Hypothetically ...

[jabe]

Hypothetically..... would there be interest in a raw audience taping from 1977 that has never been heard in the public light of day, though alternate sources from this concert exist today?

Hypothetically, if a recording as this existed on 8 track tapes was recorded from original source cassettes, and was recently rediscovered after 23+years storage in a somewhat humid/moist basement, what would be a good approach to ascertain their viability?

Mind you, these are at best, longshot "what if, hypothetical" questions, but I would welome feedback.

Thaanks.

[3hrsoflunacy]

pm me your email address.

[Strider]

I don't understand all the mystery and talking in code. It's not as if Peter Grant, John Bindon and Richard Cole are gonna come knocking down your door.

Either you have a tape or you don't.. don't be so coy about it.

[Nutrocker]

I don't understand all the mystery and talking in code. It's not as if Peter Grant, John Bindon and Richard Cole are gonna come knocking down your door.

No, but it keeps things in the 'family', as it were and away from those pesky bootleggers. We've seen potential new source recordings blown before because of too much upfront talk.

[jabe]

I hope to soon be in contact with someone who can steer me in the proper direction. I just hope the two 8 track tapes have not withered away to mush after having been in my basement for over 20 years. Best I recall, most of the concert was recorded. It's missing the last minute or so of No Quarter, that I do remember. I never met the taper, my brother did, and he (the taper) deserves the credit if this pans out.. I don't know his name, but I would/will refer to him as the Gardendale Rocket. It is the May 18, 1977 concert. If it's doable, I'm hoping everyone gets to listen to it in the near future.

[ledzepfilm]

There is an existing recording of this show already (Birmingham, May 18th 1977), but if it's an upgrade to what we already have that would be great!

Edited February 19, 2012 by ledzepfilm

[jabe]

There is an existing recording of this show already (Birmingham, May 18th 1977), but if it's an upgrade to what we already have that would be great!

This would be a different source, I'm near positive about that. It would def need a good polishing if that's possible.

[3hrsoflunacy]

There is an existing recording of this show already (Birmingham, May 18th 1977), but if it's an upgrade to what we already have that would be great!

There are actually 2 separate recordings in circulation. I have given Jabe's contact information to 2 people who can help him.

[ledzepfilm]

I do know that.

[jabe]

There are actually 2 separate recordings in circulation. I have given Jabe's contact information to 2 people who can help him.

I've heard parts of both sources but not close to all. Do they include Plant's chatting a bit or are they mainly confined to the songs?

[ledzepfilm]

Awesome! It will be great when this surfaces!

[jabe]

Awesome! It will be great when this surfaces!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Remember, the two 8 tracks have been in a less than beneficial environment for over two decades. I will welcome a pro getting their hands on them.

[Nutrocker]

I've heard parts of both sources but not close to all. Do they include Plant's chatting a bit or are they mainly confined to the songs?

Both sources are pretty complete. The "Out Of The Way" source has a few little tape flip cuts here and there (IMTOD, NQ, BYAS, drum solo, ALS...I'm guessing 60 minute tapes were used) but nothing major. There are some great Plantations, especially his pre-TYG snarky comment about not hiring Billy Preston (such as The Stones and George Harrison did, only to have Billy more or less steal the show). The other source, the "Dixie" source has less cuts (merely one during the Noise Solo) but it is a bit more distant sounding (taped by the same guy who recorded the April 3 OKC show)...it does feature a longer intro where the MC is giving the audience a few safety/security tips. Of those two, despite the cuts, the "Out Of The Way" recording is superior. Either way, it's a good show, one of the better '77 shows IMO...if you've stumbled across a third source, at this late date, that's pretty fucking cool.

[Strider]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Remember, the two 8 tracks have been in a less than beneficial environment for over two decades. I will welcome a pro getting their hands on them.

First of all, even if it was a show where multiple sources exist...like the Blueberry Hill show...I would welcome the existence of a fresh source. So jabe, I am crossing my fingers along with you, in hopes that your tapes are still in good shape and salvageable.

In fact, along with the fact that you discovered them after 20 years, here is the most REMARKABLE part of the story to me, and I can't believe nobody else has commented on this: the fact that you have the show on 8-track cartridges!!!

All my memories of 8-tracks from the 70s are of people playing them in their cars and vans: factory recorded Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Foghat, Lynyrd Skynyrd, etc. I don't recall anybody having a home 8-track player...my family certainly didn't. We had a phonograph, cassette and reel-to-reel.

And I certainly don't remember anybody recording to 8-track! If you were making a copy of an album for someone, you recorded LP to cassette, or reel-to-reel to cassette. I didn't even know they had blank 8-tracks to use for recording! I don't remember seeing any at Licorice Pizza or Tower Records or Wallich's Music City.

In a way, jabe, you might have a one-of-a-kind collectable...not just because of the new source of a Zeppelin concert, which is valuable in and of itself. But also because it is on a format that has recently become desired by a specific subset of collectors: 8-Track enthusiasts.

A Led Zeppelin concert recorded on 8-track cartridges has got to be rarer than rare!!!

[bamf4k]

Both sources are pretty complete. The "Out Of The Way" source has a few little tape flip cuts here and there (IMTOD, NQ, BYAS, drum solo, ALS...I'm guessing 60 minute tapes were used) but nothing major. There are some great Plantations, especially his pre-TYG snarky comment about not hiring Billy Preston (such as The Stones and George Harrison did, only to have Billy more or less steal the show). The other source, the "Dixie" source has less cuts (merely one during the Noise Solo) but it is a bit more distant sounding (taped by the same guy who recorded the April 3 OKC show)...it does feature a longer intro where the MC is giving the audience a few safety/security tips. Of those two, despite the cuts, the "Out Of The Way" recording is superior. Either way, it's a good show, one of the better '77 shows IMO...if you've stumbled across a third source, at this late date, that's pretty fucking cool.

Is there a bootleg that fuses the two sources together to make a complete concert?

[jabe]

I just returned from a local audio recording facility that specializes in local and national radio an tv commercials. I spoke to the owner who seemed very interested in checking out the tapes if he can locate an 8 track player. He said one of his employees is a huge Zeppelin fan and this would certainly pique his interest. The owner said he saw Led Zeppelin in Tuscaloosa but missed the show in Birmingham.

He went on to tell me about Ed and Fred Foster, brothers here in Birmingham who make guitar straps for the likes of the Rolling Stones! I've never heard of them. He also told me he thought the brothers might have been acquaintances and hung out some with John Bonham. Does this ring a bell with anyone? (SteveAJones, Knebby, et al.)

It was an interesting 10 minute chat we had and hopefully he will soon locate an 8 track player so we can find out if the tapes survived my basement environment for the last 20+ years.

[mickey g]

First of all, even if it was a show where multiple sources exist...like the Blueberry Hill show...I would welcome the existence of a fresh source. So jabe, I am crossing my fingers along with you, in hopes that your tapes are still in good shape and salvageable.

In fact, along with the fact that you discovered them after 20 years, here is the most REMARKABLE part of the story to me, and I can't believe nobody else has commented on this: the fact that you have the show on 8-track cartridges!!!

All my memories of 8-tracks from the 70s are of people playing them in their cars and vans: factory recorded Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Foghat, Lynyrd Skynyrd, etc. I don't recall anybody having a home 8-track player...my family certainly didn't. We had a phonograph, cassette and reel-to-reel.

And I certainly don't remember anybody recording to 8-track! If you were making a copy of an album for someone, you recorded LP to cassette, or reel-to-reel to cassette. I didn't even know they had blank 8-tracks to use for recording! I don't remember seeing any at Licorice Pizza or Tower Records or Wallich's Music City.

In a way, jabe, you might have a one-of-a-kind collectable...not just because of the new source of a Zeppelin concert, which is valuable in and of itself. But also because it is on a format that has recently become desired by a specific subset of collectors: 8-Track enthusiasts.

A Led Zeppelin concert recorded on 8-track cartridges has got to be rarer than rare!!!

#12

mickey g

Posted 07 November 2011 - 05:07 PM

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A friend of mine worked in Record World in Roosevelt Field Mall, meaning l got a lot of records for free. When LZ IV came out, he brought it over my house to record on my 8-track tape contraption to play in our cars. After

Black Dog & Rock and Roll,

we both nodded at each other & said YEAH ! Then, after the first few notes of

The Battle of Evermore,

we both looked at each other and my friend said "Uh oh !" The reason being, at the time, there were always these rumors of LZ "going acoustic". So, it stood to reason that, to us heavy metal (at the time) fans, anything by Zep without crunching guitar, would be received with less than enthusiasm. Funny, but I don't recall our reaction to the first notes of

Stairway to Heaven

......As far as it being called

Zoso

, I never actually heard it called that. It was always LZ IV. I've read it in print a million times, but never heard anyone call it that. I actually for years thought the symbol was "Zofo", or that's the way it looked to me

I dunno Strider, I must've made hundreds of 8 tracks for me & my friends...and it started when the above mentioned friend got a hold of "Blueberry Hill". I know I made quite a few copies of that. I used to tack on "HHWCID" at the end for a special treat as filler. Sadly, all of my 8 tracks found their way to the town dump when my daughter moved back in & needed space for her shit. A lot of them weren't in playable condition; melted, cracked etc...Actually, the main reason we started recording 8 tracks was that the pre-recorded ones sounded "too bassy" to my friend, so we recorded them with the bass level off & treble cranked to "11". This seemed to satisfy him.

[Stargroves Tangie]

Like Strider, I didn't remember seeing any 8 track tape machine that recorded, only players. But now that I think about it, when I did an internship at a Long Island Top 40 radio station around '82 or '83, most of the songs they played were not from a vinyl disc- each song had been recorded by the music director onto a cartridge that looked like an 8 track ( 1 song per cartridge), so I guess that's what that was- an 8 track tape recorder.

Jabe, that's really cool that you found those old tapes- hopefully they can be salvaged. Good Luck!

[Glyn]

Well, I got an 8 track player that records, it has mic inputs and I have some Scotch blank tapes too. It'll be cool if these things can be salvaged, I'm sure they can.

[Northstar]

Back in the 1970's my friend and I each had eight track player's that would also record. We would buy the blank eight track tapes at the local record store, I remember the blank tapes were always made out of red coloured plastic, I dont remember how long the blank tapes were or if you could even buy them in different lengths for that matter. I saved all my paper route money to buy the stereo, it was a Sears brand stereo, it came with a turntable, radio AM FM tuner and a recordable/player eight track as well as two speakers. Northstar.

[Sagittarius Rising]

I had a Hitatchi system from 1977 until 1984 which had a recordable 8 track. I won it from WLUP (The Loop) Chicago...I was caller #9

Edited February 24, 2012 by Sagittarius Rising

[Nutrocker]

Is there a bootleg that fuses the two sources together to make a complete concert?

I don't see the cuts in the "Out Of The Way" source to be major enough to justify using the "Dixie" source for patching (besides there is too much disparity in the sound between the two). I mean, the recordings are alright, but not great. I've done a bit of patching on recordings before, and it is a pain in the ass. We're talking maybe ten seconds at most missing in the cuts. Now, if this newly discovered "8 track" source sounds superior to both and is more complete, that'd be a different story.

I'm sure if a bootleg company would have reckoned it necessary they would have done so, but there is only one "bootleg" source for each Birmingham recording. Known generation copies circulate on the 'net for each source that are better than any of the pressed bootlegs. And I actually own "Dixie", impulse buy, really (I'd never heard that source before, it's hard to come by, and having heard it now I can see why the "Out Of The Way" recording is more common for this show)

[jabe]

I don't see the cuts in the "Out Of The Way" source to be major enough to justify using the "Dixie" source for patching (besides there is too much disparity in the sound between the two). I mean, the recordings are alright, but not great. I've done a bit of patching on recordings before, and it is a pain in the ass. We're talking maybe ten seconds at most missing in the cuts. Now, if this newly discovered "8 track" source sounds superior to both and is more complete, that'd be a different story.

I'm sure if a bootleg company would have reckoned it necessary they would have done so, but there is only one "bootleg" source for each Birmingham recording. Known generation copies circulate on the 'net for each source that are better than any of the pressed bootlegs. And I actually own "Dixie", impulse buy, really (I'd never heard that source before, it's hard to come by, and having heard it now I can see why the "Out Of The Way" recording is more common for this show)

[Nutrocker]

^^^

LOL, you were saying, Jabe?

[jabe]

I remember for sure the last minute or so of No Quarter is absent. As far as new source "quality," (in the right hands) that remains to be seen. I'm sure there are other lapses, but NQ is the one that stands out in my memory, as well as audience chatter. "Led Zeppelin's givin' it hell" is heard early on, that I remember. Also, Plant's echo effect at the end of ALS on this version is better than what I've heard on whatever version it is I've heard. The Plantations, some could be discerned, others might need translating.

Anyway, the wheel is about to roll on, the outcome I've no clue, but like the photos from May 18, 1977, I posted which I had recently run across, likewise, whatever these results, I'll share as well.