeppelin's 7th studio album, released on the band's own Swan Song label, on March 31st 1976. It's considered a great Led Zeppelin album, and it's many people's favorite.
'Presence' is one of the band's greatest albums, but also very much their forgotten album, released after 1975's great double album 'Physical Graffiti' and released at a time when music was changing, leaning more towards Punk and Disco.
Many felt that Led Zeppelin had become 'old fashioned' and that the band was past their peak, but this album proved them wrong.
If you wondered whether they still had the power and authority of rock’s biggest band, tracks like “Achilles Last Stand” and “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” made it clear that they still did.
~~~~~~~~~ This is the original First Pressing with a Gatefold jacket, and the Embossed jacket. The printed, double-sided inner sleeve is slightly textured.
It has the Price Code '0698' on the spine.
'Led Zeppelin Presence' is embossed on the front top right of the sleeve. The Swan Song 'Apollo' logo is embossed on the bottom left rear of sleeve.
On First Pressing early stampers, like this copy, the 'PR' in the runouts is 'upside down' compared to the rest of the runout markings.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By 1975, Zeppelin had become the world’s biggest live act, playing massive sold-out concerts. The constant touring had turned them into Rock Gods and Superstars. They had finally become the greatest Rock band in the World. 
At this point, Led Zeppelin were arguably at the height of their popularity, but significant 'cracks' were starting to show and their massive success was starting to fade.
Zep was going through some difficult issues related to a combination of personal circumstances.
Jimmy Page was deep into the occult and a nasty heroin and drug addiction.
John Bonham was deep into his own alcohol and drug addiction, which would only worsen with the passage of time.
John Paul Jones, the dedicated musician, was upset with his bandmate's behaviors, becoming more alienated from the band, and there were rumors flying around about him quitting.
Robert Plant was still in rough shape, recovering from his serious injuries sustained in a car accident on the Greek island of Rhodes in early August. 
Luckily, although Plant was out of commission for a while, he stayed busy writing new lyrics. Robert was banged up pretty bad and was forced to record most of his vocals for the album in a wheelchair. 
That accident had forced the band cancel their world tour that was due to commence at the end of August.
Led Zeppelin were firmly entrenched in their own world, but the music scene was changing and shifting around them.
Called 'dinosaurs' by critics and the music press, the emergence of punk and disco shook their confidence. Time away from the road would only worsen their grip on the rock scene.
Led Zeppelin were also in dire financial and tax trouble by the end of 1975.
Their concert film 'The Song Remains the Same' was taking forever to finish and wouldn't be ready by the end of 1975.
At the end of 1973, the band had agreed to only tour every two years to appease JPJ, who threatened to quit due to excessive touring and being kept from his family and other interests.
The band's late summer/fall 1975 tour had been cancelled, therefore, there would be no more touring in 1975 or 1976.
The planned 1975 tour would have kept the band out of England for an extended time, giving them major tax advantages. When the tour was suddenly cancelled, they were facing a huge financial tax hit.
The easy way around that Tax hit was to leave the country and record a new album in a foreign country BEFORE the end of the calendar year.
To say that 'Presence' was recorded under hasty, stressful circumstances would be an understatement.
~~~ In the Fall of 1975 Robert Plant and Jimmy Page reunited in Malibu to catch up, reconnect, discuss songwriting and the band's future.
Shortly after, they were back together with John Bonham and John Paul Jones to begin rehearsals of the new material. Then they were off to Musicland Studios in Munich Germany for recording during November & December 1975.
It was time to get down to business. There was no time for delicate acoustic guitar work, odd instruments, fancy multi-layered guitar overdubs or exquisite vocal gymnastics. There was just enough time to lay down some heavy straightforward Rock'n'Roll. Guitar, bass, drums and vocals.
“['Presence'] was a reflection of the height of our emotions of the time,” Page said. “There are no acoustic songs, no keyboards, no mellowness.” 
The process of recording, mixing and mastering 'Presence' was done with staggering speed. The whole project was wrapped up in only 18 days, the fastest Led Zeppelin had ever recorded an album.
"There's a hell of a lot of spontaneity about Presence" Jimmy Page later said.
~~~~~~~ When Led Zeppelin went into the studio at the end of 1975, they were confident that they could do anything they turned their minds to – and do it better than anybody else. 
'Presence' was a stylistic turning point for the band. It saw Led Zeppelin stretching the boundaries of the their sound beyond their heavy metal blues influences. 
For Presence, Jimmy switched over from his Gibson to using his Fender guitars, changing the overall sound and feel of the album.
It's the only Led Zep album that has essentially no keyboards on it at all. Just straight guitar, bass, drums and vocals. “It was a reflection of the height of our emotions of the time,” Page said. “There are no acoustic songs, no keyboards, no mellowness.” 
Presence' is immaculately produced. The soundstage is wide and deep and the instrument separation is crisp and clear. In terms of pure musicianship, it's unparalleled. 
'Presence' is all about Led Zeppelin's amazing rhythm section. The powerhouse combination of Bonham and Jones on this record is stunning. 
The bass & drums are so much in synch that you could swear that they are communicating telepathically. JPJ's bass smacks you in the face and thunders throughout the whole album. Bonzo's drums sound powerful, intense and amazing. 
The only 'downside,' and it's a minimal point, is that Robert Plant's voice is a little rougher than on previous albums. When you consider he had his whole leg in cast, and recorded his vocals sitting in a wheelchair, it's actually quite astonishing how good he is.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The 7 great Led Zeppelin songs on this classic album include:
Achilles Last Stand / For Your Life Royal Orleans / Nobody's Fault But Mine Candy Store Rock / Hots On For Nowhere Tea For One
~~~ The album's opening track, the 10-minute burner "Achilles Last Stand" is a standout track, and one of the best things that Led Zeppelin ever recorded.
Music writer David Stubbs called it "a crashing, galloping epic with John Bonham sounding like he's replaced his drumsticks with tree trunks" 
"For Your Life" is an awesome track; groovy and slinky.
‘Tea for One’ is also fantastic. An overlooked and underrated LZ song featuring some of Jimmy's best lead guitar playing. "Royal Orleans" is soulful hard rock with an awesome hook.
"Candy Store Rock" is a 'back to the roots', straight forward, 50s style rocker with an addictive groove. Plant's voice is treated with a cool, retro sounding, slap-back echo effect. 
"Nobody's Fault But Mine" is essential Zeppelin. Their classic interpretation of a Blind Willie Johnson blues with Jimmy Page's amp turned up to 11. Bonham matches Jimmy's intensity with some of his heaviest drumming ever. This one had my walls literally shaking. A classic Zeppelin tune.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'Presence' introduced a whole new side, and new sound, of Led Zeppelin. It was a very different album to what anybody was expecting at the time, especially being the follow-up to the great 'Physical Graffiti'. 
Critical response was mixed. Many people were initially shocked and stunned by how 'different' it was.
Yes, it was different than what came before it and it took several months for people to absorb it, appreciate it, and realize how great it was. Slowly, as fans and critics really listened to it, they realized that the band still had it, and could still rock better than many other bands out there.
On 'Presence', Led Zeppelin combined all their best previous elements: blues, heavy rock, great guitar riffs, thunderous drumming, mysticism, fantasy, and general other-worldliness into a fantastic new record that redefined their sound and abilities. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'Presence' was released on March 31, 1976, just as the band was achieving great fame and flying higher than ever. The album confirmed that the band could rise above the turmoil in the members’ lives and still make great music.
Despite initially being the slowest-selling album in the band’s catalog, 'Presence' was released Gold, and hit #1 on the Billboard album chart in May 1976, a month after release, giving the band its 5th career chart topper. 
'Presence' is one of Led Zeppelin's most overlooked albums, falling in the shadow of it's predecessor, "Physical Graffiti". It took a little bit of time for the band’s fans to properly digest it.
Even Jimmy Page acknowledged “It's not an easy album for a lot of people to access… It’s not an easy album for a lot of people to listen to.”
But, as Stephen Davis of Rolling Stone wrote; "Led Zeppelins seventh LP confirms this quartet's status as champions of the known universe". 
'Presence' has earned considerable positive reappraisal over the decades and has gone on to become one of the definitive classic albums in the Led Zeppelin cannon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE 'OBJECT' AND THE ALBUM COVER
Like most Led Zeppelin albums, 'Presence' had an iconic and unusual cover.
The band commissioned the renowned London graphic artist team and designer collective, 'Hipgnosis' to create the cover. Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell let their imaginations run wild back then. 
They realized that for the cover, Led Zeppelin need an image or object that reflected their fame and power.
The theme of the cover was based around what the album jacket referred to simply as "The Object." It was intended to represent the "force and presence" of Led Zeppelin. Like Zeppelin, 'The Object' commands attention and scrutiny.
The cover, inner sleeve and back of the album featured various images of regular people, going about their usual activities, with a black obelisk-shaped 'object' in their presence.
~~~ The cover utilized decades-old photos that show middle-class people in the presence of 'The Object.' 
In each of the album's 10 images, you find suburban, middle-class figures at work or play, all of them contemplating the black object. 
The pictures include a Family sitting down to dinner, a bank vault at Fort Knox, a Doctor and baby, a golfing shot, a mountain shot, and other images. 

Storm explains, "I had a series of pictures that I had torn out of 'National Geographic' magazines from the 1950s and just painted, in black paint, that exact shaped object with ordinary people in ordinary situations." 
Each and every one of the photos on the cover just screams 1970s, yet the motifs have a strange, almost timeless, 1950s vibe to them. 
The front cover photo features a family of 4 sitting down to dinner. The background is of an artificial marina that was installed inside London's Earl's Court Arena for the annual Earl's Court Boat Show, held in the winter of 1974–75. 
There's a real mystery to the album art of 'Presence'. 
Who are these people? Why do they seem so happy in the company of 'The Object'? What’s the deal with the teacher holding one hand on the pupil’s head and her other on 'The Object'? 
Very strange and mysterious.
~~~~ As to 'The Object' itself, Storm Thorgerson explained, "The original black object that we made up was made up of cardboard and black velvet. We nicknamed it ‘The Present’. 
According to designer Storm, the black object "...was designed to symbolize the overwhelming presence of Led Zeppelin’s music". It can represent just about any strong presence...[it] stands as being as powerful as one’s imagination cares it to be” 
Storm's further take on it; "it was whatever you wanted it to be, but primarily it could be an energy force...Perhaps it was a cosmic battery, or a spiritual relic, or alien artifact, exposure to which seemed essential - it filled your life, it sustained you, it bathed you in mysterious emanations...It's a commanding presence. It cast no shadows, reflected no light, and absorbed whatever was around it."
Aubrey Powell, the other chief designer, had a simpler explanation; 'The Object' was “obtuse and bizarre, and it suited Led Zeppelin.” 
~~~ Storm explained that he "went to see the band, and I had 'The Present' sitting on a table in the hotel room. Robert and Jimmy walked in, and Jimmy took one look at it and went, “That is it. That represents everything that I feel right now.” 
Jimmy Page recognized that "The "Object" was something you needed to live. It was nurturing. It was food. It was a symbol of energy, of power, which is what Led Zeppelin were all about.
Jimmy Page explained: "There was no working title for the album. The record-jacket designer said 'When I think of the group, I always think of power and force. There's a definite presence there.' That was it, I knew that the album would be titled 'Presence'.
~~~ 'The Object' was a black obelisk that resembled the 'monolith' from '2001: A Space Odyssey.'
Page: "The cover is very tongue-in-cheek, to be quite honest...sort of a joke on [the film] 2001 A Space Odyssey. I think it's quite amusing."
Alva Museum Graphics in New York was contracted to produce a limited edition of 1,000 individually-numbered, 12-inch tall, three-dimensional plastic models of the 'Objects' for Swan Song to use in their promotion of the record. Today, they are coveted Led Zeppelin collectibles.
Despite the controversy around the odd album cover, in 1977, Hipgnosis and George Hardie were nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of 'Best Recording Package' for the iconic cover.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONDITION: I tried to show good hi-resolution photos of the cover, gatefold, labels and vinyl in my pictures.
I purchased this copy back in the mid 70's, nearly 50 years ago, during one of my regular vinyl digs as a teen in the great record shops of Greenwich Village, and have taken great care of it since.
VINYL: The vinyl looks excellent. Clean and bright. Maybe some very light paper lines and possibly a light hairline, but it still looks terrific. No serious scuffs, palpable scratches, or dings. It looks terrific and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it. The Deadwax has the First Pressing marks, with the Atlantic Studios stamp and the 'inverted' PR for Presswell. See the full Matrix above.
I tried to show some close-up pictures of the vinyl in my photos.
I haven't messed with it or cleaned it, other than my trusty 'DiscWasher' brush, in nearly 50 years, so it would likely benefit from a good deep cleaning to help make it even better looking and better sounding than it already is.
LABELS: This is pressed with the 'classic' 70's green and orange Atlantic labels, with the 'Rockefeller' address.
The labels are clean and bright. No marks or damage. The spindle holes are still sharp and clean, suggesting minimal playing and my careful handling over the years.
This has the 'PR' suffix in the catalog number for Presswell.
JACKET: As you can see from my pictures, this still looks very nice for a 50 year old OG copy. This jacket is still in great condition. Some very mild soiling and fingerprints, but not bad. The embossing has some mild 'rubbing' wear. We didn't sleeve albums in poly bags back then, like we do today. 
The gatefold is very clean on the inside.
This thick all-white jacket is notorious for showing ringwear, dirt, scuffs and damage, but this copy is still quite nice.  The edges and corners are sharp, the spine is straight, and the cover art is still bright and sharp. A nice survivor.
INNER SLEEVE: This comes with its original lightly textured inner sleeve with more pictures of 'The Object'. The sleeve is still quite nice, bright and clean with some minor corner 'dents' from the vinyl.
Overall, I'll call the whole record VG++. but the vinyl is very clean and bright. A beautiful copy.
This record has been sleeved and stored properly for decades, and still quite nice for an original early US pressing. This copy is all original, complete, rare and a real gem. I'm sure you'll love it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** NOTE: I'm selling this rare 'Collector' record "AS IS" and "NO RETURN". It's rare and as described and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it as a great Led Zeppelin collectible.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I’m recently retired and downsizing and letting go some gems and rarities from nearly 45 years of vinyl record collecting. Check out the many other fantastic 45s and 33s coming soon to my page!
All records have been carefully evaluated and graded by me. I visually inspect all records under bright light, personally gently clean them with a soft cloth and then, if unsure, play them on a modern high-end turntable to get a true picture of condition. 
Please look at all the high-resolution pictures I added. They are all my own and are of the actual record being sold. The pictures are part of the description and can show small details, label variations, and condition better than I can put into words. 
My grading is fair and honest. I have had over 3,500 happy and satisfied EBay customers over the years, with 100% positive feedback, and I have been buying/selling on EBay for well over 25 years, so please bid with confidence!
I'm a 0ne-man operation, this is a hobby, not my job. I do this for fun. I do this because I love music, love collecting vinyl and want others to share in that same experience. I take my time listening, researching, grading, listing and packaging.  I will NOT sell any record that I personally would not want in my collection.
As you well know, packing and shipping rare records requires special care and attention, therefore, shipping cost within the lower 48 states is $5.00 on this item. If you would like insurance, or anything faster than Media/Economy Mail, please let me know and I can arrange it for you. I’ll work with you to make sure you’re happy!
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All items are packaged with sturdy cardboard mailers and appropriate padding. I take pride in my packaging and shipping and package all my records as if I were sending them to myself. I refuse to use cheap flimsy packaging material when sending my vinyl. I treat them as if they were my own and mail them the same way. 
All orders are processed and shipped within 2 business days of receipt. We package and ship our vinyl records with the greatest care, using proper packaging to ensure that your rare and collectible vinyl records arrive in pristine condition.
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THANK YOU for looking and reading my lengthy description if you got this far.  -- JOHN