TBL Archive Special: 

TBL Led Zep 1975 Snapshot: Number Two

Snapshot Notes:
MONDAY JANUARY 20th, 1975
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
CHICAGO STADIUM

Set: Rock And Roll/Sick Again/Over The Hills And Far Away/When The Levee Breaks/The Song Remains The Same/The Rain Song/Kashmir/The Wanton Song/No Quarter/In My Time Of Dying/Trampled Underfoot/Moby Dick/How Many More Times/Stairway To Heaven/Whole Lotta Love – Black Dog/Communication Breakdown.

Robert ‘s flue is now in full effect and Jimmy is struggling with an injured finger. How Many More Times’ was recalled to the set to allow space for guitar improvisation. As Page told Chris Charlesworth of Melody Maker: “We’ve had to cut ‘Dazed And Confused’ from the set and substitute ‘How Many More Times’ which we haven’t played for four years. I’m still doing the violin bow routine but we’ve had to alter even that and I can’t do it as well as I’d like to. I can tell it’s not as good as it usually is but the audience don’t seem to notice.

In addition to these problems, the sound system was a little defective, ensuring that press reviews were not all entirely favourable.
“Led Zeppelin: malfunctions reduce power,” reported Al Rudis: “Led Zeppelin is alive, but not well. Robert Plant’s ‘flu-ridden voice hurt the British band in its concert Monday. Jimmy Page was nursing a broken finger too. What was worst of all was the old bugaboo of rock and roll: defective sound equipment. In Zeppelin’s case, it’s understandable that the group wouldn’t want to be burdened with maintaining its own sound system if it only tours every year and a half; but they’re the ones who rented the system used Monday night, so they must be held responsible.”

“Kinky Led Zeppelin still king of the funky,” wrote Jack Hafferkamp: “For its part, the band played a new variation on its standard heavy-heavy, super-loud, bare-chested, Victorian decadent, fingernail polish and lipstick, kiss-me-because-I’m-really-funky, cartoon performance. Two hours worth.
“Still there were a few surprises. My companion, for example, noted she owns a blouse just like the one Robert Plant was wearing. John Bonham played what must have been the longest drum solo in the history of mankind. And Plant revealed over, and over, and over again that he has the flu. He said that almost as many times as he mentioned the title of the band’s new record. In fact, I think the final score was New Record 8, Flu 5.”

TUESDAY JANUARY 21st, 1975
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
CHICAGO STADIUM
Set: Rock And Roll/Sick Again/Over The Hills And Far Away/When The Levee Breaks/The Song Remains The Same/The Rain Song/Kashmir/The Wanton Song/No Quarter/In My Time Of Dying/Trampled Underfoot/Moby Dick/How Many More Times/Stairway To Heaven/Whole Lotta Love – Black Dog/Communication Breakdown.

The second night in Chicago was a marked improvement, as Lisa Robinson famously reported: “Fifteen seconds onstage and everyone knows it’s going to be HOT. They’ve been truly depressed and confused all day about the first Chicago show. No matter, tonight they’re playing with that old black Zeppelin magic again, and the audience go wild. It sounds as if The Beatles battled the Stones in a parking lot – and Zeppelin won!”

Snapshot Listen – how it sounded today:

Led Zeppelin Live On The Levee (Silver Rarities)

The January 21st Chicago show is available on various CD releases – It’s actually made up of mainly the 20th night with fourteen minutes from the 21st. I have it on the Silver Rarities purchased from the Victoria Record Fair in the early 90s. The tape is a fairly clear if noisy audience recording but suffers at times with tape drop out and fluctuations.
”I’ve got a touch of flue” admits Robert early on and his vocals are certainly suffering. For his part, Jimmy battles on regardless of the finger problem. Over The Hills is already extending in length with that wonderfully lyrical solo. Jimmy is also well animated for When the Levee Breaks and In My Time of Dying played back to back – instrumentally both are pretty awesome deliveries – what a thrill it must have been to witness this rare double dose of bottleneck bravado live on stage. Levee is particularly menacing.

Kashmir (”Jonesy on mellotron – saves all the bread for the orchestra people”) works well despite Robert struggling at times. The Wanton Song (”from the long awaited album even by us”) is a definite highlight, Page attacking the riff with strong intent. It’s a real shame they did not preserve with this and keep in the set. No Quarter is still in a state of transition before it became something of a marathon, Trampled Underfoot is a fairly standard delivery while Moby Dick is back with usual Bonham aplomb (”One man’s got the flu one man’s fit as a fiddle!”) and then to How Many More Times.

A compact eleven minute delivery that features the bow episode and then switches into the Oh Rosie segment and on to the home straight. Stairway To Heaven is an epic performance and from this point, Robert rallies well vocally. In fact, on any given night in 1975, Stairway was performed with immense dedication. Encores – something of a unique arrangement for Whole Lotta Love with Plant going straight into the ”keep a coolin’ baby, I wanna be your backdoor man” usual closing refrain and then they hit Black Dog head on and boy – after all the physical drawbacks, the power of Led Zeppelin in 1975 is clearly in evidence.

It would be awhile before they were back to 100% fitness on this tour but already there was indication of the onstage embellishments to come.
To be continued…

DL – January 22, 2020

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Robert Plant at Leicester University – It was 32 years Ago …

32 years ago yesterday January 23 1988, I travelled to Leicester with the good lady Janet and friends Kam and Julie and Alan on a tip off that Robert Plant would be performing a secret warm up gig at the University for his forthcoming UK tour

After a set by Shadows look a-likes The Rapiers, on walked Robert with a completely new band. He proceeded to weave a rich tapestry of both old and new in a quite astonishing performance.

The new came via tracks from his forthcoming album Now And Zen including the Zep sampled Tall Cool One, a right old rockerbilly tear up Billy’s Revenge and the then just released chorus filled single Heaven Knows.

The old came courtesy of his former band in the guise of In The Evening, Misty Mountain Hop and Trampled Underfoot. After previous warm up dates in Folkestone and Stourbridge, this was the third occasion in his solo career that he had performed numbers from the Led Zeppelin catalogue live on stage.

In an era of no ‘Led Anything’ it was simply cathartic. As can be seen by this review I wrote at the time in the weekly column I did for the local Bedfordshire Citizen newspaper, I was mightily impressed. 32 years, on that night in Leicester University remains vivid in the memory.

It was the night I first saw Robert Plant successfully reconcile his past with the present. Being there to witness it all unfold was awe inspiring.

It kicked off a great year of Now And Zen appearances which for me included gigs at Colchester University, London’s Marquee club (where I first met Gary Foy) Warwick University, Oxford Apollo, London’s Town and Country Club and Astoria Theatre and twice at Hammersmith Odeon (the second night featuring a surprise and simply amazing Jimmy Page cameo).

Brilliant as they all were, it’s that first night in Leicester all of 32 years ago this week that still resonates the most – it’s right up there in my top ten list of all time favourite gigs…

Dave Lewis, January 22, 2020

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https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/poet-scarlett-sabet-in-conversation-with-jimmy-page-tickets-89973040787?fbclid=IwAR3gIibPP25RlHkMVPF4g64qjvnFkLDhuP1zQaQD0Qlsq-8bzxu3FWnM7ec

 LONDON VICTORIA – SAT 25th JANUARY
The UK’s premier event! The best selling opportunity this winter.  Large
airy hall and a café in the venue. Tube nearby and good parking. Only a
handful of sellers tables left.
This event opens later than other fairs – 12 noon to 5pm £5, 10am to 12
noon £10
http://www.vip-24.com/londonvictoria.htm

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My thoughts on…

Led Zeppelin Transmissions 1969 (Audio Vaults 2 CD set)

What we have here is one of those semi legal or not so legal packages of Led Zeppelin material. In this case as the title suggests radio transmissions recorded for the BBC in 1969 issued here on the Audio Vaults label whoever they may be. These Led Zep BBC recordings have of course already much bootlegged over the years and are also available in various configurations on the Jimmy Page compiled official Complete BBC Sessions releases of 1997 and 2016.

Over the years I have enjoyed massive affinity for these BBC sessions – going right back since I first heard them on muffled old cassettes circa 1972/3 and then in much better quality after they were aired on the iconic Tommy Vance Friday Rock Show in February 1979.

Being lucky enough to work with Jimmy on the 2016 Complete BBC Sessions release in 2016, when I was liaising with him compiling the sleeve notes ,I witnessed at close proximity exactly what these vintage recordings meant to the guitarist himself.

So to Transmissions 1969:

The packaging is fairly unadventurous – a standard blimp image on the front, fairly detailed track details, one solitary black and white 1969 group photo and some superfluous sleeve notes. The flimsy essay type round up of their early career bizarrely manages to not mention the actual BBC sessions at all. Hey fellas, you could have cribbed my notes from the aforementioned official 2016 release. The sound quality is very good with clear separation.

As for the material spread across the two CDs, well this is a clear case of what’s not to like.

It’s no understatement to say that these performances spread the Zep legacy on their home soil almost as much as the debut album. Over 50 years on they still sound utterly remarkable. There’s a unique vitality about these sessions – it captures a band on the crest of a wave – a band who knew they were good and knew they were breaking new ground with every visit to the various BBC studios during that year.

Pleasingly the five sessions represented here are in chronological order and for that reason the extent of that progression is more than evident. Disc One takes in the four BBC sessions recorded between March and June of 1969. The musical journey that goes from the epic blues covers of You Shook Me and I Can’t Quite You Baby, through to the pure invention of Whole Lotta Love and What is And What Should Never Be with so many diversions along the way is still an absolute blast to travel on  – no matter how many times I’ve heard it all before.

The big plus on CD One is the inclusion of Alexis Korner’s introduction from the March 19 Rhythm And Blues session broadcast on April 14 – this was edited out of the 2016 official release , and the quite hilariously inept interview conducted by Chris Grant for the tasty Pop Sundae session recorded on June 16  and broadcast on June 22. This is the first semi official release of this clip.

Disc Two presents the live Playhouse Theatre recording of June 27, 1969. Again there are bonus points to be had for the inclusion of the Page and Plant Interview with DJ Alan Black plus the sketch featuring Liverpool Scene’s Adrian Henry Andy Roberts and Mike Evans.

In effect this is the Radio One presentation known as One Night Stand broadcast on August 10,1969.

None of the above was used by Page for the official BBC releases. Also of note are the versions of Communication Breakdown and How Many More Times. Communication Breakdown has the refrain from The Isley Brothers hit of the time It’s Your Thing intact –for copyright reasons this was edited out of the officially released cut. How Many More Times retains Alan Black’s intro and Plant’s introduction of the band members – both of which were also edited form the officially released version.

In summary: The packaging is no great shakes but the content on Transmissions 1969 is highly recommended –not least as it presents more complete versions of some key performances. This is therefore an opportunity to invest in a catch all double CD set of virtually the entire BBC 1969 output –and all for under a tenner. Get it before it becomes rather elusive…

Dave Lewis – January 22, 2020

Order via Amazon at this link:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transmissions-1969-2CD-Led-Zeppelin/dp/B07ZWBRGJW/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=led+zeppelin+transmissions&qid=1579708489&sr=8-1

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DL Diary Blog Update:

On Monday it was a real tonic for Janet and I to have a visit from Gary Davies.

Midlands based Gary as many of you will know, is one of the foremost authorities on the subject of Led Zeppelin on film and video and a long time contributor to all things TBL. He also co – organised the 2005 Zeppelin Express Convention with Graeme Hutchinson. Gary and I were first in contact by letter (does anybody remember letters?) in 1978 when Gary was 16. Our bond therefore goes back many decades. We had a lot to catch up on and he was incredibly supportive about our situation here. The good lady was also very pleased with the flowers Gary kindly brought along. All round it was a real inspiration to see him. It was also a  pleasure to hand over a copy of the Led Zeppelin Live 1975 -1977 book while he was here as the pic shows.

As mentioned above, I am not able to get out to the Victoria Record Fair or much else right now. My priority is looking after Janet. Though she can get around a bit on her walker frame and crutches there is a lot I need to be on hand here to help her with. There is no bandage now but there can be no weight bearing on her right leg for at least a couple of months ahead.  We have a couple of hospital appointments coming up for check ups which we are a bit nervy about.

It’s been a struggle still mentally for me but I am trying to get stronger. I did have a wellbeing phone screening earlier in the week that may lead to some help though the waiting list  I am told is likely to be months which is not so good.

Aside from Gary’s visit, can’t say it’s been much of a week here – even the good lady’s positive resolve has been tested – the dull January weather does not help.

Winterlude Playlist:

Some more winterlude record selections providing comfort for the cold dark days and long nights here:

Frank Sinatra – A Man Alone

The Who – Who’s Next

When The Day Is Done – The Orchestrations of Robert Kirby

David Crosby – If I Could Only Remember My Name…

Phil Collins – Face Value

Marianne Faithfull – Rich Kids Blues

Dave Lewis – January 22, 2020