Bonhams auction house will be offering up the original recording console used for Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” – and the purchase price won't be cheap.
Bonhams specialist Claire Tole-Moir has said that it’s “hard to overestimate how crucial a role this console has played in the British rock and pop scene...This console is a piece of Britain’s modern cultural history.”
The piece includes two separate studio desks by Helios Electronics. In 1996, Elvis Costello and Squeeze's Chris Difford opened their own recording studio and fused the two historic consoles together into one desk.
The first is the Basing Street Studio 2 console, installed in 1969 at Island Records’ London studios. One year after its installation, Led Zeppelin used the console to record the majority of the legendary “Stairway to Heaven.” The console has also been used on Bob Marley and the Wailers’ “I Shot the Sheriff,” Cat Stevens’ “Peace Train” and parts of the Rolling Stones’ “Angie.”
The second console comes from the guitarist and singer of the band Ten Years After, Alvin Lee. It was held in Lee’s studio from 1973 to 1979, during which music legends like George Harrison, Mick Fleetwood and Ronnie Wood passed through to use the desk.
If you, like us, could never afford to own this incredible piece of rock music memorabilia, just sit back and check out the I Like: Led Zeppelin playlist here!
