Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions (UPDATE - Remastered & Expanded CD & Vinyl Releases 16th September 2016)

It should be noted Prof Stoned has the sessions in chronological order unlike the 97 and 2016 releases.

I would also highly recommend Japan 1971 too. WOW!

 

I still remember hearing this on a Westwood One broadcast in the 90s late one night and having an absolute fit getting a fresh tape in the deck to record. It was a mixture of the long 69 and 71 sessions. I was so scared my parents would wake up and whup my butt. I would have fought my dad that night.

I woke up the next day with GOLD on that tape.

 

I too remember hearing them on the radio when I was young, probably in the early 1980s if that makes sense, and it was probably a WW One broadcast then too, as WW One and King Biscuit were the only live shows my local rock radio stations carried, and I know this one would not have been King Biscuit. I almost certainly recorded it too - if memory serves it was just the 1971 set.

The strange thing is, I forgot about it entirely a few years later, and then in the late 1990s when I first heard the original official BBC sessions release and got to the 2nd CD, with the 1971 material on it, I was like, "Holy s*** - I've heard this before, when I was a kid!" The sonic memory came flooding back - it was so vivid, I remembered every note of the Whole Lotta Love medley.

 

My first encounter was the boot Another White Summer which had the 6-27-69 set, bought in mid 90s. I played it countless times and cherished it, until somebody at work nicked it.

 

LOVE this post. Sounds so much like my teenage years.

 

I recorded a lot of great concerts off the radio when I was a teenager. My favorite was the 1972 Deep Purple BBC one.

 

One of the first recordings I made off of the radio was Led Zeppelin live at the BBC from 1969. I remember hearing the local station saying there would be a special broadcast on Sunday at noon (this was sometime around 1982). I knew nothing about how to record off the radio so I took my portable radio to the basement (so it would be quiet) and I had a portable cassette player with an external mic which I pointed at the radio and proceeded to make (to my ears at the time) a pretty decent recording. That was the start of my obsession with live shows and recording radio and TV broadcasts.

 

I got into Zep big time in '85, and I remember the local FM (101.1 WRIF) announcing that they'd be playing live Zep Sunday night. I believe it was part of a Westwood One In Concert series or maybe it was King Biscuit. Regardless, it was a hybrid of the 6/69 Playhouse and 4/71 Paris Theatre shows. Recorded it to a TDK SA-90 and wore the hell out of that tape listening to it on my Walkman. I remember when bootleg CDs started to become really common in the early 90s and finding the "Thank You (It's Complete)" Paris Theatre boot. I was so geeked to finally have the complete show assuming it was the same quality as what I had recorded. And then I listened to it. Sounded like it was recorded with the recorder held up to the speaker. Was thrilled when better sources started circulating via usenet and downloads/torrents.

 

Grew up there till '73 and always had (FM93.3 WMMR "the radio station"). What does AOR stand for?

A bit off the main subject, but when I went to school near Portland,OR in late 70s, KINK would do an album preview every Wed night from 10-11. Cue you on when the record would start, and tell you when the end of the first side will be so you could pause the tape while they flipped album and had their commercials. Got a lot of new albums that way.

 

AOR = Album Oriented Radio/Rock

Album-oriented rock - Wikipedia

 

Circa 1982, 94.1 WYSP in Philadelphia offered the Sunday Night Six Pack. Six albums side by side, for your taping pleasure. I saved my caddy money and bought a stack of Harmon Kardon gear; 45wpc integrated amp, matching tuner and the HK200xm cassette deck.

The tape decked worked very hard dubbing FM, vinyl and finally CDs for portable use. it gave up the ghost, technician at my employers HiFi shop couldn’t align the heads anymore and my used 1999 Saab came with a CD player in 2002.

 

Man, just getting around to listening to this set now. Very annoying how the track listing isn't ordered chronologically, nor in the order that songs were played. I rearranged everything in my Apple Music library, and I have to say that this ROCKS. Very cool to hear how they progressed from the '69 to 71' shows. Very happy we have this set

 

Prof stoned work is excellent and preferred over the official releases IMO.

 

I remember the MMR and WDAS. Went to school in the area 70-71. Loved that free form FM. Especially late at night.

 

+1.

 

I have a few ???
Are the performances on the BBC Classic Records and /or/ Jimmy Page Set edited?
Which one of these sounds better too?

 

I actually remember the Westwood One premiere of HTWWW/DVD and it was a mixture of live tracks from both releases. Since my minivan still had a tape deck at that time, I dubbed it old school style and had GOLD on that tape too!

 

Replying to Ryan but this is for everybody not familiar with Prof Stoned's version of the BBC sessions. As tlake6659 points out. Just search for the name Prof Stoned. It's a blog. When I try it, it's the first result.
You won't have to reorder the tracks and nothing is cut, unlike all the official releases. Sounds better too.

 

This is def the only way to fly…

 

Yes, they are edited.
See: The Garden Tapes - BBC Sessions and The Complete BBC Sessions

 

All of the official versions are edited.

The 1997 CD release and the Classic Records LPs have the same 24 songs (with the same edits).

The 2016 CD version includes 9 more songs on a bonus disc but it is still not complete.

Basically, you are missing:

4/14/69: "Sunshine Woman" contains a digital glitch which has never been fixed
6/16/69: alternate version of "What Is And What Should Never Be" (with different guitar solo) has never been released
6/27/69: "It's Your Thing" is cut from "Communication Breakdown"
6/27/69: 9 seconds cut from "Dazed"
6/27/69: band introductions during "How Many More Times" are cut
4/1/71: false start cut from beginning of "What Is And What Should Never Be"
4/1/71: numerous cuts in the "Whole Lotta Love" medley
4/1/71: "Feel So Bad" cut from "Communication Breakdown"

The Garden Tapes website has further details.

 

Ok thanks
I figured there were still a lot of edits

 

It still sounds fantastic, especially from that era.

 

I’m trying to work out whether to buy the Classic BG cut or the Complete BBC sessions cut from 2016. Is either AAA?

Earlier A/B comparisons suggest that the Classic BG cut is thinner overall but with more high end, which may not be a good thing. Others prefer the 2016 for a more smooth, rounded sound. Can anyone who has heard both recommend which way to go for vinyl? Thanks very much.

 

The 2016 is not all analog. It sounds great. But, I have not heard the Classic.