Led Zeppelin I on cassette

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Galactus, Oct 4, 2018.

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  1. Galactus

    Galactus Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    London, UK
    Here's a curio that has really affected the way I listen to this album.

    When I was at school in around 1987/88 one of my mates leant me the cassette of Led Zeppelin's first album. I instantly loved it and played it to death.

    It was only years later when I bought the CD that I thought that it just didn't sound right.

    That was because some cassettes of that album (and it seems to be those repressed in the UK and Europe in the 80s) had a different running order to the vinyl and CD.

    Now, thanks to Discogs and Spotify I have been able to seek out that cassette running order, create a Spotify playlist and - bingo - the album sounds right again (to me). Just as I remembered it all those years ago.

    I'm sure Led Zep purists will scoff. But that cassette is how I first heard the album as a teenager and I just can't listen to any other running order. Even if it wasn't what the band intended.

    Here is a link the cassette in question, so you can see the changes.

    But I guess the question is why? As the original cassettes mirrored the vinyl release (apart from sometimes switching the A and B sides). But these 80s re-releases actually shuffled the songs around.

    Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin
     
  2. GoodKitty

    GoodKitty FloydM

    Location:
    Pacific
    Ha, that's a trip !
    Funny how we get imprinted one way or another .....
     
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  3. MikeM.

    MikeM. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jacksonville, IL
    Same thing happened to me. Zep I on CD was a confusing listen after the cassette!
     
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  4. Brian Hoffman

    Brian Hoffman Obsessive fanatic extraordinaire

    Location:
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    I had a similar experience when I picked up a Parlaphone copy of "Rubber Soul". Not just a different running order but different songs altogether! It was quite disorienting.
     
  5. Deek57

    Deek57 Forum Resident

  6. Celebrated Summer

    Celebrated Summer Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    This happened to me with the second dB's album Repercussions. I bought a UK edition on Albion Records that had an alternate running order that started with "Happenstance." But it seems like the standard edition is the one that starts with "Living A Lie." No matter how I try to get with things, I still take to the one I bought as a teenager.
     
  7. Bluepicasso

    Bluepicasso Android Confused

    Location:
    Arlington, Va
    --
    Thanks for this memory shakedown. May have to redo them in iTunes, as these are how I remember them.
     
  8. Fender Relic

    Fender Relic Forum Resident

    Location:
    PennsylBama
    That's funny about LZ 1. I have a cassette copy in the car for years that I used to play a lot but not being a dedicated LZ fan I never noticed if the running order was different than on my vinyl copy. Or, is it?
     
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  9. DJ LX

    DJ LX Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison WI
    Re Zeppelin II on cassette, it just doesn't feel right not having Living Loving Maid follow Heartbreaker.
     
  10. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    That really makes no sense....:confused:
     
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  11. Bluepicasso

    Bluepicasso Android Confused

    Location:
    Arlington, Va
    --
    I think this is the version I had: Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II
     
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  12. MikeP5877

    MikeP5877 V/VIII/MCMLXXVII

    Location:
    OH
    My '80s cassette of Led Zeppelin II ran like this:

    Side A
    Whole Lotta Love
    What Is And What Should Never Be
    The Lemon Song
    Heartbreaker

    Side B
    Thank You
    Living Loving Maid
    Ramble On
    Moby Dick
    Bring it on Home To Me
     
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  13. Dodoz

    Dodoz Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    There are many people who like The Beatles' US albums...No one will scoff about a different sequence of "Led Zeppelin I". :)

    I wasn't aware of that, and funnily enough, I wanted to purchase it on cassette at some point (in 1990) but didn't have enough pocket money. I wonder if the french/german tape would have been different. I ended up with a cassette dub of the LP.
     
  14. Chance

    Chance Forum Resident

    Location:
    Morris County, NJ
    First thing I thought, too. "How could they break that up?!?" o_O
     
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  15. eric777

    eric777 Astral Projectionist

    You know, it’s not difficult to import a CD or do a needle drop of the record and change the track order. Then you could burn a new CD or whatever.

    Just saying.
     
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  16. DJ LX

    DJ LX Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison WI
    My guess it that this was done to make sides A and B closer in length to lessen 'dead space' at the end of a side.

    I originally had Axis: Bold as Love on cassette (purchased in the 80s as a teen) and the sequencing was different from the vinyl.
     
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  17. mschrist

    mschrist Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    I had heard somewhere--maybe on this board--that this was done to even up the length of the two sides, which saved tape and cut costs.

    The topsy-turvy world of alternate cassette running orders fascinates me. My Led Zeppelin II was the same as @MikeP5877's, with "Thank You" at the beginning of side two.
     
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  18. nicotinecaffeine

    nicotinecaffeine Forum Resident

    Location:
    Walton, KY
    Was similar with the 80s cassette of Yes' S/T. The sides were swapped.
     
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  19. Todd68

    Todd68 I'm Listening

    My Zep 1 album has a skip in HMMT. It has been there since I got it in the early 80s. I can't listen to any version without anticipating that skip. Like the running order, you get things stuck in your head, so I can totally see how this works for the OP.
     
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  20. Dodoz

    Dodoz Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    I've never heard that, but on "Remasters" it felt totally odd already. "Ramble On" follows "Heartbreaker"...
     
  21. cjefferys

    cjefferys Forum Resident

    That, and Your Time is Gonna Come and Black Mountain Side are separated by Babe I'm Gonna Leave You? How does that even work?
     
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  22. mschrist

    mschrist Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2019
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  23. Dodoz

    Dodoz Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    So strange. My first copy of "Rumours" had the regular running order...
     
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  24. spaulding

    spaulding Hoi Polloi

    Location:
    The Windy City
    Exactly.
    But try growing up with the 8-track -
    I had to endure a ‘pause’ in the middle of Ramble On! Oh the anticipation.....

    Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II
     
  25. FrixFrixFrix

    FrixFrixFrix Senior Member

    Location:
    Parts Unknown
    I second this. YTIGC and BMS have a significant cross fade. Are they both just cut to eliminate the overlap?
     
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