Famed producer Eddie Kramer put more than 2,000 items from his collection up for sale at the online site Backstage Auctions, including a host of rare Led Zeppelin recordings, Kiss’ 1973 demo tape, rough mixes for Peter Frampton’s iconic live set “Frampton Comes Alive” and a wealth of test pressings and acetates from Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie.
“I’ve had this stuff in my basement for 30-odd years,” Kramer tells Billboard.com. “I’m actually making a move to California, so I decided to clean house. I don’t need to schlep this stuff around with me anymore.”
Among the tantalizing items available for bidding is a nine-song Led Zeppelin studio session from 1974, featuring different versions of five songs eventually released on the following year’s “Physical Graffiti” (“Custard Pie,” “In My Time of Dying,” “The Wanton Song” and “Boogie With Stu”), plus four tracks that have not been identified.
Other Zeppelin sessions include a rough mix from 1972 or 1973 of the “Graffiti” track “The Rover” on a tape that “ends with a total burst of sound,” according to the lot description; a four-song session for the album “Led Zeppelin II”; an undated early recording of tracks intended for “Houses of the Holy” that excludes opener “The Song Remains the Same”; and mixes for the 1976 live album of the same.
The auction, which also features photographs and memorabilia, concludes Aug. 1.
