Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti - 1st U.S. double Lp Pressing?

Does anyone know how to identify an original U.S. first pressing of Led Zeppelin's "Physical Graffiti" double Lp?

I have read in other Threads here that the U.S. first pressing is well regarded. One of my record dealers says he thinks he has a first pressing available for sale, but he's not sure if it's a first pressing. He asked me what to look for, and he would check his copy.

It occurred to me that someone on the Forum here might have the answer...

The copy my record dealer has is still in the shrink-wrap, with the song titles sticker, on the Swan Song label.

Mr. Neely's Goldmine Guide (Standard Catalog of American Records, 1950-1975) doesn't list any reissues, but there must have been some.

What characteristics distinguish an original 1975 U.S. first pressing of Zep's "PG"?

Many thanks to anyone who can help

Scott

 

Who said the US LPs of Physical were good?? I wanna ask that masked man.

No reissues, but the Lp must have gone through many replatings. Not sure if the mothers are going to be any different though. I have one copy. It sounds blah. Rockefeller Plaza in the bottom of the label and Side One's laquer says ST-SS-753309-G SP.

 

I have 6 or 7 copies. I'll have to start going through them and see which ones sound the best.

 

Hey Sckott, thanks for the reply. I was in the middle of copying and pasting a couple of links to other threads I had been researching, and I was booted off of my "Broadband" connection (been happening a lot the last few days...).

Here's the only one I still have on my clipboard:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=7287&highlight=physical+graffiti+dead+wax

It's not much, but I've been reading about various "best" Zeppelin issues, and since Zeppelin is lacking in my collection for "ultimate" pressings, I thought I'd do some research and begin the hunt.

 

Thanks Geoman076, the results of a "shoot-out" between your various pressings would be most welcome

Scott

 

I'm thinking the Led Zeppelin stash Geoman just bought that are mostly Specialty pressings are going to sound good, but the tonality and the muddiness of many of those cuts are just kinda icky. I'm sure someone would have to steer EQ all over the place just to get it to sound right.

Same with In Through The Out Door. The LP sounds terrible. I think what makes it worse is that flapping reverb on most all of Plant's vocals on that record and cuts like "In My Time Of Dying". There's no presence around that sound when it's all dried up. Plant took that vocal treatment with him for Pictures At Eleven.

 

I only have one vinyl copy of "Physical Graffiti" and I've always been pretty happy with it. Pretty decent sound, IMO. This is a retail copy purchased new in 1987 and has a bar code on the back cover, obviously a reissue. It's a Specialty pressing.


Side 1: ST-SS-753309-J 1-1 sf/atl.

Side 2: ST-SS-753310-H 1-1 sf/atl.

Side 3: ST-SS-753311-H 1-1 sf/atl.

Side 4: ST-SS-753312-H 1-1 sf/atl.


Never tried the Classic. My understanding is original UK pressings are best, but I can't confirm that at present. Canadian pressings *might* be good, too, but I can't confirm that either. Have fun.

 

And I see that those sides on that copy you bought were mastered by Sam Feldman (yes, the same Sam Feldman who, at Bell Sound, wrote the "Phil + Ronnie" script on lacquers for The Beatles' Let It Be album, as well as on a few LP's and 45's of the period on the Apple label that were produced by Phil Spector). It was at Atlantic that Feldman wound down his illustrious mastering career.

 

Has the "Mrs. Valens" co-credit under "Boogie With Stu" appeared on all pressings? I recall someone on this forum insisting that it didn't appear on the initial run.

 

Now that's an interesting possible distinction...thanks very much for the tip, Daulton. I will investigate...

Scott

 

Okay, I came up with squat. I'm not too high on the Forum's search engine, or else I just don't know how to use it very efficiently. There's too many words it won't let you search by ("Who's Next", anyone???).

Quick question: How difficult would it be to set up the search engine like eBay? You can search for any word or term, and filter out anything you're not interested in by putting a minus sign followed by a parentheses containing the words you don't want to be considered in the search. I don't know enough about computers to understand if that is a difficult proposition or not, but I suspect it is not...

The current Forum search engine won't allow me to look up "Mrs. Valens", which, theoretically, would bring up any reference and would almost have to specifically relate to this topic.

The only other distinguishing search term to check this out was "Boogie With Stu". That returned a few results, but nothing with Mrs. Valens.

"Boogie Stu Valens" returned a couple of Threads, but nothing about distinguishing characteristics of a first pressing of Physical Graffiti.

 

Caveat Emptor: I once heard a US Swan Song pressing that actually lopped off the studio chatter at the end of "In My Time Of Dying". I don't have any other info, unfortunately, but I thought I'd pass that along.


Dan

 

I agree.

I've never been impressed with the sound quality of those two titles(love the music though), and even the original UK pressings disappoints.

 

I bought a US Graffiti almost if not the day it came out. I know because I saw Zep around that time (Feb 1975).
I also have a UK Graffiti but I have not yet compared those two to my Classic Records pressing.

I'll post my matrix numbers later.

 

Thanks Ben! It's appreciated.

 

Physical Graffiti Early US Pressing Matrix numbers ALL hand carved GRAY letters are VERY light

ST-SS-753309-B CP AT PR CO-PIT
ST-SS-753310-B CP AT PR F.T. CO-PIT
ST-SS-753311-C CP PR CO-PIT
ST-SS-753312-B CP PR CO-PIT

BOOGIE WITH STU has Mrs.Valens credit

 

Thanks for the heads-up, Ben.

 

Physical Graffiti UK Pressing Matrix numbers ALL machine pressed

SSK.89400.A1
SSK.89400.B4
SSK.89400.C2
SSK.89400.D1

BOOGIE WITH STU also with Mrs. Valens credit

 

Hmmm . . . didn't know Columbia still pressed for Atlantic and subsidiaries that late (albeit LP's only -- didn't see any Columbia-pressed Atlantic 45's after 1969) . . . at that point Columbia House didn't even handle any of the Warner labels . . . but Columbia did press occasionally for Elektra at that point, and still handled Warner/Reprise itself on almost an exclusive basis . . . but yeah, the "CP" on the label below is a giveaway as to who pressed that. However, except for that one line, the rest of the label copy came from Presswell Record Mfg. ("PR")

 

Thanks very much Ben, for your time and your trouble, that's great information and I very much appreciate it.

I don't suppose you are certain whether your UK pressing (the one that sounds muddy) is a first UK pressing? There is a particular seller on eBay who seems to be quite an expert on UK pressings, and his auctions regularly get astronomical prices. He often refers to the difference in sound quality between a true first pressing and all subsequent re-pressings.

I was just wondering if your UK Physical Graffiti was a first issue for sure? It might make a difference...or then again, it might not.

 

You wouldn't be referring to that "geesdee" guy would you? Take that schtick with a grain of salt. Quite a few sellers are following that *style* of selling on eBay these days. More a case of saying what they think bidders want to hear than anything else.

While I'm sure the records are generally nicer copies, I can tell you many of the descriptions border on comical, and the asking prices are definitely comical.

 

From a person who knows him, I have heard that he has been at record selling for years and years...He truly knows his stuff. I think you are confusing him with the seller we refer to as "stunning man". Not the same guy.

 

Led Zeppelin
Physical Graffiti
Atlantic P-6318N
Japan

w/Boogie With Stu "Mrs.Valens" credit

 

I know "stunning man", but I am indeed talking about geesdee, among others. While his descriptions are detailed and accurate regarding label variations, cover variations, stampers, lacquers, mothers, etc, I don't always agree with the audio descriptions...and that's the whole point for people like us. And why is it practically all of his copies have virtually no surface noise, despite the fact he doesn't believe in cleaning records. I have quite a bit of experience myself with UK pressings and I've very rarely come across a vintage copy of anything, regardless of condition, that played quietly before cleaning. Heck, they're often not what I would describe as quiet even after cleaning.

This isn't a character attack or anything, just my observations as a long-time record collector. Not that how long one's been selling or buying necessarily means squat...

 

Hey Arin, yes, I was referring to Gesdee. He may not be a Word-smith (or maybe he's too much of a Word-smith?), but I believe he has been in the record business for a very long time and brings quite a bit of knowledge to the table. If you'll notice, his opening/starting bid is not usually out of line at all, it's where the bidding ends up that's often out of hand. He goes out of his way to show the album from many viewpoints/angles, and his Feedback rating is 100%, so the winning bidders must be pleased with their purchase, even at the high price they seem willing to pay.

The information he provides about the items is what I find most interesting. Like the Forum, it helps me to figure out what to look for. I can't (and won't) compete with the people who normally win his albums, but I don't think he can be held responsible if there's a few collectors out there who regularly bid his items up to 2 or 3 times what most people would get (it would be a nice problem to have though...). He's established a clientele it seems, and they must be satisfied with the quality of his offerings because it's mostly the same group of (apparently "money's no object" type) bidders who shoot his auctions to the moon.

And you are certainly correct, he has left a trail of imitators in his path over the last couple of years, but again, that's not his fault. It's other people taking advantage of his knowledge and using it in a less than honorable manner. Usually doing it poorly, and therefore obviously (to any regular observer), I might add.

Gesdee's lengthy descriptions are sometimes a little difficult to get through, and sometimes they're entertaining too, but there's a lot of information buried in those descriptions that would be very difficult to find anywhere else...

Just my opinion though!