Led Zeppelin - 2007 Show (DVD/CD)

I think that's an opinion shared by many others.

Lot's of people, including me, would like something from the vaults but this show needs to come out and this year is better late than never. A five year anniversary release sounds good for marketing purposes as well.

Hopefully there won't be any last minute mind changes as in previous years this time around.

 

I have also heard that the tapes also exist - although which shows is unclear.

I'm also surprised no one has mentioned the other "holy grail" of LZ live shows - the rumored Bath soundboard. Supposedly there is at least a soundboard recording of this show - maybe even a professional recording as well. The group was on fire for this show but all that is "out there" are poor audience recordings.

 

Vienna - March 16, 1973 blows Southampton away and there are good quality boots out there

 

I want this DVD/CD of the 02 concert.
I wanted it back in 2007.
Why the wait?

 

I have my doubts about a Bath soundboard or multi - most of what I've heard, rumor-wise, seems to be based on wishful thinking and very little hard evidence. Also, the fact that the band themselves were looking for b**t recordings of it in the early 70s would seem to suggest very strongly to me that no such 'pro' recordings exist. You never know for sure, I guess...

Even if it does exist, the performance is only 5 months after Royal Albert Hall (which is almost as good a gig, IMHO, and a lot of overlap with the Bath set), so I dunno if it would even be a candidate while the Japan '71 tapes are still unreleased.

On the upside, an upgrade to the "poor" audience recording of Bath '70 came out a year or two ago, through the usual channels. It's 1 or 2 gens removed from the master (as opposed to the previous "nth" generation versions), and it's quite listenable. I suspect the PA was as much at fault for the quality of the Bath "unofficial" recordings as the recording equipment used...

And since we're on the subject, here's what supposedly definitely exists in the vaults as far as Zeppelin live multitrack* recordings - this info is gleaned/inferred from interviews with Jimmy Page and Kevin Shirley - and the dusty, sometimes unreliable beast that is my memory, so don't expect me to quote sources - a lot of this info is probably on the 'net, some place or another. (and, for a comprehensive analysis on what's been released, google "The Garden Tapes". Eddie Edwards is a very knowledgeable Zep geek - puts me to shame.)

1968/1969 - Nothing, although (presumably some festival gigs could have been recorded that nobody in the Zep camp knows about, but one would think someone would have surfaced and asked for money for them by now!)
1970 - January 9, Royal Albert Hall. As I said in an earlier post, Bath seems doubtful.
1971 - September Japanese Tour. There were five shows - 2 in Tokyo, one in Hiroshima, 2 in Osaka. There is definite evidence that the 2nd Osaka show was recorded, and photographic evidence for the first one. Beyond that, it's hard to say anything with any degree of certainty.
1972 - Los Angeles, June 25th & Long Beach, June 27th. (And possibly some of the Japan Tour in October, but I think it's likely that this was being confused with the Japan '71 tour.)
1973 - Southampton, June 22nd. Madison Square Garden, July 27th-29th.
1975 - Earl's Court. Supposedly, all five dates were recorded, but as far as the tapes from the 17th and 18th of May go, nobody can find them, which means that they were either, A - stolen/lost (and not bootlegged?) or B - never recorded in the first place - given that those dates were later additions to their schedule, it might make sense that the recording truck was only hired for the later 3 gigs. Speaking of which, the tapes from the 24th and 25th are fine, but, according to Shirley, the one from the 23rd has no kick drum track.
1977 - Nothing.
1979 - Knebworth, August 4th and 11th.
1980 - Nothing.

Reunions:
1985 - Live Aid. Who cares if it's a multi or not, it'll never be released, as it's absolutely awful.
1988 - See Live Aid.
(1990 - they played together at Jason Bonham's wedding, but the idea of this being recorded, at least professionally, is laughable.)
2007 - Rehearsal gig(s) at Shepperton, main gig at O2 Arena.

There are tons of soundboards, from all stages of their career, in varying (but probably not release-able) quality. I doubt any non-multitrack Zeppelin live material will ever be released in Page's lifetime (other than the already released BBC stuff, which is interesting, but not really representative of how good they were in 1969/1971, IMHO.) The pre-75 stuff isn't high enough fidelity, and the 75/77 soundboards, while possibly good enough from a recording/mix standpoint, probably aren't consistent enough performance-wise to be put out "as-is".

And, now that I've bored everyone to death, back to lurking...

*by "multi-track", I mean "more than two" - I know there are some "split-track/duophonic-type" stereo soundboards (Texas Pop '69 and Hampton '71 come to mind) and I know that at least some of the 75/77 'boards have some of the PA effects (panning, etc) in stereo, but I mean -true- multitracks, i.e. at least one track of tape per musician which, for Zeppelin, means at least four, and, if we're counting hall ambiance, 5 or 6. I think Royal Albert was done with 6 or 8 (did 6 track tape even exist?)

 

patsdelight, thanks for the summary.

I'm huge Zep fan, and I'd probably get an O2 release, but based on the audience recordings that I've heard, I don't think it's something that I would repeatedly go back to. They came off better than I was expecting, but that's because my expectations had been lowered so much by the Live Aid and Atlantic 88 sets. My vote goes for the '71 Japan tour stuff!

 

If this comes out, I hope it's released on vinyl too.

 

I thought only some of the songs were drop-D anyhow?

 

Stairway To Heaven tuned a whole step down?

I'll pass...

 

Agreed. While a cool set list, Plant sounds a little rough in that one. I'd like to see the O2 show released

 

Just a guess...but I assume it has something to do with 99%+ of the music buying public not having turntables or buying vinyl.

 

Do you mean to say that the songs were tuned down a whole step? Most LZ songs are not in "drop D" tuning.

Can't imagine anyone changing their usual amplifier just because you're tuned down a step.

 

I'll definitely pre-order a copy if/when it becomes available. I thought it was a pretty darn good show all things considered, and will be happy to have it on Blu-ray. I thought Kashmir in particular was great, and might be my favorite live version.

That said, of course I'd rather have Japan 71 or Bath 70 if they exist.

 

I can't speak for the whole performance but I can tell you that I listened to a YouTube vid of Stairway with guitar in hand and it most definitely tuned down a whole step to the key of Gm rather than its original key of Am. I assume that this was done for Plant, but it makes the song sound quite wrong to me. Also it was all 6 strings tunes down a whole step and not just drop D.

Also as a guitarist I can tell you that dropping or altering a tuning does not require a different amp. However if you're dropping Meshuggah low (low F# or something ridiculous) you'd probably want an amp and more likely a CABINET that handled the low frequencies better. But for simple drop D? Not necessary.

 

I'll take what I can get, wish it was coming out on Blu-Ray, though.

 

I don't think that's the case, as we have seen a flood of vinyl re-releases in the past couple of years. Somebody's buying the things, and I'm sure Zeppelin, or Atlantic, or whoever makes such decisions isn't oblivious to that. However, it would appear that Zeppelin licenses their material very sparingly compared to other artists. The Classic Records LP's have been OOP for what, 5 years? I expect that Zeppelin doesn't like to just pounce on an opportunity stop a gap, they'd rather let it lay fallow for a few years and see if the demand grows. There's two approaches - release stuff all the time so that it's always available, or stand pat so that when you do finally have a re-release, it's a big event and people gobble it up eagerly, not wanting to wait until it's unavailable again.

And anyway, so what if they don't re-release the Zep catalog on LP? There's probably a billion used LP's out there, you can probably build a very nice all-analog Zep LP collection for less than a new set of 180-gram releases would cost you.

 

Original Zep vinyl is starting to get quite scarce.

Aren't the 1988 rehearsals good enough to release and there's a decent chance of being multi tracked.

I'd even welcome a multi tracked show from a Page/Plant concert tour. Any known HD?

 

Zep at the O2 will make a great release... until Kevin Shirley ruins it.

 

He's not involved in this one.

 

Has John Paul Jones had any musical cricket in th east 2 years?

Fair to now say Crooked Vultures was a one shot deal.

 

That appears to be true. I think he wanted more, but the other two are way too busy with their main bands.

 

Since TCV ended JPJ has been quite busy

Appeared at the Barbican with Malian singer Rokia Traore
Toured the UK, Australia & NZ with Seasick Steve
Toured the UK with Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch
Appeared at Abbey Road with Robyn Hitchcock
Played in the house band at the National Opera production of the Anna Nicole Smith opera
Played with Spin Marvel
Played with Helge Sten as Minibus Pimps
Upcoming tour with Supersilent

He doesn't seem to be waiting around for the other two (actually three) guys ....

 

Funny the name Kevin Shirley comes up. I first came across his "handywork" on the Black Crowes By Your Side album. My God was that album miserable BEYOND the mediocre songwriting.

Kevin Shirley has a drum sound. I had no idea in 2003 when I picked it up that he was responsible for mixing the Zep "How The West Was Won" album. I heard the drums and they sounded EXACTLY like the By Your Side drums and sure enough -Kevin Shirley.

Kevin, if you toll this board, sorry man, but just not a fan.

 

Is this the most absurd thing any LZ member has ever done?