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tmtomh

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Everything posted by tmtomh

  1. Indeed - a fantastic show and arguably one of their very best post-'73 shows.
  2. Hard to know what sources/versions they are using - and more importantly, are you sure those are pressed CDs and not CD-Rs?
  3. Thanks! I'll have to take another listen to Trampled from Berlin. I really like the version from Frankfurt but it's been a long time since I listened to the full Berlin show, so I'll check it out. RE Black Dog, I totally hear you on that - overplayed without a doubt, and I agree with you that it would've been no loss had they ditched it from the set. But I do really like the version from Dortmund, so given what they did play, it is a highlight for me. I can't agree with the nixing of The Rain Song, but I very much agree with you that White Summer should've been dumped from the '80 set, not only because it was a dissonant note of self-indulgence the band were supposed to be removing from the new streamlined set, but also because Page simply couldn't play it properly at that point. Ditto for Hot Dog - if memory serves, Rotterdam is the only show where he nails the solo in that track. I also agree that The Rover and/or Wanton Song, plus Fool in the Rain would've been great in the set (particularly as replacements for Black Dog and Hot Dog). But I don't know that Page could've pulled off Ten Years Gone in his 1980 condition.
  4. I have assembled and shared a Best Of 1980, and I know several other Zep fans have done so too. There's some good stuff in those 14 shows, but IMHO they were good but not great. If Bonham (and Page) could've held it together I'm confident they would've continued to improve as they rehearsed in August and September in advance of the planned U.S. tour - but the band captured on those soundboards from Europe is still in the process of trying to gel again, iMHO. That said, if I were to choose a Top 5 moments from that tour, I'd choose, in no particular order: The 18-minute, one-of-a-kind Whole Lotta Love from Berlin - a new kind of WLL freak-out that showed the band could still improvise and surprise like nobody's business. Train Kept A-rollin' - here I agree with the OP; it was a great decision to add that back into the set after 11 years without it. Frankfurt is my favorite version. The cover of "Money" with Phil Carson at the end of the Frankfurt show. It's slow and incredibly heavy - quintessential Zep. Trampled Under Foot from Frankfurt (and also Zurich) - full of energy, very different from the Zep of '75 but just as good in its own way. Black Dog from Dortmund - this 1st show of the tour is all over the place, but that's because they are full of energy and roaring out of the gate, and Black Dog is perhaps the best, relatively compact showcase of that energy, maybe the most energetic five minutes of the entire tour.
  5. Copenhagen July 24, 1979. There are some post-1973 Zep shows that equal this one, but I'm not sure if there are any that top it. Excellent audience source, but if a soundboard of this one ever surfaces, it will instantly make a good number of the available '77 and '80 soundboards almost irrelevant.
  6. It's from the 24th, and it's from a stereo (not multitrack) soundboard. It sounds great, it's only one CD but it's a decent-length one (about 67-68 minutes I believe). It's available for about $91US, which is a lot of money but not outrageous; and for 99+% of folks it's available for free since they have/will be downloading it rather than buying it. All good as far as I'm concerned, no need for complaints.
  7. The only way to make it a technically feasible/decent-sounding single LP - and one in the 40-45 minute run-time range of all their other studio albums - would've been to cut one of the 1974 tracks - which is probably why they made it a double album, as all the '74 tracks are excellent. But if I were going to make a single LP from the '74 tracks, I'd cut In the Light. It's a great track, but the other two long tracks (In My Time of Dying, Kashmir) are so strong that IMHO In the Light is the one that has to go. As for sequencing, I would actually just stick with the running order they chose, minus In the Light and the pre-'74 tracks. I think the result is pretty good.: Side A (approx 21 min) Custard Pie In My Time of Dying Trampled Under Foot Side B (approx 23-1/2 min) Kashmir Ten Years Gone The Wanton Song Sick Again I'm glad Zep made Physical Graffiti a double album, to be sure. However, had they made it a single album and therefore held back all the pre-74 tracks plus In the Light, then Coda would've ended up being the best outtakes album in the history of music. In that scenario, it's unlikely Jimmy Page would've resorted to creating the fake "studio" and "soundcheck" tracks out of the Royal Albert Hall live versions of We're Gonna Groove and I Can't Quit You Baby. And it's unlikely he would've felt the need to bring Robert Plant in to write Lyrics and add vocals to Walter's Walk. So with those three out of the picture, Coda might've looked something like the following: Side A (approx 22-1/2 min) The Rover 5:36 Poor Tom 3:02 Houses of the Holy 4:01 Night Flight 3:36 Bron-Yr-Aur 2:06 Black Country Woman 4:24 Side B (approx 23-1/2 min) Darlene 5:06 Down by the Seaside 5:14 Boogie with Stu 3:51 Bonzo's Montreux 4:22 Wearing and Tearing 5:27
  8. I think it's a great one. But I would guess most hardcore Zep fans would say the March 21 Seattle show is the best of 1975. When it comes to the five Earls Court shows, opinion is split as to the best of them, but to the extent there's a consensus, it appears to be that a combination of the 24th and 25th would represent the best Earls Court concert and one of the top '75 shows.
  9. Two qualifiers: 1. These are just my personal favorites - I don't claim these necessarily are "the best." 2. For some albums (especially III and PG) it's very a very close call between the track I've listed and one or more other candidates. That said, here's my list: I - Dazed and Confused II - Whole Lotta Love III - That's the Way IV - Levee Houses - The Rain Song PG - In My Time of Dying Presence - Tea for One In Through the Out Door - Fool in the Rain Coda - Wearing and Tearing
  10. Different strokes for different folks. I understand why some people feel the original vintage LPs are the best- the renowned Robert Ludwig-cut 1st press of Zep II, for example, is a pretty unique specimen and really excellent. So too is the original UK Porky Houses of the Holy LP and some others. But, at the risk if angering some here, I have to say that the whole "all-analogue vinyl is always better than digital vinyl; digitally sourced vinyl is just a giant vinyl CD" argument is not one that I find persuasive in the least. There are plenty of excellent sounding vinyl masterings (and remasterings) out there that have a digital source or a digital step somewhere in the chain. Many all-analogue masterings are very good because much care is taken with them, just like many gold CDs sound great not because of the gold layer but rather because gold CDs were usually mastered with care by audiophile-minded engineers and labels. The overall problem with the vintage vinyl argument, IMHO, is that it's way too muddy - it is difficult to tell if someone is saying the original vinyl "slays" the new remaster because (a) it really sounds clearly better, (b) they have an emotional need to justify their investment, (c) they have confirmation bias (they expect the vintage to be better so they conclude/feel that any difference they hear must be an improvement), (d) they are posting a public video and they know very well that preferring the vintage vinyl is the "cool"/"right" answer in the vinyl community, or (e) some combination of the above. Again, I am not saying vintage vinyl doesn't sometimes sound better. But it doesn't always sound better. Even with the Zep albums, I'd put the remasters of Zep III, Presence, and In Through the Out Door up against any vintage version any day (I know my view on III is not necessarily mainstream in this regard). And I think the remasters of I, II, and Physical Graffiti are very good to excellent, even if they can't necessarily top the best vintage vinyl. Finally, it's worth noting that for most Zep albums, the vaunted 1st and early presses are not easy to find in really good condition and not cheap. So the remasters are better than the vast majority of used Zep vinyl you'll find out there.
  11. The sound quality might indeed bet better on the EU version, but both the EU and North American versions are 180 gram.
  12. Yes, one would almost think that might be the main reason you like them, especially given that you appear to have accidentally forgotten to share any links of K-Pop bands that are not comprised exclusively of young women.
  13. I'm with @bluecongo, @John M, and @Strider on this one. Presence sounds astringent, to be sure, but that's clearly by design. And it doesn't sound muddy or muffled, nor to my ears is the mix bad. From a technical standpoint (which I freely admit is not the only or even primary metric to evaluate the feel of a Zep album), Presence might actually be the best sounding album in the catalogue. The clean quality of its mix and sound is rivaled only by the first album. (Again, not saying Presence is the most sonically satisfying album.) As for the vocals, they are indeed thin on most of the tracks (except perhaps Tea for One). But that's probably because Plant was in a body cast and singing from a chair - that will rob your voice of some dynamism and make it sound thinner and reedier. And just as Page used Plant's voice to full advantage in the past - Plant sounds like he's gargling battery acid on "Sick Again,:" and his voice is actually quite thin on Custard Pie and Kashmir - he clearly worked with it on Presence too, capturing the vulnerability and isolation the band felt as injured tax exiles stuck in a Munich studio. Or maybe it's as simple as Houses of the Holy being a Jack Daniels type of album while Presence is a coke or heroin album. Who knows. I would hate for all nine albums to sound and feel like Presence. But I'd hate every album to sound and feel like Zep II as well. As a unique one-off in their catalogue, Presence is electrifying and really intense - even the fun songs sound closed-in and ominous. It's a pretty tight, cohesive statement.
  14. Isn't the 3-19-75 Vancouver one pretty good and nearly complete? Or am I misremembering?
  15. Don't want to go off-topic, but I actually agree with you about Harvey - I too prefer the sound on the BBC/Peel versions.
  16. I know Albini is very well regarded as a producer, and I can see how it works in some cases - for example something like PJ Harvey's Dry. But outside of the post-punk context from which Albini hails, I personally don't feel his super-dry production style works as well, and that applies to WIC - it's a busy mix and IMHO Albini's production works best on starker material. To each their own, of course.- I can see the appeal of it, just not my cup of tea sonically.
  17. Could be months, could be never. What we have so far isn't even a rumor or a leak - it's just a trademark application. Trademark applications sometimes don't manifest as actual products for months or years, or ever.
  18. You have no substantiation for this claim.
  19. I hear you on that, but since the choice is either nothing or Page-Frankenstein version, I'll take the latter in a heartbeat, especially since it's possible that the whole 929 show, including WLL, is still out there in the sound quality of the recently surfaced soundboard. It's why the Good Lord invented bootlegs - so you can have the whole night's performance in decent quality as an alternative to the official, edited version. 😀
  20. James did a great service to everyone with that merge of all the soundboard tracks! One thing I've learned recently from folks with a better ear for pitch than me: Apparently this soundboard source runs 1.5% to 2% fast. It's easy to fix in Audacity or another free app. I slowed my copy down by 1.5% (because it's better to end up with a source that might be a tiny bit fast than a tiny bit slow - nothing sounds worse than a tape that runs too slow). It was easy and the result is great.
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