I'm a late starter to ebay. In fact, I won my first bid only a couple of days ago, on a 1977 Canadian reissue of LZII for only $6. This was partially for nostalgia since my first copy of II would have been one of these and this one was in great shape. I also remember it sounding quite good. So far, I've got an old Canadian red label pressing of II that must have sounded good when new but is pretty beat up, a Japanese 3rd pressing that's all midrange and has no dynamics, and the Classic reissue, that has so much treble boost that all the overload on the original master is boosted. I don't remember II sounding this bad. If I could find a mint copy of the red label, I'd be happy as the rhythm section on it is just incredible. The RL is supposed to sound even better, so if any of you US folk have an old copy of II on vinyl, check the numbers carved into the deadwax near the label. If you see an RL, keep it because this is the true holy grail for fans of this album (or wrap it up and send it to me ;)
By the way, here's a thread I started with an audio sample from my trusty old red-label:
http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=112505 Quoting tytlane@xxxxxxxxxxxx:
Hmmmm... Interesting indeed. Especially the sellers notes on the dates and release dates for this album. Good question, why would a test pressing have been made 10/31/69 *after* the album was said to have been officialy released ( 10/22/1969) ? Maybe if I break open my change jar, ebay off my dusty guitars, sell myself for scientific experiments.... Only 1 bid so far...$2,000 and reserve not met... This is on my watch list! I wonder how high it will go. Nech zeppelin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:For those of you looking for that ultimate vinyl pressing of Led Zeppelin II, if you have a few grand kicking around, why not check this test pressing out?Go to www.ebay.com and in the search field at the top enter item# 150121167445Man, this would have to sound nice for a $2000 bid!Actually, Jimmy, if you or any of your designates are reading the list as some suspect, maybe you should get some of your staff on this. After all, rumor has it that the original masters for LZII are lost, so maybe you can grab this test pressing and use it to source a better version than the Classic reissue.