Recordings Led Zeppelin made as they were composing their 1975 double-album Physical Graffiti will be available at auction next month. The Amherst, New Hampshire–based RR Auctions says that many of the songs on the tapes differ structurally from the ones that came out officially. The group re-recorded the guitar and vocal parts on many of the tapes’ songs, some of which lack vocals altogether, and, in some cases, it used only John Bonham’s drum tracks and completely redid the tracks.
The band recorded the songs at the Ronnie Lane’s Mobile Studio, which audio engineer Ron Nevison built in a 26-foot Airstream trailer. The tapes are part of the Ron Nevison collection, which is also auctioning rough mixes of Bad Company‘s debut and four songs from Eric Clapton‘s 1973 album Eric Clapton’s Rainbow Concert, as well as recordings by the Who, Ozzy Osbourne and Flo and Eddie.
During the Led Zeppelin sessions, Nevison recorded the drum parts for “Kashmir,” which was then titled “Driving to Kashmir.” Bass player and keyboardist John Paul Jones was late to the session, so guitarist and producer Jimmy Page worked out the song’s riff with Bonham. Nevison recorded the cymbals through a phaser as an experiment, and Page decided he liked the sound and used it on the finished version. “Driving to Kashmir,” as it appears on these tapes, is completely instrumental.
RR Auctions is offering up these pieces of the Ron Nevison Collection as part of its Marvels of Modern Music auction. Non-Nevison items that will be available include a signed U.K. first pressing of the Beatles‘ Twist and Shout EP, the registration for John Lennon‘s 1965 Rolls Royce, a pair of Lennon’s glasses that belonged to classical musician Victor Borge and the cape Elvis Presley wore in the 1973 TV special Aloha From Hawaii. The auction begins on March 13th and ends on March 20th.
