very best 1977 live recording AND performance

[bamf4k]

Pontiac is waaaay better than Houston IMO (Houston is actually a pretty mediocre show which Bonham decided to boost with some very ill advised overplaying- he does the same thing the next night in Fort Worth, turning "In My Time Of Dying" in particular into a trainwreck near the end). And the Pontiac recording actually isn't half bad considering it was recorded in a huge tin can packed with 76,000 people. It could very well be the best show of the 1st leg of the tour, along with April 28th, April 23rd and April 10th (IMO). Mind ya, that impression could be completely blown to hell if the video or soundboard recording should ever appear (witness the June 7 show- sounds great on the audience tape until you hear how sloppy it really was on the soundboard)

I still say the good '77 shows outweigh the bad ones by a fair margin, though.

The Achilles Last Stand from April 30 is my favorite version from 77 hands down. (Zurich '80 is a really great version too.) And yeah, Bonzo did really muck up IMTOD on 5/22, but I think that the opening numbers, Kashmir, Achilles, and the encores from Houston were pretty good. I'm sorry though, I have a tough time getting past the sound quality of the show from Atlanta. Still haven't heard April 10th, been trying to find it on YouTube, unfortunately all I've found is the previous night where Jimmy got sick. And I agree, the good '77 shows blow the bad ones out of the water.

[Nutrocker]

The Achilles Last Stand from April 30 is my favorite version from 77 hands down. (Zurich '80 is a really great version too.) And yeah, Bonzo did really muck up IMTOD on 5/22, but I think that the opening numbers, Kashmir, Achilles, and the encores from Houston were pretty good. I'm sorry though, I have a tough time getting past the sound quality of the show from Atlanta. Still haven't heard April 10th, been trying to find it on YouTube, unfortunately all I've found is the previous night where Jimmy got sick. And I agree, the good '77 shows blow the bad ones out of the water.

Atlanta is by far the worst sounding '77 recording IMO, closely followed by June 8 in New York. If the Atlanta taper hadn't kept his recorder stashed on the floor under his seat it'd would've been much better (notice how much the sound improves when he's checking the recorder). None of the Chicago '77 shows sound that great -a couple of fresh master transfers of April 7th and 9th have been making the rounds lately, but they're not much of an improvement IMO. It doesn't help that the most common release of the Chicago shows -the "Great Chicago Fire" box set- was mastered way too loud; the original release of April 6th and 7th called "Home Of The Electric Blues" is way superior (and they also flipped around the backwards part of "No Quarter" from April 6, which is an an improvement on "Great Chicago Fire", which didn't). Aside from the 'missing seven' '77 shows, I'd like to see a Chicago '77 soundboard pop up at some point (or Chicago '75, for that matter)- April 10 in particular.

[Sagittarius Rising]

I was at the April 10th show (see prior thread) and it was incredible. Jimmy, the whole band were on fire and the playing was amazing. Never heard a boot from this show, just going on memory and the memories of others at the show as well. What a night!!! BTW, I cannot confirm but I have some info regarding the infamous "stormtrooper" outfit and later fedora Jimmy wore that night. I had a friend who's father owned Reiley's Trick Shop on the South side of Chicago, near Blue Island I believe. Anyway, Jimmy went there with some friends while in Chicago and purchased the clothes. Reiley's was know to have authentic WWII uniforms of the highest quality, I went several time myself to check it out and at that time they sure did have the uniforms. Again, I cannot confirm but I guess it is as plausible a story as any :-)