Extremely rare previously undocumented promotional pressing of Physical Graffiti, the sixth studio album by Led Zeppelin, which was specially customized by Atlantic Records / Swan Song Records for the now-defunct Chicago radio station WMET. The front cover design retains the brownstone New York City tenement buildings at 96 and 98 St. Mark's Place, but whereas the official widely released design featured die-cut windows that spelled out the album name, this particular version spells out the WMET radio station in the upper windows, with all of the lower windows containing Christmas images like mistletoe, candy canes, presents, and Santa Claus. In very fine condition. The records are included.
Includes a letter of authenticity from Recordmecca's Jeff Gold, who states that he discovered the album “in the collection of the former editor of music industry trade publication Radio & Records, Ken Barnes.” Additionally, Barnes himself has included with the lot a handwritten letter of provenance: “This letter is to authenticate an original, sealed copy of Led Zeppelin’s album Physical Graffiti with the call letters of Chicago radio station WMET and alternate artwork visible in the windows of the album cover. I have had this album in my collection for decades, and in fact until Jeff Gold found it among the other Zeppelin albums (mostly promo copies) in my 30,000-LP collection, I never noticed this was in any way different from the regular issue of the album. I very likely obtained this album while working at the radio industry trade publication Radio & Records around the time the album was released. I was an editor at Radio & Records and received thousands of promotional albums from record companies while working at R & R and writing about music for various publications over the years, most recently as music editor for USA Today.”
Accompanied by the Christmas 2010 issue of the magazine Record Collector, which features a two-page article by Dave Lewis entitled “Radio Graffiti” that in greater detail tells the story of this rare WMET Zeppelin record.
