Led Zeppelin III Near Mint1970 1st UK press Celebration Red Plum A5B5 so mote it

	£		190
	$		227

This is from my own collection, I am not a dealer, in the next few months I am selling off part of my collection, some collectable and rarities, no filler! Thanks for looking!

Collectors Nr Mint vinyl `Vault Stored` copy

Please note that this album is complete and original  October 1970 UK pressing and is priced for its "Celebration" rarety


With solid clean sleeve and fully working `Magic Wheel` with solid rivet really nice `vault stored copy`

The A5 B5 "so mote it be" and "do what thou wilst" hand etched matrixes are  A5 B5 , released in October 1970, there were only 300,000 sold in UK so a true 1st press is very hard to find in good order.

 This has the rarest " celebration" label error instead of "celebration day"
This we believe is now harder to find in good order than the "Peter Grant" labels (see our other listings) as only a few thousand were off the press run before the error was picked up, now 50 years on how many survive?
collector copy of this 1970 1st release press with the  A5 B5 matrices. compare with 6,000,000 sold in US, also the UK Version has in our view the better quality pressings and cover by EJ Day Is amazingly solid and stand up better than the US version.

This is a rare early label version with the "celebration" error instead of "celebration day" on label, and on the very first A5 B5 matrixes hand etched on run out "so mote it be" and "do what thou wilst" a nod by Page to Aliester Crowley...

Page had at the time bought Crowley s old Boleskine house on the shores of Loch Ness Scotland and was researching Crowley work buying artifacts and "wands"

This is rare rare and impossible in this condition, the vinyl is a keeper!

Led zeppelin III written between their "mayhem tours" in USA 69 and in July 1970 "on batteries!" at Bron Y Aur cottage Snowdonia Wales and recorded and "polished" at Olympic studios and Island Studios St Johns Wood  London Peter Grant "borrowed " Island Studios time from his old mate and adversary Micky Most.

The classic tracks are here by the bucketful again , the viking war cry of "immigrant song" , "since I've been loving you" (pages greatest blues) "celebration day", "out on the tiles" all jump off the grooves with incredible clarity on this copy, the audio is awesome on our Rega 3. Playtested also on our "super fussy" light tracking Kenwood deck all ok.

The acoustic tracks,

Friends, Bron Y Aur Stomp, Tangerine, That's the way and Gallows Pole all show how impressed Page and Plant had become with the current West Coast fashion led by Crosby Stills and Nash, Young, and the critics in UK panned them for this (time has shown this as misguided) probably more to do with sulking journalists wanting invites to the Starship and the US excess tours!

The "Bron Y Aur" and acoustic segments came to form as lasting part of the live stage sets and anyone who caught the 75 us and uk Earls Court Shows will tell you how well they were received by the rock audience.

Page got what he again wanted here and the mixing done at various locations dictated by tour schedule are a credit to the producer, despite delays by mastering artwork and "moving wheel" wrangles with pressing plants, but in the end an outstanding cover was produced by EJ Day London. Atlantic the album was released in UK end October 70 This is one of those early early copies ! A5 B6 the matrixes!

This recording was well received in US where Zeppelin were touring regular but in UK it got a cooler reception from the UK critics (at the time)

Atlantic by this time had given artistic freedom following the commercial success of Zep 2 but when Atlantic questioned the volume of acoustic numbers?
to this day many regard this as one of the greatest rock/folk mix albums of all time... judged for yourself but for us the audio quality of these 1st presses are vastly superior to the recent "deluxe super deluxe releases!"

Atlantic did a great job in 1970 with these, word is Peter Grant got the pressing plants to clean the master discs more regular (using a process normally reserved for classical recordings) after the 2nd album'

rock and pop were still considered "passing phases" so it was not felt necessary to clean as often due to the volume they were recorded at with few quieter passages
.
Once again Grant broke the mold when he visited the uk pressing plant and "insisted" who would refuse him?

The job was done this way for the early runs in the first year or so... after...

Only the first presses came out with "Peter Grant" (see our other listings) Credits or "Celebration" errors on the label (this one is Celebration) only on very early presses so easy to spot once you know, see photos,
all photos are of actual item for sale, what you see is what you get here, see our 100% feedback!

Grab yourself a piece of rock history!

These are getting harder to find in anything like this condition.

The Record

A5 B5 

Nr Mint

Nr Mint vinyl some light lines only and light static only, its Nr Mint with some minor scuffs and scrapes from sleeve removal over the years, bear in mind this is a 50 year old vinyl record! Nice fat pre oil crisis 70s vinyl wow !

Plays fantastic with bright crisp sound may benefit from a professional clean (we don't do this as it's an individual thing) some background static is noticeable in the quieter passages but nothing to disrupt playing no sticks or jumps on our Rega 3.

The labels are free of writing doodles or stickers and retain great bold colours with no fade we can notice under light.
Great "Nr Mint " vinyl a keeper .


The sleeve

Excellent

Despite having done it's job over the years, the sleeve has very   little ring wear (see photos) and its not yellowed a lot like some of these have. Nice and White with great laminate no creasing or ring wear to speak of. a keeper for sure.
the sleeve is a 50 years old and has seen some use.
Its fair to say that these Celebration copies are getting collectable ....still has its original "Plastic bags can be dangerous" inner sleeve its in decent condition and not too faded so not a lot of removals...

The sleeve is fully working "magic wheel" with no stickers, tape, writing or doodles, names etc.  solid rivet on wheel
 
There are no seam splits , spine is in good shape, see photos .... colours are good the thick card has held up well, no serious damage,  expected wear over the 50 years.

There is almost zero soiling from removal handling over the years around the outer edges of the sleeve (see photos in listing) nothing serious so "Ex"

 song titles and credits are on the right of the inner sleeve as a first press should be.


The fully functioning "Magic Wheel" is truly a collectors item!

Atlantic Deluxe blue stamp on lower right of cover and song titles on right inner sleeve as on first presses! As seen here!

This is a keeper for someone looking for a wholly original press of this great album.
Nr mint copies are almost impossible now sometimes over £400+
This is a great affordable upgrade!

See photos.....

See my other Zeppelin albums for sale

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