Update: Console Used To Record LED ZEPPELIN's "Stairway To Heaven" Sells At Auction For $142,424
December 11, 2018, 6 years ago
When Bonhams sold the Dark Side Of The Moon recording console in 2017, the London-based auction house pulled in $1.8 million. But if the auctioneers were hoping to repeat history today, they're likely disappointed, reports Reverb.com.
The HeliosCentric board - widely covered in the lead-up to the auction as the historic console that recorded parts of "Stairway To Heaven," Bob Marley's Catch A Fire, and other legendary recordings - fetched $142,424.
The refurbished recording console is a combination of parts from the Island Records Helios console used in the label's Basing Street Studio and Ten Years After singer and guitarist Alvin Lee's Helios deck from his Space Studios. In 1996, Elvis Costello and Squeeze's Chris Difford combined the two boards (along with some newer parts) to make a console for their HeliosCentric recording studio.
The Island years of the Helios board got most of the attention from the music press in advance of the auction. While Bonhams said it was "used by artists such as Led Zeppelin to record their 'Album IV' which includes the timeless hit 'Stairway To Heaven,'" it wasn't the primary console in that recording, as Led Zeppelin famously used the Rolling Stones Mobile studio on location at the Headley Grange estate for much of that album.
Read more at Reverb.com.
(Photos - Bonhams)
