LED ZEPPELIN "Houses Of The Holy" 1973 UK 1st PRESS NM

	£		158
	$		209

 
LED ZEPPELIN "Houses Of The Holy" 1973 UK 1st PRESS NM BEAUTIFUL CLEAN PRESSING, SENSATIONAL AUDIO, TOP COPY

LED ZEPPELIN
Houses Of The Holy

ORIGINAL UK ATLANTIC (K 50014) FIRST PRESSING (April 1973) OF LED ZEPPELIN'S CLASSIC "Houses Of The Holy" LP IN OUTSTANDING CONDITION - I DON'T THINK THIS COPY HAS EVER BEEN PLAYED AS THE LABELS BARE NO SPINDLE TRACES AND THE VINYL SURFACES ARE PRACTICALLY UNMARKED AND SHINE LIKE NEW

AND THE AUDIO DELIVERY IS SENSATIONAL THROUGHOUT (ON MY SYSTEM - AT A VERY LOUD VOLUME!) WITH A STRONG RICH, DEEP AND SHARP SOUND
THE PRESSING IS ALSO BEAUTIFULLY CLEAN WITH PRACTICALLY SILENT RUN-INS AND TRACK SEPARATIONS WITH THE QUIETER SECTIONS - 'The Rain Song' AND "No Quarter' ESPECIALLY, PLAYING JUST ABOUT AS SILENTLY AS VINYL POSSIBLY CAN (which in my experience is practically unheard of - this is one of the finest sounding copies I have heard)

PRESSED ON QUALITY MID-WEIGHT VINYL WITH THE FIRST GROOVED ATLANTIC LABELS WITH NO 'WB' LOGO ON THE BOTTOM RIM TEXT
FIRST PRESS MATRIX: K50014 A2 / K50014 B2 (with 'STERLING' (stamped) and 'RL' (etched) on both run-offs)
THE RECORD IS HOUSED IN THE ORIGINAL GATEFOLD SLEEVE (WITH NO TEXT)
AND COMES COMPLETE WITH THE ORIGINAL WHITE TEXTURED LYRIC INNER SLEEVE WITH "Printed and made by MacNeill Press Ltd., London, S.E.1" CREDIT

By the time Houses Of The Holy was released in stores in the Spring of 1973, Led Zeppelin was one of the top established bands in the world. On the first two days on their Summer 1973 US Tour, over 100,000 fans came to see them in concert.
By this time, they had been playing material from Houses Of The Holy for about six months in Japan, Australia and the UK. With Houses Of The Holy, the band branched out from the same styles from the four previous albums. D'yer Mak'er showed their interest in reggae, while The Crunge showed the funk style of the Jones-Bonham rhythm section. Epics like The Song Remains The Same and The Rain Song cemented Zeppelin's position as the number one act in the world.

Houses Of The Holy was the first album covered commissioned by the band from Hipgnosis. According to Page, (The cover) "denoted the feeling of expectancy for the music contained within."

Houses of the Holy follows the same basic pattern as Led Zeppelin IV, but the approach is looser and more relaxed. Jimmy Page's riffs rely on ringing, folky hooks as much as they do on thundering blues-rock, giving the album a lighter, more open atmosphere. While the pseudo-reggae of "D'Yer Mak'er" and the affectionate James Brown send-up "The Crunge" suggest that the band was searching for material, they actually contribute to the musical diversity of the album. "The Rain Song" is one of Zep's finest moments, featuring a soaring string arrangement and a gentle, aching melody. "The Ocean" is just as good, starting with a heavy, funky guitar groove before slamming into an a cappella section and ending with a swinging, doo-wop-flavoured rave-up. With the exception of the rampaging opening number, "The Song Remains the Same," the rest of Houses of the Holy is fairly straightforward, ranging from the foreboding "No Quarter" and the strutting hard rock of "Dancing Days" to the epic folk/metal fusion "Over the Hills and Far Away." Throughout the record, the band's playing is excellent, making the eclecticism of Page and Robert Plant's songwriting sound coherent and natural.

Track Listing:
Side 1: The Song Remains The Same / The Rain Song / Over The Hills And Far Away / The Crunge
Side 2: Dancing Days / D'yer Maker / No Quarter / The Ocean

LABELS: The labels are clean, bright and unmarked with no evident spindle traces - this copy has possibly never been played or received a couple of very careful plays at most
VINYL Visual: The vinyl surfaces still retain their original deep, like new, glossy sheen - there are some superficial light brush marks caused by the inner sleeve but these have no audio consequence - the playback is outstanding throughout
VINYL Audio: Sensational audio delivery in every respect - crystal clear, deep, rich and sharp sound and on playback at a loud volume (which is how I always listen to my LPs prior to listing and it's always a real pleasure to return to this one) there are no scratches, no sticks/jumps and just one 'pop' on the track division between 'Dancing Days' and 'D'yer Maker' otherwise, the playback is just about the finest you will hear as this is also an exceptionally clean pressing (as mentioned above) with the more delicate and quieter sections playing beautifully. Overall, an incredibly impressive recording playing to just about the highest possible standard throughout with great clarity, no groove-wear and no distortion and is very critically graded NEAR MINT for audio - it's practically flawless - great copy of this fabulous LP and they really don't come much better than this
SLEEVE: The gatefold is clean, bright, fresh and unmarked with no real wear to speak of on either the surfaces, the edges or the spine - very fine example indeed - NEAR MINT
INNER SLEEVE: The textured lyric inner is clean and unmarked with no splits to any of the edges, just a light crease to the top corner and some record impression - EXCELLENT+

PLEASE HAVE A LOOK AT MY PICTURES - I USUALLY TAKE QUITE A FEW SO YOU CAN GET A CLEAR INDICATION OF EVERY DETAIL OF THE ITEM
I HAVE UPLOADED AS MANY AS I CAN BUT I WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO SUPPLY ANY ADDITIONAL PHOTOS ON REQUEST
FANTASTIC UK FIRST PRESSING OF ZEP'S CLASSIC WHICH PLAYS BEAUTIFULLY THROUGHOUT - JUST ABOUT THE FINEST I HAVE HEARD AND VERY, VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
PLEASE CHECK OUT MY OTHER AUCTIONS FOR MORE RARE AND COLLECTABLE VINYL
AND PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT ME WITH ANY QUERIES YOU MAY HAVE
THANKS FOR LOOKING, CHEERS

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 331 (GS 5.4 (331))