High in June - A Celebration of Tour Over Europe 1980

[NealKenneth]

Inspired by an earlier topic in Led Zep Live, I decided to compile a performance from Tour Over Europe 1980, in order to show that the band could be just as good then as in earlier years. My compilation is in the style of How the West Was Won, relying on two neighbor performances (29 and 30 June 1980.)

Out of respect for Led Zeppelin and people who buy silvers, I kept the audio and visual quality relatively low. Enjoy!

[IpMan]

I agree, there were some great moments and complete concerts on this tour. The Train Kept a Rollin which starts this show is IMO better than any version of this song done in 69' by a mile...and I am not even a big fan of this song.

The other thing I love about the post-72' era (besides more diversity), is Robert's vocals. I know I am in the minority here but I prefer the 77' - 80' vocals to the 68'-72' vocals by a mile. Early Robert may have had the pipes but he was way too prone to histrionics and screaming which I can do without. 77' Robert was the absolute best of both worlds, he could sing with almost the full 72' range but he was much stronger in his mids and lows and used the highs tastefully. His vocal break in BCW where he really kicks it out is fucking amazing and something he could not have done in 68- 72' era as his mid-range alto was no where near as strong as it was in 77'. By 79' - 80' he was still damn good and strong, lost a bit of the highs but who cares, his overall vocal phrasing and texturing was much better than the early days.

The other tidbit many folk seem to overlook is from 68' - 70' in particular Page may have been more technical and cleaner, however he was also a bit of a one-trick pony with his solos. I listen to those early concerts and Page may shred, and shred well but it is essentially variations on the same lick. Page really started to come into his own as a guitarist by 71' and by 75' was a damn god! Sure he may have been sloppy at times from 77'-80' but at least he was not playing the same fucking scales over and over again in differing keys which is what he pretty much did in the early years. I always thought Page's peak ( technical & creative) was 73'-75', however his best absolute playing was from 96' - 2000'.

Every era of Zep has something different and amazing to offer, the 80' tour is no different and I would comment that a good half of the shows on this tour are what I would consider great shows.

[The Dark Lord]

I agree, there were some great moments and complete concerts on this tour. The Train Kept a Rollin which starts this show is IMO better than any version of this song done in 69' by a mile...and I am not even a big fan of this song.

The other thing I love about the post-72' era (besides more diversity), is Robert's vocals. I know I am in the minority here but I prefer the 77' - 80' vocals to the 68'-72' vocals by a mile. Early Robert may have had the pipes but he was way too prone to histrionics and screaming which I can do without. 77' Robert was the absolute best of both worlds, he could sing with almost the full 72' range but he was much stronger in his mids and lows and used the highs tastefully. His vocal break in BCW where he really kicks it out is fucking amazing and something he could not have done in 68- 72' era as his mid-range alto was no where near as strong as it was in 77'. By 79' - 80' he was still damn good and strong, lost a bit of the highs but who cares, his overall vocal phrasing and texturing was much better than the early days.

The other tidbit many folk seem to overlook is from 68' - 70' in particular Page may have been more technical and cleaner, however he was also a bit of a one-trick pony with his solos. I listen to those early concerts and Page may shred, and shred well but it is essentially variations on the same lick. Page really started to come into his own as a guitarist by 71' and by 75' was a damn god! Sure he may have been sloppy at times from 77'-80' but at least he was not playing the same fucking scales over and over again in differing keys which is what he pretty much did in the early years. I always thought Page's peak ( technical & creative) was 73'-75', however his best absolute playing was from 96' - 2000'.

Every era of Zep has something different and amazing to offer, the 80' tour is no different and I would comment that a good half of the shows on this tour are what I would consider great shows.

I agree.

OP, thanks for posting. I listened to it all, and enjoyed it very much.

[Sathington Willoughby]

The Train Kept a Rollin which starts this show is IMO better than any version of this song done in 69' by a mile...and I am not even a big fan of this song.

Nah.

[NealKenneth]

OP, thanks for posting. I listened to it all, and enjoyed it very much.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! Those just might be my favorite performances of Achille's Last Stand and Trampled Underfoot.

I agree, there were some great moments and complete concerts on this tour. The Train Kept a Rollin which starts this show is IMO better than any version of this song done in 69' by a mile...and I am not even a big fan of this song.

The other thing I love about the post-72' era (besides more diversity), is Robert's vocals. I know I am in the minority here but I prefer the 77' - 80' vocals to the 68'-72' vocals by a mile. Early Robert may have had the pipes but he was way too prone to histrionics and screaming which I can do without. 77' Robert was the absolute best of both worlds, he could sing with almost the full 72' range but he was much stronger in his mids and lows and used the highs tastefully. His vocal break in BCW where he really kicks it out is fucking amazing and something he could not have done in 68- 72' era as his mid-range alto was no where near as strong as it was in 77'. By 79' - 80' he was still damn good and strong, lost a bit of the highs but who cares, his overall vocal phrasing and texturing was much better than the early days.

The other tidbit many folk seem to overlook is from 68' - 70' in particular Page may have been more technical and cleaner, however he was also a bit of a one-trick pony with his solos. I listen to those early concerts and Page may shred, and shred well but it is essentially variations on the same lick. Page really started to come into his own as a guitarist by 71' and by 75' was a damn god! Sure he may have been sloppy at times from 77'-80' but at least he was not playing the same fucking scales over and over again in differing keys which is what he pretty much did in the early years. I always thought Page's peak ( technical & creative) was 73'-75', however his best absolute playing was from 96' - 2000'.

Every era of Zep has something different and amazing to offer, the 80' tour is no different and I would comment that a good half of the shows on this tour are what I would consider great shows.

What a great post!

Your thoughts on Plant and Page are very insightful, and rare opinions around these parts. Plant's voice definitely degraded starting late in 1971, but this was ultimately a blessing in disguise. It forced him to take a hard look at his vocal style and make changes he might otherwise not have. He figured out how to deliver power to the deeper registers, transforming his style completely. Even so, I can't imagine how incredible songs like Kashmir or Achille's Last Stand would sound with the range of a Plant circa summer 1970.

He also started to experiment with electronic manipulation...although auto-harmonizing is annoying on a song like Hot Dog, the distorted yelps and screeches he makes during Black Dog, Trampled Underfoot and Whole Lotta Love in this show are extraordinary. If he had pushed this even further on later albums/tours, it would have been very unique and interesting. But would he ever have considered electronic manipulation if his voice hadn't failed him? Would he have ever thought of deeper melodies like Kashmir or Achille's Last Stand if his fading range hadn't forced him to explore those territories?

Basically, I believe their later material would sound even better with an early Plant but an early Plant would never have thought of that material in the first place...it's Led Zeppelin's own "kill your grandfather" paradox.

I'm less of a guitar critic, but since you are so spot-on with Plant, I imagine you know what you are talking about there as well. I agree that there is something special to every year they were on tour, so I hope this compilation managed to capture what was special about 1980.

[Nutrocker]

Inspired by an earlier topic in Led Zep Live, I decided to compile a performance from Tour Over Europe 1980, in order to show that the band could be just as good then as in earlier years. My compilation is in the style of How the West Was Won, relying on two neighbor performances (29 and 30 June 1980.)

Out of respect for Led Zeppelin and people who buy silvers, I kept the audio and visual quality relatively low. Enjoy!

Good comp...care to breakdown exactly what you used from each show?

[Nutrocker]

The other thing I love about the post-72' era (besides more diversity), is Robert's vocals. I know I am in the minority here but I prefer the 77' - 80' vocals to the 68'-72' vocals by a mile. Early Robert may have had the pipes but he was way too prone to histrionics and screaming which I can do without. 77' Robert was the absolute best of both worlds, he could sing with almost the full 72' range but he was much stronger in his mids and lows and used the highs tastefully. His vocal break in BCW where he really kicks it out is fucking amazing and something he could not have done in 68- 72' era as his mid-range alto was no where near as strong as it was in 77'. By 79' - 80' he was still damn good and strong, lost a bit of the highs but who cares, his overall vocal phrasing and texturing was much better than the early days.

The other tidbit many folk seem to overlook is from 68' - 70' in particular Page may have been more technical and cleaner, however he was also a bit of a one-trick pony with his solos. I listen to those early concerts and Page may shred, and shred well but it is essentially variations on the same lick. Page really started to come into his own as a guitarist by 71' and by 75' was a damn god! Sure he may have been sloppy at times from 77'-80' but at least he was not playing the same fucking scales over and over again in differing keys which is what he pretty much did in the early years. I always thought Page's peak ( technical & creative) was 73'-75', however his best absolute playing was from 96' - 2000'.

I agree with every word, but especially with the parts I bolded. Plant did improve as an all-round vocalist once he laid off the histrionics, and Page's playing did get a lot more creative once he decided to slow down and lay off repeating the same three or four "Jimmy Page licks" he played ad nauseam in the early days.

Your thoughts on Plant and Page are very insightful, and rare opinions around these parts. Plant's voice definitely degraded starting late in 1971, but this was ultimately a blessing in disguise. It forced him to take a hard look at his vocal style and make changes he might otherwise not have. He figured out how to deliver power to the deeper registers, transforming his style completely. Even so, I can't imagine how incredible songs like Kashmir or Achille's Last Stand would sound with the range of a Plant circa summer 1970.

He also started to experiment with electronic manipulation...although auto-harmonizing is annoying on a song like Hot Dog, the distorted yelps and screeches he makes during Black Dog, Trampled Underfoot and Whole Lotta Love in this show are extraordinary. If he had pushed this even further on later albums/tours, it would have been very unique and interesting. But would he ever have considered electronic manipulation if his voice hadn't failed him? Would he have ever thought of deeper melodies like Kashmir or Achille's Last Stand if his fading range hadn't forced him to explore those territories?

I've always felt that Robert Plant first started with his 'trademark' vocal sound (the slap back echo in particular) on the '77 tour and perfected it on In Through The Out Door- the same vocal 'sound' that would sustain him throughout most of his solo career. He also made excellent use of double tracking (in the studio, at least) though I can never tell if it was done manually (actually sung twice) or by using Automatic Double Tracking (electronically manipulating the vocal track). Using those effects Plant managed to get some of the coolest sounding vocals I've ever heard...IMO only John Lennon came across as well using the same technique.

[Sue Dounim]

Only 90 minutes? Where'd the other 35 minutes go?

[ListenToThis]

Cool creation. I second Nutrocker's request for a detailed breakdown of what comes from where.

I like the discussion here regarding Plant's voice. It seems to me to be an underappreciated enigma but his live vocals on the '83 American tour and Japan / Australia '84 shows are fantastic. Still powerful and strong throughout lows, mids and highs. The live endings of "Stranger Here...Than Over There" sound like the chaos sections from 1980 WLL's. By 1988 in my opinion his powerful youthful voice was gone, replaced by a man sounding like early middle aged, which he was at the time.

The new Hong Kong '84 recording has gone almost completely unnoticed, at least it seems that way...Not to me though.

[ListenToThis]

I suppose I know these shows too well....I took a quick 30 second listen and already ascertained that NFBM is from Frankfurt and ALS is from Zurich. I'm gonna make a game out of this for myself!

[NealKenneth]

Good comp...care to breakdown exactly what you used from each show?

Because I believe consistency is important and that it t was the audience/atmosphere of Frankfurt that made it stand out, I tried to stick to audio from that show as much as possible. I subbed in the Zurich performance for In the Evening because they flubbed it up slightly in Frankfurt and brought along Achille’s Last Stand because it’s such an amazing performance. In my opinion, possibly Bonham’s best ever.

In an earlier version, I subbed in In the Evening from 3 July in Mannheim instead, bringing along The Rain Song, but ultimately decided the difference in audio quality was too much of a sacrifice for the only-somewhat better performances.

Only 90 minutes? Where'd the other 35 minutes go?

When I was first arranging this compilation, I tried to look at the tour and figure out what we’d most likely get if Jimmy were to release something official from 1980. For audio quality, I knew it had to be the FM broadcast from Zurich and, while experimenting with that night, I realized that a single-disc CD was completely possible by just cutting a few tracks.

Once I saw that, it was difficult to imagine Jimmy expanding to a double album. Since they didn't play either Whole Lotta Love or Money in Zurich, a compilation running about 70 minutes hits all the best moments and is perfect for a single CD (which max out around 74-76 minutes.)

The tracks I cut were White Summer/Black Mountain Side, Kashmir, Stairway to Heaven, Rock and Roll and Since I’ve Been Loving You. Besides Since I’ve Been Loving You, which was just a poor performance that night, the tracks I removed are those I feel the band should not have performed in 1980. I then arranged the remaining tracks to maximize flow and momentum. That leaves the following setlist as what I consider ideal:

1. Train Kept-a-Rollin’
2. Nobody’s Fault but Mine
3. Black Dog
4. The Rain Song
5. Achille’s Last Stand
6. All My Love
7. In the Evening
8. In the Light*
9. Hot Dog
10. Since I’ve Been Loving You
11. Trampled Underfoot
12. ENCORE 1: Heartbreaker/Whole Lotta Love (option to expand to medley if the band is feeling it)
13. ENCORE 2: Money/Communication Breakdown/Anything goes it’s the second encore

*The band needed something new to stretch out and jam on for 15-25 minutes, and I believe In The Light was ideal.

When the time came to show off the best of 1980, I just used what I had learned about the setlist by experimenting with Zurich to compile Frankfurt. Since I'm not releasing it on CD, I didn't have to worry about the 74-minute limit, so I was able to include the superb Whole Lotta Love from that night. That's the story of how it ended up at 90 minutes.

[in_the_evening]

Thanks NealKenneth. Very nice "show". I always thought the Tour Over Europe was underrated.

[NealKenneth]

I like the discussion here regarding Plant's voice. It seems to me to be an underappreciated enigma but his live vocals on the '83 American tour and Japan / Australia '84 shows are fantastic. Still powerful and strong throughout lows, mids and highs. The live endings of "Stranger Here...Than Over There" sound like the chaos sections from 1980 WLL's. By 1988 in my opinion his powerful youthful voice was gone, replaced by a man sounding like early middle aged, which he was at the time.

The new Hong Kong '84 recording has gone almost completely unnoticed, at least it seems that way...Not to me though.

I haven't listened to any post-Zeppelin stuff. Never even occurred to me to do that...sounds like I have to find some bootlegs!

[Sue Dounim]

I haven't listened to any post-Zeppelin stuff. Never even occurred to me to do that...sounds like I have to find some bootlegs!

I highly recommend the japanese leg of the Page & Plant Unledded tour. The fall american tour is pretty great too.

[Nutrocker]

I haven't listened to any post-Zeppelin stuff. Never even occurred to me to do that...sounds like I have to find some bootlegs!

In addition to Sue's aformentioned Page/Plant shows, get yerself some primo solo Robert Plant shows from 1983 to 1985 (there's a few soundboards/radio broadcasts that circulate in excellent sound). You can't go wrong with any of that stuff! I'm not a big fan of The Firm or Page's Outrider tour but there's a few decent soundboards of those floating around as well. Oh, yes, and grab some Zooma tour (1999/2000) John Paul Jones too!

[NealKenneth]

I highly recommend the japanese leg of the Page & Plant Unledded tour. The fall american tour is pretty great too.

Wow, just looking at the setlists for Page and Plant makes me very interested. It's almost as though they deliberately intended to perform the stuff they never did with Zeppelin! Is there a particular boxed set for the Japanese leg that I should set my sights on?

In addition to Sue's aformentioned Page/Plant shows, get yerself some primo solo Robert Plant shows from 1983 to 1985 (there's a few soundboards/radio broadcasts that circulate in excellent sound). You can't go wrong with any of that stuff! I'm not a big fan of The Firm or Page's Outrider tour but there's a few decent soundboards of those floating around as well. Oh, yes, and grab some Zooma tour (1999/2000) John Paul Jones too!

Thanks for the recommendations! It's just crazy to me that John Paul Jones is rocking to this day when he nearly quit the band in 74 to be a choirmaster.

Anyway, I read somewhere that Page and Plant didn't even tell JPJ about their plans before collaborating on Unledded. Do either of you know why that was? Did the three have some sort of falling out after Bonham's death? I'm not sure how I feel about hearing No Quarter with someone else on the keys when he was still alive and well...

[Nutrocker]

Anyway, I read somewhere that Page and Plant didn't even tell JPJ about their plans before collaborating on Unledded. Do either of you know why that was? Did the three have some sort of falling out after Bonham's death? I'm not sure how I feel about hearing No Quarter with someone else on the keys when he was still alive and well...

Unledded started off as "Robert Plant Unplugged" before it was decided to add Jimmy Page into the mix. JPJ's involvement wasn't even considered- in spite of their plan to perform old Led Zeppelin songs Unledded was never intended to be a Zeppelin reunion, rather a collaboration between two solo artists. And some of the songs -"No Quarter" included- underwent radical rearrangements, so Jonesy's presence wasn't required at all.

[Sue Dounim]

Wow, just looking at the setlists for Page and Plant makes me very interested. It's almost as though they deliberately intended to perform the stuff they never did with Zeppelin! Is there a particular boxed set for the Japanese leg that I should set my sights on?

For the japan shows, the only things you need are Hoochie Coochie's 20 CD boxset "10 DAYS". Every japanese show available in one spot on absolutely superb, near-perfect quality audience tapes. There's also Tarantura's "Made in Occupied Japan", which includes beautiful-sounding stereo soundboards of their shows in Tokyo on the 13th, Osaka on the 15th, and Nagoya on the 17th. There are some excellent fan-made matrixes of these sources which are also very much worth seeking out.