Commonly known as #LedZepVIII: read about an amazing album+cover, Aleister Crowley ...and ‘words in dead wax’.
Let’s continue our music journey into rare records by taking a look at a classic album - #LedZeppelin Volume 3. Issued in 1970, it seems to get overlooked in discussions about which is the best album made by the band; but it is truly a classic and contains some of the band’s best work. It has a light and shade quality missing from the earlier albums. This may be because it was conceived in a Welsh cottage without electricity and so there’s a strong folk element running through it. There’s still plenty of power too - the thunderous ‘Immigrant Song’ and the long blues work-out of ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ which contains some of Jimmy Page’s best guitar work on record. And it has an amazing cover.
There are some significant variations on the early pressings which are important for collectors and significantly affect today’s collector prices. So: let’s journey into Artist/Manager disputes, Aleister Crowley and the Black Arts, and words in dead wax and also see a video of the amazing album cover ...
The very first pressing had the collectible ‘plum’ Atlantic label, which credited the Producer as Jimmy Page and the ‘Executive Producer’ as Peter Grant (the Band’s Manager - look for this accreditation on the album label if you’re into your collecting). As Jimmy Page had carried out the production duties himself he took exception to Grant being allocated some credit. As albums had already gone to press, at first Atlantic responded by placing a sticker on the labels which covered up Grant’s credit. Watch for these as these variations (both accredited and stickered) are now rare and very sought after.
On later pressings a new label was substituted which omitted Grant’s name altogether. These are still very collectible but less so than the Page/Grant accredited and stickered labels.
The rotating sleeve is a thing of beauty and, of course, an essential part of the package and was retained throughout the life of the album and even the later pressing from the 1980′s still have it. Only a video could do justice to us showing you the beauty of this album cover!
Jimmy Page was well known as an aficionado of the notorious occultist/black magician Aleister Crowley - Page once owned Crowley’s Scottish mansion and he collected items which once belonged to Crowley. On the early pressings of the album in the dead wax on Side 1 you will find etched ‘Do What Thou Wilt” and on Side 2 ‘So Mote it Be’ which are tenets closely connected with the philosophy of Crowley. If looking to collect, you will need to tilt albums into the light to find these words (if you are actually holding a version where they are there!) and look very carefully ...it has never surprised us that many of our serious Collectors visit us with Jeweller’s magnifying lenses!
This album is an incredible album with a cover that is truly a work of art (*there’s a possible article all of it’s own that could cover the roundel itself). It is one for the serious collector who will appreciate it for what it is and treasure it. In terms of values, this can go retail for anywhere from £60-£260 and above, with prices reflecting all of the differing intricacies covered above. We have several copies available in the store across the price ranges so if you’re interested in stepping into this market, do get in touch at [email protected] .
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News on our new website is we’re starting to upload Products, so hopefully not too long now! It’s been a long, very hard slog once again because - as many Vinyl dealers know - the web is not set up to be kind to the business model required to deal in records (*we’re working on software that underpins M&S, Debenhams, Rakuten and yet have just been told it, too, struggles with our product volumes). We’ll keep you up to date, but in the meantime if you have any Wants (or want to chat rare records!) drop us an email at [email protected] and check out our current listings at MusicStack and CDandLP.
