RL SS/SS LH LED ZEPPELIN II ROBERT LUDWIG HOT MIX RARE BEAUTIFUL TERRE HAUTE VG+

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RL SS/SS LH LED ZEPPELIN II ROBERT LUDWIG HOT MIX RARE~BEAUTIFUL TERRE HAUTE 1st PRESSING VG+

How do you grade a 53 year old album, that except for one song having skips, the rest of the album is Near Mint? Does it even qualify for VG status anymore if it has a skip? If someone wins this for less than $450 they got a steal IMHO. I’ve sold over Fifteen of my RL LZ II albums since September. I’ve sold one for $710 that I thought would go for $500. I sold one for $550 I thought would only get bid up to $420 or so. With that being said, I think this one is worth $850-$1100. It’s really hard to say, if it didn’t have skips in the first song and a thumb print on the last song I would rate it Near Mint and predict the value to be bid up to $1800. Mint ones have gone for over $3K now, the prices have tripled since October. Less than 200,000 of these exist out of 12 million (2%) sold and most of them are in poor condition. I encourage My record collector friends I’ve made here on eBay along the way to comment with a question with your opinions on the matter. It’s all so subjective. I’m rating this one VG+ to NM-.

Play Tested:

The entire album has almost no hiss, crackle or pop except for the fist song and last song. Aside from these two songs I would rate the others VG++ to NM.

The first song has about six forward skips and ticks at the very end of the song but sounds Excellent the other 95% of the song.

The last song has what looks to be a thumb print and causes some static and crackle in the quiet parts. No skips.

The Album Cover is G+ to VG with some fading over the years. RIAA GOLD CERTIFICATION sticker and Whole Lotta Love hype sticker on front. No song list on back. Someone wrote their name on the back. No Seam Splits.

Inner sleeve is VG+

Label: Atlantic – SD 8236

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, RL Cut, Terre Haute Press, Gatefold

Country: US

Released: 1969

Genre: Rock

Style: Hard Rock

* Published By – Superhype Music, Inc.

* Mastered At – Customatrix

* Lacquer Cut at – Sterling Sound

* Pressed By – Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Terre Haute

* Pressing Plant ID (Columbia Terre Haute, on labels): CTH

* Matrix / Runout (A side bottom label): ST-A-691671CTH

* Matrix / Runout (B side bottom label): ST-A-691672CTH

* Matrix / Runout (A-side runout etched [skinny "RL" etched next to a very small "ss"], variant 1): T ST-A-691671-1A C12 RL SS

* Matrix / Runout (B-side runout etched [very small "LH" etched next to a larger "ss"], variant 1): T | ST-A-691672-D A15 LH SS

* Matrix / Runout (A-side runout, variant 2): ST-A-691671-1A RL SS C2 T I

* Matrix / Runout (B-side runout, variant 2): ST-A-691672-D SS LH A5 o T I

Notes:

Labels include "CTH" suffix (indicating Terre Haute pressing) and "Mfg By Atlantic Recording Corp., 1841 Broadway, New York, N.Y.".

The dead wax side two is slightly narrower than that on side one.

Later press information:

If this doesn't have "SS RL" and "SS LH" etched in the run-outs then it is a repress - remastered at Atlantic, rather than Sterling Sound.

Around 200,000ish pressings were done of Robert Ludwig's 'high mix' which, like Hendrix's 'Ladyland' 1st masters, caused some poor-quality phonograph needles to 'skip'. Thus, a repress ordered by Ertegün at Atlantic.

Tracklist

A1 Whole Lotta Love 5:33

A2 What Is And What Should Never Be 4:47

A3 The Lemon Song 6:20

A4 Thank You 3:50

B1 Heartbreaker 4:15

B2 Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman) 2:40

B3 Ramble On 4:35

B4 Moby Dick 4:25

B5 Bring It On Home 4:1

Interesting letter with information from Robert Ludwig:

I wrote Robert Ludwig in the last week and he wrote me back. All the versions from sterling are the same hot mix. The subtle variances between them are all simply from the slight differences in making a hand-made analog lacquer disc, at least one of which was sent to all the pressing plants at the time. The CTH plant got a lacquer that was half RL and half LH (Lee Hulko, his partner) but was of the SAME MIX AND MASTER, based on RL's notes. THEY ARE ALL THE SAME, aside from subtle variances and should be valued the SAME no matter who's initials are in the dead wax. They are all the same master from STERLING SOUND! Here is my reply from Robert Ludwig. Let this be the final word in this debate. Thanks!

Hi Jim,

I'm surprised about Lee Hulko's initials being on some of the parts. In all these years I had never come across any copies with his initials before.

When there were big orders of certain titles and there wasn't physically enough time for one person to crank out the lacquers as fast as the record company wanted, sometimes we would help each other out.

For instance, my initials might appear on a Beatles record that Lee mastered.

In every case, compared to now, those titles were relatively easy to master. Once one of us mastered an album and it was approved, we made careful notes, either one of us could cut it and it should come out the same. Back then, Lee and I shared the one room and worked different hours so it is possible one of the plants blew a part and needed a replacement right then with no delay.

So after I mastered the album (which Eddie Kramer & Atlantic approved) it was shipped to all the radio stations and the initial pressing was all from me and Sterling Sound.

Amhet Ertegun at Atlantic heard the album (which Eddie demanded be as hot as possible) and apparently it skipped on his daughters little turntable. Instead of calling us at Sterling and asking us to lower the level a little and telling us where it skipped, they had the disk cutters at Atlantic use my EQ'd cassette file copy and they cut it WAY lower than my original cut plus, in my opinion, it sounded dull and generally not very good sounding in comparison.

So all the disks that were played at the radio stations and all the initial pressings world wide came from me (and apparently Lee cut a part or two) and that was what "sold" the record and made it a hit. A year later, whenever I visited someone I would look at their Zeppelin II album to see if it was my cut or Atlantic's cut. It was easy to see by eye, the Atlantic cut ended much farther from the label and the grooves to the naked eye looked very conservative.

I still got to Master "Houses of the Holy" later on, no skipping problems with that as far as I know!

I hope this clears this up for you.

All my best,

Bob Ludwig

Gateway Mastering Studios Inc