Sold Date: April 2, 2021
Start Date: March 2, 2021
Final Price: £160.00 (GBP)
Seller Feedback: 1071
Buyer Feedback: 2

This item is not for sale. Gripsweat is an archive of past sales and auctions, none of the items are available for purchase.

This is from my own collection, I am not a dealer, in the next few months I am selling off part of my collection, some collectable and rarities, no filler! Thanks for looking!

Collectors Excellent vinyl and Sleeve a `Vault Stored` quality copy

Please note that this album is complete and original  October 1970 UK 1st pressing and is priced for its EX condition and rarety


With solid clean sleeve and fully working `Magic Wheel` with solid rivet really nice `vault stored copy`

The A5 B5 "so mote it be" and "do what thou wilst" hand etched matrixes are hand etched on side 1 , released in October 1970, there were only 300,000 sold in UK so a true 1970 press is very hard to find in Nr Mint

 This has the rare vinyl has the correct "celebration day" title on side 1

This we believe is now harder to find in good order than the "Peter Grant" labels (see our other listings) as only a few thousand were off the press run after the error was picked up, before the change to orange and green labels now 50 years on how many survive?
Vault stored collectors copy of this 1970 release press with the first  A5 B5 matrices. compare with 6,000,000 sold in US, also the UK Version has in our view the better quality pressings and cover by EJ Day Is amazingly solid and stand up better than the US version.

This is a rare correct side 1 label version with the correct "celebration day " instead of "celebration " on label, and on the  A5 B5 matrixes hand etched on run out "so mote it be" and "do what thou wilst" a nod by Page to Aliester Crowley...

Page had at the time bought Crowley s old Boleskine house on the shores of Loch Ness Scotland and was researching Crowley work buying artifacts and "wands"

This is rare rare and impossible in this Ex condition, the vinyl is a keeper!

Led zeppelin III written between their "mayhem tours" in USA 69 and in July 1970 "on batteries!" at Bron Y Aur cottage Snowdonia Wales and recorded and "polished" at Olympic studios and Island Studios St Johns Wood  London Peter Grant "borrowed " Island Studios time from his old mate and adversary Micky Most.

The classic tracks are here by the bucketful again , the viking war cry of "immigrant song" , "since I've been loving you" (pages greatest blues) "celebration day", "out on the tiles" all jump off the grooves with incredible clarity on this copy, the audio is awesome on our Rega 3. Playtested also on our "super fussy" light tracking Kenwood deck all ok.

The acoustic tracks,

Friends, Bron Y Aur Stomp, Tangerine, That's the way and Gallows Pole all show how impressed Page and Plant had become with the current West Coast fashion led by Crosby Stills and Nash, Young, and the critics in UK panned them for this (time has shown this as misguided) probably more to do with sulking journalists wanting invites to the Starship and the US excess tours!

The "Bron Y Aur" and acoustic segments came to form as lasting part of the live stage sets and anyone who caught the 75 us and uk Earls Court Shows will tell you how well they were received by the rock audience.

Page got what he again wanted here and the mixing done at various locations dictated by tour schedule are a credit to the producer, despite delays by mastering artwork and "moving wheel" wrangles with pressing plants, but in the end an outstanding cover was produced by EJ Day London. Atlantic the album was released in UK end October 70 This is one of those early early copies ! A5 B5 the matrixes!

This recording was well received in US where Zeppelin were touring regular but in UK it got a cooler reception from the UK critics (at the time)

Atlantic by this time had given artistic freedom following the commercial success of Zep 2 but when Atlantic questioned the volume of acoustic numbers?
to this day many regard this as one of the greatest rock/folk mix albums of all time... judged for yourself but for us the audio quality of these red plum 1st presses are vastly superior to the recent "deluxe super deluxe releases!"

Atlantic did a great job in 1970 with these, word is Peter Grant got the pressing plants to clean the master discs more regular (using a process normally reserved for classical recordings) after the 2nd album'

rock and pop were still considered "passing phases" so it was not felt necessary to clean as often due to the volume they were recorded at with few quieter passages
.
Once again Grant broke the mold when he visited the uk pressing plant and "insisted" who would refuse him?

The job was done this way for the early runs in the first year or so... after...

Only the first presses came out with "Peter Grant" (see our other listings) Peter Grant Credits on the label (this one is the `Celebration Day ` only on a few months of these early presses before red green labels so easy to spot once you know, see photos,
all photos are of actual item for sale, what you see is what you get here, see our 100% feedback!

Grab yourself a piece of rock history!

These are getting harder to find in anything like this condition.

The Record

A5 B5 

Excellent

Awesome Ex vinyl some light surface lines only under light . audio has light static only, its Ex with some minor scuffs and scrapes from sleeve removal over the years, bear in mind this is a 50 year old vinyl record! Nice fat pre oil crisis 70s vinyl wow !

Plays fantastic with bright crisp sound may benefit from a professional clean (we don't do this as it's an individual thing) some background static is noticeable in the quieter passages but nothing to disrupt playing no sticks or jumps on our Rega 3.

The labels are free of writing doodles or stickers and retain great bold colours with no fade we can notice under light.
Great "Ex " vinyl a keeper .


The sleeve

Excellent

Despite having done it's job over the years, the sleeve has very   little ring wear (see photos) and its not yellowed a lot like some of these have.
Nice and White with great laminate no creasing or ring wear to speak of. a keeper for sure. the sleeve is a 50 years old and has seen some use.
Its fair to say that these Celebration Day early red plum  copies are getting collectable .... has  a new generic pvc lined sleeve.

The sleeve is fully working "magic wheel" with no stickers, tape, writing or doodles, names etc.  solid rivet on wheel has a Atlantic sticker inside sleeve
 
There are no seam splits , spine is in good shape, see photos .... colours are good the thick card has held up well, no serious damage,  expected wear over the 50 years.

There is almost zero soiling from removal handling over the years around the outer edges of the sleeve (see photos in listing) nothing serious so "Ex"

 song titles and credits are on the right of the inner sleeve as a first press should be.


The fully functioning "Magic Wheel" is truly a collectors item!

Atlantic Deluxe blue stamp on lower right of cover and song titles on right inner sleeve as on first presses! As seen here!

This is a keeper for someone looking for a wholly original press of this great album.
Nr mint copies are almost impossible now sometimes over £250+
This is a great affordable upgrade!

See photos.....

See my other Zeppelin albums for sale

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regret we dont post to any country that does not work with tracked post on pay pal/ebays buyer/seller protection system.