Coming Soon...In Full Dimensional Stereo...

[ListenToThis]

Did a search, nothing overly similar found...

I'm not trying to start another I want, I want thread. I'm trying to begin an intelligent analysis and argument basis for the hopes and wishes of the next few, if they are coming, soundboard releases, usually from EV / Showco.

From what I've seen the most recent release "Double Shot" did not sell like hot cakes. Several indications here of effort by EV to offer a little more value and juice sales: 1) two shows for the price of one; 2) good, not great artwork; 3) timing of the release to coincide with recent Zeppelin activity. But again the sales and anticipation seemed underwhelming - no doubt the fact the shows were not heavily sought after. It may be a good strategy on the part of the 'leggers to bring out a big gun.

Emphasis here on the fact that I love that these soundboards still come out.They're awesome to look forward to, fun to buy (although I didn't buy "Double Shot") and great to hear.

If this topic is boring or is beating a dead horse, feel free to skip.

Anyway, here is my pitch:

03/21/75 - Seattle. Noting new here. People have been asking for this show for years. A real opportunity to make a profit for those concerned, and a real opportunity for fans to listen and enjoy. Make the packaging extra nice - extensive artwork with photos from the show, newspaper articles, a mini concert poster, liner notes on the performance, anything to add to the experience. Master it correctly - don't overprocess and/or harm the spectrum. This release could command prices in the $350 to $450 range.

04/28/77 or 04/30/77 - Cleveland / Pontiac. The yin to Destroyer's yang. Bonzo's greatest moments on tape. Incredible atmosphere and energy. An amazing ending to the first leg of the tour. Completely on par with New York and capable of holding there own against LA. Photos from the shows. Newpaper articles. Liner notes. Applicable artwork. Proper mastering. Either concert could again command $350 - $450.

Don't put out 06/19/77. Let's have a big one.

[mielazul]

Hi LTT - interesting post. I didn't see any stats like you seem to have, but yeah I did get the impression that Double Shot didn't make a big splash. I was kind of sorry about that - I bought a copy, and I thought it was a wonderful release, but there seems to be blase and jaded attitude among the collector's community these days. You're probably right, that it would take a big show to really shake things up...but even then, I wonder. It's like everything else in music these days...people just expect to be spoon fed everything now...just sitting at their computer...not spending a dime and barely batting an eyelash when awesome things come out.

Anyway...so I take it you feel strongly that these shows are out there and ready to be released at the right time? What's your take on film that might be out there?

Well, they can have my cash if it helps. I want the good stuff and I'm willing to get out of my computer chair to get it if i have to!

[Nutrocker]

Even better: one of the 'missing' '75 or '77 (or even earlier) shows that have no corresponding existing or circulating audience recording. For example, the 31/5/77 Greensboro show would be a godsend.

I think part of the reason the Double Shot release got such a ho-hum reaction was that they were shows that already existed for years in audience format, and I suspect were at least halfway anticipated to be released by collectors (shit, I'd been saying for years those soundboard tapes would eventually see light of day). IMO EV needs to pull a real rabbit outta the hat to make yea sales...it's really all about supply and demand.

[tmtomh]

To me it didn't seem like Double Shot really was two shows for the price of one. I believe the asking price was $240, and if I'm not mistaken, other EVSD releases, of single shows, go for about $160.

So more of a "buy one, get the 2nd one half off" than a "two for one."

[ListenToThis]

I do opine that the 03/21/75 and 04/28 and 04/30/77 shows exist in soundboard. There may indeed be film of Pontiac, but that seems much less likely to see the light of day and thus warrants little fantasizing. One can drive himself crazy wishing without hope...

Agree a never heard show would be great, such as Houston '75 or St. Paul '77. Baton Rough '75 was unnecessary when Freezer had already made a great recording.

My point is a well thought out and mastered release, of a desirable show, would keep the fans interested. The logic behind what comes out and when is sketchy - can a linear progression and thus an educated prediction be made?

[badgeholder]

I would think the number of people who still actually BUY these things would be shrinking - so if they do release, say, Seatlle 3-21-75,

I don't think it'd be any more lucrative than 'Double Shot'. Maybe I'm wrong.

But, yeah, I agree a show that hasn't been heard at all - even on an audience recording - would be more interesting to hear.

There is a new show out there - Paris, Dec 6th, 1969 - which is reviewed in the latest TBL. Hopefully that will hit the streets soon

[Dallas Knebs]

completely agree

I would think the number of people who still actually BUY these things would be shrinking - so if they do release, say, Seatlle 3-21-75,

I don't think it'd be any more lucrative than 'Double Shot'. Maybe I'm wrong.

But, yeah, I agree a show that hasn't been heard at all - even on an audience recording - would be more interesting to hear.

There is a new show out there - Paris, Dec 6th, 1969 - which is reviewed in the latest TBL. Hopefully that will hit the streets soon

[mielazul]

Seems like a lot of us agree that the pool of people who actually pay for these things is shrinking fast. So what does that mean, in the long term, or even the short term? Best case scenario is that bootleggers and other people who have these tapes say "fuck it" and start releasing them rapidly at totally reasonable prices. Worst case scenario is that they say "fuck it" and fold up shop and don't release anything anymore. WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD???

Sorry...a little melodrama from a long-time collector. But I'd love to hear some views on this.

[mrledhed]

As I've been saying for awhile here:

They likely have access to these big concerts but not far outside of the date ranges of 2/12/75 and 3/21/75 for 1975 and 5/19/77 to MSG77 for 1977.

1975.02.27 Houston

1975.03.03 Fort Worth

1975.03.12 Long Beach

1975.03.21 Seattle

1977.05.19 Baton Rouge

1977.05.22 Fort Worth

1977.05.31 Greensboro

1977.06.08 MSG?

[mrledhed]

I'm near certain EVSD does not have access to the early 1975 concerts with "Levee" & "Wanton".

Would love to see the full 4/30/77 SB released, forget the video.

[Nutrocker]

As I've been saying for awhile here:

They likely have access to these big concerts but not far outside of the date ranges of 2/12/75 and 3/21/75 for 1975 and 5/19/77 to MSG77 for 1977.

1975.02.27 Houston

1975.03.03 Fort Worth

1975.03.12 Long Beach

1975.03.21 Seattle

1977.05.19 Baton Rouge

1977.05.22 Fort Worth

1977.05.31 Greensboro

1977.06.08 MSG?

I could live with soundboards for all or any of the above...

I'm near certain EVSD does not have access to the early 1975 concerts with "Levee" & "Wanton".

Again, no great loss there, the audience tapes for those shows aren't that bad, although a complete 21/1/75 Chicago recording would be nice.

Would love to see the full 4/30/77 SB released, forget the video.

Indeed...for all the hype the Pontiac video gets, I've said it before- if you've seen the Seattle video, you've basically seen Pontiac. Sure, Pontiac is a better performance than Seattle, but considering both shows were filmed with the video screens used at the venues in mind and not for our personal home consumption thirty six years later, the mythical Pontiac video will be the same shots of closeups of an anorexic Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, little JPJ or Bonham, and no shots of the audience.

I've never had a lot of interest in seeing the Pontiac video (I'd probably watch it once and that'd be it, just like Seattle)...but a soundboard of the show? Count me in.

[Hammersmith]

I agree, I can only watch concert footage (after the first viewing) for only short lengths at a time before getting bored, but give me a nice soundboard or nice audience recorded audio and I can listen all day!

[Sue Dounim]

I think 1975/03/21 will probably be the next EVSD release. I mean, the first Seattle show is out, as are the following two dates, plus all the '75 boards have more/less come out chronological order, so 03/21 seems somewhat likely at this point to me, as does 1977/05/31 and any more of the NYC dates.

[graf75]

I remember the early 90's bringing on the flood of new labels anywhere from Flying Disc to Tarantura releasing tape sources we had only on old vinyl

or cassette as well as new show sources.If you were a silver collector this is when you scrambled to collect many of these titles.Your inside scoop came from

mailing lists,fanzines and books that followed this Zep scene.Being just before the internet craze it all seemed like a underground kinda thing which

Zeppelin was kinda always known to be about in a sense as a band especially in their early days.As the internet grew I always wondered what the

eventual access of the download thing would do to these labels that released these live shows.Im not against spreading any live music at all but

its unfortunate maybe some missed this era in Zep collecting.I looked for the labels to pull back years ago once the download access took hold

but the market must still be there luckily for us all.The soundboards out number the audience recordings but they still seem to keep coming.

Remember when we starved for the Earls Court shows for years then were slammed with the 25th night eventually?Hopefully within a few years

we'll have a Bath soundboard along with a nice clear 69' audience sourced boxset entitled "Windy City Double Shot" May 23rd,24th to complain about.

[Sue Dounim]

Interesting viewpoint, but you got oddly pessimistic towards the end.

[ListenToThis]

I still have an appetite for silvers, but it has to be a good show for me to throw down the money. I couldn't bring myself to part with my hard earned pay for DoubleShot, but I did for Snowblind and St. Valentines Day Massacre for example, and I'm very glad I did. The greatest '77 shows are better for me than the greatest '75's, but 05/25 and 05/30 were not upper caliber in my opinion (I know some are high on 05/30, I don't think its bad, just not great).

I gonna go out on a limb and suspect that 05/31 will not be all that great, with the exception of Bonzo. Its a long flight from NY to Greensboro, and no doubt the band partied hard the night before in Manhattan. But perhaps they wanted to redeem themselves in the eyes of the fans and media after their poor showing two years prior. Greensboro in '77 was a small market however, the smallest in population terms of the tour - not sure they were geared up to give it their all. But it was Bonham's birthday, and eye witness accounts indicate he was serenaded by the crowd. We can hope its great...

Since I skipped the most recent release I'm keen to jump back in next time (hopefully there is a next time). I'm not complaining about having these shows to listen to, they are Zeppelin after all. But in order to keep fans paying you got to give up some good stuff.

How about 06/22/77...

[LiveWire1979]

If we see a new release by EV that will be the next year or after the remastered studio albums in summer 2013...

Personally, I wish for the second night in Seattle, as the first one is an extremely nice perfomance and the band seems to have great fun there..

In Addition, a selection from the 77 tour would be nice too....i would really like to have one or both of the "Day On The Green" shows....I know that these particular gigs aren't that great but it is the last appearance of Zeppelin in America and the Alameda Coliseum is a fuckin' great venue

[andyk]

Seems like a lot of us agree that the pool of people who actually pay for these things is shrinking fast. So what does that mean, in the long term, or even the short term? Best case scenario is that bootleggers and other people who have these tapes say "fuck it" and start releasing them rapidly at totally reasonable prices. Worst case scenario is that they say "fuck it" and fold up shop and don't release anything anymore. WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD??? Sorry...a little melodrama from a long-time collector. But I'd love to hear some views on this.

I can't really afford to buy these any more, I have a few silver cds and a number of CDRs, but the vast majority of my collection is downloads, so if nobody buys any most of us will never get the downloads.

Andy

[Sue Dounim]

Interesting viewpoint, but you got oddly pessimistic towards the end.

Actually, maybe not all that pessimistic. I do grow tired of all the butthurt fools everytime that complain that the new soundboard (even if it's a '75 board) is "too dry, no life, no atmosphere, yadayadayada." It's like "No shit it's dry, it's a soundboard, numbnuts, they're all dry." But that's what a good matrix is for.

I also get tired of seeing the same old complaints when it's a '77 board. The typical "Boo, I don't like the drum solos and noise solos. too long booo!" Bonzo had been doing 20 minute drum solos since 1970, so that's nothing new. As for the Noise Solo, all the sounboards are from when it was still only +/- 10 minutes so that's not a whole lot either. It's just the usual group of yutzs that wanna dump more arbitrary complaining onto the massive landfill that is the "1977 Hate Fanclub". Sorry, that's just me ranting a bit because I've been thinking about this for too long.

[Walter]

Nice Sue!

ANY Zeppelin is better than NO Zeppelin! I haven't bought any lately, but I will if I want it bad enough. I don't download either. I listen to what is posted here and what I have collected over the years. Oh yeah and MANY thanks to a certain member who has PM'ed me a few shows - you know who you are and you are AWESOME!!!

I agree with Sue about upcoming releases being close proximity to the recent '75 and '77 releases. Bring 'em on!

[mielazul]

Actually, maybe not all that pessimistic. I do grow tired of all the butthurt fools everytime that complain that the new soundboard (even if it's a '75 board) is "too dry, no life, no atmosphere, yadayadayada." It's like "No shit it's dry, it's a soundboard, numbnuts, they're all dry." But that's what a good matrix is for.

I also get tired of seeing the same old complaints when it's a '77 board. The typical "Boo, I don't like the drum solos and noise solos. too long booo!" Bonzo had been doing 20 minute drum solos since 1970, so that's nothing new. As for the Noise Solo, all the sounboards are from when it was still only +/- 10 minutes so that's not a whole lot either. It's just the usual group of yutzs that wanna dump more arbitrary complaining onto the massive landfill that is the "1977 Hate Fanclub". Sorry, that's just me ranting a bit because I've been thinking about this for too long.

WOO HOOO SUE!!!! You're damn right girl!!!

I came out of a hermit period just to say that.

[LZ77]

Actually, maybe not all that pessimistic. I do grow tired of all the butthurt fools everytime that complain that the new soundboard (even if it's a '75 board) is "too dry, no life, no atmosphere, yadayadayada." It's like "No shit it's dry, it's a soundboard, numbnuts, they're all dry." But that's what a good matrix is for.

I also get tired of seeing the same old complaints when it's a '77 board. The typical "Boo, I don't like the drum solos and noise solos. too long booo!" Bonzo had been doing 20 minute drum solos since 1970, so that's nothing new. As for the Noise Solo, all the sounboards are from when it was still only +/- 10 minutes so that's not a whole lot either. It's just the usual group of yutzs that wanna dump more arbitrary complaining onto the massive landfill that is the "1977 Hate Fanclub". Sorry, that's just me ranting a bit because I've been thinking about this for too long.

I hear you loud and clear!

I'll never get the massive drooling for the Bath soundboard just like people don't get our love for the 1977 Tour.

If Japan has some 1977 video in the vaults, what are they waiting for?!

[ListenToThis]

Sorry, new video does nothing for me. Nothing will surpasse the official DVD, meanwhile HTWWW sucks! Slamming two shows into one, with vocals from here and guitar from over there, is a rip off.

Soundboard, 1977-06-26, lets do this!

[Sue Dounim]

Sorry, new video does nothing for me. Nothing will surpasse the official DVD, meanwhile HTWWW sucks! Slamming two shows into one, with vocals from here and guitar from over there, is a rip off.

Soundboard, 1977-06-26, lets do this!

Nothing? Not even a BD version of the DVD?

[Melcórë]

Sorry, new video does nothing for me. Nothing will surpasse the official DVD, meanwhile HTWWW sucks! Slamming two shows into one, with vocals from here and guitar from over there, is a rip off.

Soundboard, 1977-06-26, lets do this!

HTWWW is fine - better in hindsight, and with a lot of the other releases/versions to compare. Nothing gets close to the sound produced by those discs.

The title of this thread had me unduly excited, btw.