Man, Plumpton place looks a lot nicer than that brick prison Tower House. I suppose it doesn't have the artistic history though.

Does anything beat the 9/19/1970 medleys? I need to go back through Japan 71 again, but I honestly think this show has the best run of medleys.

Anyone seen this one before?

So when this tape was lifted from Jimmy's home, was it already mixed down or did the bootleggers mix and master the tapes on their own? Considering it's a bootlegged multitracked, shouldn't there be isolated instrument tracks floating around?

Exactly. Literally sounds like every blues song ever, so the list of "inspiration" could go on for another ten artists all the way back to Charlie Patton.

Is this Hot Dog as good as I think or am I over glorifying it? Seems like one of the best to me.

I mentioned in the 1973 thread that I'd have to tailor the ratings to Jimmy's overall playing level for the year because it would be foolish to compare 73 with 80. Considering this is a year by year analysis, I'm really trying to sort out the best and worst of each year, not compare their entire history. You can do that if you'd like. As far as the off the wall ratings I'm giving, I may be over analyzing the performances but I'm certainly not making spreadsheets comparing each individual note. So the ratings are reflective of the immediate impression I get and an honest judgement of what I think it deserves in relation to other performances of the same year. Remember, I just started using the "grading" to help sort things out a little. It's really not relevant to the nitpicking, just a face-value quick guide for the track. I have no "bias" for the music and often realize days later that a rating might not have been accurate (but we can't edit past a certain time frame, so it is what it is). I suppose the best way to grade the performances would be to tally all the flubs from all four members and give a total for each track, which I originally thought about doing, but let's be honest- some performances with few "flubs" are still played poorly considering tempo, timing, and low energy.

You can tell exactly which footage is from Shepperton by their hair.

Nitpicking Page 7/2/1980 Mannheim (Flagge) A very hissy soundboard, but otherwise clear and balanced. The Flagge release is the best version I've heard and it's the one I'm using. Train Kept A Rollin- A very long crowd intro on this boot. Jimmy's guitar doesn't quite have the bite it usually does. Plant sounds about average. First solo- Some very basic lead riffs instead of the usual flurry of notes. Second solo- Much better as Page cuts loose a little more. "B". NFBM- 1:07, Jimmy's tone is very separated from the mix and the phaser effect is barely audible. 1:18, out of sync a little. Harmonica- Starts good but Plant seemingly runs out of steam. 2:43, Page's chording is very sloppy. Solo- A decent start but sticky. 4:12-4:32, stickier and Page's volume drops, it gets cranked back up at 4:32. A very lethargic version with some technical difficulties. "C+". Black Dog- Introduced by Page as "Strangers In The Night". Good energy off the bat as the guitar crunch has returned. 2:04, good scream from Plant. 2:57, Page's guitar cuts out again briefly and it's obvious it's a connection/cable issue. 3:45, a clicking sound from the guitar feed that sounds like an input jack being checked. Solo- Page gets on track for a decently played and phrased solo. Nothing too amazing, but a very solid solo. A good, heavy version akin to the Europe 73 ones. "A". In The Evening- Page switches guitars but he's still very low in the mix. Solo- Fairly good but not as good as other versions. 6:02, Jones playing some chords very loosely. He's really not been on these past few shows. Outro solo- hit and miss as Page seems to leave gaps between the phrases. Bonham was good. "B". Rain Song- Decent start. 1:58, bad synth chords. 2:22, the guitar starts to cut in and out again. Rock section- crashes in violently and is played with passion. 7:24, Page flubs the last chord. "B". Hot Dog- Intro is loose but not bad. Plant, a Brit, tells Germany "C'mon Y'all, let's go back down to Texas." Solo- The usual start, but at 2:09 Page plays a very interesting phrase where an ascending treble run is played while he's also playing the low notes. He's done something similar before, but not in this fashion or this precisely. Some good bends follow. 2:39, chokes a couple chords but otherwise an excellent solo. A solid ending for a very solid version. Not perfect but I'll go "A+" for 1980. Page and the boys knocked this one down quite well and a better audio source would be great. All My Love- Bonzo is dragging badly on the start and nobody seems to know which tempo to follow. Solo- Hallelujah! Page comes prepared for this one and gets a solid set of phrases in. The track coasts out as usual, though Bonham is more reserved on the big drum fills. Apart from the misguided start it's a good, moody, slightly more melancholy version. Page's good solo knocks this up to a "B+". Trampled Underfoot- The usual thunderous start. 2:22, Page plays a background phrase here I've never heard before. Solo- Page gets going well, but not as out there as previous solos. 4:11, Plant jumps in with some vocal interplay reminiscent of Dazed And Confused. 4:18, guitar drops in the mix right as Page takes back off for some excellent wah runs. Outro solo- Page plays some very speedy licks then switches to some heavy riffing accented by the wah. Not nearly as mind-blowing as previous versions, but a solid run through. "B+". SIBLY- Intro is spastic and loose, but played fairly well. 2:27, wonderful piano phrases. Solo- Massive hesitation before he kicks off. 4:50-5:00, Page treads a fine line between playing passionately and overdoing it. 5:41, enter Heartbreaker. Not a bad solo, but there's some stickiness among the lightning fast runs. Plant sings with vigor on the last half for a decent ending. Page just wasn't focused for this one. "B". Achilles- A decent start. The guitar drowns out everything and makes this hard to judge. First solo- Slight hangup at 5:33, but otherwise average. Second solo- Page has a hard time keeping up with Bonham and Jones, but plays decent. Third solo- 9:30 sounds a little rough. A very strong ending. Page was very loose on this. Obviously it's impossible to judge a performance by a soundboard but this sounded very rough around the edges. "B". WS/BMS- Not much of a flow at all. 2:12-2:20, it's hard to tell if Page jumped into the fast part here or not but Bonham accompanies him anyway. 4:20-4:50, Page is just maniacal on this, cramming everything he can in as fast as possible, and not in a good way. 7:17, chord flub. One of the sloppiest (if not the sloppiest) versions I've heard. "C+". Kashmir- Solid throughout. 6:18, a tape cut sends it into the outro. A very solid version, shame it was cut. "A". Stairway- A fairly good first half though Plant sounds slightly half-hearted. Solo- Very sloppy off the bat. Very sloppy all the way through. He picks up a little steam at 8:38, but not enough to save it. Honestly one of the laziest solos I've heard by Page. The climax has some botched chords and Plant is scratchy. A sleepy version that should be skipped. "C+". Rock And Roll- Page's guitar once again gives him trouble on the intro, cutting out slightly. Very little bass on the recording. 1:37, Plant belts out an Immigrant Song scream. Solo- Page barely holds it together. "B". WLL- A good energetic start. The funk section is played quite well, making one think this is 1973 and not 1980. Solo- Played differently, but fairly well. Boogie Chillen- I find it very strange that with all the changes they made in 1980 they decided to keep playing the medley for this. Not a bad rendition, but boy is that solo sticky fingered. 12:00, bass comes in loud and clear. 12:54-13:10, a nice series of turnarounds. The return is good and they finish up strong. Really not too bad. "B+". Final Assessment- Talk about hit and miss, this is certainly a show of dynamics. There's an overall lack of energy throughout the show compared to other recordings. Jones and Bonham are just there to do their respective jobs and the other two are not exactly impressive, with the final result being a display of mediocrity. The highlights are a solid Hot Dog and Black Dog.

They rehearsed for the 1975 tour at the Metropolitan Sports Arena in Minneapolis in January. Neal Preston got quite a few famous shots here and said they were rehearsing Custard Pie while he was there.

If only Jones was visible in this one.

Song samples- https://drive.google.com/open?id=11nif2CdfxDjedef3XOnUnCffnInAc7Hc The same volume levels as the Heartbreaker samples, but a different track ordering. As a bonus, see if you can guess which version is which.

After hearing them so much I could recognize them fairly easily so I couldn't fool myself, except for maybe the two vinyl rips. The Diaments are always more muffled sounding, the 90 is a small step up in the highs, the 94 is a big step up in the highs and less bass, the 2014 keeps the 94 highs but also jacks up the bass. The RL has the cymbals/hi hats up in the mix.

These were the tracks used- 1. Classic Records vinyl rip 2. 2014 Deluxe version (1 vote) 3. Diament 4. 1994 Marino (5 votes) 5. 1990 Remasters 6. Robert Ludwig vinyl rip Very surprised the 1994 remaster made the biggest impression. I thought everyone would be impressed by the volume and dynamics of the 2014 version. Heartbreaker actually has very few sonic differences between the different versions. The Lemon Song versions are easier to distinguish, which I'll do next.

I'll wait until Sunday and reveal the choices.

I made no changes from the original pressings. These were uploaded straight from the source files. Once enough people vote I'll reveal which ones are which.

Included are Heartbreaker audio samples from six different masterings of the second album. Put on your good headphones and vote on which one sounds the best to your ears. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KxK42ZkPkNMbQ_q4UDoe9EK-RR8MC52g The track number correlates with the poll choice. Once there's a significant amount of votes for this poll I'll do another one with The Lemon Song with the choices switched, to see if the results are similar.

Mothership VS Latter Days. Latter Days TSRTS- LUFS level- 11.49 Dynamic Range- 11 overall, 11.0 left/10.3 right, rms- 12.6 left/11.9 right. Not sure why the original Early Days/Latter Days compilation was renamed and re-released as Mothership, but the former is clearly a better option sonically.

Here's a comparison between the Mothership release and 2008 Japanese Box Set release of TSRTS. The EQ levels are virtually identical, but here's an important difference not shown on the graph- Mothership TSRTS- LUFS level 7.77 Dynamic Range- 7 overall, 7.5 left/6.7 right, rms- 8.9 left/8.2 right. 2008 box set TSRTS- LUFS level 10.09 Dynamic Range- 9 overall, 9.8 left/8.9 right, rms- 11.2 left/10.4 right. Here's a snapshot of the spectograms of the two tracks, Mothership on the bottom- The Mothership compilation shows the absolute height of the loudness wars, compressed to the absolute max and unnecessarily loud. This is the original CD release of Mothership and I've not tested any new versions, but my advice is to avoid this one at all costs as it's the worst audio of the band's material I've seen yet.

Agreed. His session success obviously came from how well and quickly he could put songs down in the studio, not how precisely he played everything. Just as live, he rarely played the same chord the same way twice in the studio, which is what made Zep such a dynamic band.

I'm sure whatever I have is available on YouTube. I may be wrong about ITTOD.

I have some ITTOD guitar tracks, but they're not as sloppy as the II tracks.

Yeah, II mostly and a few others.

Jimmy was a sloppy player, and not just live. I have a ton of isolated tracks from his studio multitracks and I was fairly surprised at how poorly he played some chords and phrases, which are obviously masked in the final mixdown. But, that discussion is for a different thread.