The Song Remain The Same (Album and Film)

[NealR2000]

Sorry if this has come up before, but I couldn't find anything on it.

I recall this album and corresponding film coming out. The stories of the problems making them, mostly the film, are well told. My question concerns the actual decision to release them. I'm not sure how much of what I believe is based upon fact, a shoddy memory of mine, or probably a mixture of comments I've read over the years.

My take is that the project was shelved due to disatisfaction with footage and performance quality. Maybe not shelved, but put aside while better things were in progress. This may explain the huge time lag between the 1973 performances and the 1976 release. I know there are stories of wanting to add 1975 tour footgage, etc. What happened in the meantime was Robert's accident (August 1975), which put the band on hiatus. Worrying that they may lose their place with no band output, they decided to dust off the project and release it. I know Presence was recorded and released before TSRTS, but that was made (by Zeppelin's standards) in record time, and the decision to resurrect TSRTS was probably made before deciding to go into the Munich studio for Presence.

Does anyone have anything to add or correct as to the decision to release TSRTS? I guess my only question is was TSRTS released only due to Plant's injury?

[ZeppMan93]

Not totally sure this adds to anything, but I believe some of the shots and film from the '73 show were unusable so they had to refilm certain parts of the concert in August '74 at Shepperton Studios, so that might have delayed it a bit. Other than that, I don't really have anything else to add to it. I would suspect certain camera shots or the recording might have been not up to par by some people in the Zeppelin camp that also might have delayed it. They filmed the Royal Albert Hall show in '70 for a film release, but that was shevled and not used until 2003, so something like that might have delayed it until 1976. Or maybe it just took awhile to pile all the recording and possibly they needed a time and place to produce all of this, they might have done this in late 1975 when Robert was in a wheelchair, I'm not certain though. That is what common sense just tells me.

[SteveAJones]

Does anyone have anything to add or correct as to the decision to release TSRTS? I guess my only question is was TSRTS released only due to Plant's injury?

Essentially your post is correct, although it's not strictly true to say TSRTS was only released on account of Plant's injury (as outlined below), but it's true Plant's injury ensured it would be released because it put the band on an extended hiatus from live performances.

The basic timeline for the film is this...performance (and some offstage) filming in July 1973...fantasy segment filming in late Autumn 1973...performance reenactments in August 1974...soundtrack dubbing completed in April 1975...in August 1975 a band meeting was held during which the group decided to cancel all tour plans (and record a new album instead)...Jimmy completed some of the initial soundtrack mixes in January 1976...the remainder were done in August 1976...film's world premier was in NY on Oct 19, 1976...the West Coast film premier was Oct 22, 1976...UK film premier was Nov 4, 1976.