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MASTER REELS - MONTREUX MARCH 7th 1970?


Rembetis

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Pretty hard to believe that no one has picked up on this yet.
Last night Alain Johannes of Them Crooked Vultures posted a photo on Instagram.
Led Zeppelin News then Tweeted the image.
 

https://twitter.com/LedZepNews/status/750951152628424704/photo/1

Does anyone else think that a wonderful piece of Led Zeppelin history may have been unearthed and will we get the opportunity to enjoy it?

Looks like a master reel for Led Zeppelin performance at Montreux, March 7th 1970.

I know we have the Albert hall show from January 9th 1970 but this show is one blistering performance too.

The fantastic audience recording and soundboard snipet really capture how incredible they were on this night and the crowd really erupt too. Historically it was a gig that most bands/artists really pushed themselves to give the audience an exceptional performance and I think that this is one brilliant show.

I would love to think that this show is on the drawing board for a possible future release.

Bring It On Home........

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Hopefully the reels don't stink like Vinegar.  I would assume they would have been transferred long time ago if it was a soundboard. 

The Yellow Kodak box appears to be a Video reel but can't seem to find any info at all on that model .   I don't think that while folder binder looking thing that says Digital is not Zeppelin related.  There was no digital back then ?

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It will be fake. I would suggest that this event was never filmed without prior consent of the band and in the 46 years since it was staged, no one has ever mentioned it. The audience recording released as "Intimidator" is of course stunning 

Like the guy who said he had film of Zeppelin in Central Park in 1969 and was syncing the footage with the audio. 

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Well...after closer inspection I managed to read  what's on the tape box : it says, 'bande magnetique, enregistrement  professionnel '

which means magnetic tape,  professional recording ...weird

 

 

found this MAG IV machine on wikipedia... it's a 'Nagra' type reel to reel for super 8mm magnetic tape recording but that one was only produced  by the French cine company Beaulieu from 1985 onwards . And since Eastman introduced magnetic sound on super 8 only in 1973 ,.. Either way, the yellow Kodak reel container is not from March 1970 (which doesn't mean  Monsieur Nobs  could have confined a reel of silent concert footage in this type of  cardboard case, later on)

Mag_IV_Super_8_Fullcoat_Recorder.jpg

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5 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

Yes, I was just going to say there's no telling what Claude Nobs may have filmed. However, I doubt very much something like that would surface via an Alain Johannes tweet.

Alain was in Them Crooked Vultures though, which John Paul Jones was a part of.  That, and he's been in the music industry for a long time, with lots of connections I would imagine.  Maybe a copy of the soundboard for that show on reel as a gift from JPJ? Or maybe Alain just collects Zeppelin shows and picked up a reel copy of the audience source, or perhaps a soundboard from someone associated with Knobs' estate? The Kodak box is in French, and says that it is audio tape (bande magnetique vs film magnetique). Being a French version of a Kodak box at the very least suggests some kind of tie back to that region, whether via an official Montreux source, the audience taper, or just a trader from that part of the world. The date is also written in European format. So it's either a random gen of the audience source put to reel, the master reel for that source, an alt source, a copy of the radio broadcast source, or a copy of some sort of soundboard from Knobs' archives. Take your pick.

 

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Should also chime in that the audience recording for this show (Divinity, the original release - not Intimidator, the eq'd copy that empress valley did), is one of the truly great ones. So powerful. Must hear for the sound quality alone. Would honestly make it hard to top, even with a soundboard. 

That being said, I never really warmed much to the performance. Besides that awesome Rice Pudding intro into Heartbreaker, the rest of the gig is kind of just okay. Can't put my finger on it. I just remember liking some of the shows around that time period a little better. Seem to recall that Page's guitar playing at Montreux didn't quite get to that level of being a really inspired performances. Copenhagen 2/28 and Dusseldorf on 3/12/70 were better gigs if memory serves. 2/23 and the Hamburg gigs too, I think?  Been awhile.

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52 minutes ago, achillestand said:

This is very exciting news, though we need confirmation of course.

Can we invite Sam to post and clarify?

Yes, I've been aware of this... It's a 1/4" reel, stereo audio. It's from the Montreux archive, as part of their current 50th anniversary celebration.

Here's another photo:

1970-Montreux_reel.jpg

 

 

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1 hour ago, sam_webmaster said:

Yes, I've been aware of this... It's a 1/4" reel, stereo audio. It's from the Montreux archive, as part of their current 50th anniversary celebration.

Here's another photo:

1970-Montreux_reel.jpg

 

 

Cool! So this could be a potential release some day?

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9 hours ago, pluribus said:

Should also chime in that the audience recording for this show (Divinity, the original release - not Intimidator, the eq'd copy that empress valley did), is one of the truly great ones. So powerful. Must hear for the sound quality alone. Would honestly make it hard to top, even with a soundboard. 

That being said, I never really warmed much to the performance. Besides that awesome Rice Pudding intro into Heartbreaker, the rest of the gig is kind of just okay. Can't put my finger on it. I just remember liking some of the shows around that time period a little better. 

Spot on, Pluribus!  Divinity was a gem. Easily the most exciting aud.recording from that era. I think the problem with this show is...Percy. He's a bit over the top in Montreux.  But the resonant quality of this particular stereo recording makes you feel you're in the front row (next to the worshiping young lad). Truly spectacular.

And now that we had a chance to see what's inside the yellow box, my wager is the original pre FM/AM broadcast reel has finally surfaced. Now fingers crossed that it isn't half as dull sounding as the snippets we came across in the past.

montreux.jpg

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4 hours ago, TheGreatOne said:

What's the difference between the Pre version ?  I thought this was a live radio transmission but was on AM while Royal Albert was FM. 

Also is the Pre version complete ?  Version I have is not complete

Exactly Great One, none of the broadcast stuff was complete. We had the first tracks of the show in pretty shabby mono and considering the lack of dynamics and interference (French speaking DJ) here and there, one can safely assume those were recorded off an AM broadcast. How many more times and WLL are a bit better, but still inferior to the fantastic 90 min. audience recording. Judging by the 'size' of that BASF 1/4" reel, this must be a much better source.  (my humble guesstimate and for what it's worth )

Most unlikely this reel contains the complete show All depends on what speed it was recorded: 3, 75 ips  (lo fidelity) , 7,5 ips or even 15 inches per second is possible

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On 7/8/2016 at 5:59 PM, pluribus said:

Should also chime in that the audience recording for this show (Divinity, the original release - not Intimidator, the eq'd copy that empress valley did), is one of the truly great ones. So powerful. Must hear for the sound quality alone. Would honestly make it hard to top, even with a soundboard

Yes, Divinity is the one to have. I am lucky enough to own this on CD. I only play it a couple of times a year. I bought it a long time ago DEEP in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Roadside Garage Sale.

It turned out the guy had some of the same back round as myself. Very friendly price and a Mason Jar of "careful, too much will make you blind".

I don't care too much for any other matrix of 3/7/70. Even for a CD this has such incredible ambient sound, I wouldn't be surprised if this one of the first batch produced.

Easily among my most prized boots.

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Seeing the Johannes snap and the pic from Sam... I can only say that I now know what it would feel like to be flirted with by, say, some stunningly gorgeous movie star, brought up to their room and just when you're about to enter their private chambers, being told "good night, honey" and having the door closed in one's... er.... protrudence.

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