Led Zeppelin Live

Monte Smith · May-28th-2003, 11:36 AM

A new 3-CD live compilation and 5 plus hour DVD set of Led Zepplin in their prime is getting a lot of press. There was a highly favorable write-up in last Sunday's NYT and today the FT speaks about the process of assembling the material. Also, I see the sets are being sold on TV for something like only twenty bucks a pop. Hey now!

Anybody listened to or watched these?

Chris D · May-28th-2003, 11:42 AM

God, Monte. I would expect you to be able to spell. It's Zepp-E-lin.
Does the world need another 25-minute "Dazed and Confused"?
Probably not, but this set HAS to be better than "The Song Remains the Same."

Monte Smith · May-28th-2003, 11:44 AM

Oops! My apologies.

Jim Dye · May-28th-2003, 11:53 AM

The DVD is incredible. Blows TSRTS away. All mixed in 5.1 surround. You can get both the 3-cd set and the 2-disc DVD for 30 bucks at Circuit City.

No Quarter, Baby!

Tanager · May-28th-2003, 12:15 PM

Hrm...this sounds like good business trip fodder, to me. /me might buy it.

john williams · May-31st-2003, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jim Dye
The DVD is incredible. Blows TSRTS away. All mixed in 5.1 surround. You can get both the 3-cd set and the 2-disc DVD for 30 bucks at Circuit City.

No Quarter, Baby!

I was always interested to hear/see Achilles Last Stand live. I believe its on the DVD - how does it hold up?

I was a little disappointed to see another 25+ minutes version of Dazed and Confused and I slightly shorter Moby Dick on the 3CD set. However, I listened to it at my local and it sounded great. I didn't buy though.

al j · May-31st-2003, 01:09 PM

I'm tempted to jump on this too. I read that all or part of "In My Time of Dying" is played. True? Here's what the site says (wow):

DVD 1

We're Gonn Groove
I Can't Quit You Baby
Dazed and Confused
White Summer
What Is and What Should Never Be
How Many More Times
Moby Dick
Whole Lotta Love
Communication Breakdown
C'Mon Everybody
Something Else
Bring It On Home

DVD 2

Immigrant Song
Black Dog
Misty Mountain Hop
Since I've Been Loving You
The Ocean
Going To California
That's The Way
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
In My Time of Dying
Trampled Underfoot
Stairway to Heaven
Rock and Roll
Nobody's Fault But Mine
Sick Again
Achilles Last Stand
In The Evening
Kashmir
Whole Lotta Love

Steve Reynolds · May-31st-2003, 02:21 PM

I gots to get the DVD now

al j · May-31st-2003, 02:26 PM

I notice that "Dancing Days" is one of the tracks on the CD, but no mention of it on the DVD. Shame.

Jon Abbey · May-31st-2003, 03:20 PM

haven't heard or seen either, but the CDs and DVDs contain entirely different material from each other. the DVDs contain basically anything they found that was usable, they evidently never had themselves filmed much, and had to scramble to assemble this, including buying some from bootleggers.

GoodSpeak · May-31st-2003, 08:43 PM

FWIW...I saw Led Zepplin "live"...in 1975.

Gentle Giant · May-31st-2003, 09:12 PM

Even Matt Lauer interviewed all the surviving members of the band, so this is really becoming a media event. I think it's a good thing. Once you get past the played-to-death-on-classic-rock-radio of Whole Lotta Love and Stairway to Heaven, and forgive them the whole mud shark episode, they truly were musically superior to just about everything else in rock during their reign. Their songs were really interesting, the performances amazing, the records well made, and their live show very intense. I'm totally a 70s guy and it's good that the mainstream know that there was something else going on other than Don't Go Breaking My Heart, Love Will Keep Us Together, and Stayin' Alive. Also, I really dig the Presence album and am very psyched to hear some of the key cuts from it live.

Dr Dave · June-1st-2003, 11:10 AM

I never liked Led Zeppelin. Plant was overbearing, Page was ham-fisted, Bonham made sure there was never any swing to what they were doing. I've come to appreciate cuts like "Kashmir," but for the most part--especially after seeing TSRTS--I thought they were a sex fantasy for 15-year-old boys. Which would account for their incredible success.

Tanager · June-1st-2003, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dr Dave
I never liked Led Zeppelin. Plant was overbearing, Page was ham-fisted, Bonham made sure there was never any swing to what they were doing. I've come to appreciate cuts like "Kashmir," but for the most part--especially after seeing TSRTS--I thought they were a sex fantasy for 15-year-old boys. Which would account for their incredible success.

Yeah...but they were LOUD. How can you argue with that?

(I actually dug Zep.)

GoodSpeak · June-1st-2003, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dr Dave
I never liked Led Zeppelin. Plant was overbearing, Page was ham-fisted, Bonham made sure there was never any swing to what they were doing. I've come to appreciate cuts like "Kashmir," but for the most part--especially after seeing TSRTS--I thought they were a sex fantasy for 15-year-old boys. Which would account for their incredible success.

Uh-huh.

And you call my anti-twist top crusade ridiculous.

Credibility gap at twelve o'clock...over.

Monte Smith · June-1st-2003, 10:54 PM

I picked up the CDs this weekend, I think I'll pass on the DVD (I can imagine watching it once or twice and enjoying it). The first CD and the third are all I have listened to. The third disk features a 23:08 cut of WHOLE LOTTA LOVE which is actually a whole medley of R&B tunes including Elvis Presley's LET'S HAVE A PARTY. Interesting but not incredible.

The first disk is great. I notice on the live cut of GOING TO CALIFORNIA, Plant gives a parenthetical shout-out when he sings the line about finding a girl who "plays guitar and cries and sings." He shouts (I think) "Joni." He must be referring to Joni Mitchell, huh? I never picked up that that was a reference before.

I dunno what Dave is on. Though I definitely see what he means in regards to 15-year-old sex fantasy, Zeppelin is also the greatest rock band of all time. I mean, who else even warrants being discussed in the same terms? The Beatles, Stones, Floyd.

Tanager · June-2nd-2003, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Monte Smith
The first disk is great. I notice on the live cut of GOING TO CALIFORNIA, Plant gives a parenthetical shout-out when he sings the line about finding a girl who "plays guitar and cries and sings." He shouts (I think) "Joni." He must be referring to Joni Mitchell, huh? I never picked up that that was a reference before.

I have always heard that GTC was written for and dedicated to Joni Mitchell.

Dr Dave · June-2nd-2003, 08:23 AM

They were loud, yes. Can't argue with that.

Gentle Giant · June-2nd-2003, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tanager
I have always heard that GTC was written for and dedicated to Joni Mitchell.

Page and Plant were both big Joni fans, and apparently asked her to write a tune for them, but I guess she never quite saw how her music could be Zeppelinized.

lazarus · June-3rd-2003, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Yeah...but they were LOUD. How can you argue with that?

I saw Zeppelin live in Stockholm 1970 and I was actually surprised that the volume was very moderate. Not very loud at all.
Maybe they were getting louder later in the 70´s.

The concert with Peter Green´s Fleetwood Mac I visited a few mounths later the same year was much louder.

The loudest concert I have ever been to was Weather Report in 1978.

Tanager · June-3rd-2003, 07:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by lazarus
The loudest concert I have ever been to was Weather Report in 1978.

Loudest I ever heard was some random (and not very good) teen punk thing I saw in high school. Of course, I was right next to a cab, so it might not have been so loud overall.

stonemonkts · June-3rd-2003, 07:49 AM

Back in those dayz (I had a WHOLE lotta fun in the 70's) I saw virtually all of the big/medium arena shows. I was a ticket scalper, although a very friendly one. I was one of those guys in a sleeping bag outside of MSG. Most of the tickets I'd obtain were sold to friends at face value, but always kept 4 or so for selling outside the show. Anyway, the first concert I ever saw was Zeppelin in 1973 (July 27 iirc), which was the concert Page played with a broken finger; also the same tour where they had $180,000 stolen. I paid $7.50 for what MSG referred to as "Loge" seats. Great show, as were the subsequent Zeps I went to see.

The loudest concert by far was Roger Waters at MSG a few years ago. It was dangerously loud, I was tempted to walk out. It was also the last pop concert I'll ever attend, I think.

The best concerts back in the 70's for me were those held at the old Capital theater in Passaic. The Kinks, early Bruce Springsteen, Mott The Hoople, Lou Reed, Ten Years After stand out as my favorites from that era. The MSG shows for the most part were about lights, lasers, smoke, and spectacle. Musically MSG was a horrible venue to hear music. Probably my most fond recollection from those days is seeing Bob Dylan with The Band in 1974. Stevie Wonder's show had the best sound by far. The cat did not need a microphone. Talk about a voice, holy shit. Seeing Donovan warm up for Yes was a kick too.

Pardon my ramble. I could go on and on. Spent a lot of time in and around concert halls in various states of mind, if you catch my drift.

steve(thelil) · June-3rd-2003, 08:02 AM

I bought some credibility on sale in the lobby.

Doc says:

Plant was overbearing, Page was ham-fisted, Bonham made sure there was never any swing to what they were doing. I've come to appreciate cuts like "Kashmir," but for the most part--especially after seeing TSRTS--I thought they were a sex fantasy for 15-year-old boys. Which would account for their incredible success.

I absolutely agree. And if it's fair to blame the Beatles from some of the shit they influenced that came later, Robert Plant can be blamed for some awfully rotten singing.

Al in NYC · June-3rd-2003, 09:50 AM

I'm in the Dr. Dave and Steve (t) camp here. Led Zep... why??

I lived a life something like Stonemonkt's in the late '70's and early '80's, and more or less scraped a living off of scalping tickets for arena shows and sporting events in Detroit and elsewhere in Michigan. Most of the money I made I spent going to punk bars, regular bars, liquor stores, and college. However, being a scalper also meant that I got to see a whole lot of arena rock shows, including a late Led Zep tour or 2 (girls were always impressed I could get such "great seats"...). And, well, what can I say... they were certainly loud.

(THE loudest show, though, was the time a close friend who was working security for them got us right down in front of the speakers for a Kiss show. I couldn't hear a damn thing for almost 2 weeks.)

I could never, never stand Robert Plant's singing or theatrics, or the churning musical muddyness of their sound (propelled by Bonham drumming like an old drunk weightlifter). Between Plant's caterwauling, and the fact that every second song played on AOR radio in the midewset was Led Zep, I came to really loathe them and I'd be just as happy if I never heard them again. Suddenly hearing them being used to sell Cadillacs (!!) on TV (tell me the truth, did you ever truly imagine that cultural moment?), and then this CD/DVD set has been almost more than I can take.

Joe Milazzo · June-3rd-2003, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by JBW
I was always interested to hear/see Achilles Last Stand live. I believe its on the DVD - how does it hold up?

The Knebworth version included on the DVD is one of the better ones I've heard.

My older brother has been collecting Zep live shows for almost 20 years now, and I've heard more versions of "Dazed and Confused" than I ever wanted to hear. BUT -- one of the cool things about the DVD set are the menu intros, one of which matches audio from the first June 1977 LA Forum show to various booted film footage from that tour. These LA shows are among the most famous (and best) Zep boots: LISTEN TO THIS EDDIE [as in Eddie Van Halen] and FOR BADGEHOLDERS ONLY [including a guest appearance from Keith Moon].

al j · June-3rd-2003, 10:13 AM

Jimmy Page is the anti-Satriani. "Ten Years Gone" is anything but ham-fisted.