Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin

Yeah it's like 3 or 4 beats of what sounds like tape echo feedback and possibly someone under it saying "3, 4". Then the cymbol hits and the music begins. That was cut off the Led Box Set, it just starts with the cymbol crash.

Yah Shure wrote: "Immigrant Song"/"Hey, Hey, What Can I Do" was apparently released as number 13131 on the Atlantic Oldies Series, but, like Bill, I've never seen a copy.

I have one of those. There's also a picture of one at the web site below (or maybe two -- there are two pictures; it's not clear to me whether they are the same record or two different records, though if the latter, they appear to be the same "pressing"):

http://www.vjez.com/zep/us45/immUSosb.jpg

Mine has the 1841 Broadway address and no mention of Warner Communications in the rim print. The pictures at the above link are a later pressing with the 75 Rockefeller Plaza address and the small "W" logo.

Atlantic released at least four Led Zeppelin singles as Oldies Series reissues in the early '70s: "Whole Lotta Love", "Immigrant Song", "Black Dog", and "Rock And Roll". All four can be found in either of the rim print variations discussed above. (I have never seen Oldies Series reissues of the "Good Times Bad Times"/"Communication Breakdown" single from the first album, or of either of the singles from Houses Of The Holy.)

Sometime around 1976 or 1977, the Oldies Series issues were taken off the market and replaced with reissues of all seven of Led Zeppelin's Atlantic 45s on standard red and black labels with the original catalog numbers. All of these remained in print at least into the late '80s, because I bought all of them new in record stores around 1988. The reissue that Yah Shure posted a scan of is an example of one of these. The reissues are very common today, much more so than original pressings, but can be confusing to novice collectors because they superficially appear to be original pressings (they have the same catalog numbers and basic label design as originals, and they are not part of a reissue series). There are a number of subtle differences that can be used to distinguish the originals from the reissues, but the most sure-fire is probably the absence or presence of the Warner Communications text and logo.

In 1990, Atlantic changed from its long-running red and black label to a purple (lavender) and black label -- same basic label layout, just a different color. Late reissues of "Whole Lotta Love" apparently exist on this label. I've never actually seen one, but I've encountered a few references to them, and I know of one person (someone who posts on this forum) who has one. I've seen no evidence that "Immigrant Song" or any of the other Led Zeppelin singles were ever made with the purple and black label, however. The other titles had apparently been deleted by 1990, or Atlantic had enough leftover red and black label copies in inventory that they never had any need to press more copies on the new label.

Edited by MCT1