Led Zepplin Physical Graffiti 1st Pressing Vinyl

	£		30
	$		40

Artist or Band: LED ZEPPELIN

Album Title: Physical Graffiti.

Producer: Jimmy Page.

Executive Producer: Peter Grant.

TRACK LIST:

Side 1: Custard Pie; The Rover; In My Time of Dying.

Side 2: Houses of the Holy; Trampled Under Foot; Kashmir.

Side 3: In the Light; Bron-yr-Aur; Down By the Seaside; Ten Years Gone.

Side 4: Night Flight; The Wanton Song; Boogie with Stu; Black Country Woman; Sick Again.

Label/Format: Swan Song – Beautiful designed original examples and please note the ‘Made in UK’ text. This copy a FULL UK pressing, many versions sold in the UK were foreign pressings. These labels have matt, smooth surfaces with the correct usual ring ridges – the innermost circle around the hole is lightly textured. There are no WB logos.

Label Conditions: All four are immaculate, and I do mean IMMACULATE. Ultra fresh, clean and highly attractive with deep, rich colour.

Cat Number: SSK 89400.

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Country of Manufacture: England: that is every part. So many of these were pressed in Germany and the early FULL English pressings are not as common as you might think, especially ones played only once or twice.

Rarity & Info: The title itself is hardly scarce but very early pressed UK copies are a little harder to find especially with two records barely even run-in in vinyl terms, that offer nigh-on perfect sound. A high percentage of this landmark classic are found pressed and made in Germany for the UK market. The cover is always immensely difficult to find in anything like top conditions, it being weakened by 41 die-cut windows, many are seen badly damaged with tatty, feathered and burr window edges – even torn. The edges always seem to fair worst, most are seen scuffed and badly rubbed, bashed or badly out-of-shape. Indeed this is the first one I have seen for years with the bottom storage edge practically as made. Again, many show residues of poor cutting, burring or thickened (often split or torn). I have inspected every window up close, and no damage or miss-cutting is evident on any. All indeed are crisp and ultra sharp and neat. PLEASE use the Ebay magnifier and check for yourself. All the inners are practically as new with NO splits or repairs. And even the single-fold white ‘Window’ sheet is equally impressive, clean and fresh with barely any hint of discolouration – that again never easy. As for the records: well both are superb. They have the earliest matrixes and are SUPERBLY pressed for absolute top sound quality.

Original Year of Release: February 1975

Matrix Nos: SSK 89400 A1 / SSK 89400 B4 / SSK 89400 C1 / SSK 89400 D1 [all punched, NOT scripted]

Musicians: Jimmy Page – electric, acoustic, lap steel, and slide guitar, mandolin; Robert Plant – lead vocals, harmonica, acoustic guitar ; John Paul Jones – bass guitar, organ, acoustic and electric piano, Mellotron, guitar, mandolin, VCS3 synthesiser, clavinet, hammond organ; John Bonham – drums, percussion. Guest: Ian Stewart – piano on ‘Boogie with Stu’.

This Cover’s Potential for Wear & Damage: This cover is close to exceptional with any blemishes tiny, few and faint.

Cover Grade and Format: EXCELLENT(++): A UK-made example with all the appropriate text that reads: “SWAN SONG / 484 KINGS ROAD, LONDON SW10 - Cullderstead Ltd., trading as Swan Song - A Swan Song/Atlantic recording distributed by WEA Records Ltd. P & © 1975”. Surfaces are matt and smooth, windows as mentioned already. Includes the two UK card inner sleeves and the gatefold ‘white window’ insert sheet.

Cover Front: Firstly, the windows: all are very crisp and sharp with barely even a hint of burring or thickening. The cutting crisp and neat with barely any traces of thinned card residues whatsoever. Small details make all the difference and these windows are simply immaculate. The rest of the front is almost the same.

Cover Back: All very similar again. Again I have closely inspected all the windows up close and they are fantastic.

Top Edge: This is the entrance edge and hugely vulnerable and rarely seen totally sharp or unsoftened by usage. Any chipping or thickening here is tiny and very light, and this is guaranteed untrimmed or enhanced in any way.

Bottom Edge: This is the VERY BEST I have ever seen.

Right Edge & Left (Spine): Again both are immaculate, unworn, crisp and uncrushed. Perfect shape right up to the very top open corner ends. The very tip of the right corner end a little scuffed. The left edge has the red vertical text which is pristine Mint and very dark and totally unfaded. 

Corners: All are massively above average with little to fault at all.

Cover Summary: With any blemishes tiny, very few and faint, this is a UK original cover that will blow most others away. As stated, the album is hardly rare, but one with a cover like this is – fact.

The Inner Sleeves: PRACTICALLY MINT: both as close to new as they get. These are unlined, both unsplit with no thins or even edge rubbing, very clean with NO repairs. No rubbing, no dinks or rim impression, even the side entrances are razor sharp. They have a matt surfaces and quite thick. Also these originals have a rough textured feel INSIDE, later ones have a smoother inside surface, so hardly record surface friendly making a pair or records like this all the more rare and desirable.

The Folded ‘Slip’ Insert: PRACTICALLY MINT: clean, fresh. No creasing, edge thickening or toning, this has not aged at all and includes all the details as per the main cover. The bottom fold has a thin edge, this totally uncrushed with perfect shape retained. The credit details to confirm: “Gothic Print Finishers Ltd., London SE9 2EQ”. Also with the “Swan Song SSK 89400” catalogue number and address “SWAN SONG, 484 KINGS ROAD, LONDON SW10”.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: EXCELLENT(++) to NEAR MINT: both very clean with superb shine and. Four gorgeous labels and playing surfaces practically the same. Any surface traces are ultra fine fine, few and faint. There are NO stylus marks and finding this pair of very early-made UK records better will prove beyond difficult.

This item is advertised elsewhere so I preserve the right to remove from the auction is sold.