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Stairway To Heaven (Sunset Sound Mix)


nick2632

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Seeing as Stairway To Heaven is the most popular Zeppelin tune I figured this deserved its own thread. What's everyone's thoughts so far? I assume 90% are disappointed that it's not dramatically different from the original, but I think it's pretty dang good. Definitely not a huge difference but something about it caught my attention. Pretty different atmosphere between Headley Grange to Sunset Sound. I might say it's better than the original but it will take a while before I can say that!

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I had heard that one of the delays in releasing Zoso in 1971 was the mix. The speakers in the studio didn't accurately represent what Jimmy thought the mix was so he took the tapes back to England to start from scratch.

Something changed in Jimmy's mind to release it anyways?

Upon first listen, I didn't find the STH Sunset Sound Mix that bad.

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'Stairway To Heaven' was I believe partly composed and rehearsed at Headley Grange but not recorded there. It was recorded at Island Studios, Basing Street - (need to look this up to check the name). A London studio, anyway.

The first thing I noticed about the new alternate mix was that with the reverb turned up the guitar notes at the start sound out of time in the reverb ('wet' signal). Which is possibly a reason why the final mix turned the reverb down a bit. Otherwise, things are not too different.

But something does happen with Bonzo's drum entry. Wow. After listening to STH for so many years I never thought I'd ever get such a feeling from the alt mix. This really was like hearing it afresh. I don't know what it is - something about a rawness of sound coupled with maybe the drums being more prominent, coupled with the additional reverb - but it's great. Same quality during the guitar solo - those wonderful chords sound so atmospheric. (You should hear STH's guitar solo when the bass and the lead guitar are muted).

And for students of the art of arrangement, the final verse shows that the band were right to limit the number of times that low guitar line quoted by a previous poster occurs.

And if that wasn't enough, we now have the glorious, spooky atmosphere of 'The Battle of Evermore' to enjoy as the appropriate prelude to STH.

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I just listened to this for the first time, absolutely blown away by it. The drums sound phenomenal and the end had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up on end for the first time in years.

Worth the money alone if you've got a good stereo set up.

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ok I need to listen to it again - this was the first track I went to - albeit via youtube - but I really didn't hear that much of a difference. I'll give it another shot but not expecting much. Next was Going To California & while interesting at first - by second listen I kind of lost heart. Which is a shame because its one of mine (and many others) favorite songs. I would love to have heard all of the false starts, works in progress, or just tuning up and studio banter associated with any of these tracks.

Hoping PG delivers the mother-load and not just a kereoke version of Kashmir that I can sing in the shower : (

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Construction of Island Studios was just finished when Zep went into the basement (smaller) studio to record STH. Jethro Tull was in the upper (and larger studio) recording Aqualung. Jimmy happened to walk into the studio at the exact moment Martin Barre was recording the solo. Martin was almost thrown off by Jimmy waving at him through the glass.

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'Stairway To Heaven' was I believe partly composed and rehearsed at Headley Grange but not recorded there. It was recorded at Island Studios, Basing Street - (need to look this up to check the name). A London studio, anyway.

The first thing I noticed about the new alternate mix was that with the reverb turned up the guitar notes at the start sound out of time in the reverb ('wet' signal). Which is possibly a reason why the final mix turned the reverb down a bit. Otherwise, things are not too different.

But something does happen with Bonzo's drum entry. Wow. After listening to STH for so many years I never thought I'd ever get such a feeling from the alt mix. This really was like hearing it afresh. I don't know what it is - something about a rawness of sound coupled with maybe the drums being more prominent, coupled with the additional reverb - but it's great. Same quality during the guitar solo - those wonderful chords sound so atmospheric. (You should hear STH's guitar solo when the bass and the lead guitar are muted).

You're absolutely right, I was going to check before making a statement but still very different atmosphere all in all. And it is definitely refreshing to hear an alternate mix!

I had the same feeling about Going To California, very beautiful intro nonetheless! I'm not real sure on what to expect/ want on Kashmir.. A backing track would be suitable since the music is so mesmerizing, but I think Pagey might have something special for Kashmir.. I would have to imagine they did a lot of different takes on it before they got the final Kashmir.

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(You should hear STH's guitar solo when the bass and the lead guitar are muted).

isn't the solo the lead guitar?

Sorry. You can see I was carried away there. I meant to write you should hear STH's rhythm guitars when the bass and lead guitar are muted. You can do this with a piece of equipment that takes a stereo signal and mutes whatever is in the middle of the stereo image. It leaves a mono recording of the remainder.

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Just a question

The liner notes on the 2CD edition mention the date 5 December 1970, like Black Dog.

Wonder if the songs were recorded on that day, or were there any overdubs in 1971.

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Just a question

The liner notes on the 2CD edition mention the date 5 December 1970, like Black Dog.

Wonder if the songs were recorded on that day, or were there any overdubs in 1971.

Are you referring to the 15 page booklet that comes with the deluxe cd? It shows the location and date each track was recorded on the last page. I don't think anything was done between that date and the releases on the companion disc, but they definitely worked on the songs between those dates and what was on the original album released nearly a year later of course. I think it's pretty cool that Page added a little booklet with several pictures in them to each of the albums now, I remember looking through the album covers on the previous releases before these and they didn't put a single thing in them. Did Page put the same booklet in the single cd remasters or do those only come with the 1 page cover like the previous releases?

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Are you referring to the 15 page booklet that comes with the deluxe cd? It shows the location and date each track was recorded on the last page. I don't think anything was done between that date and the releases on the companion disc, but they definitely worked on the songs between those dates and what was on the original album released nearly a year later of course. I think it's pretty cool that Page added a little booklet with several pictures in them to each of the albums now, I remember looking through the album covers on the previous releases before these and they didn't put a single thing in them. Did Page put the same booklet in the single cd remasters or do those only come with the 1 page cover like the previous releases?

The Super Deluxe boxes come with a hardbound book, but there are no booklets in the CDs as there are in the Deluxe Double CD packages. I have not bought any of the single CD remasters so can't vouch for what is inside those.

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