Led Zeppelin "Led Zeppelin III"

Led Zeppelin III is the eponymous third studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 5 October 1970 by Atlantic Records in the United States and on 23 October 1970 in the United Kingdom. Composed largely at a remote cottage in Wales known as Bron-Yr-Aur and recorded between May and August 1970, the album represented a maturing of the band's music towards a greater emphasis on folk and acoustic sounds. This surprised many fans and critics, and upon its release the album received rather indifferent reviews.

Although it is not one of the highest sellers in Led Zeppelin's catalogue, Led Zeppelin III is now generally praised and acknowledged as representing an important milestone in their history. Although acoustic songs are featured on its predecessors, this album showed that Led Zeppelin were more than just a conventional rock band, and that they could branch out into wider musical territory.

Led Zeppelin III's original vinyl edition was packaged in a gatefold sleeve with an innovative cover, designed by Zacron, a multi-media artist whom Page had met in 1963 whilst Zacron was a student at Kingston College of Art. He had recently resigned a lectureship at Leeds Polytechnic to found Zacron Studios, and in 1970 Page contacted him and asked him to design the third album's cover.


The cover and interior gatefold art consisted of a surreal collection of seemingly random images on a white background, many of them connected thematically with flight or aviation (as in "Zeppelin"). Behind the front cover was a rotatable laminated card disc, or volvelle, covered with more images, including photos of the band members, which showed through holes in the cover. Moving an image into place behind one hole would usually bring one or two others into place behind other holes. This could not be replicated on a conventional cassette or CD cover, but there have been Japanese and British CDs packaged in miniature versions of the original sleeve. In France, this album was released with a different album cover, simply showing a photo of the four band members.