By: gsparaco

gsparaco — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:03:23 +0000

Hager is correct. In The Heat Of The Night on Beelzebub is the superior release and is recommended over the Empress Valley.

By: Hager

Hager — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:32:32 +0000

I have Beelzebub’s “In the Heat of the Night” title containing these two shows, but, similar to Mr. Sparaco, don’t have the comparative EV release, and see no need for it. This may be Beelzebub’s finest effort, which I believe was that dubious label’s very first release. The sound from the January 31st show is relatively clear, very powerful, and something I can imagine the Iron Butterfly dreading. While “Pat’s Delight” was dropped right in the middle of the set, it’s awesome to hear how wildly the crowd reacts to Bonzo. Maybe it was Iron Butterfly’s drummer who decided he wouldn’t play, with that rudimentary solo (although classic) he did during “In A Gadda Da Vida” no match for the creativity and extreme chops displayed by Mr. Bonham. Zep does perform superior versions of “How Many More Times” and “You Shook Me” afterward, so the crowd was treated to an amazing show by the warm-up band. The second night, February 1st, is of poorer quality and not a very enjoyable listen. It’s muddy, distant, and distorted. In possibly a sign of things to come, the last track on disc 2 (all of Beelzebub’s titles have been on CD-R) is a 20:34 version of “Communication Breakdown”. Of course, the song is only about 4:00 long, with the remaining 16:00+ minutes being dead silence. Beelzebub’s packaging is pretty cool, too, being a bi-fold heavy paper case with pictures from the shows and an interesting, colorful collage on the front of the case. Given the quality of these recordings, I doubt one release of these 2 shows is significantly better than the other.

Comments on: Led Zeppelin – New York In The Wind (Empress Valley EVSD- 312/313)

By: gsparaco

By: Hager