As their record breaking 1971 US Tour (their 7th) drew to a close, the shows were getting better and longer night after night. The Hampton show followed 2 nights after the bacchanalia in Boston, where crowd trouble and promoter problems had plagued the band. This thursday night in Virginia was something special. The shows had been getting progressively longer and more intense, with the band at the very top of their game.
We have approximately 96 minutes of a soundboard recording, capturing the first 2/3rds of the show. It was unearthed on 2 7" 1/4 inch reel tapes in the batch that included the wonderful outtakes from II, III and Houses Of The Holy on the Studio Daze, Jennings Farm Blues and One More Daze Bootleg CD sets. The One More Daze version, some 44 minutes, was unmixed and featured Jonesy alone in one channel and the band in the other. not too long later the 2nd reel was added and a composite 96 minutes was mixed into mono then redone in 'fake' stereo to give some balance and avoid the bass on one side headphone nightmare.
From the off, the tape cuts in to Immigrant Song, the first version cutting in at the 'sing and cry' line. Once the sound wobbles and glitches settle down it's truly a remarkable version. Jimmy is everywhere, twisting and turning every bar inside out with astonishing figures and scales. The segway into Heartbreaker has Hampton on their collective feet, stomping like crazy until they head for home.
Since I've Been Loving You is developing an English aura of coolness meets decadence as Jimmy slows the pace down and takes the audience with him into a lovely but odd progressive arrangement. Black Dog continues the assault, a punctual and slightly vicious version complete with assorted Robert dischords.
Dazed And Confused is simply wonderful. Slow, heavy and deliberate, Led Zeppelin pick their way through the time changes and stand back after a short but experimental link between the first verses and the bow sketch to allow Jimmy to fly. After dipping into Bouree and hints of Fiddler On The Roof, it gets mad. A seemingly out of control chase instrumental leads into licks and improvised vocals from Boogie Chillun and even some Yardbirds motifs as the band push and twist. Sadly there's an edit, we can only wonder how the final blowout would have sounded...
After that incredible version Stairway To Heaven is quiet and peaceful, building and charging on as Led Zeppelin see the coda in sight. Celebration Day is exceptional, a fantastic platform for improvisation and excess, all held together by the power and bluster of Bonzo and some amazing bass lines from Jonesy. the acoustic set (interlude (sic)) is again lovely, and the soundboard recording preserves the performance if not the atmosphere.
Jimmy (as Luis Rey observes) tunes with the riff of 'High Heeled Sneakers'
- he'd done the same 10 days before in Orlando by busking the opening chords of You Really Got Me - and we get a powerful What Is And What Should Never Be to remember. The confidence coursing through Led Zeppelin's veins is so high by now. The final taped moment is Moby Dick, which does sound fantastic.
So we have 96 odd minutes of this gourmet banquet, the remaining 40 odd minutes (at a guess) would most likely fill a 3rd 1/4" reel. That would be something, as shows either side would suggest. We can only hope the remainder and/or an audience recording of the show turns up at some point. Various CD companies have issued firstly the 44 minutes and secondly the 96 the minutes we have with varying degrees of success. Cross fingers and take a deep breath for the rest....
From the off, the tape cuts in to Immigrant Song, the first version cutting in at the 'sing and cry' line. Once the sound wobbles and glitches settle down it's truly a remarkable version. Jimmy is everywhere, twisting and turning every bar inside out with astonishing figures and scales. The segway into Heartbreaker has Hampton on their collective feet, stomping like crazy until they head for home.
Since I've Been Loving You is developing an English aura of coolness meets decadence as Jimmy slows the pace down and takes the audience with him into a lovely but odd progressive arrangement. Black Dog continues the assault, a punctual and slightly vicious version complete with assorted Robert dischords.
Dazed And Confused is simply wonderful. Slow, heavy and deliberate, Led Zeppelin pick their way through the time changes and stand back after a short but experimental link between the first verses and the bow sketch to allow Jimmy to fly. After dipping into Bouree and hints of Fiddler On The Roof, it gets mad. A seemingly out of control chase instrumental leads into licks and improvised vocals from Boogie Chillun and even some Yardbirds motifs as the band push and twist. Sadly there's an edit, we can only wonder how the final blowout would have sounded...
After that incredible version Stairway To Heaven is quiet and peaceful, building and charging on as Led Zeppelin see the coda in sight. Celebration Day is exceptional, a fantastic platform for improvisation and excess, all held together by the power and bluster of Bonzo and some amazing bass lines from Jonesy. the acoustic set (interlude (sic)) is again lovely, and the soundboard recording preserves the performance if not the atmosphere.
Jimmy (as Luis Rey observes) tunes with the riff of 'High Heeled Sneakers'
So we have 96 odd minutes of this gourmet banquet, the remaining 40 odd minutes (at a guess) would most likely fill a 3rd 1/4" reel. That would be something, as shows either side would suggest. We can only hope the remainder and/or an audience recording of the show turns up at some point. Various CD companies have issued firstly the 44 minutes and secondly the 96 the minutes we have with varying degrees of success. Cross fingers and take a deep breath for the rest....
Nice info
ReplyDeleteThanks Kat, it's such a great show!
ReplyDelete