LED ZEPPELIN II Very 1ST UK PRESSING LEMON SONG A2/B2

	£		36
	$		48

LED ZEPPELIN II
RED / PLUM ATLANTIC 588198 - LEMON SONG CREDIT ON LABEL
MATRIX A2 / B2
VERY RARE
VERY 1st PRESS

This is the original 1st PRESS of LED ZEPPELIN'S 'Led Zeppelin II' in ORIGINAL GATEFOLD COVER. 
The cover is still in excellent condition, very minor scuffing and fraying on the edges. 

THE SLEEVE
Front and back covers are still in excellent condition, very slight scuffing/edge wear - VERY RARE FOR THIS VERY DELICATE SLEEVE
No writing on cover, Some very very minor wear on edges of cover, Some very very minor wear spine, writing still clearly visible AS CAN BE SEEN FROM THE PHOTO'S - THIS IS VERY VERY RARE TO FIND.
I bought this record 24 years ago and has been kept in a plastic sleeve ever since and taken out a handful of times, any wear was done previous to me having it.

INNER SLEEVE
Has original inner sleeves (HEAD HUNTERS) VERY VERY VERY RARE in excellent condition,  no tears, rips, writing. (Also has usual inner sleeve  - usual patent etc)

VINYL VISUAL
Visually I have looked at it many times and honestly there are many light marks most of which are sleeve marks as when I got it the record was not in its poly lined sleeve just put in cover.

VINYL SOUND QUALITY
I have played the record full blast and it still sounds fantastic, there are crackles, especially in quieter parts of tracks, NO jumps, NO sticks, NO loud Pops - still sounds fantastic.
I have probably played it 5 or 6 times in the past 24 years and to clean (was obsesive at cleaning them), the last time I played it was today before I listed it on ebay - FANTASTIC.

LABELS
Fantastic condition - NO writing, NO stickers, Very clean and retain original bright colour.
LEMON SONG credit on Vinyl label and  has LEMON SONG on the sleeve track listing (as many did on cover - infact I personally never saw Killing floor on the cover listing from all what I have collected and seen on sale)

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"The Lemon Song" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, featured on their 1969 album Led Zeppelin II. It was recorded at Mystic Studios in Hollywood when the band was on their second concert tour of the United States.

"The Lemon Song" is laced with sexual innuendo, and features some of Led Zeppelin's most blues-influenced playing. It was recorded virtually live in the studio, and no electronic devices were used to create the echo on
Robert Plant's vocal. It was made solely by Plant's voice and the acoustics in Mystic Studios, which was a 16 x 16 foot room with wooden walls.

Another notable aspect of this song is John Paul Jones' complex bass performance, which is heavily funk influenced. During interviews afterwards, he said that he had improvised during the entire song.[citation needed]

"The Lemon Song" was performed live on Led Zeppelin's first three concert tours of the United States (on the first tour as "Killing Floor"), before being dropped from their live set in late 1969. However, the 'squeeze my lemon' sequence continued to be inserted into the "Whole Lotta Love" medley and ad-libbed elsewhere. The song borrows from Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor", which was a song Led Zeppelin often incorporated into their live setlist during their first concert tour of the United States. For the second and third North American  tours the song evolved into "The Lemon Song", with Plant often improvising lyrics onstage.

Other lyrics, notably "squeeze (my lemon) 'til the juice runs down my leg," can be traced to Robert Johnson's "Travelling Riverside Blues". Australian Broadcasting Corporation] - Triple J Music Specials -  Led Zeppelin (first broadcast 2000-07-12) The song also borrowed from Albert King's "Cross-Cut Saw".

In December 1972, Arc Music, owner of the publishing rights to Howlin' Wolf's songs, sued Led Zeppelin for copyright infringement on "The Lemon Song." The parties settled out of court. Though the amount was not disclosed, Wolf received a check for $45,123 from Arc Music immediately following the suit, and subsequent releases included a co-songwriter credit for him.[3][4]

Later presses of this record showed Killing Floor rather than Lemon Song. - THIS IS A FIRST PRESS.

Jimmy Page performed this song on his tour with The Black Crowes in 1999. A version of "The Lemon Song" performed by Page and The Black Crowes can be found on the album Live at the Greek.

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The album was released on 22 October 1969 on Atlantic Records, with advance orders of 400,000 copies.[27] The advertising campaign was built around the slogan 'Led Zeppelin II Now Flying'. Commercially,
Led Zeppelin II was the band's first album to hit #1 in the US, knocking The Beatles' Abbey Road (1969) twice from the top spot, where it remained for seven weeks. By April 1970 it had registered three million
American sales, whilst in Britain it enjoyed a 138 week residence on the LP chart, climbing to the top spot in February 1970.[5]

The album also yielded Led Zeppelin's biggest hit with the track "Whole Lotta Love". This song reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1970, after Atlantic went against the group's wishes
 by releasing a shorter version on 45. The single's B-side, "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)", also hit the Billboard chart, peaking at #65 in April 1970. The album helped establish Led Zeppelin as an
international concert attraction, as for the next year, the group continued to tour relentlessly, initially performing in clubs and ballrooms, then in larger auditoriums and eventually stadiums as their popularity grew.

In 1970 art director David Juniper was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of best album package for Led Zeppelin II.[5] On 10 November 1969, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry
Association of America and in 1990 it was certified 5x platinum reflecting shipping of five million copies. By 14 November 1999, Led Zeppelin II had shipped twelve million copies and was certified 12x platinum by the
RIAA.

Led Zeppelin II has been cited by music writers as a blueprint for heavy metal bands that followed it. Blues-derived songs like "Whole Lotta Love", "Heartbreaker", "The Lemon Song", "Moby Dick", and
"Bring It On Home" have been seen as representing standards of the genre, where the guitar-based riff (rather than vocal chorus or verses) defines the song and provides the key hook. Such arrangements and
emphasis were at the time atypical in popular music.Page's guitar solo in "Heartbreaker" featuring rapid-fire runs of notes tapped only by the left hand, was a major inspiration to the later work of metal soloists
and "shredders" such as Eddie Van Halen and Steve Vai.As such, the album is generally considered to be very influential on the development of rock music, being an early forerunner of heavy metal, and inspiring
a host of other rock bands including Aerosmith, Van Halen and Guns N' Roses.

Since its initial critical reception, Led Zeppelin II has been acknowledged by many critics and music writers as one of the most influential albums of rock music, and has earned several accolades from music
 publications, frequently placed at or near the top of "best album" lists. In 1989, Spin magazine ranked the album #5 on its list of The 25 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2000, Q magazine placed Led Zeppelin II
 at number 37 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2003, the album was ranked number 75 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

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Matrix Number:
588198 A/2 - also has 1121 stampers on side A (RARE)
588198 B/2 - also has 1121 stampers on side B (RARE)

A-side:
Light crackle especially in quieter parts, Still Excellent playback especially for year - over 42 years old
B-side:
Light crackle especially in quieter parts, Still Excellent playback especially for year

FOR ME THE VINYL IS STILL SUPERB, but thats my opinion. I try to be as honest as possible with all the records I sell. I prefer the sound of Vinyl even with crackles.

THIS IS A FULL ORIGINAL SET (OUTER, INNER SLEEVES (RARE HEAD HUNTERS) AND VINYL) - many inner sleeves are now not original - THIS IS.

THIS IS A EXCELLENT RECORD AND SLEEVE - I THINK THE PICTURES SHOW THIS.
A RARE COLLECTORS RECORD.
I bought this album for £38.00 about 24 years ago from a record shop in York.