'Got those West Bromwich Blues!!'
Sunday, June 22nd 1969 was the original broadcast date of my favorite of all the BBC Sessions Led Zeppelin recorded in those whirlwind days. Now let's look at the whole BBC history, the archive, the improvisations, the gems.
I've been a die hard Led Zeppelin 'fan' (think it actually goes much much deeper than being a 'fan'!...) since February 1975. More than 4 decades later, I still have that buzz, that joy, that passion and that wonder. They were different. Always. Better, unique, one of a kind. Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi said a little while back 'Can you imagine music without Led Zeppelin, because I can't'. THAT, beyond all the hand wringing and point scoring and eulogising, says so so much.
There are two extreme views on this set (as with the previous 9,or 10 if you include the TSRTS expanded edition), and I can see both sides even though I sit on the side of the completist factor.
Let's see what this new set gives us that (officially) we haven't had before.
Communication Breakdown. From the March 3rd Playhouse Theatre sessions broadcast on March 23rd. This is great, a primitive and raw take. It's the last of the 4 tracks originally recorded to get official release, the other 3 made available on the original BBC set.
What Is And What Should Never Be. From the June 16th Chris Grant's Tasty Pop Sundae session broadcast six days later on June 22nd. This is the possibly the most important track of the session, because despite the rarities and cover versions this is our first studio quality glimpse of Led Zeppelin II. It's a skeletal but relaxed arrangement, sounding somewhat nervous and fragile. It's the last of the 4 tracks to be released, completing the session.
Dazed And Confused. The (almost) final piece of the jigsaw from the Rock Hour/One Night Stand Playhouse Theatre show from June 27th. From a time when the show hadn't been bootlegged on vinyl, I had a mono cassette - complete with radio interference and continual fairly high pitched tone throughout - to enjoy this stunning version.
With little from this era (especially back then) this forms a crucial link from one arrangement to another, as Led Zeppelin grew in stature and confidence. All we are missing now is the Alan Black interview with Jimmy and Robert conducted before this track, which is part of the 3CD limited version of BBC Sessions in 1997 but not on here....
White Summer/Black Mountain Side. Originally released on the 4CD/6LP box in 1990, this is also from the One Night Stand/Rock Hour presentation. Not included on the deluxe edition of Coda, it makes sense to be here.
My main reservation is we now have the first sessions and In Concert complete as far as tracks are concerned but they're fragmented and displaced across the discs. In a perfect world we would (should) have the sessions and performances presented complete and chronologically.... It would not only collate better but give the right perspective to the sessions and their recording dates, rather than just throw out the original 2CD set and add a 3rd of interesting (even essential) composite tracks to complete the released archive.
What Is And What Should Never Be/Communication Breakdown. From the Paris Theatre April 1st set. Notwithstanding the fact some of the cover versions/snippets edited out are due to contractual reasons, here are the final two tracks from this sterling performance. Both great, I'm itching to find out if the new set includes the false start to 'What Is...' when Robert attempts to sing it in completely uncomfortable and much too high key, and also if all the ad-lib jams in Communication are still there, including a nod at It's Your Thing (nixed from the '69 set due to Isley Brothers greed...), Feel So Bad and Blind Willie McTell's Broke Down Engine Blues. We shall see...
Finally, we come to the real meat on the bone, a session not included on the original release.
The full 3 track session recorded for the Alexis Korner Rhythm and Blues show on March 19th, broadcast April 14th. Sunshine Woman is a nice boogie style blues, with a strident edge later explored on Travelling Riverside Blues and The Girl I Love. I Can't Quit You Baby is a startling version, the Page-Plant interaction higher than ever before (on tape). You Shook Me fades on the broadcast. The first we heard of this was a barely listenable Polish flexi postcard! And then a better version, and then....
What we've had before is an AM tape, supposedly recorded on a re-broadcast on July 20/21 1969 as the BBC World Service was broadcasting the Apollo moon landing. After that this was put on the air. It's VG/EX mono tape, and whether Jimmy has found the original BBC masters or is using a copy of the broadcast isn't clear. I saw one posting that suggested the bootleg broadcast...
So there we go!. It completes the BBC Sessions in one sense, save a few reservations -
In a perfect World, the sessions should be presented compete and chronologically, and the same for the two live sets.
There are NO missing tracks now, only introductions, false starts, edits and those bits of ephemera that the uberfan wants and deserves. For me, the thing about a performance and a session is the chronology and timescape of it all. Completing the tracks is one thing, and although I can see the reasons for adding a 3rd disc to highlight the additional 'rare and previously unreleased' recordings, I would much prefer a complete resift if you like, putting the sessions and performance together and presenting them intact and chronologically.
As a completist/collector/fan, although I can see (and share) the excitement of a new deluxe box set, I do feel some disappointment at the arbitrary way a 3rd disc has been kinda chucked on the end and we don't have the full sessions and live shows presented complete in a way they should be enjoyed. Very very nice but a missed opportunity for me. The missing bits and pieces may be just that, but a 'complete' BBC archive release is not only deserved but essential for a band of the stature of Led Zeppelin.
All of this has taken me back to my teens and the murky, contrived and convoluted world of bootleg collecting, on elpee and cassette as it was back then. The first bootlegs I discovered from the BBC tapes (obviously much better quality that the average audience bootleg, at least in my mind) were BBC Broadcasts, BBC Zep, Stairway To Heaven and Ballcrusher. A plethora of live, session and alternatively sourced material mixed in with these tapes.
In 1980 we got Knebworth Fair Vol 1 that included a fair but top heavy and scratchy tape of the first part of the August 4th show plus the recent Tommy Vance Friday Rock Show re-broadcasts of the March 3rd and June 24th sessions. A few years later the 1969 broadcast was bootlegged on In The Light and the grandiose Dazed And Confused, a gatefold LP on multicoloured transluscent wax by Royal Sound that was mighty fine even if it missed the Alan Black interview.
Then there was the Something Else EP. At a time when Led Zeppelin were unhip and dead to the bootleg and collectors world, this wonderful 4 track 7", featuring studio not broadcast tapes of the June 16th session, was bootlegged. from Archive Productions (nee Scorpio, allegedly....) it was a wonderful thing. Later the CD version would add the b-side of the red dragon No Quarter Earls' Court vinyl, erroneously dated May 25th.
The 1971 show is another thing entirely. The original broadcast was a mish mash, however wonderful. BBC Broadcasts by TMOQ and the CBM BBC Zep were everywhere, including TMOQ's Stairway To Heaven that had more John Peel chat but different edits and the session Whole Lotta Love clumsily dropped on at the start of the medley.
Soon, LP's like Ballcrusher would fill some of the gaps, a BBC Broadcasts vinyl with a cassette waiting to be dropped in and played on the cover had the first attempt at such. The bootleg CD revolution gave us Classics Off The Air in 3 volumes and so many more, but at the end of the day if you want the whole thing digitally then your best best (that I know of) are-
BBC Rock Hour on Antrabata. The full 27-6-69 set.
Complete British Broadcasting Corporation Radio Sessions on Empress Valley
BBC Zep Antrabata 1-4-71 complete set.
There are many many others, most of which have knocked each other off over the decades. BUT, at the end of it all we SHOULD and indeed MUST have the full BBC tapes, uncut and chronologically presented and annotated.
Whie on the one hand I'm beginning to feel the excitement and pride of another deluxe box set, the fact it's not as I think it should be is a downer. an opportunity missed. 8.5/10. Led Zeppelin should command and get what they gave us 10/10.
Several months on from release the timeless quality of the sessions shine through. No longer being current means nothing compared to the legend Led Zeppelin recordings and performances have become. The hardest thing for me is these sessions, the cornerstone of the 'unofficial' Led Zeppelin musical world, are so ingrained and familiar that it's easy to take them for granted and skip past the wonderful performances and inspirational, on the money in a heartbeat improvisation and go straight to what's been released where and what's been missing. To have the whole thing is wonderful, to have it completely revamped and properly ordered is a dream.
After all, we're talking about musical history here, the historic Led Zeppelin BBC Recordings......Enjoy!!
What Is And What Should Never Be. From the June 16th Chris Grant's Tasty Pop Sundae session broadcast six days later on June 22nd. This is the possibly the most important track of the session, because despite the rarities and cover versions this is our first studio quality glimpse of Led Zeppelin II. It's a skeletal but relaxed arrangement, sounding somewhat nervous and fragile. It's the last of the 4 tracks to be released, completing the session.
Dazed And Confused. The (almost) final piece of the jigsaw from the Rock Hour/One Night Stand Playhouse Theatre show from June 27th. From a time when the show hadn't been bootlegged on vinyl, I had a mono cassette - complete with radio interference and continual fairly high pitched tone throughout - to enjoy this stunning version.
With little from this era (especially back then) this forms a crucial link from one arrangement to another, as Led Zeppelin grew in stature and confidence. All we are missing now is the Alan Black interview with Jimmy and Robert conducted before this track, which is part of the 3CD limited version of BBC Sessions in 1997 but not on here....
White Summer/Black Mountain Side. Originally released on the 4CD/6LP box in 1990, this is also from the One Night Stand/Rock Hour presentation. Not included on the deluxe edition of Coda, it makes sense to be here.
My main reservation is we now have the first sessions and In Concert complete as far as tracks are concerned but they're fragmented and displaced across the discs. In a perfect world we would (should) have the sessions and performances presented complete and chronologically.... It would not only collate better but give the right perspective to the sessions and their recording dates, rather than just throw out the original 2CD set and add a 3rd of interesting (even essential) composite tracks to complete the released archive.
What Is And What Should Never Be/Communication Breakdown. From the Paris Theatre April 1st set. Notwithstanding the fact some of the cover versions/snippets edited out are due to contractual reasons, here are the final two tracks from this sterling performance. Both great, I'm itching to find out if the new set includes the false start to 'What Is...' when Robert attempts to sing it in completely uncomfortable and much too high key, and also if all the ad-lib jams in Communication are still there, including a nod at It's Your Thing (nixed from the '69 set due to Isley Brothers greed...), Feel So Bad and Blind Willie McTell's Broke Down Engine Blues. We shall see...
Finally, we come to the real meat on the bone, a session not included on the original release.
The full 3 track session recorded for the Alexis Korner Rhythm and Blues show on March 19th, broadcast April 14th. Sunshine Woman is a nice boogie style blues, with a strident edge later explored on Travelling Riverside Blues and The Girl I Love. I Can't Quit You Baby is a startling version, the Page-Plant interaction higher than ever before (on tape). You Shook Me fades on the broadcast. The first we heard of this was a barely listenable Polish flexi postcard! And then a better version, and then....
What we've had before is an AM tape, supposedly recorded on a re-broadcast on July 20/21 1969 as the BBC World Service was broadcasting the Apollo moon landing. After that this was put on the air. It's VG/EX mono tape, and whether Jimmy has found the original BBC masters or is using a copy of the broadcast isn't clear. I saw one posting that suggested the bootleg broadcast...
So there we go!. It completes the BBC Sessions in one sense, save a few reservations -
In a perfect World, the sessions should be presented compete and chronologically, and the same for the two live sets.
There are NO missing tracks now, only introductions, false starts, edits and those bits of ephemera that the uberfan wants and deserves. For me, the thing about a performance and a session is the chronology and timescape of it all. Completing the tracks is one thing, and although I can see the reasons for adding a 3rd disc to highlight the additional 'rare and previously unreleased' recordings, I would much prefer a complete resift if you like, putting the sessions and performance together and presenting them intact and chronologically.
As a completist/collector/fan, although I can see (and share) the excitement of a new deluxe box set, I do feel some disappointment at the arbitrary way a 3rd disc has been kinda chucked on the end and we don't have the full sessions and live shows presented complete in a way they should be enjoyed. Very very nice but a missed opportunity for me. The missing bits and pieces may be just that, but a 'complete' BBC archive release is not only deserved but essential for a band of the stature of Led Zeppelin.
All of this has taken me back to my teens and the murky, contrived and convoluted world of bootleg collecting, on elpee and cassette as it was back then. The first bootlegs I discovered from the BBC tapes (obviously much better quality that the average audience bootleg, at least in my mind) were BBC Broadcasts, BBC Zep, Stairway To Heaven and Ballcrusher. A plethora of live, session and alternatively sourced material mixed in with these tapes.
In 1980 we got Knebworth Fair Vol 1 that included a fair but top heavy and scratchy tape of the first part of the August 4th show plus the recent Tommy Vance Friday Rock Show re-broadcasts of the March 3rd and June 24th sessions. A few years later the 1969 broadcast was bootlegged on In The Light and the grandiose Dazed And Confused, a gatefold LP on multicoloured transluscent wax by Royal Sound that was mighty fine even if it missed the Alan Black interview.
Then there was the Something Else EP. At a time when Led Zeppelin were unhip and dead to the bootleg and collectors world, this wonderful 4 track 7", featuring studio not broadcast tapes of the June 16th session, was bootlegged. from Archive Productions (nee Scorpio, allegedly....) it was a wonderful thing. Later the CD version would add the b-side of the red dragon No Quarter Earls' Court vinyl, erroneously dated May 25th.
The 1971 show is another thing entirely. The original broadcast was a mish mash, however wonderful. BBC Broadcasts by TMOQ and the CBM BBC Zep were everywhere, including TMOQ's Stairway To Heaven that had more John Peel chat but different edits and the session Whole Lotta Love clumsily dropped on at the start of the medley.
Soon, LP's like Ballcrusher would fill some of the gaps, a BBC Broadcasts vinyl with a cassette waiting to be dropped in and played on the cover had the first attempt at such. The bootleg CD revolution gave us Classics Off The Air in 3 volumes and so many more, but at the end of the day if you want the whole thing digitally then your best best (that I know of) are-
BBC Rock Hour on Antrabata. The full 27-6-69 set.
Complete British Broadcasting Corporation Radio Sessions on Empress Valley
BBC Zep Antrabata 1-4-71 complete set.
There are many many others, most of which have knocked each other off over the decades. BUT, at the end of it all we SHOULD and indeed MUST have the full BBC tapes, uncut and chronologically presented and annotated.
Whie on the one hand I'm beginning to feel the excitement and pride of another deluxe box set, the fact it's not as I think it should be is a downer. an opportunity missed. 8.5/10. Led Zeppelin should command and get what they gave us 10/10.
Several months on from release the timeless quality of the sessions shine through. No longer being current means nothing compared to the legend Led Zeppelin recordings and performances have become. The hardest thing for me is these sessions, the cornerstone of the 'unofficial' Led Zeppelin musical world, are so ingrained and familiar that it's easy to take them for granted and skip past the wonderful performances and inspirational, on the money in a heartbeat improvisation and go straight to what's been released where and what's been missing. To have the whole thing is wonderful, to have it completely revamped and properly ordered is a dream.
After all, we're talking about musical history here, the historic Led Zeppelin BBC Recordings......Enjoy!!
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