Led Zeppelin – Fort Worth 1973 (2022)

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are cited as one of the progenitors of hard rock and heavy metal, although their style drew from a variety of influences, including blues and folk music. Led Zeppelin have been credited as significantly impacting the nature of the music industry, particularly in the development of album-oriented rock (AOR) and stadium rock.

Originally named the New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin signed a deal with Atlantic Records that gave them considerable artistic freedom. Initially unpopular with critics, they achieved significant commercial success with eight studio albums over ten years. Their 1969 debut, Led Zeppelin, was a top-ten album in several countries and featured such tracks as “Good Times Bad Times”, “Dazed and Confused” and “Communication Breakdown”. Led Zeppelin II (1969) was their first number-one album, and yielded “Ramble On” and “Whole Lotta Love”. In 1970, they released Led Zeppelin III which featured “Immigrant Song”. Their untitled fourth album, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV (1971), is one of the best-selling albums in history with 37 million copies sold. The album includes “Black Dog”, “Rock and Roll” and “Stairway to Heaven”, with the latter being among the most popular and influential works in rock history. Houses of the Holy (1973) yielded “The Ocean”, “Over the Hills and Far Away” and “The Rain Song”. Physical Graffiti (1975), a double album, featured “Trampled Under Foot” and “Kashmir”.

Page wrote most of Led Zeppelin’s music, particularly early in their career, while Plant wrote most of the lyrics. Jones’s keyboard-based compositions later became central to their music, which featured increasing experimentation. The latter half of their career saw a series of record-breaking tours that earned the group a reputation for excess and debauchery. Although they remained commercially and critically successful, their touring and output, which included Presence (1976) and In Through the Out Door (1979), grew limited, and the group disbanded following Bonham’s death in 1980. Since then, the surviving former members have sporadically collaborated and participated in one-off reunions. The most successful of these was the 2007 Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert in London, with Bonham’s son Jason Bonham on drums.

Led Zeppelin are one of the best-selling music artists of all time; their total record sales are estimated to be between 200 to 300 million units worldwide. They achieved eight consecutive UK number-one albums and six number-one albums on the US Billboard 200, with five of their albums certified Diamond in the US. Rolling Stone magazine described them as “the heaviest band of all time”, “the biggest band of the Seventies”, and “unquestionably one of the most enduring bands in rock history”. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995; the museum’s biography of the band states that they were “as influential” during the 1970s as the Beatles were during the 1960s. (wikipedia)

And here´s he legendary bootleg from Fort Worth, 1971.

But to be honest … their “Dazed And Confused” does not have the punch as on the studio recording from 1969 ….

… Regardless, this is probably one of the best Led Zeppelin bootlegs.

Thanks to dadgad for sharing the show at Dime.

Recorded live at the Tarrant County Convention Center, Fort Worth, Texas; May 19, 1973. Very good soundboard. New 2022 Remaster.

Personnel:
John Bonham (drums, percussion)
John Paul Jones (bass, keyboards)
Jimmy Page (guitar)
Robert Plant (vocals, harmonica)

Tracklist:
01. Rock And Roll (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) 4:39
02. Celebration Day (Page/Plant/Jones) 3:55
03. Black Dog (Jones/Page/Plant) 6:36
04. Over The Hills And Far Away (Page/Plant) 7:06
05. Misty Mountain Hop (Jones/Page/Plant)  4:47
06. Since I’ve Been Loving You (Jones/Page/Plant) 8:50
07. No Quarter  (Jones/Page/Plant) 11:41
08. The Song Remains The Same (Page/Plant) 5:44
09. The Rain Song (Page/Plant)  9:15
10. Dazed And Confused  (Page) 31:36
11. Stairway To Heaven (Page/Plant) 11:48

Alternate edition:

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More from Led Zeppelin:

The official website:

Led Zeppelin – Coda (Deluxe Edition) (198/2015)

Coda is a compilation album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. The album is a collection of unused tracks from various sessions during Led Zeppelin’s twelve-year career. It was released on 19 November 1982, almost two years after the group had officially disbanded following the death of drummer John Bonham. The word coda, meaning a passage that ends a musical piece following the main body, was therefore chosen as the title.

The fifth Swan Song Records album for the band, Coda was released to honour contractual commitments to Atlantic Records and also to cover tax demands on previous monies earned. It cleared away nearly all of the leftover tracks from the various studio sessions of the 1960s and 1970s. The album was a collection of eight tracks spanning the length of Zeppelin’s twelve-year history. Atlantic counted the release as a studio album, as Swan Song had owed the label a final studio album from the band. According to Martin Popoff, “there’s conjecture that Jimmy [Page] called ‘We’re Gonna Groove’ a studio track and ‘I Can’t Quit You Baby’ a rehearsal track because Swan Song owed Atlantic one more studio album specifically.”

Guitarist Jimmy Page explained that part of the reasoning for the album’s release related to the popularity of unofficial Led Zeppelin recordings which continued to be circulated by fans: “Coda was released, basically, because there was so much bootleg stuff out. We thought, “Well, if there’s that much interest, then we may as well put the rest of our studio stuff out”.[4] As John Paul Jones recalled: “They were good tracks. A lot of it was recorded around the time punk was really happening… basically there wasn’t a lot of Zeppelin tracks that didn’t go out. We used everything.”

“We’re Gonna Groove” opens the album and, according to the album notes, was recorded at Morgan Studios in June 1969.[3] It was later acknowledged to have come from a January 1970 concert at the Royal Albert Hall, with the guitar parts overdubbed and the original guitar part removed—this can be heard in the original Royal Albert Hall show on 9 January 1970.[citation needed] This song was used to open a number of concerts on their early 1970 tours and was originally intended to be recorded for inclusion in Led Zeppelin II. “I Can’t Quit You Baby” is taken from the same concert as “We’re Gonna Groove” but was listed as a rehearsal in the original liner notes.[6] The recording was edited to remove the overall “live” feel: the crowd noise as well as the beginning and ending of the song were deleted. Crowd tracks were muted on the multitrack mixdown on this recording as with “We’re Gonna Groove”.

“Poor Tom” is from sessions for Led Zeppelin III, having been recorded at Olympic Studios in June 1970, and “Walter’s Walk” is a leftover from the sessions for Houses of the Holy.

Side two consists of three outtakes from the band’s previous album, In Through the Out Door. The opening track, the uptempo “Ozone Baby” was recorded at that album’s sessions at Polar Studios, Stockholm in November 1978, as was the rock’n’roll styled “Darlene”.

The third track, “Bonzo’s Montreux” was recorded at Mountain Studios, Montreaux, Switzerland in September 1976. It was designed as a Bonham drum showcase, which Page treated with various electronic effects, including a harmonizer.

The final track, “Wearing and Tearing” was recorded at Polar in November 1978. It was written as a reaction to punk and to show that Led Zeppelin could compete with the new bands. It was planned to be released as a promotional single to the audience at the 1979 Knebworth Festival, headlined by Led Zeppelin, but this was cancelled at the last minute. It was first performed live at the 1990 Silver Clef Awards Festival at Knebworth in 1990 by Plant’s band with Page guesting.

The 1993 compact disc edition has four additional tracks from the box sets, Led Zeppelin Boxed Set (1990) and Led Zeppelin Boxed Set 2 (1993), the previously unreleased “Travelling Riverside Blues”, “White Summer/Black Mountain Side” and the “Immigrant Song” b-side “Hey, Hey, What Can I Do” from the former and the previously unreleased “Baby Come On Home” from the latter.

The album cover was designed by Hipgnosis, the fifth album cover the design group designed for Led Zeppelin. It was also the last album cover Hipgnosis designed before disbanding in 1983. The main four letters CODA are from an alphabet typeface design called “Neon” designed by Bernard Allum in 1978.

Reviewing for Rolling Stone in 1983, Kurt Loder hailed Coda as “a resounding farewell” and a “marvel of compression, deftly tracing the Zeppelin decade with eight powerful, previously unreleased tracks, and no unnecessary elaboration”. Robert Christgau wrote in his “Consumer Guide” column for The Village Voice:

They really were pretty great, and these eight outtakes—three from their elephantine blues phase, three from their unintentional swan song—aren’t where to start discovering why. But despite the calculated clumsiness of the beginnings and the incomplete orchestrations of the end, everything here but the John Bonham Drum Orchestra would convince a disinterested party—a Martian, say. Jimmy Page provides a protean solo on “I Can’t Quit You Baby” and jumbo riffs throughout.

According to Julian Marszalek of The Quietus, however, “Coda has always been regarded as the band’s weakest release. Made up of eight tracks that spanned Led Zeppelin’s lifetime, it refused to flow as an album. Devoid of a coherent narrative, it felt tossed together to make up for contractual obligations.”

A remastered version of Coda, along with Presence and In Through the Out Door, was reissued on 31 July 2015. The reissue comes in six formats: a standard CD edition, a deluxe three-CD edition, a standard LP version, a deluxe three-LP version, a super deluxe three-CD plus three-LP version with a hardback book, and as high resolution 24-bit/96k digital downloads. The deluxe and super deluxe editions feature bonus material containing alternative takes and previously unreleased songs, “If It Keeps On Raining”, “Sugar Mama”, “Four Hands”, “St. Tristan’s Sword”, and “Desire”. The reissue was released with an altered colour version of the original album’s artwork as its bonus disc’s cover.

The reissue was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 78, based on 8 reviews. In Rolling Stone, David Fricke said it is “the unlikely closing triumph in Page’s series of deluxe Zeppelin reissues: a dynamic pocket history in rarities, across three discs with 15 bonus tracks, of his band’s epic-blues achievement”. Pitchfork journalist Mark Richardson was less impressed by the bonus disc, believing “there is nothing particularly noteworthy about the ‘Bombay Orchestra’  (1972) tracks”. (wikipedia)

Released two years after the 1980 death of John Bonham, Coda tied up most of the loose ends Led Zeppelin left hanging: it officially issued a bunch of tracks circulating on bootleg and it fulfilled their obligation to Atlantic Records. Coda doesn’t contain every non-LP track Zeppelin released — notably, the B-side “Hey Hey What Can I Do” and anything from the BBC sessions were left untouched (they’d be added to Coda on a 1993 CD revision of the compilation, and also appear on the major three-disc overhaul Jimmy Page masterminded in 2015) — but it does gather much of what was floating around in the wake of their demise, including three blistering rockers that were rejected for In Through the Out Door. If “Ozone Baby,” “Darlene,” or “Wearing and Tearing” — rockers that alternately cut loose, groove, and menace — had made the cut for In Through the Out Door, that album wouldn’t have had its vague progressive edge and when they’re included alongside a revival of the band’s early raver “We’re Gonna Groove,” the big-boned funk of the Houses of the Holy outtake “Walter’s Walk,” and the folk stomp “Poor Tom” (naturally taken from the sessions for Led Zeppelin III), they wind up underscoring the band’s often underappreciated lighter side. For heaviness, there’s a live version of “I Can’t Quit You Baby” and “Bonzo’s Montreux,” a solo showcase for the departed drummer, and when this pair is added to the six doses of hard-charging rock & roll, it amounts to a good snapshot of much of what made Led Zeppelin a great band: when they were cooking, they really did groove. (by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

Personnel:
John Bonham (drums, percussion)
John Paul Jones (bass, guitar, keyboards)
Jimmy Page (guitars, electronic effects)
Robert Plant (vocals, harmonica)
+
Bombay Orchestra (on 17. + 18.)

Tracklist:
01. We’re Gonna Groove (Live on 9 January 1970 at the Royal Albert Hall, London, England) (Edit; remix with guitar overdubs and live audience eliminated) (Bethea/King) 2.38
02. Poor Tom (Led Zeppelin III outtake, 1970) (Page/Plant/Bonham) 3.02
03. I Can’t Quit You Baby (Live on 9 January 1970 at the Royal Albert Hall, London, England: sound rehearsal, edited version) (Dixon) 4.18
04. Walter’s Walk (Houses of the Holy outtake, possibly with later overdubs, 1972) (Page/Plant/Bonham/Jones) 4.32
05. Ozone Baby (In Through the Out Door outtake, 1978) (Page/Plant) 3.36
06. Darlene (In Through the Out Door outtake, 1978) (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) 5.07
07. Bonzo’s Montreux (Recorded in 1976) (Bonham) 4.22
08. Wearing And Tearing (In Through the Out Door outtake, 1978) (Page/Plant) 5.30
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The 2 companion discs:
09. We’re Gonna Groove (Alternate mix) (Bethea/King) 2.40
10. If It Keeps On Raining (When The Levee Breaks) (Rough mix) (Bonham/Jones/ Minnie/Page/Plant) 4.14
11. Bonzo’s Montreux (Mix construction in progress) (Bonham) 5.00
12. Baby Come On Home (Berns/Page/Plant) 4.30
13. Sugar Mama (mix) (Led Zeppelin outtake) (Page/Plant) 2.51
14. Poor Tom (Instrumental mix) (Page/Plant) 2.17
15. Travelling Riverside Blues (BBC Session) (Johnson/Page/Plant) 5.12
16. Hey, Hey, What Can I Do (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) 3.57
17. Four Hands (Four Sticks) (Bombay Orchestra) (Page/Plant) 4.46
18. Friends (Bombay Orchestra) (Page/Plant) 4.27
19. St. Tristan’s Sword (Rough mix) (Led Zeppelin III outtake) (Page) 5.42
20. Desire (The Wanton Song) (Rough mix) (Page/Plant) 4.10
21.Bring It On Home (Rough mix) (Dixon) 2.32
22. Walter’s Walk (Rough mix) (Page/Plant) 3.20
23. Everybody Makes It Through (In The Light) (Rough mix) (Jones/Page/Plant) 8.34

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More from Led Zeppelin:

Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin (I) (Deluxe Edition 2014) (1969)

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group consisted of vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham.

With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are cited as one of the progenitors of hard rock and heavy metal, although their style drew from a variety of influences, including blues and folk music.

Led Zeppelin have been credited as significantly impacting the nature of the music industry, particularly in the development of album-oriented rock (AOR) and stadium rock.

Originally named the New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin’s deal with Atlantic Records gave them considerable artistic freedom. Initially unpopular with critics, they achieved significant commercial success with eight studio albums over ten years. Their 1969 debut, Led Zeppelin, was a top-ten album in several countries and featured such tracks as “Good Times Bad Times”, “Dazed and Confused” and “Communication Breakdown”. Led Zeppelin II (1969) was their first number-one album, and yielded “Ramble On” and “Whole Lotta Love”. In 1970 they released Led Zeppelin III which featured “Immigrant Song”. Their untitled fourth album, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV (1971), is one of the best-selling albums in history with 37 million copies sold. The album includes “Black Dog”, “Rock and Roll” and “Stairway to Heaven”, with the latter being among the most popular and influential works in rock history. Houses of the Holy (1973) yielded “The Ocean”, “Over the Hills and Far Away” and “The Rain Song”. Physical Graffiti (1975), a double album, featured “Trampled Under Foot” and “Kashmir”.

Page wrote most of Led Zeppelin’s music, particularly early in their career, while Plant wrote most of the lyrics. Jones’s keyboard-based compositions later became central to their music, which featured increasing experimentation. The latter half of their career saw a series of record-breaking tours that earned the group a reputation for excess and debauchery. Although they remained commercially and critically successful, their touring and output, which included Presence (1976) and In Through the Out Door (1979), grew limited, and the group disbanded following Bonham’s death in 1980. Since then the surviving former members sporadically collaborated and participated in one-off reunions. The most successful of these was the 2007 Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert in London, with Bonham’s son Jason Bonham on drums.

Led Zeppelin are one of the best-selling music artists of all time; their total record sales are estimated to be between 200 to 300 million units worldwide. They achieved eight consecutive UK number-one albums and six number-one albums on the US Billboard 200, with five of their albums certified Diamond in the US. Rolling Stone magazine described them as “the heaviest band of all time”, “the biggest band of the Seventies”, and “unquestionably one of the most enduring bands in rock history”. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995; the museum’s biography of the band states that they were “as influential” during the 1970s as the Beatles were during the 1960s. (wikipedia)

And here´s their awesome debut album:

Led Zeppelin had a fully formed, distinctive sound from the outset, as their eponymous debut illustrates. Taking the heavy, distorted electric blues of Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, and Cream to an extreme, Zeppelin created a majestic, powerful brand of guitar rock constructed around simple, memorable riffs and lumbering rhythms. But the key to the group’s attack was subtlety: it wasn’t just an onslaught of guitar noise, it was shaded and textured, filled with alternating dynamics and tempos. As Led Zeppelin proves, the group was capable of such multi-layered music from the start. Although the extended psychedelic blues of “Dazed and Confused,” “You Shook Me,” and “I Can’t Quit You Baby” often gather the most attention, the remainder of the album is a better indication of what would come later.

“Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” shifts from folky verses to pummeling choruses; “Good Times Bad Times” and “How Many More Times” have groovy, bluesy shuffles; “Your Time Is Gonna Come” is an anthemic hard rocker; “Black Mountain Side” is pure English folk; and “Communication Breakdown” is a frenzied rocker with a nearly punkish attack. Although the album isn’t as varied as some of their later efforts, it nevertheless marked a significant turning point in the evolution of hard rock and heavy metal. (by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

Personnel:
John Bonham (drums, percussion)
John Paul Jones (bass, prgan)
Jimmy Page (guitar)
Robert Plant (vocals, harmonica)
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Viram Jasani (tabla on 06.)

Tracklist:

CD 1 (Original album):
01. Good Times Bad Times (Page/Jones/Bonham)
02. Babe I’m Gonna Leave You (Traditional)
03. You Shook Me (Dixon)
04. Dazed And Confused (Page)
05. Your Time Is Gonna Come (Page/Jones)
06. Black Mountain Side (Page)
07. Communication Breakdown (Page/Jones/Bonham)
08. I Can’t Quit You Baby (Dixon)
09. How Many More Times (Page/Jones/Bonham)

CD 2 (Live At The Olympia: Paris, France – October 10, 1969):
01. Good Times Bad Times / Communication Breakdown (Page/Jones/Bonham)  3:53
02. I Can’t Quit You Baby (Dixon) 6:41
03. Heartbreaker (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) 3:49
04. Dazed And Confused (Page) 15:02
05. White Summer / Black Mountain Side (Page) 9:19
06. You Shook Me (Dixon) 11:56
07. Moby Dick (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant)  9:22
08. How Many More Times (Page/Jones/Bonham) 11:15

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More from Led Zeppelin:

The New Yardbirds (pre-Led Zeppelin) – London Blues 1968 (1999)

After the Yardbirds released their final album, Jimmy Page (who had only recently joined the band) ended up with rights to the name as it’s sole remaining member after bassist Chris Dreja left. He asked John Paul Jones to take over bass and help put together a new lineup in order to fulfill some contract obligations for a fall tour. They asked an obscure, but talented, British singer Terry Reid to be the lead singer of their “New Yardbirds”. Dubious of joining a retread of The Yardbirds after the likes of Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck had left, Reid declined. However, Reid recommended Robert Plant for the job. After Plant joined he recommended former band mate John Bonham as the drummer.

Plant/Page/Bonham/Jones would change the name to Led Zeppelin after Keith Moon, the infamous drummer for “The Who”, suggested it as a joke. Since Moon felt the band would go over like a lead balloon.

Terry Reid would later go on to turn down an offer to join Deep Purple as well.

The first two tracks are radio broadcast recordings from Tivoli Gardens in Stockholm, 1968, and the rest are audience recordings from the Marquee Club in London that same year. (by ByteMe)

And the original uploader wrote:

Robert Plant was at a crossroads. Should he keep his job at Bill’s petrol,where he was known as one of the best mechanics in England and give up his lucrative pay packet or should he join up with the relativity known Jimmy Page and become the singer in the fledgling new band he was forming. After speaking to the owner of the gas station a Mr. Harvey Wiensteen they had come to a compromise. Robert could take some time off to give the new upstart band a chance. And if they failed he could return to his job.However Mr. Wiensteen wanted something in return. He wanted the young Mr. Plant to promote the gas station at all the shows. Robert knew Jimmy Page would never go for this. So in a moment of inspiration Robert decided to re-name some of the songs he had been working on. Good Times Bad Times now became Good Tires Bad Tires, I Can’t Quit You Baby changed to I Can’t Find My Torque Wrench. Communication Breakdown had been changed to Transmission Breakdown and finally How Many More Times became How Many More Fill-Ups. Well needless to say the band took off and the rest is history (Excerpt from Jobe’s book little known rock facts)

The earliest known recordings of the group that should become Led Zeppelin.

I had this on a cassette for a very long time and I had no idea that this was some kind of rarity until recently, so I let it to the Zeppelin circles. (by Pink Robert)

Thi album is a must for every serious Led Zeppelin collector !!!

Personnel:
John Bonham (drums)
John Paul Jones (bass)
Jimmy Page (guitar)
Robert Plant (vocals)

Tracklist:

Tivoli Gardens, Stockholm, September 20, 1968 – Radio broadcast:
01. I Can’t Quit You (Dixon) 5.42
02. I Gotta Move (Rush) 3.17

The Marquee Club, London, October 16, 1968 -Audience recording:
03. Communication Breakdown (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) 3.00
04. I Can’t Quit You (Dixon) 6.24
05. Killing Floor (Burnett) 8.47
06. Fought My Way Out Of The Darkness (As Long As I Have You) (Elgin/Ragovoy) – Hush Little Baby (Traditional) 6.22
07. She Wants You – London Blues Unknown) 2.08
08. Dazed And Confused (Holmes/Page) 12.04
09. White Summer – Black Mountain Side (Page) 8.45

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Led Zeppelin – Gonzaga (1968)

This is the first live recording of Zeppelin ever Limited Edition Capricorn bootleg recorded on 30/12/1968 at Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington USA. It was recorded before they had even released an album. You can hear Robert Plant introduce Dazed & Confused. As a song off of their first album to be released in three weeks On Atlantic called ‘Led Zeppelin’.

A Student at the show recorded it on a tape recorder.

The quality is muffled especially at the start … But it gets better as it gets into it &
Its a real gem. Plants voice is awesome & Bonzo does a great version of Pat’s DelightThis is rare & a real piece of rock history – A real treasure for serious Zep heads (by archive.org)

Within a year, they’d be big. Within two, they’d be huge. And within three, they’d be the biggest band in the world. But on December 30, 1968, the quartet of British rockers preparing for their fifth-ever gig in the United States were using propane heaters to keep themselves and their equipment warm while they waited to go on as the opening act for Vanilla Fudge at a concert in a frigid college gymnasium in Washington State. A few serious rock fans in attendance had at least heard about the new band formed around the former guitarist from the now-defunct Yardbirds, but if those fans even knew the name of this new group, they might not have recognized it in the ads that ran in the local newspaper. The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington, ran an advertisement on this day in 1968 for a concert at Gonzaga University featuring “The Vanilla Fudge, with Len Zefflin”—a concert of which a bootleg recording would later emerge that represents the first-ever live Led Zeppelin performance captured on tape.

At the end of the now widely available recording known as Gonzaga ’68, Robert Plant can be heard introducing himself and his bandmates—John Paul Jones on bass, Jimmy Page on guitar and John Bonham on drums—to a smattering of applause. But some of those who were in attendance that day remember their reaction as being stronger. In a Spokesman-Review article published 29 years after the night in question, Bob Gallagher, a teenage record-store employee at the time, recalled the show’s opening number: “”Bonham came out and started drumming on ‘Train Kept a-Rollin’,” Gallagher said, “and everybody went, ‘Holy crap.’” “What I mostly remember is when Jimmy Page took out a violin bow and began bowing his double-neck guitar,” said another concertgoer, Jeff Nadeau. “The house was universally mind-blown. It was the most stunning and awesome sound ever.”

There is nothing raw or un-Led Zeppelin-like about the sound captured by an unknown Gonzaga student on a small, portable tape recorder that day. The Gonzaga ’68 bootleg features the band performing tight and thrilling versions of some songs that are now considered classics but were then unknown to those in attendance. Indeed, halfway through the set, Robert Plant introduces one number as follows: “This is off an album that comes out in about three weeks time on the Atlantic label. It’s called Led Zeppelin. This is a tune called ‘Dazed and Confused.’” (by history.com)

Alternate frontcover

Personnel:
John Bonham (drums)
John Paul Jones (bass)
Jimmy Page (guitar)
Robert Plant (vocals)

Tracklist:
01. Train Kept A Rollin’ (Bradshaw/Mann) 2.36
02. I Can’t Quit You (Dixon) 7.03
03. As Long As I Have You (Medley: Fresh Garbage, Shake, Hush) 9.14
04. Dazed And Confused (Holmes/Page) 9.53
05. White Summer (Page) 7.00
06. How Many More Times (Includes The Hunter) (Page/Jones/Bonham) 16.15
07. Pat’s Delight (Moby Dick) (Bonham/Jones/Page) 7.07

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Alternate backcover

Vanilla Fudge – Out Through The In Door (A Tribute To Led Zeppelin) (2007)

Out Through the In Door is the eighth album by Vanilla Fudge, released in June 2007, with the US finally following in August 2009. According to the band’s official webpage, it originally was to be released in February 2007. The following statement was taken from their website:

Coming in February, 2007… A New Album! It’s true! Mark, Vince, Tim, and Carmine were in California in July recording an album of Led Zeppelin covers. Mark said, “Basically, we rearranged some songs — we’re doing a lot of their stuff Vanilla Fudge style. Some of the arrangements are slowed down, and some speeded up but I think we’ve done the songs justice.”

The album title is a play on words of the 1979 Led Zeppelin album In Through the Out Door. (by wikipedia)

Throughout the years, there have been oodles and oodles of Led Zeppelin tribute albums. And many of these releases feature hard rock bands that merely replicate Zep classics note for note, karaoke-style. In 2007, along came Vanilla Fudge’s “tip of the cap” to Bonham-Jones-Page-Plant, titled Out Through the In Door. Unlike most other bands that have covered Zep, Vanilla Fudge actually have some honest to goodness history with the group they’re paying homage to, as Zep supported the Fudge on one of their earliest U.S. tours, back in 1969. And it’s common knowledge among drummers that John Bonham studied — and perhaps even borrowed a thing or two from — the Fudge’s powerhouse drummer, Carmine Appice.

What makes Out Through the In Door work — unlike many other Zep tributes — is that Vanilla Fudge inject their own style and approach to the tunes, and aren’t afraid to stray a bit from the original compositions. One case in point is “Ramble On,” which gets much more soulful (especially in the chorus), and another is the nice touch provided by Mark Stein’s organ flourishes on “Fool in the Rain” — while both elements collide in an impressively haunting reading of “Dazed and Confused.” Few Zep tribute albums — or even most classic rock tribute albums in general — work as well as Out Through the In Door does. (by Greg Prato)

Alternate front cover

Personnel:
Carmine Appice (drums, vocals)
Tim Bogert (bass, vocals)
Vince Martell (guitar, vocals)
Mark Stein (vocals, keyboards)
+
Teddy (Zig Zag) Andreadis – Tom Vitorino

Tracklist:
01. Immigrant Song (Page/Plant) 3.20
02. Ramble On (Page/Plant) 4.29
03. Trampled Under Foot (Jones/Page/Plant) 4.50
04. Dazed And Confused (Page) 5.59
05. Black Mountain Side (Page) 3.31
06. Fool In The Rain (Jones/Page/Plant) 5.36
07. Babe I’m Gonna Leave You (Bredon) 7.05
08. Dancing Days (Page/Plant) 4.49
09. Moby Dick (Bonham/Jones/Page) 6.08
10. All My Love (Jones/Plant) 6.17
11. Rock And Roll (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) 4.21
12. Your Time Is Gonna Come (Jones/Plant) 5.46

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I got this greaat album from Mr. Sleeve … he has a really great collection of records … thanks again !

Led Zeppelin – For Your Love (Live At The Fillmore West) (1969)

From the very early days of Led Zeppelin:

The Yardbirds played their final gig in July 1968 at Luton College of Technology in Bedfordshire. They were still committed to several concerts in Scandinavia, so drummer Jim McCarty and vocalist Keith Relf authorised Page and bassist Chris Dreja to use “the Yardbirds” name to fulfill the band’s obligations. Page and Dreja began putting a new line-up together. Page’s first choice for the lead singer was Terry Reid, but Reid declined the offer and suggested Robert Plant, a singer for the Band of Joy and Hobbstweedle. Plant eventually accepted the position, recommending former Band of Joy drummer John Bonham. Jones inquired about the vacant position at the suggestion of his wife after Dreja dropped out of the project to become a photographer. Page had known Jones since they were both session musicians and agreed to let him join as the final member.

The four played together for the first time in a room below a record store on Gerrard Street in London. Page suggested that they attempt “Train Kept A-Rollin'”, originally a jump blues song popularised in a rockabilly version by Johnny Burnette, which had been covered by the Yardbirds. “As soon as I heard John Bonham play,” Jones recalled, “I knew this was going to be great … We locked together as a team immediately”. Before leaving for Scandinavia, the group took part in a recording session for the P. J. Proby album, Three Week Hero. The album’s track “Jim’s Blues”, with Plant on harmonica, was the first studio track to feature all four future members of Led Zeppelin.

The band completed the Scandinavian tour as the New Yardbirds, playing together for the first time in front of a live audience at Gladsaxe Teen Clubs in Gladsaxe, Denmark, on 7 September 1968. Later that month, they began recording their first album, which was based on their live set. The album was recorded and mixed in nine days, and Page covered the costs. After the album’s completion, the band were forced to change their name after Dreja issued a cease and desist letter, stating that Page was allowed to use the New Yardbirds moniker for the Scandinavian dates only. One account of how the new band’s name was chosen held that Moon and Entwistle had suggested that a supergroup with Page and Beck would go down like a “lead balloon”, an idiom for disastrous results. The group dropped the ‘a’ in lead at the suggestion of their manager, Peter Grant, so that those unfamiliar with the term would not pronounce it “leed”. The word “balloon” was replaced by “zeppelin”, a word which, according to music journalist Keith Shadwick, brought “the perfect combination of heavy and light, combustibility and grace” to Page’s mind.

In November 1968, Grant secured a $143,000 advance contract from Atlantic Records, which was then the biggest deal of its kind for a new band. Atlantic were a label with a catalogue of mainly blues, soul, and jazz artists, but in the late 1960s they began to take an interest in British progressive rock acts. Record executives signed Led Zeppelin without having ever seen them. Under the terms of their contract, the band had autonomy in deciding when they would release albums and tour, and had the final say over the contents and design of each album. They would also decide how to promote each release and which tracks to release as singles. They formed their own company, Superhype, to handle all publishing rights.The band began their first tour of the UK on 4 October 1968, they still were billed as the New Yardbirds, and played their first show as Led Zeppelin at the University of Surrey in Battersea on 25 October. Tour manager Richard Cole, who would become a major figure in the touring life of the group, organised their first North American tour at the end of the year. Their debut album, Led Zeppelin, was released in the US during the tour on 12 January 1969, and peaked at number 10 on the Billboard chart; it was released in the UK, where it peaked at number 6, on 31 March. According to Steve Erlewine, the album’s memorable guitar riffs, lumbering rhythms, psychedelic blues, groovy, bluesy shuffles and hints of English folk, made it “a significant turning point in the evolution of hard rock and heavy metal” (by wikipedia)

And here´s a bootleg from their first US-tour in January 1969:

A classic, early, primitive monster show that is amazing from start to finish! Stand-outs, among this entirely excellent show, are the great riffing intro to The Train Kept A Rollin’, the epic As Long As I Have You and How Many More Times medley, and an incredible, 10 minute version of For Your Love that surpasses the original version by leaps and bounds.

The song was introduced by Plant as “a thing Keith Relf had something to do with. Do you remember him? Works for Hammersmith Council now!” (sic!).

Listen and don´t forget: This is bootleg – recording !

Personnel:
John Bonham (drums)
John Paul Jones (bass)
Jimmy Page (guitar)
Robert Plant (vocals)

Tracklist:
01. Train Kept A Rollin’ (Bradshaw/Mann) 3.01
02. I Can’t Quit You Baby (Dixon) 5.40
03. As Long As I Have You (incl. Fresh Garbage) (Mimms/Ferguson) 11.17
04. Dazed And Confused (Holmes/Page) 10.33
05. How Many More Times (Page/Jones/Bonham) 15.02
06. White Summer / Black Mountainside (Page) 7.06
07. Killing Floor (Burnett) 4.51
08. You Shook Me (Dixon/Lenoir) 8.28
09. Pat’s Delight (drum solo) (Moby Dick) (Bonham/Jones/Page) 10.10
10. Babe I’m Gonna Leave You (Bredon/Page/Plant) 5.53
11. Communication Breakdown (Page/Jones/Bonham) 4.55
12. For Your Love (Gouldman) 8.11

*
**

Led Zeppelin – How The West Was Won (2003)

How the West Was Won is a triple live album by the English rock group Led Zeppelin, released by Atlantic Records on compact disc on 27 May 2003, and DVD-Audio on 7 October 2003. These original performances are from the band’s 1972 concert tour of the United States, recorded at the L.A. Forum on 25 June 1972 and Long Beach Arena on 27 June 1972.

Guitarist Jimmy Page considers Led Zeppelin at this point to have been at their artistic peak, as is mentioned in the album’s liner notes. In an interview he gave to The Times newspaper in 2010, when asked which performances from Led Zeppelin’s career stand out to him now, he made reference to these gigs:

I think what we did on … How the West was Won – that 1972 gig – is pretty much a testament of how good it was. It would have been nice to have had a little more visual recordings, but there you go. That’s the conundrum of Led Zeppelin!

For many years, live recordings of these two shows only circulated in the form of bootlegs, and even then only certain audience recordings were available to fans and collectors (for example, Burn Like a Candle). Though several soundboard recordings of Led Zeppelin concerts were circulated amongst fans after having been stolen from Page’s personal archive some time in the mid–1980s, no soundboards of the 1972 Long Beach or LA Forum shows were taken, meaning the release of How the West Was Won was the first chance fans had of hearing the soundboard versions of these concerts.

The songs from the two shows underwent some extensive editing and audio engineering by Page at Sarm West Studios in London before being released on the album. Some songs which were played at the concerts, such as “Communication Breakdown”, “Tangerine”, “Thank You” and a rare version of “Louie Louie” from the 25 June show, were left off How the West Was Won.

For years, Led Zeppelin fans complained that there was one missing item in the group’s catalog: a good live album. It’s not that there weren’t live albums to be had. The Song Remains the Same, of course, was a soundtrack of a live performance, but it was a choppy, uneven performance, lacking the majesty of the group at its peak. BBC Sessions was an excellent, comprehensive double-disc set of their live radio sessions, necessary for any Zeppelin collection (particularly because it contained three songs, all covers, never recorded anywhere else), but some carped that the music suffered from not being taped in front of a large audience, which is how they built their legacy — or, in the parlance of this triple-disc collection of previously unreleased live recordings compiled by Jimmy Page, How the West Was Won. The West in this case is the West Coast of California, since this contains selections from two 1972 concerts in Los Angeles: a show at the LA Forum on June 25, and one two days later at Long Beach Arena. This is the first archival release of live recordings of Zeppelin at their peak and while the wait has been nigh on interminable, the end result is certainly worth the wait. Both of these shows have been heavily bootlegged for years and while those same bootleggers may be frustrated by the sequencing that swaps the two shows interchangeably (they always prefer full shows wherever possible), by picking the best of the two nights, Page has assembled a killer live album that captures the full, majestic sweep of Zeppelin at their glorious peak.

And, make no mistake, he tries to shove everything into these three discs — tight, furious blasts of energy; gonzo freak-outs; blues; and rock, a sparkling acoustic set. Like always, the very long numbers — the 25-minute “Dazed and Confused,” the 23-minute “Whole Lotta Love,” the 19-minute “Moby Dick” — are alternately fascinating and indulgent, yet even when they meander, there is a real sense of grandeur, achieving a cinematic scale attempted by few of their peers (certainly no other hard rock or metal band could be this grand; only Queen or David Bowie truly attempted this). But the real power of the band comes through on the shorter songs, where their sound is distilled to its essence. In the studio, Zeppelin was all about subtle colors, textures, and shifts in the arrangement. On-stage, they were similarly epic, but they were looser, wilder, and hit harder; witness how “Black Dog” goes straight for the gut here, while the studio version escalates into a veritable guitar army — it’s the same song, but the song has not remained the same. That’s the case throughout How the West Was Won, where songs that have grown overly familiar through years of play seem fresh and new because of these vigorous, muscular performances. For those who never got to see Zeppelin live, this — or its accompanying two-DVD video set — is as close as they’ll ever get. For those who did see them live, this is a priceless souvenir. For either group, this is absolutely essential, as it is for anybody who really loves hard rock & roll. It doesn’t get much better than this. (by by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

Personnel:
John Bonham – drums, percussion, background vocals, co-lead vocals on 10.)
John Paul Jones (bass, keyboards, mandolin, background vocals)
Jimmy Page (guitar, mandolin, background vocals)
Robert Plant (vocals, harmonica)

Tracklist:

CD 1:
01. LA Drone (Jones/Page) 0.15
02. Immigrant Song  (Page/Plant) 3.41
03. Heartbreaker (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) 7.23
04. Black Dog (Jones/Page/Plant)  5.40
05. Over The Hills And Far Away (Page/Plant) 5.07
06. Since I’ve Been Loving You (Jones/Page/Plant) 8.01
07. Stairway To Heaven (Page/Plant) 9.36
08. Going To California  (Page/Plant) 5.36
09. That’s The Way (Page/Plant) 5.53
10. Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp (Jones/Page/Plant) 4.52

CD 2:
11.1. Dazed And Confused (Page)
11.2. Walter’s Walk (Page/Plant)
11.3. The Crunge (Page/Plant/Bohnham/Jones) 25.25
12. What Is And What Should Never Be (Page/Plant) 4.41
13. Dancing Days (Page/Plant) 3.42
14. Moby Dick (Bonham/Jones/Page) 19.20

CD 3:
15.1. Whole Lotta Love (Page/Plant/Bohnham/Jones/Dixon)
15.2. Boogie Chillun (Besman/Hooker)
15.3. Let’s Have A Party (Robinson)
15.4. Hello Marylou (Mangiaracina/Pitney)
15.5. Going Down Slow (Oden) 23.08
16. Rock And Roll (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) 3.56
17. The Ocean (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) 4.21
18.1. Bring It On Home (Dixon)
18.2. Bring It On Back (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) 9.30

*
**

Led Zeppelin – BBC Sessions (1997)

BBC Sessions is a compilation album featuring studio sessions and a live concert recorded by English rock group Led Zeppelin for the BBC. It was released on 11 November 1997, by Atlantic Records. This was the first release of new Led Zeppelin material in seven years. Disc one consists of material from four different 1969 BBC sessions. Disc two contains most of the 1 April 1971 concert from the Paris Theatre in London.[5] Disc three was only included in a limited run of album releases and features rare interviews from 1969, 1976/1977, and 1990.

Countless bootlegs of these recordings circulated for years before the official release. This release was widely welcomed by Led Zeppelin fans as it was the first live release since The Song Remains the Same in 1976. Others have criticized the decision to edit some of the songs and drop others that were recorded for the BBC. Most notable are one session from 1969 which included the unreleased song “Sunshine Woman”, and about seven minutes of the “Whole Lotta Love” medley from 1971. (by wikipedia)

Led Zeppelin’s BBC sessions were among the most popular bootleg items of the rock & roll era, appearing on a myriad of illegal records and CDs. They were all the more popular because of the lack of official Led Zeppelin live albums, especially since The Song Remains the Same failed to capture the essence of the band. For anyone who hadn’t heard the recordings, the mystique of Zeppelin’s BBC sessions was somewhat mystifying, but the official 1997 release of the double-disc BBC Sessions offered revelations for any fan who hadn’t yet heard this music. While some collectors will be dismayed by the slight trimming on the “Whole Lotta Love Medley,” almost all of the group’s sessions are included here, and they prove why live Zeppelin was the stuff of legend. The 1969 sessions, recorded shortly after the release of the first album, are fiery and dynamic, outstripping the studio record for sheer power.

Early versions of “You Shook Me,” “Communication Breakdown,” “What Is and What Should Never Be,” and “Whole Lotta Love” hit harder than their recorded counterparts, while covers of Sleepy John Estes’ “The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair,” Robert Johnson’s “Travelling Riverside Blues,” and Eddie Cochran’s “Something Else” are welcome additions to the Zeppelin catalog, confirming their folk, blues, and rockabilly roots as well as their sense of vision. Zeppelin’s grand vision comes into sharper relief on the second disc, which is comprised of their 1971 sessions. They still have their primal energy, but they’re more adventurous, branching out into folk, twisted psychedelia, and weird blues-funk. Certainly, BBC Sessions is the kind of album that will only appeal to fans, but anyone who’s ever doubted Zeppelin’s power or vision will be set straight with this record. (by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

And if you want to know, why I think, that Led Zeppelin was one of the finest groups in the 70´s … listen to this rare BBC recordings …

Personnel:
John Bonham (drums)
John Paul Jones (bass, keyboards)
Jimmy Page (guitar)
Robert Plant (vocals)

Tracklist:

CD 1:
01. You Shook Me (Dixon/Lenoir) 5.14
02. I Can’t Quit You Baby (Dixon) 4.22
03. Communication Breakdown” (Bonham/Jones/Page) 3.12
04. Dazed And Confused (Page) 6.39
05. The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair (Bonham/Estes/JonesPage/Plant) 3.00
06. What Is And What Should Never Be (Page/Plant) 4.20
07. Communication Breakdown (Bonham/Jones/Page) 2.40
08. Travelling Riverside Blues (Johnson/Page/Plant) 5.12
09. Whole Lotta Love (Dixon/Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) 6.09
10. Somethin’ Else (Cochran/Sheeley) 2.06
11. Communication Breakdown (Bonham/Jones/Page) 3.05
12. I Can’t Quit You Baby (Dixon) 6.21
13. You Shook Me (Dixon/Lenoir) 10.19
14. How Many More Times (Bonham/Jones/Page) 11.51

CD 2:
01. Immigrant Song (Page/Plant) 3.20
02. Heartbreaker (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) 5.16
03. Since I’ve Been Loving You (Jones/Page/Plant) 6.56
04. Black Dog (Jones/Page/Plant) 5.17
05. Dazed And Confused (Page) 18.36
06. Stairway To Heaven (Page/Plant) 8.49
07. Going To California (Page/Plant) 3.54
08. That’s The Way (Page/Plant) 5.43
09. Whole Lotta Love Medley (13.45):
09.1. Whole Lotta Love (Dixon/Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant)
09.2. Boogie Chillun’ (Hooker)
09.3. Fixin’ To Die (White)
09.4. That’s Alright Mama (Crudup)
09.5. A Mess Of Blues (Pomus/Shuman)
10. Thank You (Page/Plant) 6.38

* (CD 1)
** (CD 1)

* (CD 2 + artwork)
** (CD 2 + artwork)

Great White – Great Zeppelin – A Tribute To Led Zeppelin (1997)

Great Zeppelin: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin is a cover album released by the American hard rock band Great White in 1998, dedicated to songs of Led Zeppelin. It was recorded live in a concert that took place at The Galaxy Theatre of Santa Ana, California, USA, in December 1996.
This collection from Great White is a nice listening alternative for Led Zeppelin fans. (I am one of those fans) It is rumored that when Great White first started out, they cut their teeth on Led Zeppelin songs.

This collection rocks, there are songs performed here that Led Zeppelin very rarely performed live, to the best of my recollection.

Great White performs 14 Zeppelin songs and sticks essentially to the studio versions. No extended jams, just basic rockin Zep. Jack Russell does a great job on vocals, very Robert Plant
like in most cases, on some songs, he is tremendous – In The Light, Ramble On, No Quarter, Going To California, Immigrant Song. The bands’ music is on the mark.

If there wasn’t commentary between songs, play Ramble On, Immigrant Song, Going To California, to Zep fans and see if they can detect the difference, I could not hear a difference from the real thing.

It takes a lot of moxy to perform Stairway, and it is the final song on the album. The songs that I didn’t think hit the mark were D’yer Maker and All My Love. But 12 out of 14 are great recordings. This is the best Zep tribute album I have heard, bar none. Purists may not like this, but this CD is a good addition to your Led Zeppelin collection. There is a Whole Lotta Led here. (by Frank Rocker)

Personnel:
Audie Desbrow (drums)
Mark Kendall (guitar)
Michael Lardie (guitar, keyboards)
Sean McNabb (bass)
Jack Russell (vocals)

Tracklist:
01. In The Light (Jones/Page/Plant) 6.06
02. Living Loving Maid (She´s Just A Woman) (Page/Plant) 3.30
03. Ramble On (Page/Plant) 5.11
04. Since I´ve Been Loving You (Jones/Page/Plant) 6.44
05. No Quarter (Jones/Page/Plant) 8.02
06. Tangerine (Page) 3.05
07. Going To California (Page/Plant) 4.13
08. Thank You (Page/Plant) 4.37
09. D´yer Mak´er (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) 4.44
10. All My Love (Jones/Plant) 6.12
11. Immigrant Song (Page/Plant) 2.21
12. When The Levee Breaks (Bonham/Jones/Minnie/Page/Plant) 6.51
13. The Rover (Page/Plant) 6.00
14. Stairway To Heaven (Page/Plant) 8.35

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**