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What ever happened to the rumored new live albums Page had talked about?


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19 hours ago, The Only Way To Fly said:

IDK - I think some of the more famous ones Blueberry Hill, Eddie, Destroyer - Gotta be close to million sold (vinyl and cd)? Of course the actual number is anyones guess. 

I seriously doubt that, though anything is possible. Most likely a few thousand were actually sold, the remainder were traded free of charge. Also, back in the day when there was a more profitable boot market, this only catered to the hardcore of the hardcore. I had several friends, hardcore Zep fans in the 80's who did have boot, but they got them for free as they said there was no way they would pay for recordings which were sub-par. Even Blueberry Hill & LTTE which were the gold standard in the 80's Zep boots, most of my friends thought the quality (especially Blueberry Hill), was still sub-par compared to an official release. Of course as the years have progressed I grew a nice pair of bootleg ears so unless it is a really shit recording I still enjoy it. That being said I only actually purchased one bootleg back in the 80's (Ally Pally), after that debacle I would never pay a single cent for a bootleg, especially now as you can get it all for free if you wait a few months.

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20 hours ago, Xolo1974 said:

Who the hell is this Eric Sachs character? And while we’re at it, who is Fish Head? 

Fisheads International is a well known bootleg  mail-supplier situated in Tokyo, run by Mr. Eric Sachs.

Fisheads Int. celebrates its 28th anniversary in June.

My entrance card to the world of Japanese bootlegs- love it.

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3 hours ago, Paganini said:

Personally I can’t stand bootlegs ..they all sound sound awful to my ears. I’d rather just stick to the official releases ...I’ve never heard anything better than either TSRTS or HTWWW. 

Have you heard the Seattle gig from ‘75 (21/3/75) - Custard Pie matrix. It sounds terrific, like an official release. 

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1 hour ago, Xolo1974 said:

Have you heard the Seattle gig from ‘75 (21/3/75) - Custard Pie matrix. It sounds terrific, like an official release. 

Yes and it is damn good. Even good quality boots such as this still only appeal to the hardcore fans. As I mentioned before (and others too) in different threads, most fans do not want boots for two reasons, quality and mistakes made by the band members. Fans want to live in a fantasy world where their musical heroes can do no wrong and are always perfect. You sit down with an average Zep fan and start going on about Burn Like a Candle or the Garden Tapes and they will look at you as if you had Quaato sprouting from your chest. They don't care, they want clean sounding live recordings, period. 

Almost every official live album from any band is cleaned up, spliced, Frankenstein'ed etc. You will never hear a true representation of a show in any official live release, both because the average fan wants as close to perfect as possible, and because of the ego's of the band members themselves. I mentioned Journey's live album Captured & Bob Segar's Nine Tonight as examples of live releases which make TSRTS & HTWWW look like unaltered releases by comparison. They all do it and it is what the music buying public wants. Every single official LZ live release has been a raving commercial success; a cleaned up, best of Earls Court, 75' North American Tour, or 77' tour would go platinum within weeks of release no doubt whatsoever. 

 

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3 hours ago, Xolo1974 said:

Have you heard the Seattle gig from ‘75 (21/3/75) - Custard Pie matrix. It sounds terrific, like an official release. 

To me, the 3.21.75 Seattle matrix sounds a little off. Like the tapes aren't in sync and it takes the balls out of Page's guitar. It is really noticeable on "In My Time of Dying". Page"s slide sounds neutured.

I prefer Winston's remaster.

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1 hour ago, SteveAJones said:

Summarization: Nowadays, Jimmy Page lives almost completely disconnected from the world around him. (It's a life situation that is the antithesis of what made him a great artist).

I don’t think Jimmy has ever been connected to the real world ...that’s what set him apart as a musical genius.

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19 hours ago, Xolo1974 said:

Have you heard the Seattle gig from ‘75 (21/3/75) - Custard Pie matrix. It sounds terrific, like an official release. 

No I’ve not heard that one ..I’ll take your word for it’s quality but personally I’m happy to go with whatever the band, ie Jimmy, saw fit to release officially. 

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9 hours ago, Paganini said:

I don’t think Jimmy has ever been connected to the real world ...that’s what set him apart as a musical genius.

I believe quite differently. His session years were formidable in his development, connecting him to an array of different artists and projects. Led Zeppelin was relatively insular, but their best music was often a reflection of their SHARED EXPERIENCES, with Page was at the forefront of the rock world. It really doesn't take much imagination to figure out why the last 20+ years have been a vast lunar landscape for him (as an artist). 

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  • 1 month later...
On 5/4/2020 at 2:36 PM, Autumn Moon said:

Fisheads International is a well known bootleg  mail-supplier situated in Tokyo, run by Mr. Eric Sachs.

Fisheads Int. celebrates its 28th anniversary in June.

My entrance card to the world of Japanese bootlegs- love it.

I’ve been out of the bootleg scene for many years. How does one get in touch with Eric or Fisheads these days?

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On 4/28/2020 at 4:16 AM, SteveAJones said:

Jimmy's stated desire was to release something we hadn't heard before, and I personally believe some sort of How The East Was Won release was seriously considered. However, the Osaka soundboard was leaked and I can see where that alone may have dulled his enthusiasm for doing anything further with those multi-track recordings. Aside from all of that, Jimmy under self management seldom yields anything of consequence. 

Hey Steve... are you saying that, in your considered opinion, that the would-be live album that Jimmy intimated was imminent back in 2017 was Japan '71...?

I know you're pretty plugged-in to the grapevine, so I'm just interested where or how you came to this deduction?

A Japan '71 live set would be just awesome, and the digital production technology we have now could enhance the multi-track tapes nicely to Jimmy's satisfaction... why did that live release not happen, Steve, did you hear any rumors on the grapevine about a reason?

I'm still holding out for an Earl's Court live release; that would be the big one for me... and it would have real commercial cache too, those shows are legendary for a reason!!!

If Jimmy really is retired now, having sorted out his recorded legacy over the last decade, then it's time we Zepheads faced the fact it could really, truly be over... the band are finished, not just as an active musical entity (that happened on September 25th, 1980) but as an album-releasing one too.  Jimmy could still surprise us yet, but I just feel it's completely over now... hope I'm wrong though...

 

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On 5/4/2020 at 4:36 PM, Autumn Moon said:

Fisheads International is a well known bootleg  mail-supplier situated in Tokyo, run by Mr. Eric Sachs.

Fisheads Int. celebrates its 28th anniversary in June.

My entrance card to the world of Japanese bootlegs- love it.

 

On 6/7/2020 at 6:11 PM, Gazza59 said:

I’ve been out of the bootleg scene for many years. How does one get in touch with Eric or Fisheads these days?

That would be my question too. I have been downloading the shows that have been remastered by Liriodendron, Winston, Grame, Pseudonym, Bluecongo, Dagad, etc. which sound incredible and much better than some of the dry soundboard but I still like to buy physical releases from Japan due to the elaborate packaging. Are they cheaper than the ones on eBay?

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There is a very easy way to invalidate the theory that bootlegs ruin the prospect of selling an official release. Just look at the  recent Cream boxset covering the 1968 Farewell tour. Empress Valley had released the exact same shows, in a near identical boxset a few years ago, and it was torrented widely. Empress Valley still makes the box with different cover art versions too.  Yet the official release comes out and it sells out literally everywhere. Rave reviews on Hoffman Forum and in official publications online. People are literally just now discovering how amazing Cream were live, even though they’ve had live albums out for 50 years. The best part is that it turns out that the Empress Valley box used the same recordings as the official release: transfers of the cassette mix downs, because the masters were lost in the big fire. Comparing the two releases, I actually PREFER the Empress Valley box, because they left the recordings pretty much alone, whereas the official release had to do some EQ to make them ready for official release.

This ultra high-fidelity and polished live album is a thing of the past. With how much content is streamed from every live festival these days, people are well aware of the trade offs in sound to get to hear a REAL live show, warts and all. Look at the 70s Van Halen soundboards that they’ve been putting out on vinyl. Or the raw soundboards that the White Stripes have been putting on nugs.net  Bob Dylan, The Stones, Black Sabbath...big name bands have released shows sourced from lowly soundboard tapes. No multi-tracks required.

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36 minutes ago, pluribus said:

There is a very easy way to invalidate the theory that bootlegs ruin the prospect of selling an official release. Just look at the  recent Cream boxset covering the 1968 Farewell tour. Empress Valley had released the exact same shows, in a near identical boxset a few years ago, and it was torrented widely. Empress Valley still makes the box with different cover art versions too.  Yet the official release comes out and it sells out literally everywhere. Rave reviews on Hoffman Forum and in official publications online. People are literally just now discovering how amazing Cream were live, even though they’ve had live albums out for 50 years. The best part is that it turns out that the Empress Valley box used the same recordings as the official release: transfers of the cassette mix downs, because the masters were lost in the big fire. Comparing the two releases, I actually PREFER the Empress Valley box, because they left the recordings pretty much alone, whereas the official release had to do some EQ to make them ready for official release.

This ultra high-fidelity and polished live album is a thing of the past. With how much content is streamed from every live festival these days, people are well aware of the trade offs in sound to get to hear a REAL live show, warts and all. Look at the 70s Van Halen soundboards that they’ve been putting out on vinyl. Or the raw soundboards that the White Stripes have been putting on nugs.net  Bob Dylan, The Stones, Black Sabbath...big name bands have released shows sourced from lowly soundboard tapes. No multi-tracks required.

Great comment. Tempted to post it in letter form to Tower House! I wonder if Mr Page reads his mail or if it gets redirected / triaged first.

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Hey thanks!

I'd add that the opinion on editing live performances has changed as well. People just want the raw and real thing. They already have the albums, they already know how good the band "could" sound. We are more interested in hearing the authentic and REAL presentation of the performance that night. Not some mix of greatest hits or heavily edited/re-tuned performances. 

Take the recent Hendrix Box Set "Songs For Groovy Children". This was supposed to, at last, be the definitive release of Hendrix's Band of Gypsy shows, featuring all 4 performances uncut for the first time.  The sticker on the box even advertised the collection as such.

Instead, the release is edited all over the place, and people noticed. Cue denials from the Producers (Including Eddie Kramer) insisting that they didn't do anything wrong. Yet people now know that they deliberately left off tracks and that there was editing done to songs to correct for what they felt were "performance errors".  What's sad is that this kind of thing has been the norm from the Hendrix estate from the very beginning. Each time they go back to the well to keep milking the cow, they purposefully release a new show with the tracks out of order, with songs missing, and with edits. What's worse is that each time they do this, they will then add one of those missing songs onto a future live release as a bonus track. Total manipulation of their buying public.

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3 hours ago, pluribus said:

There is a very easy way to invalidate the theory that bootlegs ruin the prospect of selling an official release. Just look at the  recent Cream boxset covering the 1968 Farewell tour. Empress Valley had released the exact same shows, in a near identical boxset a few years ago, and it was torrented widely. Empress Valley still makes the box with different cover art versions too.  Yet the official release comes out and it sells out literally everywhere. Rave reviews on Hoffman Forum and in official publications online. People are literally just now discovering how amazing Cream were live, even though they’ve had live albums out for 50 years. The best part is that it turns out that the Empress Valley box used the same recordings as the official release: transfers of the cassette mix downs, because the masters were lost in the big fire. Comparing the two releases, I actually PREFER the Empress Valley box, because they left the recordings pretty much alone, whereas the official release had to do some EQ to make them ready for official release.

This ultra high-fidelity and polished live album is a thing of the past. With how much content is streamed from every live festival these days, people are well aware of the trade offs in sound to get to hear a REAL live show, warts and all. Look at the 70s Van Halen soundboards that they’ve been putting out on vinyl. Or the raw soundboards that the White Stripes have been putting on nugs.net  Bob Dylan, The Stones, Black Sabbath...big name bands have released shows sourced from lowly soundboard tapes. No multi-tracks required.

Hi mate. Never heard of these EV releases before. Any idea where I can get hold of them to have a listen?

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On 4/27/2020 at 3:10 PM, Autumn Moon said:

Ha, the official live albums Mr. Page had announced to be released within the next 8 years??? What a joke!!!! I wouldn´t bet a single penny.

I trust in Empress Valley, Graf Zeppelin, Tarantura 2K,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Ha Ha. Exactly. Well said 

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On 6/21/2020 at 3:21 PM, chef free said:

OK then, how about a live Page and Plant from the '98 tour?  Jimmy was playing pretty great at that point.  And even fewer people collect Page and Plant bootlegs than Zeppelin boots...

Yeah, I've searched high and low for the show I went to in '98. Impossible to find. 

Edited by Gazza59
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On 6/21/2020 at 5:21 PM, chef free said:

OK then, how about a live Page and Plant from the '98 tour?  Jimmy was playing pretty great at that point.  And even fewer people collect Page and Plant bootlegs than Zeppelin boots...

+1

An official live best of and / or complete ‘98 P&P dvd/blu ray / cd / digital combo would be perfect. 
 

R😎

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