LED ZEPPELIN 

- PHYSICAL GRAFFITI

SWAN SONG 
SSK 89400

 earliest possible matrices

   UK 1st PRESS 1975

Brief Info: 

By 1975 no one was bigger or heavier than Zeppelin. America was punch drunk after the quadruple whammy of their first four albums, each supported by tours that went from scene-stealing support slots to stadium-filling three-hour marathons, almost overnight. Even the slightly below average (ie: one or two sub-par tracks) Houses Of The Holy (1973) hadn’t dented their reputation one jot. The world, and its attendant pleasures, was theirs for the taking. At this point most modern bands would take 5 years off and forget each others' names. What did Robert, Jimmy, John Paul and Bonzo do? Produced a double album that some still hold to be their best of all time.

Admittedly, a fair amount of Physical Graffiti was composed of offcuts and work-in-progress from their previous two albums (cf “Houses Of The Holy”) though these were offcuts startling quality. But what really shines out is the sheer genre-defying eclecticism of it all. Far more than just a crowd-pummelling hard rock act with the world’s beefiest rhythm section, these boys were able to do everything from folk (''Bron Y Aur'') and blues ("In My Time Of Dying") to country rock ("Down By The Seaside") and barrelhouse rock 'n' roll ("Boogie With Stu"). In fact Graffiti serves pretty much as a primer of the band’s entire oeuvre.

And amongst these flights of dexterity we get some of the band’s best-loved numbers of all-time. "Trampled Underfoot", driven by Jones’ stomping Fender Rhodes pulls off the remarkable trick of being both heavy AND funky as hell. "Custard Pie" and "The Rover" are monster axe workouts, and of course "Kashmir" is still a juggernaut of incredible power: a blend of east and west inspired by Page and Plant’s mystical wanderings and underpinned by Bonham’s legendary rumble, famously captured in all its ambient glory in the huge hallway of Headley Grange Manor. And it all came wrapped in one of those fabulously intricate die-cut sleeves that make all people of a certain age long for a return to the glory days of vinyl.

Nick Kent’s review in the NME casually mentioned that by this point Zep could seemingly turn this stuff out in their sleep. He was right. Six years of touring and recording had honed them into an unstoppable force, but tragedy lay in wait around the corner in the form of death, drug abuse and changing tastes. But Physical Graffiti remains a towering monument to the glory of Zeppelin in their high-flying heyday.

THE VINYLS  ARE BOTH IN PRISTINE CONDITION LOOK TOTALY UNPLAYED AND VERY VERY RARELY EVER SEEN IN THIS CONDITION  (NO VISIBLE SIGNS OF BEING PLAYED AND THE VINYLS LOOK  AS NEW!!!! ANY POSSIBLE MARKS THAT COULD BE SEEN IN STRONG LIGHT COULD ONLY BE CAUSED BY THE VINYLS BEEN SLID IN AND OUT OF THEIR SLEEVES!!!!!

THE LABELS

AS NEW (NO) SIGNS OF SPIDERING OR THAT THIS HAS BEEN PLAYED AT ALL.

THE ORIGINAL INSERT

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL WHITE INSERT MADE FROM THICK CARD SMOOTH ON THE OUTSIDE AND TEXTURED ON THE INSIDE (ONLY FOUND ON 1ST PRESS) LATER PRESS ARE VERY MUCH THINNER CARD!!! THIS IS AS NEW!!!!

THE PICTURE RECORD SLEEVES

THESE ARE THE ORIGINAL THICK CARD TYPE RECORD SLEEVE PRINTED IN ENGLAND , LATER PRESSES ARE MADE OF THIN PAPER LIKE MATERIAL AND PRINTED IN GERMANY!!!!!! THESE AR SUPERBE WITH LIGHT SIGNS OF SPLIT BEGINING TO FORM ON ONE BOTTOM EDGE ONLY THERE ARE (NO) CREASES OR STORAGE WARE!!! THE VINYLS ARE NOW STORED SEPERATELY!!!!!!!

THE ORIGINAL BOX COVER

THIS IS ALSO SUPERBE RARELY SEEN IN THIS CONDITION (NORMALLY IN A TERRIBLE STATE) THESE ARE OFTEN SWAPPED OVER FOR THE LATER GERMAN COVERS (THIS ONE IS THE ORIGINAL ENGLISH COVER) PLEASE NOTE! THE WRITING ON THE REAR OF THE COVER ''A SWAN SONG ATLANTIC RECORDING DISTRIBUTED BY WEA RECCORDS LTD P & C 1975'' (ONLY ORIGINAL 1ST PRESS) LATER COVERS ARE PRINTED IN GERMANY AND ARE OF A MUCH THINNER MATERIAL!!!!!! EVEN THE WRITING ON THE SPINE IS AWESOME! THERE IS ON VERY CLOSE INSPECTION AMAZINGLY NO REAL STORAGE WEAR OR RUBBING  (NO) VISIBLE CREASES AT ALL EVEN TO THE THE CORNERS!!! THIS IS AN ARCHIVE COPY NEVER SEEN LIKE THIS! JUST ONE TINY NICK ON THE TOP OF THE SPINE.

All diecut windows are absolutely top notch without any damage or any sign of furring or tearing, hardly ever found like this!!!

Vinyls: EX.  Gorgeous vinyls and I have played them through twice. A few light paper retraction wispy hairlines only visible under an intense light do not impact on the audio at any time.  These are the earliest heavy slabs of gorgeous vinyl, these days hard to find even here in England. The audio is topnotch as would be expected for such splendid lookin vinyls. Of course NO jumps, NO sticks, NO ticks.

Sleeve: EX++. Absolutely splendid condition. The pictures speak for themselves. This copy has been looked after properly. NO creases, hardly any storage rubbing at all. This is suitable for the serious collector as an upgrade.

Inner card: NM. An item that goes missing very often. This is all there, uncreased and perfect.

Inner sleeves: Both NM. Untouched it seems with the correct first print SSK 89400/A and SSK 89400/B. Heavy card unlike the later flimsier examples that do NOT carry the /A and /B suffixes.

Labels: EX++. Only the lightest spindle traces on two out of four labels.

Stamper Codes: 1 U / 1 U

THE STEREO REPRODUCTION IS SUPERB AND EVERY NOTE IS HEARD CLEARLY AND CRISPLY. A SPLENDID RECORDING!! NEEDLESS TO SAY, NO STICKS OR JUMPS!

             This is a unique investment opportunity!!! The next psych album to go completely through the roof. Finding this album in any condition at all is nearly impossible so late in the day. Get this while you still can. This value of the album is only going to go one way ... up and up ... until it will be totally unavailable at all for a reasonable price.

Important : International postage will be registered and insured if over GBP 45.00.  Please wait for my invoice before paying. Postage will be according to Royal Mail rates. Postage is NOT a money spinning exercise for me.

Though there are rarely ever any problems with my items, I always try my very best to describe everything exactly!  PLEASE REMEMBER to contact me FIRST,  if you have any problems at all, before you leave feedback and star ratings, so I get a chance to turn any negative experience into a positive one!  I can always happily sort anything out for you, if you let me know you have a problem!  This way no one has to leave Negative/Neutral feedback - and we both walk away happy! Similarly with the amount of stars, anything less than a full 5 * rating is effectively detrimental to a seller's rating as lower ratings will incur higher Final Value Fees  and lower priority in the bidlists eventually making it unattractive to list items on Ebay at all. I know of at least one major previous Ebay seller who has decided not to list via Ebay again. Please do NOT bid if you cannot give me at least 1 chance to sort everything out to your FULL satisfaction in the unlikely event of a problem.  Thanks again!!

This an excellent investment opportunity!!! Any questions please ask me and I will try to answer soon.