SOUNDS COMPLETE LED ZEP 44 YEARS GONE/BATH 1970 FOOTAGE!/LZ NEWS/A CLELBRATION BOOK 1991/ZEP IN JAPAN 1971/PERSUADERS /ZEP FAN PODCAST/DAVID BOWIE FILM REVIEW/DL DIARY BLOG UPDATE
Sounds Four Part The Complete Led Zep – 44 years Gone – DL Reflections.
44 years ago this month I had my first Led Zeppelin written work published in a major UK music paper – my research for a 10 year retrospective look back on the band’s career in Sounds was extensively used across four weekly parts. It was an incredible thrill to see my work reach a wide audience and it was the kick start to many great things – here’s how it all came to be…
During 1977 and into 1978 I had built up an amount of written work on Led Zeppelin and was ready to unleash my Zep fanzine project Tight But Loose – of which a prototype first issue was already under construction.
In early 1978 I replied to a query in the Wax Factor column in Sounds –one of the weekly music papers of the time. This column was run by the late Barry Lazell and basically offered information to queries sent in by readers. One such letter requested how to obtain Hey Hey What Can I Do. Under the guise Dave Lewis ‘’Ace Zep Fan’’ (yes it was pretentious but hey I was young!), I replied giving the correct info. I made similar correspondence with Barry over a query about the Blueberry Hill bootleg– both of these were published.
In late May (around the time of my leap of faith with The Who at Shepperton), I received a call from Geoff Barton one of the main writers at Sounds. He had evidently seen the Wax Factor replies and wanted to enlist my assistance on an upcoming Led Zeppelin feature. This was to be an ambitious three week series celebrating the band’s tenth anniversary.
The brief was for me to supply a timeline history of the band for Geoff to work with plus a full discography – I suggested to Geoff that we include a bootleg listing and other pre and post session details. I’d only ever seen the basic Zep discography and I saw this as a major opportunity to present an extensive showcase of the band’s recording history to that period.
On June 8th I met with Geoff Barton at the Sounds office in Long Acre Covent Garden, to discuss all this at length.. I took in a whole load of memorabilia for them to photograph to illustrate the feature – programmes, photos and a fair few vinyl bootlegs (no jpeg scanning in those far off days!). Looking back I was a bit naive entrusting them with all this and one or two items did go missing.
Back in the Dents Road bedroom during the summer of ’78, I set to work on collating all the info required – all hand written I might add. It was a real thrill to be finally finding an outlet for the masses of info I had collected and logged –and knowing that it would be seen by fans across the country. I was also in touch with Swan Song and told them of my involvement. I have to say there did seem some tetchiness between Sounds and Swan Song – not that it was any of my business – this uneasiness would later result in Sounds being banned from having press passes for Knebworth – which is another story altogether.
So, by early August all my info was at the Sounds office ready to be incorporated into this lavish series. Boy was I excited.
On Thursday September 14, the first part appeared- with a cover photo of the now much seen group posing by the car shot taken by Dick Barnatt (see TBL 35 for the full story). The series was dubbed ‘The Complete Led Zep’
Week one kicked off with a re appraisal of the Zep albums to that point by Geoff Barton. As the ordinal blurb put it, ‘ Geoff gives the albums a going over….he did that alright and for someone who was pretty defensive of any criticism of Zep – I was a little surprised at his often negative comments.
Zep 4 he summarised as as ”overrated” (two and a half stars out of five,)
Song Remains soundtrack got 2 stars Physical Graffiti 3 stars and Presence 2 and a half. Geoff’s alliegence was clearly for early Zep where Zep I was four and a half stars, , Zep II five and Zep III five.
It’s worth noting, that Sounds was one of the music weeklies facing an identity crisis in the wake of the punk/new wave explosion. Zep of course were seen as the dinosaurs of the old wave and there were some agendas at play in how they were being covered. Sounds would later develop a platform for the so called ‘New Wave of British Heavy Metal’ pioneered by Geoff Barton himself.
Oh well.. the series was up and running.
Week 2 was the timeline chronology. Geoff had incorporated my facts and info into the piece pretty well to unfold the Zep story but the whole feature suffered by some seriously odd lay out being spread over several pages – one page being dwarfed by an advert for a Godley And Crème album.
There was good news and bad news about week 3. The bad news first: I had taken the rare Robert Plant 1967 solo single Long Time Coming for them to photograph. For whatever reason, when it came to being re- produced the whole of the CBS label was illegible –looking like a blank label and nothing else …the caption the Robert Plant rare single almost looked a bit of a tongues in cheek – ie so rare you can’t actually see it! Note also the sticker on the label which states min bid £15 which is what I paid for it around a year earlier -it’s now worth minimum £250!
The good news was all the other bootleg covers came out fine and surrounded what was then the first ever comprehensive bootleg listing drawn from my research and info and own collection. It was literally everything I knew up to that point and I was also well pleased with the overall presentation of the pre Zep information and the outtakes references etc. Again this type of information had never been collated as extensively.
When I visited the Sounds office around that time, I did point out to Geoff about the uneven lay out and the record sleeve problem. Frankly he was not that receptive with such criticism.I was learning fast that these guys were under pressure to produce a weekly music paper and time was not of the essence.( Geoff and I have since laughed about this since when I’ve seen him at the Classic Rock Awards).
When I was in the office, then Editor Alan Lewis suggested we run another week with all the TV and radio info I had supplied –so the three week series became four and again presented the known Zep TV and radio spots – this was a little limited in accuracy back then – I would get to know a whole lot more on the subject of the BBC sessions etc over the next few years. Another quick aside -there was a bit of confusion of names going on at Sounds as they already had a writer named Dave Lewis (no relation) working for them at that time – he went on to be a press officer at RCA Records. Many is the time down the years I’ve been asked if I worked at RCA!
Following the running of the series two things happened. Firstly, I began to get letters and correspondence via Sounds from fans requesting further info and discussing the info I’d presented.
It’s worth mentioning here that being a Zep fan back then was quite an insular thing. There was no social media to share this enthusiasm – I myself was in touch with a few fans notably Howard Mylett and Brian Knapp in the US. The Sounds piece did much to galvanise a lot of interest and though the feedback I was receiving , I quickly realised there were many fans out there as keen as I was on the band..
Secondly, I got a paid for the feature and hatched a plan to use that money to fund the printing of the first issue of Tight But Loose. That autumn I scribed away on the contents of the hand written first issue incorporating features on Earls Court, latest bootlegs , A complete Swan Song discography with commentary and the speculative feature on a live chronological live album set./
There was also a report of the very inspiring conversations I had with Robert Plant at the Goaldiggers football tournament he took part in at the Empire Pool Wembley which I attended on November 5th, 1978.
The first adverts to notify the soon to be published Tight But Loose ran in Sounds and NME late in the year – there was a slight delay to getting the first issue out when the UK suffered a bout of very snowy weather over Christmas and the new year.
I printed 200 of that first hand written issue – and they sold out within a 6 weeks. Tight But Loose was up and running and the rest, as they say is history…
Incidentally, I do have a plan to re publish a special edition of that first issue at some point –it’s a key part of the TBL story that needs to be back out there.
Looking back now some 44 years later, there’s no doubt that my involvement in the Sounds Ten Years of Led Zeppelin feature was the absolute catalyst for me to bring to fruition the idea to produce a regular Led Zep magazine, which I’d had kicking around for over a year.
It was more than evident that fans across the globe were in need of regular Zep info and reading matter. Tight But Loose began to fulfil that role.
As for the Sounds piece, I’m still very proud of it. I can recall at a UK record fair in the early 80s seeing fans with that bootleg centre page listing in the hands wading thought the LP racks using it as a guide. Eventually it would be superseded by the likes of excellent Robert Godwin’s Illustrated Collectors Guide and my own listings in the A Celebration book in 1991.
Looking over it today, it’s very evident that presenting this outpouring of Zep info in Sounds back in September 1978 was clearly the moment I broke out of my bedroom as it were, and found a true connection for my thoughts, passion and enthusiasm for Led Zeppelin.
A connection that 44 years on is as strong as ever…
Dave Lewis –September 2022
(Extracts from Music Is Life To My Ears –The Dave Lewis Memoirs – work in progress for future publication)
Newly surfaced – incredibly clear and close up 16mm colour silent footage of Led Zeppelin performing at the Bath Festival June 28 1970 – what a find – truly sensational…
Here’s the latest Led ZepNews Update:
Upcoming events:
September 27 – John Paul Jones will perform at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert in Los Angeles.
October –The new book “Led Zeppelin Live Times 1969-1979” by Robert Ellis.
October 19 – The French translation of “Led Zeppelin By Led Zeppelin” will be published.
October 25 – Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
October 27 – Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Cork, Ireland.
October 28 – Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Galway, Ireland.
October 30 – Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at the Sligo Live music festival in Sligo, Ireland.
October 31 – Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Dublin, Ireland.
November 2 – Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at the Wexford Spiegeltent Festival in Wexford, Ireland.
November 5 – Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Edinburgh, Scotland.
November 6 – Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Glasgow, Scotland.
November 8 – Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Aberdeen, Scotland.
November 9 – Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Perth, Scotland.
December 22 – The paperback edition of “Beast: John Bonham and the Rise of Led Zeppelin” by C.M Kushins will be published.
Early 2023 – “A Whole Lotta Music: Life To My Ears,” the memoirs of Tight But Loose editor Dave Lewis, will be published.
2023 – The remastered and expanded 30th anniversary edition of “Coverdale–Page” will be released.
Many thanks to James Cook
The complete Led ZepNews email goes out periodically. To receive it sign up here:http://tinyletter.com/LedZepNews
Led ZepNews Website: Check out the Led Zeppelin news website at
31 years ago this week, I was on a whirlwind tour of UK radio stations promoting mye then just published Led Zeppelin A Celebration book. Publishers Omnibus Press arranged for me to be driven by their PR company rep to visit a host of UK radio stations in a four day span. It included stop-offs in Sheffield, Manchester, Shrewsbury, Bristol, Coventry, Northampton and
finally Nottingham. I also conducted a couple of interviews on something that was called a mobile phone. Oh yes from the comfort of the passenger seat I could relay my enthusiasm for the book to the radio interviewer. A wondrous device – this mobile phone was brick like in size – it was my first association with the world of the cell.
Led Zeppelin A Celebration sitting proudly at number one – The author at the Virgin Megastore Oxford Street London, September 1991
The book tour had been delayed from early September as sadly my Dad had passed away in the late August so it was a difficult time, but once on the road it was a hugely enjoyable week- and on the Thursday there was a very memorable last stop off at BBC RadioNottingham. On arrival lo and behold lying in wait was the late Mick Hinton, loyal drum roadie of John Bonham – a man I had last seen on the Over Europe tour. Now residing in Nottingham, Mick had heard a trail of my appearance and decided to ring up and get in on the act. Unsurprisingly this was the most lively of the interviews as Mick relayed his tales of yore (or as clean a version as could be aired at 5pm). It was the beginning of several significant encounters with the former Zep insider – notably at the 1992 London Led Zeppelin Convention I co organised with Andy Adams and a trip to interview him for the TBL mag in Nottingham. Many of these stories I’m saving for my memoirs. By way of a preview I can reveal that Gary Foy’s first association with Mick was clearing up behind one of the Convention stalls after Mick had politely thrown up.
Then there was my trip to interview Mick in Nottingham. This included drinking a few cans of Tenant’s Extra strong lager at his place that ensured rather than stop off at Bedford on the train back, I found myself in St Pancras station London. Yes in my rather inebriated state I had slept right through!
Ahh sweet memories of 31 years back. By the way the A Celebration book is now long out of print though it does turn up frequently on eBay.
”Can you tell me where the reference books are?” – Led Zeppelin A Celebration book signing session – WH Smith Bedford, August 31st 1991
This week marks the 51st anniversary of one of the all time great Led Zeppelin live performances – the September 29 concert in Osaka.
To mark the anniversary, here’s the Japan 1971 tour log Mike Tremaglio contributed to TBL issue 31 – and later deployed in the Evening With Led Zeppelin book:
In the last issue of TBL we left off with the band performing the final two shows of their wildly successful month-long U.S. tour in Honolulu, Hawaii on September 16 & 17, 1971. The band wasted little time in getting back on stage; this time the band decided to conquer new territories and were playing to ecstatic Japan audiences in less than a week.
While the U.S. tour had seen the band playing at a consistently high level, on the Japan tour Zeppelin brought it to a whole new level, playing some of the most exceptional and highly regarded shows of their entire career.
After a week of completely winning over Japanese audiences, the band took a well-deserved six week break. Next came a 16-date winter 1971 UK tour which began on November 11 in Newcastle – just three days after the US release of the fourth studio album and a day before it shipped in the UK. For the tour, the band would play many smaller, intimate and unique venues across their homeland.
But for now, it’s time to head back to the world-famous Budokan in Tokyo…
Thursday September 23, 1971 Budokan, Tokyo, Japan
Setlist (from eight different audience source recordings):
Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Out on the Tiles (Intro)/ Black Dog, Dazed and Confused, Stairway to Heaven, Celebration Day, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, That’s the Way, Going to California, What is and What Should Never Be, Moby Dick, Whole Lotta Love Medley (incl. Boogie Chillun’, Hello Mary Lou, Mess O’ Blues, ?, Tobacco Road, Good Times Bad Times, For What It’s Worth Instrumental, How Many More Times, You Shook Me, Gee, Baby Ain’t I Good to You, Kindhearted Woman Blues), Communication Breakdown
The band performed their first ever gig in Japan and it’s simply incredible. The intensity and ferocity of the performance is not lost on the wildly enthusiastic Tokyo audience.
The new songs from the upcoming fourth album (Black Dog, Stairway to Heaven, and Going to California) aren’t the only surprises for the Budokan audience; they were also treated to the concert debut performance of Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, albeit in a truncated version as the intro to That’s the Way.
But the real unquestioned highlight of the show is a downright historic version of the Whole Lotta Love Medley – tracking in at a longest-ever 36 minutes. The band held absolutely nothing back during the medley with extended versions of Tobacco Road, Good Time Bad Times, How Many More Times, and You Shook Me being the highlights.
Fortunately for fans, the concert had been documented like no other performance in the band’s history – there are eight different audience source recordings of this show available.
Here is a listing of popular bootlegs of this show by audience source:
Source 1 (143 min.): Front Row (Tarantura & Memphis),
The Storm of Fanatics (Mud Dogs),
Live in Japan 1971 (Last Stand Disc),
The Tokyo Tapes (Empress Valley – discs 1 & 2)
Source 2 (128 min.): Tales of Storms (Silver Shadow & Aphrodite Studio)
The Tokyo Tapes (Empress Valley – discs 3 & 4)
Source 3 (149 min.): Reflection from a Dream (TDOLZ)
Source 4 (30 min.): In Concert LP Source (9 CDs) (TDOLZ – disc 9)
Source 5 (152 min.): First Attack of the Rising of the Sun (EVSD – discs 1-3),
Meet the Led Zeppelin (Wendy),
Timeless Rock (Watch Tower)
Source 6 (31 min.): First Attack of the Rising of the Sun (disc 4 only)
Source 7 (150 min.): Led Zeppelin’s Flying Rock Carnival 1971 Complete
Source 8 (126 min.): The Tokyo Tapes (Empress Valley – discs 5 & 6)
Friday September 24, 1971 Budokan, Tokyo, Japan
Setlist (from five different audience source recordings):
Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker (incl. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)), Since I’ve Been Loving You, Out on the Tiles (Intro)/ Black Dog, Dazed and Confused, Stairway to Heaven, Celebration Day, That’s the Way, Going to California, Tangerine, What is and What Should Never Be, Moby Dick, Whole Lotta Love Medley (incl. Sing a Simple Song, Just a Little Bit, Boogie Chillun’, Cocaine Blues, Rave On, Your Time is Gonna Come, ?, I’m a Man, The Hunter, Hello Mary Lou, Oh Pretty Woman, How Many More Times), Organ Solo/ Thank You, Communication Breakdown (incl. It’s Your Thing, ?)
While not nearly as acclaimed as their first Tokyo show, the band delivered another outstanding performance on the same level as the previous evening. For this afternoon matinee the band pulled out a few more surprises, including the debut concert performance of Tangerine and a return of Thank You (with Organ solo) to the encore.
Once again, the highlight of the evening is another stellar and unique Whole Lotta Love Medley (this time ‘only’ clocking in at 28 minutes). The band incorporated some rarely played tracks such as Cocaine Blues, Buddy Holly’s ‘Rave On’, and Albert King’s ‘Oh Pretty Woman’ (the one and only time they ever played the track). But the real surprise of the evening was an impromptu, one minute-plus rendition of Your Time is Gonna Come. Plant started singing the song a cappella while the rest of the band started making up an arrangement for it as they went along. The only other time they ever attempted this track was in San Diego during their 1973 tour (a 25 second snippet was played during No Quarter).
While not quite as extensive as the previous evening, there certainly was no shortage of tapers in the audience. There are five separate audience recordings available of this concert.
Here is a listing of popular bootlegs of this show by audience source:
Source 1 (164 min.): Afternoon Daze (Mud Dogs), Pretty Woman (Tarantura)
Source 2 (56 min.): Light & Shade (TDOLZ – disc 1)
Live in Japan 1971 (Last Stand Disc – disc 1)
Hard Rock Night (Wendy – disc 1)
Your Time is Gonna Come (Scorpio – disc 4)
Source 3 (168 min.): Light & Shade (TDOLZ – discs 2 & 3)
Live in Japan 1971 (Last Stand Disc – discs 2 & 3)
Hard Rock Night (Wendy – discs 2 & 3)
Your Time is Gonna Come (Scorpio – discs 1-3)
Balloon Boys’ Rock Carnival in Tokyo (Empress Valley)
Timeless Rock (Watch Tower – bonus disc)
Source 4 (105 min.): Super Stars! LP Source (TDOLZ 9 CD Box – discs 7 & 8)
Source 5 (17 min.): In Concert LP Source (TDOLZ 9 CD Box – disc 9)
Monday September 27, 1971 Prefectural Gymnasium, Hiroshima, Japan
Setlist (from three different audience source recordings):
Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Out on the Tiles (Intro)/ Black Dog, Dazed and Confused, Stairway to Heaven, Celebration Day, That’s the Way, Going to California, Tangerine, What is and What Should Never Be, Moby Dick, Whole Lotta Love Medley (incl. Sing a Simple Song, Boogie Chillun’, Nine Times Out of Ten, Be-Bop-a-Lula, ?), Communication Breakdown (incl. ?)
The band performed a charity concert benefit for the victims of the atomic bomb. They presented the mayor of Hiroshima with a check for 7,000,000 yen – their earnings from the show – and in return received a peace medal.
Once again, the band were very well received by the appreciative audience and delivered another typically stellar performance. The Whole Lotta Love medley was the shortest of the tour so far (18 minutes), but the band continued to incorporate rarities into the feature. They performed Cliff Richard and The Shadow’s ‘Nine Times Out of Ten’ (the only known performance of this track) and Gene Vincent’s ‘Be-Bop-a-Lula’ (performed only once before – in Helsinki on February 23, 1970).
There are three separate audience recordings of the Hiroshima concert.
Here is a listing of popular bootlegs of this show by audience source:
Source 1 (126 min.): Live in Japan 1971 (LSD) and Peace (Tarantura)
Source 2 (111 min.): Peace of Mind (Mud Dogs)
Source 3 (44 min.): Love & Peace in Hiroshima (Bumble Bee – first 100 copies included two bonus CDRs sourced from the old vinyl LP Led Zeppelin 71-72 by Digger Records)
Other bootleg titles of this show (Live Peace in Hiroshima 1971 (Wendy), Zingi (Tarantura 2000), Message of Love (Lemon Song), and Love & Peace in Hiroshima (Bumble Bee)) are a combination of sources 1 & 2 to complete the show.
Tuesday September 28, 1971, Koseinenkin Kaikan (Festival Hall), Osaka, Japan
Setlist (from 146 & 15 minute audience recordings):
Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Out on the Tiles (Intro)/ Black Dog, Dazed and Confused (incl. Third Stone from the Sun), Stairway to Heaven, Please Please Me, From Me to You, Celebration Day, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, That’s the Way, Going to California, We Shall Overcome, Tangerine, Down by the Riverside, What is and What Should Never Be, Moby Dick, Whole Lotta Love Medley (incl. Boogie Chillun’, D in Love, Bachelor Boy, Down the Road a Piece, Maybellene, Hello Mary Lou), C’mon Everybody, Hi-Heel Sneakers, Communication Breakdown (incl. Cat’s Squirrel, ?, Watch Your Step)
The next stop on the Japan tour was in Osaka where the band played two of the most historic concerts of their entire career. They continued to pull out all stops, performing many rarities and expanding their rock medleys into new directions.
The Osaka audience didn’t have to wait until the Whole Lotta Love medley to hear the band perform a variety of rock rarities. During Dazed and Confused, Jimmy played some licks from Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Third Stone from the Sun’. Prior to Celebration Day, they performed a 45 second run-through of The Beatles Please Please Me and From Me to You. During the acoustic set they played the traditional songs We Shall Overcome and Down by the Riverside (the only time they had ever performed either of these tracks in concert).
For the fourth concert in Japan, Zeppelin would once again unveil a variety of rock classics in their Whole Lotta Love medley. As they had done the night before, they reached into the Cliff Richard and The Shadows catalogue and pulled out two songs they would play for the first and last time in concert: D in Love and Bachelor Boy. Next, they would channel their inner Chuck Berry and perform Down the Road a Piece and Maybellene (once again, the one and only time these songs were ever played in concert).
The band returned for encores and jammed to complete versions of C’Mon Everybody by Eddie Cochran and Hi-Heel Sneakers by Tommy Tucker (the only other time the later had been performed was at the Yale Bowl on August 15, 1970 as a 30 second snippet during the Whole Lotta Love medley). For the encores, Plant introduced Atlantic record executive Phil Carson on bass and roadie Clive Coulson on vocals.
In his Zeppelin bio, Stairway to Heaven, tour manager Richard Cole shed some light on the encores. According to Cole, “about four minutes into the song, he (Carson) suddenly realized that his bass was the only instrument he was hearing. He quickly looked around – and he was alone on the stage. As a prank, the band had snuck off in the middle of the song, leaving Phil to fend for himself. He made a valiant attempt at a bass solo, but he gave up once it was clear that the guys weren’t going to rescue him. Phil put down his instrument and ran off the stage, too, as the band rollicked in laughter.” Cole mentioned that while it was hilarious, the incident was also troubling because they “allowed a practical joke to take precedence over the music,” which was very out of character for a band who took their music very seriously.
Communication Breakdown was the finally encore and it included Cream’s ‘Cat’s Squirrel’, as well as a two minute version of Bobby Parker’s ‘Watch Your Step’ (the only other time the song had ever been played was a short snippet during the Whole Lotta Love medley at the Inglewood Forum on August 22, 1971). It was Parker’s ‘Watch Your Step’ that had allegedly influenced Jimmy Page’s guitar riff in Moby Dick.
There are two separate audience recordings of this concert:
Source 1 (146 min. – through Whole Lotta Love)
Source 2 (15 min. – encore after Whole Lotta Love)
Most of the bootlegs are a combination of these two sources to complete the show (except Live in Japan 1971 – Last Stand Disc, which is entirely from source 1, thus excluding the encores).
Here are some of the other bootleg titles featuring this concert:
The Bachelor Boys’ First Stand in Osaka (Empress Valley),
Please Please Me (Tarantura & Wendy), Osaka Woman (Cobla CDR), and
Come On Everbody (Mud Dogs)
Wednesday September 29, 1971, Koseinenkin Kaikan (Festival Hall), Osaka, Japan
Setlist (from 175, 178 & 93 minute recordings):
Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker (incl. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)), Since I’ve Been Loving You, Out on the Tiles (Intro)/ Black Dog, Dazed and Confused (incl. ?, Pennies from Heaven), Stairway to Heaven, Celebration Day, That’s the Way, Going to California, Tangerine, Friends, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, What is and What Should Never Be, Moby Dick, Whole Lotta Love Medley (incl. ?, Boogie Chillun’, I Gotta Know, Twist and Shout, Fortune Teller, Good Times Bad Times, You Shook Me), Communication Breakdown (incl. Just a Little Bit), Organ Solo, Thank You, Rock and Roll
The fifth and final show of the Japan tour is renowned as being one of the band’s all-time great shows. The performance is incredible, and the band continued to surprise the audience throughout the evening with rarely, if ever, played gems. Fortunately, the concert had been captured for posterity on an excellent sounding, but imbalanced recording. It is often referred to as a soundboard recording due to its outstanding on-stage feel and stereo separation, but that is still being debated. Regardless, it is a recording that is on the top shelf of every Led Zeppelin aficionado’s CD racks, ready for repeated listening pleasure.
There are quite a few surprises during the performance, but one of the key highlights of the evening has to be the one and only known performance of Friends during the acoustic set. After this rarity, Plant sings a few bars of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes; earlier in the show, Page dropped Pennies from Heaven into Dazed and Confused. Both of these tracks were ‘one and only’ performances, adding to the special atmosphere of the evening.
Once again, the Whole Lotta Love medley, tracking in at 31 minutes, was where the band shined and took the opportunity to play some rock ‘n’ roll classics. Elvis Presley’s ‘I Gotta Know’ segued into The Beatles’ ‘Twist and Shout’, followed by a three minute version of Benny Spellman’s ‘Fortune Teller’ (all three tracks were again ‘one and only’ performances, sans a 40 second snippet of Fortune Teller played in Oakland on September 2, 1970 concert). As they had done during the first show in Tokyo, the band also played both Good Times Bad Times and You Shook Me during the medley.
The last song of the three hour show was Rock and Roll, another preview from their upcoming album and the first time they played the track on the Japan tour.
There are three separate recordings of this legendary concert:
Source 1 (175 min. aka soundboard source): Most bootlegs use this recording as the primary source. Some of the more popular titles from source 1 include: The Complete Geisha Tape (Tarantura & Memphis), Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Mad Dogs), A Cellarful of Noise (Noise Generator), Live in Japan 1971 (Rock Solid & Last Stand Disc), and Live in Osaka (Night Hawk).
Source 2 (178 min. aud. source): 929 (H-Bomb) & 9291971 (Tarantura 2000 –first three discs).
Source 3 (93 min. aud. source): Nine Two Nine (TDOLZ)
Most of the other bootleg titles are multi-sources mixes of the show with the first source usually being the primary source; they include Fatally Wanderer (Wendy), Live in Japan 1971 (Empress Valley), and You Were There in Spirits (Empress Valley). Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Scorpio) used the third recording as the primary source, but filled gaps with the second source.
It’s widely rumored that Jimmy Page has complete multi-tracks of this show in his archive. Allegedly, there were plans to follow the How The West Was Won set in 2003 with a similar archive release to be titled How The East Was Won.
The best way to describe Led Zeppelin’s first trek to Japan could be a twist on the Latin phrase attributed to Julius Caesar – “Veni, Vidi, Vici” – they came, they saw, they conquered. For many Led Zeppelin fans, the 1971 Japan Tour remains the apex of their entire concert history. The Zeppelin machine was truly firing on all cylinders, and their ability to continually take risks and incorporate new songs into the shows each night – sometimes on the spot – demonstrated a band with complete and total confidence. Mission accomplished!
Mike Tremaglio
First published in TBL issue 31 – 2011
My thoughts on the new David Bowie film Moonage Daydream…
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Thanks for listening
Until next time…
Dave Lewis – September 28 2022
TBL website updates written and compiled by Dave Lewis
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Dave,
Great web site as ever with interesting posts.
I see that Jimmy turned down the chance to play on Ozzy’s new Patient No 9 release. His reason being that he didn’t get into music to send stuff down the line & prefers to play in a studio with fellow musicians.
Ozzy wanted the Yardbirds trilogy of Beck / Clapton & Page on the record, but Jimmy said no. With Jimmy’s all new material being rather sparse over the last 24 years then surely it’s a missed opportunity for him to do something that’s new?
Well, we shall see what his 3 projects are that he is supposedly working on? One maybe the Coverdale Page re issue, I do hope the other projects are some all new music, but if he admitted he wasn’t ever going to play live or record new music again then that would maybe cost him some interest. So maybe that’s why he keeps people guessing?
Hi Dave.
Great honest review of Moonage Daydream which reflects my thoughts very closely.
I thought the live footage was superb but was disappointed at the lack of footage of Station to Station which I think was one of David’s finest albums.
I agree that some of David’s early comments seemed a little pretentious however I feel he was trying at that time to be different and stand out.
Small nit picks here as overall an excellent film worthy of a great artist.
cheers Dave.
Hi, Dave,
I remember those Sounds articles, and I’m sure I’ve still got copies somewhere in my archive. A great read at the time, and Sounds was my ‘go to’ music mag during most of the 70’s.
Funnily enough, I was listening to the final Osaka concert on my iPod last night, and it’s still one of the few concerts that I listen to on a regular basis because of its brilliance and all the extra songs they put in the medleys which were rarely, if ever, played anywhere else. Of course, the acoustic section where Bonzo goes missing always makes me smile, especially when it’s obvious throughout the show that he’s not happy and can’t wait to get home!
All the best to you and Janet, mate.
Cheers,
Steve
Hi Dave
As a huge teenage Led Zep fan in the early 90s I absolutely loved your book ‘Led Zeppelin A Celebration’. It appeared in a library in Harlington , West London and I borrowed it many many times. I have read otherbooks about the band since then but surely ‘A Celebration’ remains unbeatable.
Thankyou!
Chris, Grenoble, France
I still have those copies of Sounds Dave.
And based on your recommendations, I still don’t have “Plant Waves” or “Detroit Just About Back”!!
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