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What is the best bootleg?


porca41

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If anyone's interested, here are some annotations with recommended specific sources/titles:

Great Performances Available Complete (or Nearly Complete), in Decent to Excellent Sound Quality:

1969 01 05 Whiskey A Go Go (L.A.) ("Live at Whiskey A Go Go!!!" - Empress Valley)

1969 04 24 Fillmore West (L.A.) ("Dancing Avocado" show) (jameskg reel master)

1969 04 27 Fillmore West (L.A.) ("Devil's Blues" - Genuine Masters)

1969 08 31 Texas Int'l Pop Festival (multiple versions are good - TCOLZ's "Definitive Edition" is a nice one)

1969 10 10 Paris Radio (Tarantura's "In the Act of Invoking the Spirit" from the "Valkyrie's Vigil" box is the best IMHO)

1970 03 07 Montreux ("Intimidator" - Empress Valley)

1970 09 04 L.A. ("Blueberry Hill" show) ("The Great Love Affair" - Winston)

1970 09 19 NYC (evening show) ("One More for the Road - 2005 Edition")

1971 08 31 Orlando FL ("Orlando - Your Really Got Me" - Genuine Masters)

1971 09 14 Berkeley ("Going to California" show) (2010 dadgad remaster)

1971 09 23 Tokyo ("Flying Rock Carnival Complete")

1971 09 29 Osaka (so many sources - Tarantura's "Geisha 40th Anniversary" or Wendy's "Fatally Wanderer Definitive" are good places to start)

1972 10 02 Tokyo ("Led Zeppelin Is My Brother" - Empress Valley)

1973 01 15 Stoke, UK (low-gen non-bootleg source)

1973 01 22 Southampton, UK (Most any version will do; Winston's is nice)

1973 03 24 Offenburg, West Germany ("Led Zeppelin's Triumph-Zung" - Beezlebub)

1973 05 13 Mobile, AL (dadgad remaster)

1973 05 31 L.A. ("Bonzo's Birthday Party" show) (Any Wendy or Empress Valley version will do)

1973 06 02 San Francisco ("Vibes are Real" Show) (low gen non-boot source if you can find it)

1975 02 12 NYC (bluecongo's "Four Blocks in the Snow v.2" or Godfather's "That's Alright NY")

1975 02 12 Uniondale, NY ("St. Valentine's Day Massacre" - EV)

1975 03 05 Dallas ("Days Confused" - EV)

1975 03 19 Vancouver, BC (thir13en remaster, or Godfather's "Rocky Mt. Hop")

1975 03 24, 25, 27 L.A. (Mike Millard recordings) (Millard pre-boot 1st gen, or Winston's "Mike the Mike" series)

1975 05 24, 25 London Earls Court (many decent sources - Liriondendron's "Keep Taking the Pills" or bluecongo's "King Jimmy & the West Bromwich Blues Band" are the best for 05 25)

1977 05 30 Landover MD (low-gen pre-boot)

1977 06 21 L.A. ("Listen to this Eddie" show) (Winston's "Mike the Mike" series)

1977 06 23 L.A. ("For Badgeholders Only" show) (Scorpio or Genuine Masters - both called "For Badgeholders Only")

1979 07 24 Copenhagen (Lots of decent versions)

1980 06 29 Zurich (low-gen pre-boot or bluecongo's "European Championships")

1980 06 30 Frankfurt (low-gen pre-boot or "Bertha Goes to Frankfurt")

2007 12 10 London (There's a great 5+4 source mix, though many like the Trainspotter source by itself)

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I've just listened to 25.5.77. As I've said elsewhere, it is indeed a poor tape - so poor, in fact, that I couldn't tell whether it was a poor performance or not. I didn't notice anything particularly bad about it though, but have no plans to listen to it ever again, so I'll take your word for this. But it always amuses me when people opine on the performances in such poor recordings - it implies they've listened to them more than once, which begs the question: WHY ????????? :D

Great point! I often wonder if some of the legendary shows - LA Forum '77, but also the '75 Forum, and 03 21 '75 Seattle, among others - would be so highly regarded if they came out in soundboard form. The audience noise and venue ambience can really cover over some glitches, and in particular smooths out problems when Plant's voice isn't in good shape.

And thanks for the detailed info on Birmingham!

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Great point! I often wonder if some of the legendary shows - LA Forum '77, but also the '75 Forum, and 03 21 '75 Seattle, among others - would be so highly regarded if they came out in soundboard form. The audience noise and venue ambience can really cover over some glitches, and in particular smooths out problems when Plant's voice isn't in good shape.

And thanks for the detailed info on Birmingham!

I would love the 75 and 77 Forum shows in any form! :P

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If anyone's interested, here are some annotations with recommended specific sources/titles:

5-of the 6 show's at msg 77 are ok with the exception of the second nite 6/8.There is the 6/7 SB & 6/11 4-SOURCE-MERGE which are the best of the 77 NEW YORK SHOW'S.
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There's a ton of great shows from each year of touring and in all honesty, I can't decide what the best boot is but one that I would highly recommend is MSG 19/9/70 the evening show. Not a great recording by any means but it is a great performance and certainly captures the vibe the band had with it's audience on those early tours.

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Hands down the best Led-Zeppelin shows of all time have to be 1/29/1975, 4/9/77, 6/3/77, 7/20/77, 8/11/79, 6/27/80, and 7/7/80! (It's kinda sad that these are all concentrated from '75 and after.)

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Hands down the best Led-Zeppelin shows of all time have to be 1/29/1975, 4/9/77, 6/3/77, 7/20/77, 8/11/79, 6/27/80, and 7/7/80! (It's kinda sad that these are all concentrated from '75 and after.)

Worst shows ever. 4/9 or 6/3 is ok but the rest are under par

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Hands down the WORST LZ shows are everything up 'til 1975, the last 10 nights of the 1975 US Tour, all five nights in Earl's Court, 4.10.77, the end of the first leg of 77, the entire second leg, the copenhagen warm ups, 8.4.79, 6.29.80 and 6.30.80.

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Hands down the WORST LZ shows are everything up 'til 1975, the last 10 nights of the 1975 US Tour, all five nights in Earl's Court, 4.10.77, the end of the first leg of 77, the entire second leg, the copenhagen warm ups, 8.4.79, 6.29.80 and 6.30.80.

Are you for real?

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Anywho, another good show would be February 12, 1975. My favorite of all the '75 soundboards.

Agreed. This soundboard sounds absolutely amazing. It's one of the most full-dimensional Zep bootlegs (sound-wise), of any era. The only issue is that Plant's voice was kind of a mess - he was really in the throes of his flu. When he goes for the high notes it's pretty painful. But when he stays low he's great. And the rest of the band is cooking. I just listened to the show today, and it's terrific overall.

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Agreed on the the Feb. 12th show. The 'Flying Circus' version of the show is excellent, but if you haven't already I would encourage you to get the version entitled 'Four Blocks In The Snow'. It combines the excellent audience and soundboard audience sources. I'd wager that it sounds better than the recently remastered version of The Song Remains The Same.

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^^^Haven't heard the Four Blocks in the Snow version, but I know Godfather's "That's Alright New York" blows away any version of "Flying Circus" out there. Unlike a lot of soundboards, you get a sense of the crowd on this version.

Great Performances Available Complete (or Nearly Complete), in Decent to Excellent Sound Quality:

1969 01 05 Whiskey A Go Go (L.A.)

1969 04 24 Fillmore West (L.A.) ("Dancing Avocado" show)

1969 04 27 Fillmore West (L.A.)

1969 08 31 Texas Int'l Pop Festival

1969 10 10 Paris Radio

1970 03 07 Montreux

1970 09 04 L.A. ("Blueberry Hill" show)

1970 09 19 NYC (evening show)

1971 08 31 Orlando FL

1971 09 14 Berkeley ("Going to California" show)

1971 09 23 Tokyo

1971 09 29 Osaka

1972 10 02 Tokyo

1973 01 15 Stoke, UK

1973 01 22 Southampton, UK

1973 03 24 Offenburg, West Germany

1973 05 13 Mobile, AL

1973 05 31 L.A. ("Bonzo's Birthday Party" show)

1973 06 02 San Francisco ("Vibes are Real" Show)

1975 02 12 NYC

1975 02 12 Uniondale, NY

1975 03 05 Dallas

1975 03 19 Vancouver, BC

1975 03 24, 25, 27 L.A. (Mike Millard recordings)

1975 05 24, 25 London Earls Court

1977 05 30 Landover MD

1977 06 21 L.A. ("Listen to this Eddie" show)

1977 06 23 L.A. ("For Badgeholders Only" show)

1979 07 24 Copenhagen

1980 06 29 Zurich

1980 06 30 Frankfurt

2007 12 10 London

Pretty good list tmtomh...I recently made a list for a friend of what I consider the 50 essential Led Zeppelin concerts, and just about every one on your list is on mine.

I don't have any of the Landover 77 shows on my list...instead, I put May 22, 77 Ft. Worth.

In addition, I have 11-16-71 Ipswich; 2-16-72 Adelaide; 2-27-72 Sydney; 6-19-72 Seattle; 6-25-72 LA; 7-17-73 Seattle; 2-28-75 Baton Rouge, LA; and 8-4-79 Knebworth on my list.

I can't believe no one has pointed this out yet, but the Fillmore West was in San Francisco NOT Los Angeles.

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^^^Haven't heard the Four Blocks in the Snow version, but I know Godfather's "That's Alright New York" blows away any version of "Flying Circus" out there. Unlike a lot of soundboards, you get a sense of the crowd on this version.

Pretty good list tmtomh...I recently made a list for a friend of what I consider the 50 essential Led Zeppelin concerts, and just about every one on your list is on mine.

I don't have any of the Landover 77 shows on my list...instead, I put May 22, 77 Ft. Worth.

In addition, I have 11-16-71 Ipswich; 2-16-72 Adelaide; 2-27-72 Sydney; 6-19-72 Seattle; 6-25-72 LA; 7-17-73 Seattle; 2-28-75 Baton Rouge, LA; and 8-4-79 Knebworth on my list.

I can't believe no one has pointed this out yet, but the Fillmore West was in San Francisco NOT Los Angeles.

Get your hands on 'Four Blocks In The Snow' Strider, the updated version to be exact. It's the best matrix I've ever heard. Doesn't hurt that both recordings on their own are stellar also.

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Speaking of "Four Blocks in the Snow", I'm loving these audience/soundboard matrixes (matricies?). All the excitement, thundering bass and LOUD guitar of a good audience tape with the clear vocals and keyboards of a soundboard! Best of both worlds!

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^^^You had it right the first time, chef...it's matrixes.

It's not in amazing quality at all, but Pontiac '77 is a fantastic show as is 6.26.77 (my favorite of all six nights in LA)

Hmmm, it was good...but better overall than 6.23, or even 6.21? That's going to require further investigation.

I will say this: 6.26.77 had my favourite encore of the 5 nights I saw, tied with 6.23. And I only liked 6.23 because Keith Moon was out there...the last time I would see Keith Moon on a stage.

But musically, I was tired of the by rote short versions of Whole Lotta Love the band was passing off as an encore, usually linked with Rock n Roll.

"It'll Be Me" however was fresh, fun and the band seemed to enjoy playing it. I always thought for the multidate cities like LA, Chicago, NY and Landover, they should have played a different encore each night.

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^^^You had it right the first time, chef...it's matrixes.

Hmmm, it was good...but better overall than 6.23, or even 6.21? That's going to require further investigation.

I will say this: 6.26.77 had my favourite encore of the 5 nights I saw, tied with 6.23. And I only liked 6.23 because Keith Moon was out there...the last time I would see Keith Moon on a stage.

But musically, I was tired of the by rote short versions of Whole Lotta Love the band was passing off as an encore, usually linked with Rock n Roll.

"It'll Be Me" however was fresh, fun and the band seemed to enjoy playing it. I always thought for the multidate cities like LA, Chicago, NY and Landover, they should have played a different encore each night.

6.26.77 Is my favorite because the numbers were longer like the next night but w/o the sloppiness. (Though I don't care what anybody says, I still love the No Quarter, acoustic set, and noise solo from 6.27.) I also wish they had mixed it up with the encores, WLL~R&R being played nearly every night got kinda boring. I wish there were more performances of It'll Be Me, and I wish it had made it onto their so-called "next album", whatever that would've been like if Karac hadn't died. They at least should've done a full or nearly full WLL then do R&R, not just the intro.
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strider - thanks for the correction of Fillmore West - oops!

I also agree with 08 04 79 Knebworth; but I left it off my list because I excluded shows that are available (even if only in part) on official releases. That's also why I didn't include any of the other dates represented on the DVD, The Song Remains the Same, or How the West Was Won.

re the 02 12 75 NYC show, I've got Four Blocks in the Snow v.2 (bluecongo matrix) and That's Alright NY (Godfather SBD remaster). Both are excellent - but very different.

If you like something that sounds similar to an official release, then That's Alright NY is the way to go. If you prefer a more "authentic boot" sound, then Four Blocks in the Snow is the winner.

Personally I prefer That's Alright NY, because it sounds like a professionally mixed official release. It's amazing - and shockingly, Godfather's remastering does more to smooth out the rough edges of Plant's voice than the audience source does on Four Blocks in the Snow. However, That's Alright NY has its detractors too (some folks don't like the added reverb), and Four Blocks in the Snow is probably one of the two or three best matrixes of Zep. (Bluecongo's matrixes of 05 25 75 Earls Court and 06 29 80 Zurich are the other two I think are way up there).

I encourage everyone to check both versions out. You won't be disappointed.

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