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Seattle 1977, Bad recording or bad performance?


BlyZeppelinaren

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4 hours ago, KellyGirl said:



When the Levee Breaks..?  Is that not studio heavy?  Seems to me that never worked out onstage.  Wish it did.
Great song! 


 

No, I am referring to the version on the new Coda Deluxe release. That version is only about 4:40 long, vocals are laid back and there are no drum treatments / echo. That version could have easily been pulled off live. In fact I believe Robert uses a similar arrangement when he played the song on recent tours.

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On 4/1/2016 at 0:00 PM, Jimmywalnutz said:

Thank you. I have heard 4/28 in borderline "un listenable" quality. That's a bold statement and now I am driven :). What would you say is the definitive version ? I'm real excited to add these two (Seattle Bill B. and 4/28/77 ? ).

  Promise, last time. Thank You again.

Unlistenable quality???!!! Wow, you must have a really bad copy or something- 4/28 is one of the best non-Millard audience recordings of the tour, even if it is cut in between songs etc...

On 4/2/2016 at 9:42 PM, KellyGirl said:

I like your take Nutrocker on a lot of '77 stuff! :D Some of these gigs it's very much the recording source and not
the bands performance.  It's one of those tours where if you dig, you can find some really great stuff.  I know for some
'77 just doesn't do much for them,  but eh that's quite alright,  we all like what we like eh! 

They don't call me the King Of '77 for nuthin :lol: ...and yer right, some of the recordings (yes, even soundboard tapes) make the performance seem worse than it actually is. And on the flipside, there are some excellent performances buried under shitty sounding recordings (Atlanta and the April 10 Chicago show immediately come to mind)

On 4/4/2016 at 8:04 PM, Jimmywalnutz said:

Wow the Seattle audience sounds very different than GF SBD, but enjoyable. Thank you.

I never understood why Presence was so under represented on the 77 Tour. For Your Life would have been fantastic . Tea For One could have ended up being snoozer but maybe interspersing some of it in to SIBLY would have worked.

 

The lack of Presence songs in '77 -even though the album only contained seven songs- makes it seem like the band had little confidence in the material. Compare to the amount of Physical Graffitti material premiered in 1975 (yeah, I know it's a double album.) At the very least in addition to "Nobody's Fault But Mine" and "Achilles" "Tea For One" should have been played in place of SIBLY. In Through The Out Door got more representation in 1980 than Presence did in 1977.

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I did find a better copy of 4/28 and it's much better. I think the other I have was a you-tube rip of various sources.  No matter what I did I had muddy bass , but this one is very nice. I also ripped a great 6/11.

I don't want to go off topic but sometimes it's funny on the difference between what you listen to some boots on (home , car stereo, sounddock, beats headphones v. bose etc. )

Thank you. I listened to it twice and I am wishing a Soundboard would surface. One of my best 77 boots (sound wise) is ironically, 4/27  "The Maximum Destroyer". A day late and a dollar short I guess.. 

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On Sunday, April 3, 2016 at 0:35 AM, KellyGirl said:

Hmm I haven't figured out what my favourite year is. Don't make me choose!! Bearded Jimmy, or Jimmy and his
ill fitting sweaters VS. dragon and poppies??
:ahhh: That's toooo hard. Haha :lol: ah I'm just having some fun. I love
the early years, as much as the later years.  But.. ya know I do however, find myself searching out the '73 thru '77
gigs much more than what some  fans deem thy coveted better Jimmy playing era (1968-1972).  1977 is rough and
tumble, plagued with drugs flowing freely in camp Zep - Jimmy is all smacked out on smack, but I'm really  drawn to
listening to the '77 gigs right now. I'd rather listen  to some of the good '77 shows more so than say Royal Albert Hall
at the moment.


 

I like watching the footage of this show, but wow who filmed it? There are times when they should totally be 
on Jones, yet camera dude is like "Nah man zoom in on Page havin' a smoke. 40 years from now fans may
wanna know during this great bass playing of John Paul Jones - Jimmy Page was smoking a Marlboro cig."
:lol: 
I shouldn't complain really....really any live footage of the band is welcomed. :D 

I don't know Kelley, how can I tell?

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On 4/3/2016 at 10:35 PM, KellyGirl said:

I like watching the footage of this show, but wow who filmed it? There are times when they should totally be 
on Jones, yet camera dude is like "Nah man zoom in on Page havin' a smoke. 40 years from now fans may
wanna know during this great bass playing of John Paul Jones - Jimmy Page was smoking a Marlboro cig."
:lol: 
I shouldn't complain really....really any live footage of the band is welcomed. :D 

You need to remember, the show was filmed for the benefit of the video screens, nothing more, just so the punters sitting up in the nosebleeds in the Kingdome would have something to see other than four ants on the stage- hence all the closeups. Though I agree, the emphasis of the camera work is way too much on Jimmy and Robert. A little bit of Bonzo, but hardly any JPJ at all, although, to be fair, that might have been just how Jonesy liked it: "Keep those fucking cameras away from me!" :lol: Even during his piano solo in "No Quarter" the footage shows more of his hands on the keyboard than his face.

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  • 8 months later...

My 2c.

I saw the video, then picked up the boot and played it a couple times. One of those times was on a 5 hour solo drive, when I could really blast it and take it all in. One thing that stands out after playing something like 2-12-75 or heck, even 3-17-75, is the slightly cold and distant feel of the Kingdome board. It simply doesn't sparkle sonically like the '75 boards. That being said, it's actually a pretty good sounding show once your ears get used to it. I turned the bass almost all the way up and it thumped nicely in all the right places (SIBLY, throughout NQ, Kashmir toward the end, Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp, Stairway closing note, etc.) - if it threatens to shatter my speakers it's good in my book! Of course, having to listen hard for any audience sounds sucks... would love to have a matrix.

About the performances. As others have mentioned, NQ is one of the better ones. I prefer it to 5-25-77 and would put it on par with 5-23-77. I'm not a musician so I don't speak notes, but I know when notes get missed - especially in a blues jam when all the notes are all fairly predictable - and the boys just consistently get it right during the blues shuffle. The main jam is really good too, Jimmy seems to really be into it. The bass pedal disappears in the second verse / closing chorus for some reason (it's really there during the opening verse / chorus) but that's about the only strike against it. Awesome version! Again to echo what was mentioned by others, TYG is a great version. Jimmy's out-of-tune guitar in the OTHAFA solo has been discussed a lot but I kind of really like what he does with that solo especially given the guitar trouble. Same with the Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp, which has to be one of the longest versions ever? Jimmy's acoustic jam in the end - after he has replaced the broken string and joined back in - is amazing (and just what is Percy singing during the improv, anyway?) White Summer rivals any of the LA versions that I've heard (6-21, 6-23, 6-25). Bonzo's farewell Moby Dick (was it meant to be one?) is lights out. I like the '77 noise solo (theremin especially) on boards the best, it's never as good in AUD recordings, maybe because boards have more mids and that adds depth to it? Anyway, it sounds great here. And the rest of the setlist is at least solid, plus we have the "about the lousiest thing you could do" conduct oriented Plantation which has to be one of my favorites from any year.

Actually, the sense I am getting is the boys actually meant for this one to be a special performance, obviously knowing they were being being taped. Jimmy in particular sounds like he means to dazzle a little more than usual (outside of the LA shows). I wish they had shaken up the setlist a little bit, but still, a very good show, and looks like the last good one from 1977?

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On 4/3/2016 at 3:45 PM, IpMan said:

Drum solo should have been aborted like Hitler's fetus, way too damn long. WS/BMS should also have been dropped in favor of either BYA or a BYA / Spanish Blood combo no more than 5min long. Guitar solo no more than five minutes of a combo of the bowing & maybe a snippet of Machine Gun or Voodoo Chile leading into the opening arpeggio of ALS. This would have given a good extra 45 - 60 minutes for extra tunes from PG & Presence such as a full Rover or Custard Pie, maybe even Night Flight; and add Hot's & RO as a medley plus drop SIBLY in favor of TFO. 

See, but that would have meant Jimmy would have to actually play stuff for an extra 45-60 minutes, as opposed to just noodling on guitar and letting smack take him places.

I'm not complaining. I love listening to Jimmy noodle on guitar and jerk around with theremin. I find it relaxing. I bet he did too.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have half a dozen versions of this show (but not the weedwacker upload). I would say that according to my ears, Godfather's release (Conquering Kingdome) is my go to version with Tarantura 2000's release (Jupiter & Saturn) second. I go for these because in these versions, Robert is slightly more forward in the mix whereas on the others Jimmy is mixed to the fore and Robert seems buried a bit. There's not a lot in it but my preferences are reasonable enough quality - not even very good but at least Plant is not buried as much in the mix.

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On 12/28/2016 at 4:22 AM, Jukkin said:

I have half a dozen versions of this show (but not the weedwacker upload). I would say that according to my ears, Godfather's release (Conquering Kingdome) is my go to version with Tarantura 2000's release (Jupiter & Saturn) second. I go for these because in these versions, Robert is slightly more forward in the mix whereas on the others Jimmy is mixed to the fore and Robert seems buried a bit. There's not a lot in it but my preferences are reasonable enough quality - not even very good but at least Plant is not buried as much in the mix.

Ever heard any of the audience recordings? IMO those are the best way to appreciate the Seattle '77 show.

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