Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin I 1st press vinyl LP Play tested perfect copy A1 B1

	£		104
	$		137

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin I 1st press vinyl LP Play tested perfect copy A1 B1 Red and Plum label

Matrix: 588171  A // 1             588171  B // 1
I have just play tested the LP and it sounds as near to perfect as I can tell. For the condition of the cover see the pictures.
I know the provenace of this LP my Father in Law bought it when it came out and he gave it to my last year.

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group consisted of vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. Along with Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, the band's heavy, guitar-driven sound has led them to be cited as one of the originators of heavy metal. Their style drew from a wide variety of influences, including blues, psychedelia and folk music.

After changing their name from the New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin signed a deal with Atlantic Records that afforded them considerable artistic freedom. Although the group were initially unpopular with critics, they achieved significant commercial success with eight studio albums released over ten years, from Led Zeppelin (1969) to In Through the Out Door (1979). Their untitled fourth studio album, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV (1971) and featuring the song "Stairway to Heaven", is among the most popular and influential works in rock music, and it helped to secure the group's popularity.

Led Zeppelin is the debut album by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released on 12 January 1969 in the United States and on 31 March in the United Kingdom by Atlantic Records.

The album was recorded in September and October 1968 at Olympic Studios, London, shortly after the band's formation. It contains a mix of original material worked out in the first rehearsals, and remakes and rearrangements of contemporary blues and folk songs. The sessions took place before the group had secured a recording contract and were paid for directly, and took 36 hours and less than £2,000 to complete. It was self-produced by Jimmy Page, the group's founder, leader, and guitarist. Page used a very innovative "distance creates depth" approach to mic placement, and "live off the floor" recording to capture the intimacy and immediacy of the band's music.

He was joined on the album by band members Robert Plant (lead vocals, harmonica), John Paul Jones (bass, keyboards), and John Bonham (drums). Percussionist Viram Jasani appears as a guest on one track. The album was mixed by Page's childhood friend Glyn Johns, and the iconic album cover showing the Hindenburg disaster was designed by George Hardie.

The album showed the group's fusion of blues and rock, and their take on the emerging hard rock sound was immediately commercially successful in both the UK and US, reaching the top-10 on album charts in both countries, as well as several others. Many of the songs were longer and not well suited to be released as singles for radio airplay, and Page was reluctant to release "singles", so only one single was released, "Good Times Bad Times". However, due to exposure on album-oriented rock radio stations, and growth in popularity of the band, many of the album's songs have become classic rock radio staples.

Ironically some major media did not rate the album very favourably when it was first released, causing it to go over in the press like a bit of a "lead balloon", as Keith Moon had suggested the band might had he joined. Rolling Stone vilified it, calling Page's production "limited" and Plant's singing "foppish", but now list it as #29 on their 500 best albums of all time.

Side one

"Good Times Bad Times" was a commercial-sounding track that was considered as the group's debut single in the UK, and released as such in the US. As well as showcasing the whole band and their new heavy style, it featured a catchy chorus and a variety of guitar overdubs. Despite being a strong track, it was seldom performed live by Led Zeppelin. One of the few occasions it was played was the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert in 2007.

"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" was a re-arrangement of a song originally composed by Anne Bredon in the 1950s. Page had heard the song covered by Joan Baez on her 1962 album Joan Baez in Concert. It was one of the first numbers that he worked on with Plant when the two first met at Pangbourne in August 1968. Page played both the Gibson J-200 acoustic and Telecaster on the track. Plant originally sang the song in a heavier style, similar to other performances on the album, but was persuaded by Page to re-record it to allow some light and shade on the track.

"You Shook Me" was a Willie Dixon blues song, and fitted in with the British blues boom that was ongoing when the album was being recorded. Jones, Plant and Page took a solo on Hammond organ, harmonica and guitar respectively. Page put backwards echo on the track, which was then a novel production device, on the call and response between the vocal and guitar towards the end. The song had been covered by Jeff Beck on the album Truth and Beck subsequently said he was unhappy about Led Zeppelin copying his arrangement.

"Dazed and Confused" was written and recorded by Jake Holmes in 1967. The original album credited Page as the sole composer; Holmes sued for copyright infringement in 2010 and an out-of-court settlement was made the following year. The Yardbirds covered the song regularly in concert during 1968, and performed it for several radio and television sessions. Their arrangement included a section where Page played the guitar with a violin bow, an idea suggested by David McCallum Sr. whom Page had met while doing sessions. The guitar solo was derived from one Page had used on the Yardbirds' "Think About It". Led Zeppelin's recording of the track used different lyrics, while Jones and Bonham developed the arrangement to accommodate their playing styles.

Side two

"Your Time Is Gonna Come" opens with Jones playing an unaccompanied organ solo, leading into the verse. Page plays acoustic and pedal steel guitar. The track has a crossfade into "Black Mountain Side", an acoustic instrumental based on Bert Jansch's arrangement of the traditional folk song "Black Water Side" and influenced by the folk playing of Jansch and John Renbourn. The song was regularly performed live as a medley with the Yardbirds solo guitar number "White Summer".

"Communication Breakdown" was built around a Page guitar riff, and one of the first things the group worked on. They enjoyed playing it live, and consequently it was a regular part of their set. It was played intermittently throughout the group's career, often as an encore.

"I Can't Quit You Baby" was another Willie Dixon cover. It was recorded live in the studio, and arranged in a slower and more laid-back style compared to some of the other material on the album.

• Hard rock
• heavy metal
• blues rock

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