Jimmy Page says previously unheard Led Zeppelin music will be released for band's 50th anniversary

Podcast interview with Joe Travers mentioned somewhere on this forum. He goes into detail about the tapes and mentioned that the bass drum track on one of the tape machines was improperly recorded on the first night - a bad patch or something - but they were able to fix it by sampling the bass drum from a different machine. He also mentioned that the percussion was hard to mix because of leakage and that Peter Wolf's keyboards were mono for the first show because of another bad patch (also fixed).

 

The 23rd is a very good show and so is the 18th both are far better then the final 2 shows even the 17th is better then the final 2. The first 3 nights have amazing versions of stairway no quarter Kashmir trampled and ohfa and some great whole lotta love jams especially on the 18th. Even plant sounds decent on many cuts from the 17 and 23rd. Also the sound quality of the earls court multis are fantastic. The best sound quality on the DVD is the earls court segment

 

I've read interviews where Kevin shirley confirms 5 nights of earls court were recorded and another where he says only the final three were. He said at the start of the project he was the most excited about hearing and working on the earls court tapes because he was led to believe that all 5 nights were recorded plus he heard all the hype of how legendary the musical performances were supposed to be. He said he was disappointed to find out only the final 3 were recorded and the bass drum was missing from the first 6 songs on the 23rd so he only had 2 and a half shows to work with. He also said the performances did not live up to what they were hyped to be. So which version is true 3 nights or 5. Unless he was referring to the video recordings when said only 3 shows were recorded.

 

I can clearly remember that video from the old Genesis forum!
Pool of Tears was part of it as well

After so many great and insightful discussions, official polls about what we wanted, etc finally NOTHING happened

 

September is Zeptember!

 

Yeah, but I also thought the Earls Court stuff on the DVD were the most obviously/deeply futzed with/cleaned up/corrected/sync'd up, just from casual observation.

 

True but I was speaking specifically about the sound quality and not the performances. Kevin shirley praised the audio engineers who recorded those shows saying the quality of these multis were great especially considering the equipment. He said the hardest stuff to work on was royal albert hall because it was not recorded well. Most of the work on the ec tapes were on Roberts vocals.

 

We’ll see. The most interesting part of the Earls Court setlist are the new Physical Greffiti songs and the acoustic set. Most of that is on the DVD. The rest is mostly a repeat of the 73 setlist which was performed much better in 73 as represented by TSRTS.

So a full Earls release would mostly be a repeat of the DVD plus a substandard redux of the 73 set. I don’t see the point but we will see what happens.

 

Just checked the garden tapes and while the video footage form the ec bounces back and forth between the 2 nights none of the audio tracks are hybrid versions they are complete single performances. 1 song from the 24th and 5 from the 25th. There is next to no editing on the instruments and most of the vocal editing is on trampled underfoot the other 5 songs are mostly untouched even the vocals.

 

All that may be true, but as a Zeppelin fan, I would love to hear Earls Court in the best possible sound — in “DVD” quality. I don’t understand why a number of fans are content with the ragged bootlegs. It isn’t as if the band professionally recorded that many shows, so why not embrace a great sounding, officially issued live set, even if it is Earls Court?

 

There are many performances i would rather have than earls court but the sad reality is earls court and japan 71 are the only multitracks they have. So I would rather have were court then not. I would love japan but jimmy does not seem keen on that release. I would rather an earls court then a remaster hwww with 3 extra songs. I hate plants voice on hwww he sound like he is sucking on helium baloons all night. Give me l.a 77 plant over hwww plant any time. And for earls court I'm only interested in the first 3 nights. The last 2 are some of my least favorite shows.

 

The reason I hope it's Earls Court is because I'd like some more visual Led Zeppelin.

I have the unofficial versions but the audio mix is pretty poor.
They worked wonders with the stuff they put on the 2003 DVD and I have no doubt that they could release a full set on DVD that would look and sound great.
They may not be the best Zep shows from 1975, but there is potential for a great release all the same.

 

I have no interest in another DVD. I hope they release an audio set.

 

The DVD-market is dying out, I would be very surprised to see a stand alone visual release (unless it is a documentary, but as far as we know, no such work is being undertaken). I think that a visual release only makes sense as a companion to something else (Bath, Earl's Court or Knebworth). We do know that we will get an official sanctioned photo book so I expect that to cover the visual side from a stand alone perspective. Given that HTWWW is part of the Zep canon and all other Zep releases have been given the deluxe treatment, I also expect such a deluxe release in the future. But I don't think that a deluxe HTWWW would be the centrepiece for the 50th anniversary celebrations.

It will likely be something else and most probably something from the live archives (although I don't rule a RSD release of one or two lost studio tracks). We should also bear in mind that copyright questions are just around the corner. And the Zep camp are not particularly well known for making small statements. Having said that its difficult to find the bearing reasons for releasing, for example, a deluxe Earl's Court but not Knebworth or just RAH. And its also difficult to see Zep release another stand alone concert (like Southampton or Osaka, both which focus on areas already covered by previous releases), unless its part of something bigger.

Since we are guessing/speculating about the 50th anniversary, I would expect some form of "Led Zeppelin Live" box collecting tracks from the whole era, from any first rehearsal tapes/Fillmore 69 to Knebworth 79. That would make quite a splash from a media perspective and the only thing that makes sense from an anniversary perspective (i.e. celebrating the whole existence of the band). The other alternative - and in the long run more artistically satisfying - would be to open the live vaults for a number of releases beginning this year and continuing during the next few years; RAH, HTWWW, Earl's Court and Knebworth. The market is getting smaller, the curators of the legacy are getting older. I don't expect it, but I sincerely hope that Zep are keeping a close eye on what Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Rolling Stones are doing and taking notes on what can be done.

But, just imagine the grand box "Led Zeppelin The L.A Forum Soundboards", one concert from each year, wouldn't even have to be complete concerts, could be in "fragments" as curated by Jimmy Page. Nothing would beat that as a live legacy keeper, all the greatness and madness and indulgence in one box. This was Led Zeppelin. But we won't get that.

 

I really like what you are saying/thinking any of that sounds very good like Led Zeppelin live box

 

The problem with doing and earls court DVD is that it seems they only have video for the last 2 shows and it is unlikely page would do a video set of the last night's and an audio set with material from the other nights so we would get nothing from the other nights. There are better versions of almost every song from the first 3 nights.

 

If it is true that JP did not find the footage compelling enough to add additional performances to the “DVD,” then it is probably very unlikely that he has plans for a separate, full-scale Earls Court DVD release. Also, if someone was working on a DVD concert release for Led Zeppelin, one would think news of it would have been leaked by now.

 

Well, we're here on the Steve Hoffman forum, which should answer your question.

A certain percentage of fans of any act will always trash present-day official releases no matter what the benefits are. Look at the Yardbirds '68 thread -- the quality blows the old Epic LP out of the water, but there are people who actually miss Relf's song intros enough to complain. Some people just will not be pleased, no matter what. Some people actually prefer the audience recordings of LA and Long Beach '72 to How The West Was Won because of the dynamic range issues and yada yada yada. I have not listened to Burn Like a Candle since HTWWW came out. It was never that great a recording in the first place.

I'd be on board for an Earl's Court set for sure, whether audio, video or both. Not sure about Knebworth, 'cos I'm not convinced there's enough there to expand on what's already been released. But hopefully, some surprises are in store.

 

That sounds similar to the Pink Floyd show that was included on the Dark Side Immersion box set.

 

There was a rumor put out there by i believe dave Lewis 2 years back where he said jimmy was considering doing a earls court compilation a couple of years down the road. Earls court release is not first choice for me but I won't complain if that's what we get. I would take earls court over southampton any day. I don't get the love for Southampton sure it sounds great but plants voice is worse there then it was in 75 except for very early 75. And instrumentally it's below earls court by a fair margin.

 

By the time the mixing and mastering is done, Southampton and Earl's Court wouldn't have a great deal of difference between them, performance-wise. I prefer Jimmy's sound in '73, for one thing. And Robert's mostly not at his best in both scenarios.

Earl's Court offers the best chance at some sort of "best of." Southampton can't be released as a stand-alone gig, but I don't think there's a chasm between them, overall.

 

The same comments about the same shows repeat on this thread every few pages.

A compilation audio set of their entire career could easily happen. I hope it doesn't unless we also get standalone (close to) complete sets as well.

Earls Court video - not likely, Plant thinks the video screen footage is boring overall (I agree). Average fan isn't going to watch things like No Quarter or Moby Dick with those limited camera angles. Bonus footage included with an EC box? Sure, why not?
Earls Court audio release - absolutely (I can't see it every song making the final cut on a Live at EC set, but most likely would). I don't see why the 23rd audio wouldn't be usable with the bass drum being flown in. Forget the first two nights, they were not recorded to multitrack. Shirley assumed wrong about all 5 nights.
Southampton - Ready to go, though it's not one of their best nights from that era, it has moments like the surprisingly immaculate version of Black Dog for example. I'd be very curious to hear what they'd do with HMMT. Edit or leave it warts and all (or drop it). I never cared for the mellotron solo or Thank You with mellotron in the late 72-early 73 era. Enough of it could be released as a stand alone set.

I hope Jimmy is considering board tapes (especially early ones recorded at odd venues and clubs) that might be historically important and still sound great. And I don't mean existing bootlegs. Who wouldn't love a Fillmore, Winterland, or Montreux show in addition to the multitracked stuff?

Albert Hall, Bath, Osaka, Knebworth pro audio should all eventually be released.

 

The same shows get talked about over and over because that is all they have. A msg 1970 or l.a 77 or a Seattle 72 would be the ultimate releases but they didn't record those shows. Jimmy is not going to release recordings of the p.a feed that is reality. The 5 earls court shows 4 japan shows and Southampton are the only options left and the 2 tokyo shows and 2 osaka shows from 71 are the only multitracks that have not are any kind of release that why the same shows get talked about. Zeppelin multitrack recorded less then 20 shows total and a large chunk of that has been already released. We won't get a box set full of foh soundboard tapes. Why discuss releases that will never happen

 

With Southampton no fixing can be to plants vocals because it's a single performance with earls court there is 3 to 5 nights from which vocal patches can be drawn. Plant sounds pretty decent on the 23rd and sounds quite good on parts of the 17 they made him sound pretty dam good on the 6 ec songs on DVD. An ec no quarter needs a official release.

 

Maybe you don't have all the answers.? I believe there's shows in the archive we don't know about.