Bath Festival 1970 Multitracks, let's discuss

[Sticks of Fire]

Is there any real evidence that the band recorded their performance this night? Sure maybe, and I mean maybe, a normal soundboard recording might have been done but do we have any hard evidence that it was "professionally" recorded to multitrack?? Or even recorded at all?

In a Festival event it sure must have been hectic at times, with sets running longer or shorter than expected, bands hitting the stage before or after their alloted time slots, etc, etc. Would sound engineers been ready to roll, considering that Zeppelin went on sooner than expected?

I'm sure we would all love to know. Maybe an expert like Steve Jones would know?

[Strider]

I've never seen any evidence of multi-track recording of the 1970 Bath Festival.

[bscsmkr]

Why is the Bath performance considered by most to be a ledgendary performance/show in the annals of LZ?

[Sticks of Fire]

Why is the Bath performance considered by most to be a ledgendary performance/show in the annals of LZ?

I think for the UK is was a big deal at the time, and the rumors of it being filmed and recorded made the performance legendary

but truth be told there are many other great shows from 1970, which are equal or far better than the Bath Festival.

Royal Albert Hall

Copenhagen

and many USA 1970 shows

[cookieshoes]

I think for the UK is was a big deal at the time, and the rumors of it being filmed and recorded made the performance legendary

but truth be told there are many other great shows from 1970, which are equal or far better than the Bath Festival.

Completely agree. And if/when a soundboard, multi-track or footage ever gets released, people will immediately see that the show wasn't so much legendary as it was just a big festival where Zeppelin were the headliners. The opener/debut of IS is so rough, with Plant's improvised lyrics, that hearing it in better quality would only make the casual fan think "What the hell happened to the song I'm familiar with?". The rest of the show has its share of errors too, like Page's guitar going out in Heartbreaker. The HMMT medley is nothing to write home about. The Long Tall Sally encore is pretty good. Since I've Been Loving You is pretty good too. But only just "pretty good" for Zeppelin, where the bar is pretty high.

Good show? Yes. Notable for Zep playing a huge festival? Sure. Best gig ever? Not compared to other performances that year that really were among the best. NY September evening show, Memphis 1970, and Blueberry Hill all slay Bath.

Bath is as legendary for 1970 as Earls Court for 1975. It's all in the "story" of those gigs that make them legendary, and not so much that the gigs really were, beyond the spectacle that went along with them, with the photos and the posters and the rumors of films and multi-tracks. We all tend to hype up what we don't have. Prior to the videos and soundboard coming out for the EC gigs, people raved about those shows being holy grails, and always referred to them as the best shows Zeppelin ever gave. Once those vids and boards came out, people could finally hear how sloppy Page was, how trashed Plant's voice was, and how much Bonham was just phoning it in. Now you don't hear anybody talk about EC. Instead, people rave more about NY 2/12/75, which we've been able to hear for over 10 years now in soundboard quality. I think getting those other shows actually makes me like the ones we already had even more. I guarantee you that the same will happen with Bath. Once a board or mult-track comes out, people will listen to it for a week and then find themselves inspired to go back to Blueberry Hill.

[Rock Historian]

Hell, I'd be just be happy with a decent/listenable recording of the gig. The audio that exist is really hard to tolerate. A soundboard or really good audience tape would be a Blessing.

[Sue Dounim]

Hey buddy, I like EC quite alot I'll have you know! Those shows sound pretty damn good to me!

[magerogue]

Completely agree. And if/when a soundboard, multi-track or footage ever gets released, people will immediately see that the show wasn't so much legendary as it was just a big festival where Zeppelin were the headliners. The opener/debut of IS is so rough, with Plant's improvised lyrics, that hearing it in better quality would only make the casual fan think "What the hell happened to the song I'm familiar with?". The rest of the show has its share of errors too, like Page's guitar going out in Heartbreaker. The HMMT medley is nothing to write home about. The Long Tall Sally encore is pretty good. Since I've Been Loving You is pretty good too. But only just "pretty good" for Zeppelin, where the bar is pretty high.

Good show? Yes. Notable for Zep playing a huge festival? Sure. Best gig ever? Not compared to other performances that year that really were among the best. NY September evening show, Memphis 1970, and Blueberry Hill all slay Bath.

Bath is as legendary for 1970 as Earls Court for 1975. It's all in the "story" of those gigs that make them legendary, and not so much that the gigs really were, beyond the spectacle that went along with them, with the photos and the posters and the rumors of films and multi-tracks. We all tend to hype up what we don't have. Prior to the videos and soundboard coming out for the EC gigs, people raved about those shows being holy grails, and always referred to them as the best shows Zeppelin ever gave. Once those vids and boards came out, people could finally hear how sloppy Page was, how trashed Plant's voice was, and how much Bonham was just phoning it in. Now you don't hear anybody talk about EC. Instead, people rave more about NY 2/12/75, which we've been able to hear for over 10 years now in soundboard quality. I think getting those other shows actually makes me like the ones we already had even more. I guarantee you that the same will happen with Bath. Once a board or mult-track comes out, people will listen to it for a week and then find themselves inspired to go back to Blueberry Hill.

You sound troubled... I can't imagine how you could listen to something post-1973 with that attitude!

And Bonham NEVER "phoned" it in!!

[cookieshoes]

You sound troubled... I can't imagine how you could listen to something post-1973 with that attitude!

And Bonham NEVER "phoned" it in!!

Troubled? No. Believe me, I listen to plenty of stuff post 73. Philly 2/8, NY 2/12, Nassau 2/14, Long Beach 3/12, Vancouver 3/19-20. NY and LA for 77, etc.

Bonham was definitely phoning it in at EC. Compare his drumming at Dallas, Long Beach, or Vancouver in March to EC in May. Or better yet, compare EC to NY 2/3, which is probably his best playing of all of 75. No contest. At EC he sounds asleep in comparison. No offense to him, because he was a human being after all. Effects of alcohol, drugs, sickness, and burnout likely happened to him regularly. Remember Osaka 71 where he didn't even want to play Moby Dick at all? And then the song was removed for the subsequent UK tour, and his playing was significantly better.

My point is that I think that a lot of shows gets raved about due to things such as the attendance (4/30/77), possible video (5/21/77, 4/30/77), possible soundboard (Bath 70), or because we have an existing audience source that was better than most for that tour (4/28/77, 5/30/77). This happens the most with 1977 shows, and certainly happens with 75 gigs when people talk about EC. The best gigs of 1977 happened in New York and LA. Between the two cities, that's at least the top 10 best gigs of the tour, with maybe one or two performances from the runs not as special. Landover, Pontiac, Cleveland, and Houston don't belong anywhere near the top of the list when you factor in NY and LA. Ditto for EC for 75 when you factor in the better played gigs from the US tour.

[Geezer]

What the heck is EC?

[reswati]

What the heck is EC?

Eric Carr......uhhhmmm, I mean Earls Court.

[fishhead]

What the heck is EC?

is it Earl's Court?

[Geezer]

Maybe it's Eric Clapton?

[cookieshoes]

What the heck is EC?

EARRRRRRRLS COUUUUUUUUURT.

[tom kid]

Earls Court sounds pretty good to my ears I must say. Two of my favourite versions of No Quarter and Dazed were played on the 24th. Trampled Underfoot is also awesome from that night.

[greenman]

I think its a bit of a 50/50 with the Bath and EC shows, yes alot of the "legend" behind them is based on the circumstance with the first being the bands move into superstardom at home and the second arguebley the highpoint of their popularity here. That said both are great performances for there era's aswell, maybe not the very best but certainly amoung the best. Bonham was I'd agree not at his most energetic for the EC shows but the rest of the band was in very good form for that year plus of course we got the acoustic set.

Going back to the original question I'v never seen much in the way of firm evidense, what I'v heard has been general rumours of a SB for many of the different sets and the talk of that US company trying to sell Page 20 mins of video footage. Alot of people look to take that as a sign that either the company or Page also have access to audio although I spose its possible Jimmy was only interested in it for the DVD menu's which would perhaps explain why he wasnt willing to pay the rumoured £10K price they were asking.

[Melcórë]

Completely agree. And if/when a soundboard, multi-track or footage ever gets released, people will immediately see that the show wasn't so much legendary as it was just a big festival where Zeppelin were the headliners.

No. The Bath gig is "legendary" because it was a brilliant set - if you can't hear that, well, then that's your issue.

[Sticks of Fire]

I'm guilty as the next guy but let's forget about the performance and focus on multitrack (or at the very least a Sbd). All these years rumors of multitracks and recording and nothing had surfaced and Jimmy has never mention a thing about a Pro-recording. I think it's kind of doubtful that a Multitrack was made. Are there ANY soundboards of the other artists from the Festival?

[Dallas Knebs]

I have noticed a different tack by Bonham at Earls Court, always chalked it up to him playing things straight up which I appreciated greatly in a drummer. You mention Trampled Underfoot... when I heard the EC recordings for the first time I was blown away by how straight up Bonham played it. I almost wore it out listening to it. It was as if he said,"mates listen to how straight I can play this..." I found it facinating.

Speaking just from personal experience, anytime I asked a drummer to pull it back- that they are overplaying it- they either responded,"it's the only way I can get you guys to play up" or my favorite "if I get creative then you will get creative." Likewise, they have told me that if they get too aggressive that it pulls the rest of us out to far. Just in the local gigging scene its a fine line, cannot imagine how fragile things are at the level and intesity LZ played.

Then, add the microscope of comparison...

[Strider]

I'm guilty as the next guy but let's forget about the performance and focus on multitrack (or at the very least a Sbd). All these years rumors of multitracks and recording and nothing had surfaced and Jimmy has never mention a thing about a Pro-recording. I think it's kind of doubtful that a Multitrack was made. Are there ANY soundboards of the other artists from the Festival?

Like I said in my first response, I don't believe there are multitracks and nothing I have seen or read has convinced me otherwise. Do you see two mics in front of Bonham's bass drum? I sure don't.

Maybe with today's technology you can multitrack a concert without setting up a second microphone on the kick drum, but not in the 1970s.

As for the ancillary discussion of why Bath is legendary when it wasn't a great show, it's kind of hard to determine whether it is a good performance or not UNTIL we hear a decent tape of Bath. Which I have yet to hear. So far, every clip I've heard has been pretty rough sound quality.

But beyond that, the legend of Bath accrued because of the context of the gig and the fact that Led Zeppelin themselves felt the concert was an important breakthrough.

Much in the way the 1969 Fillmore and Boston Tea Party dates signified to the band that they had broken through to American audiences and won their devotion, Bath 1970 was when they felt they had connected with their home audience.

You have to remember...if you go back and look through old Melody Makers and such, some British rock fans mistakenly thought Led Zeppelin was an American band.

Bath 1970 was the prodigal sons returning home and renewing their ancestral bonds.

[Melcórë]

As for the ancillary discussion of why Bath is legendary when it wasn't a great show, it's kind of hard to determine whether it is a good performance or not UNTIL we hear a decent tape of Bath. Which I have yet to hear. So far, every clip I've heard has been pretty rough sound quality.

But beyond that, the legend of Bath accrued because of the context of the gig and the fact that Led Zeppelin themselves felt the concert was an important breakthrough.

...Really? The audio quality isn't that bad.

[Glyn]

It's kept me from listening to it. It's not the worst.

[Melcórë]

...You crazy.

[magerogue]

Bath is great. Every led zeppelin show is great. There's no such thing as a bad led zeppelin show, no matter how high, drunk or crazy they or on said night.

[wilsoncb420]

Like I said in my first response, I don't believe there are multitracks and nothing I have seen or read has convinced me otherwise. Do you see two mics in front of Bonham's bass drum? I sure don't.

Maybe with today's technology you can multitrack a concert without setting up a second microphone on the kick drum, but not in the 1970s.

As for the ancillary discussion of why Bath is legendary when it wasn't a great show, it's kind of hard to determine whether it is a good performance or not UNTIL we hear a decent tape of Bath. Which I have yet to hear. So far, every clip I've heard has been pretty rough sound quality.

But beyond that, the legend of Bath accrued because of the context of the gig and the fact that Led Zeppelin themselves felt the concert was an important breakthrough.

Much in the way the 1969 Fillmore and Boston Tea Party dates signified to the band that they had broken through to American audiences and won their devotion, Bath 1970 was when they felt they had connected with their home audience.

You have to remember...if you go back and look through old Melody Makers and such, some British rock fans mistakenly thought Led Zeppelin was an American band.

Bath 1970 was the prodigal sons returning home and renewing their ancestral bonds.

There are plenty of shows from that era (late 60's and early 70's) that were multi tracked without use of extra microphones, on any drums or vocals or anything. Like Woodstock in '69. I KNOW what you mean though, where with the band we're talking about, it obvious THEY preferred to use extra mic's during this era. BUT, Woodstock organizers arranged the details of recording Woodstock, not the bands. So if Bath was recorded, which I am 99% sure they did attempt to record the festival, maybe Zep declined being recorded or maybe the tapes are still being hoarded like half of the stuff out there.