Led Zeppelin - III, Plum Label - Great Sound

	£		83
	$		110

Hello and thank you for choosing to read this advert.

A word of introduction about myself first of all. My name is James and I’m 45 years old living in the North East of England. I’ve been collecting records for the best part of 30 years now and have amassed a vast amount of music of all genres during that time. Now however, it’s time for a bit of clear out. I’m not selling all of my collection but there are some titles I have duplicate copies of and others that I just can’t find time to listen to as much as I’d like to so these are the things that will be offered for sale here.

I’ve now been advertising on Ebay for about a year and for the most part everything has gone pretty smoothly and I haven’t been given any negative feedback which I guess means that people were happy with the deal they got. Ebay aside I have been buying and selling records mail order for over 25 years now and have satisfied customers and trading partners all over the world so I like to think that I have at least an idea of what I’m doing with regard to both the rarity and condition of the records I sell (and unlike a lot of ebay dealers I actually know something about the music too!). At least 3 well known ebay dealers (all with 4 figure feedback figures) buy their stock from me regularly and I have had no complaints from any of them in fact all of them regularly grade the records with a higher grade than I gave them!.

All records which I offer here are play graded all the way through on top class equipment and any faults I find no matter how small will be mentioned. All photos will be of the actual item for sale and will not be doctored in any way. Sleeves will be graded to the same exacting standards with any faults or anything else I think you need to know mentioned, remember that I am primarily a collector myself and I know what it’s like when that eagerly awaited parcel containing the record you’ve just paid a lot of money for arrives and when you open it the record looks and sounds like something the dog’s been eating his dinner off, I’ve been there too many times and I try my best to avoid that happening with anything I sell. I want you to be happy with your purchase so that you’ll but more from me in the future! Obviously though I’m only human so if I do make a mistake then any disputes will be settled to your satisfaction and I will give a full refund to anyone who buys anything and isn’t one hundred per cent happy with their purchase (although this obviously applies to condition only - I can’t guarantee that you’ll like the music!).

There’s one thing you definitely won’t find on any of my adverts though: there seems to be a real problem with ebay dealers overgrading their records (both the condition and the rarity). You know the sort of thing I’m talking about where everything is “STUNNING!!!!!!!” or “AWESOME!!!!!!!!” or “MASSIVELY RARE!!!!!!!!!!!!”. I just think that this sort of hype is funny. Does the inclusion of some buzz words and a load of exclamation marks make what are in most cases very ordinary records better and rarer than they actually are? - of course not. Are people actually taken in by this dishonest practice? - of course not. Record collectors are generally pretty clued up about how rare or otherwise the records they’re after are and don’t need a load of exclamation marks to tell them whether something is rare or not. I actually sell to a couple of these people so I know what sort of condition these records are in and I can guarantee that in the majority of cases there was nothing “stunning” about them. So, none of that on any of my adverts instead you’ll get honestly graded records presented in a way in which I would like to see items I buy graded.

Any comments I might make about musical content are entirely my own opinions so if I don’t like a record then I’ll actually say that I don’t like it but that doesn’t mean that you won’t! People like different things, which is a good thing you know, otherwise we’d all be listening to Kylie! Listen to the music for yourself and make your own mind up - don’t be swayed by anyone else’s hype!

Feedback: I don’t consider a deal concluded until you’ve told me that you’re happy with your purchase so feedback will be left when you have left positive feedback for me. If for any reason you’re not happy with your purchase then please get in touch, I’m a reasonable sort of guy and things can be worked out amicably without any need for negative feedback. At the end of the day I would prefer you to return any item you’re not happy with, I’d rather give you a refund than have an unsatisfied customer.

Terms Of Trade:

Postage:

UK: 1 LP £2.00 then 50p for each additional LP.

Europe: 1 LP £3.00 then £1 for each additional LP

Rest of the World :1LP £6.00 then £2 for each additional LP.

Payment:

UK: Cheque, Postal Orders or cash sent at your own risk by registered mail.

Rest of The World: I really don’t like to do this but I’m afraid that the only payments which I’ll accept from outside the UK are by paypal

Registered (insured) Postage is an extra £3 per package in the UK or £4 for the rest of the world and is recommended for valuable packages. If an item is not sent by insured mail and does not arrive at it’s destination or is damaged en-route then I can’t be held accountable.

Any record which sells for more than £60 will be sent post free in the UK, any record which sells for more than £80 will be sent post free anywhere in the world. Any record which sells for more than £100 will be sent post free by registered mail in the UK, any record which sells for more than £125 will be sent post free by registered mail anywhere in the world.

Right then that’s the boring stuff out of the way so now the bit you’re really interested in:

The Item For Sale Is:

Artist: Led Zeppelin

Title: III

Release info: Atlantic (2401 002) Original 1970 UK issue

Condition (Sleeve 1st) : EX/M-

Track List: Immigrant Song

   Friends

   Celebration Day

   Since I’ve Been Loving You

   Out On The Tiles

   Gallows Pole

   Tangerine

   That’s The Way

   Bron-Y-Aur Stomp

   Hats Off To (Roy) Harper

If you’re reading this then you don’t need me to tell you what a great record this is. Led Zeppelin are possibly the greatest British rock band ever and this their third album is the one where they really got everything together to produce an album with a much more mature diverse sound than the first two. Everything about this album is perfect from the opening stomping rock of Immagrant Song through the long slow blues of Since I’ve Been Loving You to the more rootsy folky based sound of Gallows Pole to the laid back Tangerine and That’s The Way before returning to the folk blues of Bron-Y-Aur Stomp and Hats Off To (Roy) Harper, it all just flows together to make a listening experience I never tire of.

As well as the music I’ve always loved these early Polydor pressings of the early Zeppelin albums. They have a much richer deeper sound than the later green label pressings on much thicker vinyl and just sound great especially at high volume on a really good record deck which is how I played this one. I don’t often use my best deck for grading records as it doesn’t do them any favours but I couldn’t resist with this one, it’s a long time since I heard it and it looked such a good copy that I just had to let it rip and wow did I enjoy it!

This is a very early copy with the mistake on the label of side one showing “Celebration Day” as “Celebration” which was corrected on later plum label copies.

Condition:

Sleeve: Very strong. It’s the original EJ Day sleeve with the rotating wheel front and the credits on the right hand side inside the gatefold (later copies have the credits on the left). It’s fully laminated front and back and inside the gatefold too, even the hidden rotating wheel has a glossy laminated finish. The front is extremely clean with no tears or writing anywhere, there is one light crease in the bottom right corner which is barely visible at arms length and another crease in the bottom left corner, again nothing serious. The rotating wheel is still held in position by it’s central pin - so many are loose inside the sleeve but this is fine and as far as I can see is in perfect condition. The rear sleeve is also in fine shape, clean with no writing or tears anywhere, there is a lamination crease going across the sleeve about halfway up (level with the top of Plant’s head), this is actually a manufacturing fault rather than any damage so nothing can be done about it. Inside the gatefold is perfect. Both top and bottom seams are totally unworn as is the spine which has all of the writing clearly readable.

Both labels are clean with no writing and no discernible spindle wear. There is a small patch of residue on the side one label where a sticker was removed, this isn’t a tear just a small visible patch where the outline of the sticker can be seen but this is barely visible at arms length. The run off grooves contain both etchings “Do What Thou Wilt” on one side and “So Mote It Be” on the other.

Record: Very nice. It’s very clean and still has that nice dark sheen that only rarely played records have. It’s a good old fashioned thick vinyl pressing with nice deep grooves which hold the sound so much better than the thinner vinyl later pressings. When held under a harsh light there are only a few extremely light hairline marks visible which are caused by the record being put in and out of the sleeve and are totally inaudible. On playing it is really nice with a good clean sharp sound which really shows on the folky based material on side two but also easily handles the more powerful stuff on side one without any distortion or nasty surface noise at all. Totally silent between tracks and during the quiet parts this copy is highly recommended to anyone looking for a copy to really enjoy at high volume (or even low volume but it sounds better with the amp cranked up to eleven - just make sure the neighbours are out!).

All in all a nice copy of a recod which in the general scheme of things is actually quite common but try finding nice copies! I probably see half a dozen copies each week but only buy maybe two or three each year, such is the ratio of good copies to mediocre ones.

If you decide to bid for this item I wish you luck and if not, well, thanks for looking and remember to look at my other items for sale you may find something more to your taste there.