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New 1977 soundboard - Landover 25/5 & 30/5 - Empress Valley release


Triplet Kick

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I've been listening to the landover 5/26/77 show on youtube and the first thing i noticed was what nutrocker states above about jpj's bass being loud in the mix, in the song remains the same. At first the soundboard is so stark sounding, but after listening to a song here and there past two weeks, ya get used to the sound. But jpj's playing on song remains the same is amazing there and its an interesting balance with page being further back.

On achilles last stand, from this show, bonham comes in early on the guitar intro and it suddenly sounds like a completely different song for a few seconds, until page starts the main riff and they get back in synch. page and plant are very good here and page's guitar is way more up front compared to start of the show.

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While it's true Jimmy's guitar tone changed over time, I think it's too simplistic to say that he was "always sloppy", and it's simply a matter of his tone either masking or amplifying the mistakes. I think his tone was best in 72/73, his guitar really had a hot, distorted snarl. In '75 it had more of a jangly quality. Listen to 'Rock n Roll' from The Song Remains the Same, then listen to any soundboard from '75 and you'll see what I mean.

So yes, his tone was a bit of a factor. But Jimmy clearly lost a step after '75 when it came to technique, speed, and fluidity. His fingers were fast and furious in '73. The best barometer of his playing was always Dazed & Confused and the "oldies" section of Whole Lotta Love. In '73 his fingers flew on the fretboard. He had more trouble in '75 with the speed, and began to make more mistakes. They dropped Dazed entirely in '77, which may or may not have had to do with his ability to play it. I personally think he could not have in '77...at least not very well. His mild sloppiness went to another level by '77 because of drugs. Simple as that. He was taking more drugs, and his playing suffered.

It's interesting, as big of a fan as I am of Jimmy's and Zeppelin's, I can honestly say I've never seen another guitarist decline the way Jimmy did/has. When you look at guys like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Billy Gibbons, David Gilmour...they all play as well now as they did 30-40 years ago. Granted, their style was never about speed like Jimmy's was. But the fact is, when I watch Song Remains the Same, I sigh and think "that was the last time Jimmy ever played that well. And he could never play that well now." Back then drugs were the reason. Now, I don't know, maybe it's age or arthritis, but he simply can't move his fingers around the fretboard anywhere close to as well as he used to.

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While it's true Jimmy's guitar tone changed over time, I think it's too simplistic to say that he was "always sloppy", and it's simply a matter of his tone either masking or amplifying the mistakes. I think his tone was best in 72/73, his guitar really had a hot, distorted snarl. In '75 it had more of a jangly quality. Listen to 'Rock n Roll' from The Song Remains the Same, then listen to any soundboard from '75 and you'll see what I mean.

So yes, his tone was a bit of a factor. But Jimmy clearly lost a step after '75 when it came to technique, speed, and fluidity. His fingers were fast and furious in '73. The best barometer of his playing was always Dazed & Confused and the "oldies" section of Whole Lotta Love. In '73 his fingers flew on the fretboard. He had more trouble in '75 with the speed, and began to make more mistakes. They dropped Dazed entirely in '77, which may or may not have had to do with his ability to play it. I personally think he could not have in '77...at least not very well. His mild sloppiness went to another level by '77 because of drugs. Simple as that. He was taking more drugs, and his playing suffered.

It's interesting, as big of a fan as I am of Jimmy's and Zeppelin's, I can honestly say I've never seen another guitarist decline the way Jimmy did/has. When you look at guys like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Billy Gibbons, David Gilmour...they all play as well now as they did 30-40 years ago. Granted, their style was never about speed like Jimmy's was. But the fact is, when I watch Song Remains the Same, I sigh and think "that was the last time Jimmy ever played that well. And he could never play that well now." Back then drugs were the reason. Now, I don't know, maybe it's age or arthritis, but he simply can't move his fingers around the fretboard anywhere close to as well as he used to.

It seems like a lot of people who saw Jimmy - myself included, 3X - on the Walking Into Clarksdale tour, were stunned at how much fluidity he had regained. The 95-96 tour was great, but in 98 it seemed like he found the Fountain of Youth for guitar players.

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"It seems like a lot of people who saw Jimmy - myself included, 3X - on the Walking Into Clarksdale tour, were stunned at how much fluidity he had regained. The 95-96 tour was great, but in 98 it seemed like he found the Fountain of Youth for guitar players."

Agreed. I was (and I think many in attendence) blown away at how good Jimmy played on that tour. I remember what a fantastic night it was in Tampa back in 98 when I saw them (Jimmy was so good that night his performance it reminds me of his o2 performace or damn close). One instance stands out amongst many. When he was going thru the Heartbreaker solo the crowd went INSANE! So loud, so manic. It really was magic and I wondered that must have been what it was like to see Zeppelin live back in the day.

To bad they couldnt build an album off that tour. If Page and Plant could have captured that live energy for an album they would have had something incredible.

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It seems like a lot of people who saw Jimmy - myself included, 3X - on the Walking Into Clarksdale tour, were stunned at how much fluidity he had regained. The 95-96 tour was great, but in 98 it seemed like he found the Fountain of Youth for guitar players.

True, he played well on the '98 tour and played well on the Black Crowes tour. But it's all relative. He played well, but still not like in the early 70's. Those days were/are gone.

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"It seems like a lot of people who saw Jimmy - myself included, 3X - on the Walking Into Clarksdale tour, were stunned at how much fluidity he had regained. The 95-96 tour was great, but in 98 it seemed like he found the Fountain of Youth for guitar players."

Agreed. I was (and I think many in attendence) blown away at how good Jimmy played on that tour. I remember what a fantastic night it was in Tampa back in 98 when I saw them (Jimmy was so good that night his performance it reminds me of his o2 performace or damn close). One instance stands out amongst many. When he was going thru the Heartbreaker solo the crowd went INSANE! So loud, so manic. It really was magic and I wondered that must have been what it was like to see Zeppelin live back in the day.

To bad they couldnt build an album off that tour. If Page and Plant could have captured that live energy for an album they would have had something incredible.

At least we're lucky that the tour is so well-documented. And with the technology of the time, even the videotapers in the audience came up with some stunning footage. I have the Mountain View show, and it's amazing (and i was there, which makes it that much cooler to have). I don't mean to get off the thread, but there was a slight shipping delay in Double Shot (for me anyway). Soon, soon, soon...the mailman is getting uneasy with the way I stare at him as he comes to the door.

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To bad they couldnt build an album off that tour. If Page and Plant could have captured that live energy for an album they would have had something incredible.

It would have been very interesting and who knows, maybe something even more surprising than a record like walking into clarksdale, after the unledded tour. If the song, the window, or the track off that rainer ptacek record, or domino were any indication of what it could have been...would have been very cool. But not necessarily anything like the high points with zeppelin, or energy of the zeppelin material of that 98 tour. That page and plant band had their own sound going there for awhile. I've been listening to the few live versions of, when the world was young on youtube and jimmy page has some subtle yet complex playing on there. With some of the playing on that record, on the 98 tour and with zeppelin, he has that white summer sticky note sound. Yeah its not fluid guitar playing, but its a sound that jimmy page has, an indian influence and can be heard on the song remains the same too. its like the notes are stuck on the fret board for a milisecond or something.

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^^^ That's interesting. I remember reading a quote from one of the Egyptian musicians that played with them. They said they were so impressed by how much Rob had done an almost academic study of Middle Eastern and Indian music and absorbed so much of it...but it seemed to them like Jimmy just had it in his blood, so to speak.

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^ Thats cool, i never read any interviews with the orchestra musicians. With the song city dont cry, seems like a north african trance sound, yallah a middle eastern sound. there are no solos, theres a simplicity to them, they are loose sounding, sloppy compared to produced rock and roll. On the same record, page has clean acoustic guitar playing with rain song and wonderful one. These different styles of playing make for alot of variety, but i agree that page wasnt the same guitarist live after 1973. Thankfully his creativity with his studio work remained at a very good level.

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Great news! The 1977 tour is their best one.

Of course I know it's subjective, and I'm not flaming you by any means, but nothing can top 1972 in my eyes. Other than a few standouts (mainly in the June LA run), 1977 was a somewhat sloppy tour. But that's just me - of course I'll still get these Landover shows!! :D

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Record swap meet is this weekend so I'll keep my eyes open to see if these new Landover soundboards are available.

Pick me up a copy! :P

Really enjoying what I've heard of the 25th so far. "Ten Years Gone" sounds like a bit of a dip, but I've never been a fan of Jonesy's "three-necked instrument."

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I got my Moonshine box in today. I'm a pretty excited. The mail during the holidays is usually slow, and this year was no exception. Referencing the threads above - I agree with many of the points made about the 77 and 72 tours. I think what gets me most about the 77 tour is the live version of ten years gone. If you think about it though, there's something unique about every tour that pulls you in (and it is usually unique per person). For the new boxset, I haven't listened to the new soundboards yet, so I will return a post when I do. This is my first post on this forum - I've been reading it for a while, and thought I would contribute also. I've attached a scan of the box set if anyone wants it.

post-24242-0-98731400-1357277049_thumb.j

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I got my Moonshine box in today. I'm a pretty excited. The mail during the holidays is usually slow, and this year was no exception. Referencing the threads above - I agree with many of the points made about the 77 and 72 tours. I think what gets me most about the 77 tour is the live version of ten years gone. If you think about it though, there's something unique about every tour that pulls you in (and it is usually unique per person). For the new boxset, I haven't listened to the new soundboards yet, so I will return a post when I do. This is my first post on this forum - I've been reading it for a while, and thought I would contribute also. I've attached a scan of the box set if anyone wants it.

Thanks a ton! Would you mind posting more scans of the back of the box/CD sleeves when you get a chance?
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Review of 5/30

The boys are sluggish! Listen to Sick Again. They are struggling to get through this tune. They sound SLOW. NFBM also sounds a bit slow to my ears. It's solid but no reason to think this version is superior to other versions from the '77 tour.

Bonham is solid but sounds "slow" to my ears. His drumming does not match his inspiration of playing to the LA crowd. Bonham killed them at LA. He doesn't do so here. Page is good but makes mistakes (par for the course for most of '77 and his heroin addiction certainly didn't help things). Plant sings great for '77 and it's always a pleasure to hear Plant not crack up so much (as he did in '75). JPJ is pretty solid and don't have any real complaints about his playing. Some solid piano playing by Jones in NQ. Lots of repetitive chord playing, which sometimes gets a tad annoying. When Page comes in at the 10 minute mark, he doesn't sound in tune with Jone's piano. Kinda weird. Or maybe he's just playing in a different key. I know Page would never release this show commercially.

Landover is definitely not superior to the string of NY shows either. Is the 25th superior the 30th? I'll have to give it a listen. So far, I give Landover a B for performance. It's no A, that's for sure. Thanks to Empress and thanks to those for getting it out. So far, nothing tops the string of LA performances. They remain the crown jewel of '77 (until I hear otherwise).

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Very disappointed in the sound quality...rather "mushy", especially the drums. No Quarter is mostly a combination of two aud. recordings, one at the first verse being virtually unlistenable. Honestly the 5-30 aud. recording I have is a lot more vibey and fun to listen to. Oh well.....it's more live Zep. Not going to bitch TOO much....:lol:

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