Nick Hamlyn in 'The Penguin Price Guide for Record and CD Collectors' describes the copies with the black and white covers as counterfeits - the original release was on Epic with the coloured cover you can see elsewhere on Discogs. I think it was later released on Colombia.I paid a lot of money for my counterfeit and don't really regret it - the album was apparently criticised by the band and subsequently withdrawn - sure, it could be better, but it's still a hell of a rush, especially side 1. One of the surprises is the way 'You're a better man' segues interestingly into a blistering version of 'Heart full of Soul' (not listed). Unfortunately my copy has a big flaw in the audio during a key guitar solo in this song - one of the channels drops out and you can just hear Jimmy Page in the distance for a spell. Can anybody tell me if that's just on my copy? Or true for other counterfeits? Or true for the original copies too?Thanks a lot, I appreciate it - w

Thanks for taking the time to check it out and reply. Really appreciate it. Looks like we'll both have to save up for genuine copies (thanks to Niceroad77 and Combska too) - w

Hi there! I also have the counterfeit and one channel drops on my copy as well. Great record by the way!

My copy( original) is flawless and quite intense. Not sure if that's what you wanted to hear or not.

My copy has a great sounding guitar solo in Heart full of soul. Color cover though.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I appreciate it. It must be just my copy that's defective - pity it happens in such a great solo...

As far as I know, yes, the ones with the black and white covers are counterfeit. I've seen copies with the colored cover with price tags around $500.I've heard that the reason the album was pulled was because it contains an early version of Dazed and Confused which was later credited to Page and Plant (even though Page stole most of the song from Jake Holmes). I haven't listened to my copy recently but I don't remember any noticeable defects in the record.