Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin II

Solid pressing with great sound, other than the surface noise that my particular copy is afflicted with.

Definitely worth the purchase, great music and a great record.

This is a VERY NICE older pressing, circa late 70's-ish(?). It lacks the brute force of the Ludwig variant, of course, but makes up for that with plenty of detail, and nice punchy drums, particularly when cranked up. Some of the reissues do not hold up when cranked, and that would be a no no.

I have a few pressings of LZII, and am quite impressed with this one. Worth a try. Find a good clean copy and you are all set.

My copy appears to be closest to variant 2. Catalog number, all images, and all in "Notes" section match; matrix/runout a little different:

Matrix / Runout (Side A etched runout): ST A 691671-AA 1-1 ATLANTIC STUDIOS D.K. SRC (the big S logo)
Matrix / Runout (Side B etched runout): + SLMΔ1977-X ST-A-691672-Z O B-14605-Z SP 0-1 SM1-1

While obviously not the HUGE Bob Ludwig mix everyone seeks, this pressing actually sounds much better than I thought it would. Decent lows and highs, good definition, fairly low background noise. Still keeping an eye out for one with the RL in the deadwax, but this will do for now.

A Specialty Records Corporation repressing of a 1981 Allied pressing, which was an extension of the 1977 reissue "edition."
this statement does not make sense to me, if this reissue was released in 1977 as it says, how is it a repressing of a 1981 allied pressing....is this reissue from 1981 or 1977, I bought this record around 1981 so I would like to know the reissue year......any help would be gratefully appreciated.

We could argue, and many people have, as to whether Led Zeppelin I was better then Led Zeppelin II and why or why not. I’m simply going to note a couple of facts.

First, most people became aware of Led Zeppelin during their introduction to Led Zeppelin II and made the trip back to discover Led Zeppelin I.

Secondly, Led Zeppelin I is a much more Blues oriented album, and while white kids profess to love the Blues, they really don’t understand the Blues conceptually and must be educated in a backwards manner. That meaning, they usually discover the Blues because one of their favorite groups goes and puts out a rock song or album with some Blues overtones, and then these kids discover the Blues. So I see the initial outing by Led Zeppelin was too far into the Blues to be recognized by mainstream youth. And why shouldn’t they have had issues, it was this same thinking that forced apart the Yardbirds.

As to Led Zeppelin II, its a fine record. When I hear arguments from others about disliking over production in music, all I have to do is point to Led Zeppelin II as the finest overly produced record of all time. It's a great rocker, they’ve toned down their blues influences, and seem to have knocked the audience over with even more power. While strong and demanding, the album holds really sweet melodic melodies and hidden context of beauty. All of this beauty stands in complete paradox to the blasting of Jimmy’s guitar in the next second. They’ve continued with their sexual content, as all men will, being the driving force of their lives ... and I’m not judging here, that’s just the way it is.

This record feels somewhat lighter, the bottom having been lifted a bit without loosing any of it’s driving force and that force can be suggested with the smallest of guitar strums. Robert wails more then ever here [possibly as much as Jimmy's guitar], having found his stride, he now plays to the audience and his band mates while on stage.

If you’re not blown away by this record you’ve missed something along the way. There’s something here for everyone, Rock, Country, Soul, Blues, and hand clapping, finger popping jive. Dig it, “on and on and on...”

Led Zeppelin II Album Cover Unmasked ...

Led Zeppelin II was released in October, 1969, and became the first LZ album to hit #1 in the U.S., unseating “Abbey Road” by The Beatles for the top spot. It was the first recording with engineer Eddie Kramer [famous then for his work with Hendrix] and his expertise, combined with their desire to "keep it raw" in the studio, though this laid-back "keep it raw" philosophy resulted in an amazing 8 month recording process, and stunningly resulted in a record that influenced nearly every rock record that followed. While it wasn't Sgt. Pepper, there has been a certain amount of mystery following the artwork for years.

David Juniper was responsible for creating the album's jacket, and given a free hand, with the only requirement ... to come up with something interesting.

David goes on to say, "The combination of collage, photography and airbrush illustration was groundbreaking for me, because the traditional airbrush technique was very tricky, especially when compared to today’s digital equivalents. The cover imagery was completely experimental and I liked the combination of the abstract ghostly Zeppelin shape along with a faded sepia WW1 photo of German Aviators. All the faces were replaced or altered with sunglasses and beards on some of the pilots. In amongst the four band airbrushed in from a publicity photograph are Miles Davis or was it Blind Willie Johnson [it couldn't have been Blind Willie, as there is but one photo of the artist, and this is not him], a girlfriend and muse of Andy Warhol, Mary Woronov, Peter Grant, Richard Cole, and the astronaut Neil Armstrong. The original photo of the Jasta Division of the WW1 German Air Force came from an old book about the Sopwith Camel, which was a famous British bi-plane from WWI."

The cover's design was based on a photograph of Jagdstaffel 11, a WWI Division of the German Air Force ... the famous Flying Circus, which was led by Manfred Von Richthofen aka The Red Baron. This picture was then tinted, with the four of LZ being airbrushed in from a 1969 publicity photo ... John Bonham, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones ... resulting in the famous Led Zeppelin II jacket.