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top 5 favorite No Quarters


Boogie Chillen 82

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1. 6/23/77 - Legendary and for good reason. 30 minutes but it never drags. It's as if the band finally nailed exactly what they were hoping to do with this song. All four of them are on fire here.

2. 5/18/75 - A very underappreciated rendition. It's like an extension of TSRTS version. Page's solo is incredibly fluid, lyrical, and precise, and Jonesy is killing it on the keyboards. This one deserves a lot more love.

3. TSRTS (7/28/73 if it must be from a single night) - What more can be said about this one? Page's solo is :thumbsup: Plus it maintains a dark, moody atmosphere throughout, something that gradually went away in later tours.

4. 7/24/79 - A tight, no nonsense version from the band's last truly great concert. Page's wah wah outro is sensational.

5. 6/21/77 - An incredible, remarkably tight (for 30 minutes) version which gives Bonzo a chance to shine. His battle with Page in the middle always leaves me grinning, and he emerges the clear victor.

This was very tough, and my favorites could change easily, but these five are the ones that have been in heavy rotation lately.

Edited by ZepHead315
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TSRTS always in there! I played my vinyl till the grooves were flat! LOL!!

2-13-1975 the whole thing is great but Jones really plays some interesting stuff on the bass pedals during his solo.  pretty cool to hear a vendor yelling "Icecream!, Icecream!" aud  version. Soundboard is awesome too.

2-14-1975 very good and totally different than the previous night

5-23-1975. Great version, laid back and so different from others of this period.  

5-24-1975 have always loved this version. played it to death for years.

6-23-1977. This is the granddaddy of them all. Everything works perfectly and Jimmy gets his guitar to do exactly what he wants it to during the Dogs of Doom bits at the end.

 Must include the original version found in the rehearsal tapes as I believe this is essential listening

 more than 5 sorry

 

Edited by hummingbird69
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3 hours ago, hummingbird69 said:

TSRTS always in there! I played my vinyl till the grooves were flat! LOL!!

2-13-1975 the whole thing is great but Jones really plays some interesting stuff on the bass pedals during his solo.

2-14-1975 very good and totally different than the previous night

5-23-1975. Great version, laid back and so different from others of this period. pretty cool to hear a vendor yelling "Icecream!, Icecream!" aud version. Soundboard is awesome too.

5-24-1975 have always loved this version. played it to death for years.

6-23-1977. This is the granddaddy of them all. Everything works perfectly and Jimmy gets his guitar to do exactly what he wants it to during the Dogs of Doom bits at the end.

 Must include the original version found in the rehearsal tapes as I believe this is essential listening

 more than 5 sorry

 

5-23-75 soundboard?

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Tough choices, even top 10 would be hard.  I'm going to cheat and go with six (and I hate leaving off St Louis '75):

NYC 3rd night 7/29/73, very heavy and doomy

NYC 2nd night 7/28/73, all-time classic

LA 2nd night 3/25/75, very frenzied and inspired

Long Beach 2nd night 3/12/75, unique version, a primal vibe

Seattle 2nd night 3/21/75, similar to LA 2nd night

Providence 7/21/73, Page pulls out all the stops

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10 minutes ago, gibsonfan159 said:

I'm glad to see that Providence version get some love, Page is on another level. Shame those 73 versions were so short when he was playing this well.

I actually like the shorter, doomier '73 versions the best (Milwaukee, Seattle, and Pittsburgh all deserve mention).  A lot of great versions from '75 though (Vancouver, Long Island, etc.), love the directions they took the song.

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9 hours ago, JohnOsbourne said:

I actually like the shorter, doomier '73 versions the best (Milwaukee, Seattle, and Pittsburgh all deserve mention).  A lot of great versions from '75 though (Vancouver, Long Island, etc.), love the directions they took the song.

That's partly why, although those versions wouldn't make my top 10 let alone 5, I do like NQ during the first leg of the '75 tour, broken finger and all. Like, for example, Greensboro 2-29-75 - it totally still has that doomy '73 vibe to it, even if Jimmy's playing is limited. It's the Fender Rhodes!!

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12 hours ago, Boogie Chillen 82 said:

Hey, I read elsewhere that Jimmy switched to the strat for this one. Is that true? And if so, was this highly unusual for NQ? (not a guitar player lol)

Yes, this is true;  I believe he broke a string on the Les Paul, before the song.  You can definitely hear him use the whammy bar.  (Supposedly he uses the strat on the 5-18-75 version, but I haven't listened closely enough to tell.)

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It usually depends on which ones I have listened to lately because there are so many great versions.  I cannot compare the versions across tours - they are too different.

I think that the original TSRTS version will always be special to me.

For 1975 one I have always gone back to is 3/27/75.  The interplay during the jam is special.

  For 1977 it is toss up between June 21 and June 23.

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1 hour ago, Cosmic_Equilibrium said:

1) TSRTS

2) Vancouver 19/03/75

 

This changes all the time, though. The top 2 are pretty consistent, but the others come and go.

Nice! By the way, 3-19-75 got a bunch of mentions in this thread already. I'm curious, why that one? Out of the four NW dates in '75, I would rank it third behind 3-20 and 3-21. Just curious what you guys and gals are loving about it! (it's a great version no doubt, but still)

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I think it seems to have a lot of momentum in the middle jam section and doesn't drag. I haven't listened to the two following shows as much, but will give them a listen too. The momentum is one of the reasons why I also went for the Houston 77 version as well.

The 1977 NQs are rather hit and miss for me. Some sound concise (Houston), some jam on for ages without getting boring (LA 27/06/77) and some sound rather aimless. I must admit though that I can't stand the jams with Nutrocker in them, it sounds ridiculous.

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28 minutes ago, Cosmic_Equilibrium said:

The 1977 NQs are rather hit and miss for me. Some sound concise (Houston), some jam on for ages without getting boring (LA 27/06/77) and some sound rather aimless. I must admit though that I can't stand the jams with Nutrocker in them, it sounds ridiculous.

Same. Nutrocker just ruins it for me. Ugh, what were they thinking? I haven't heard that many '77s but so far I like 5-22, 5-30, all the LA ones, and Seattle. I like 5-22 in spite of Nutrocker, probably because it has the best SQ of them all so far, and the rest of the jam - after I endure Nutrocker lol - is pretty good. I mean, I play that show like once a year.

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15 hours ago, Boogie Chillen 82 said:

Nice! By the way, 3-19-75 got a bunch of mentions in this thread already. I'm curious, why that one? Out of the four NW dates in '75, I would rank it third behind 3-20 and 3-21. Just curious what you guys and gals are loving about it! (it's a great version no doubt, but still)

I just went back and listened to the 3/19/75 NQ after reading your question.  I too would put the 3/21 & 3/20 versions ahead of it (closer call with 3/20), but that's more about how good 3/20 & 3/21 are than any sort of slight against the 3/19 version.  3/19 was the first full show I listened to when I became a Ledhead, and if memory serves me right, 3/19 is the first live version of NQ I ever heard.  The first live thing I heard was the 5/24/75 Dazed, and after that I found the 3/19 show.  I was certainly wowed by the 3/19 NQ the first time I heard it, and it featured prominently in my early listening rotation.  I suppose I got away from it (and the show as a whole) a bit as I got busy exploring other versions and shows, but it really is a great version.

For starters, Jimmy gets some really cool sounds out of the theremin as JPJ is switching over to the grand for his solo--one of the best versions for that little sub-section of the song.  Then JPJ plays a great solo that doesn't wander for a second, and leads into a great Bonham entrance/two-piece jam section--I especially love this part of the song on these March '75 versions.  Then once Jimmy comes in, his solo is great, but you can hear them pushing the envelope as far as adding complexity and truly making it a three-piece jam, rather than a Page solo with JPJ & Bonzo backing.  Finally, in the outro, Jimmy is really tearing it up, with some '73-level fluidity (as was not unusual for this section of the song during this period).  This version is also about two minutes shorter than any of the other versions after 3/12 Long Beach at just under 23 minutes, so it is very compact for the amount of complexity, making it always feel like it flies by, with nary a note wasted.

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  • 1 month later...

I don't have a top 5 but I believe 6/26/77 deserves an honorable mention. I'm not sure how I feel about Jones making an early switch back to the electric piano.. but I don't think it detracts at all from the enjoyment of the piece. You know a half hour song is good when it doesn't feel like a half hour. 

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  • 2 months later...

Well, I just thought of a few I either forgot or just recently listened to--6-25-77; maybe even better than the 23rd jam or the 2nd Copenhagen show. I guess the crowd wasn't as feisty and impatient during Jonesy's jam or I just bopped my head along, anyway. Really loved when they started clapping along halfway through the solo--nothing like a lively crowd (Happy Birthday Robert Plant)...

 

 

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