Collectors Music Reviews

There’s So Much More Sound To Hear (Empress Valley EVSD 321/322) 

Civic Center, Providence, RI – July 21st, 1973
Disc 1: Rock and Roll, Celebration Day, Black Dog, Over The Hills And Far Away, Misty Mountain Hop, Since I’ve Been Loving You, No Quarter, The Song Remains The Same, The Rain Song
Disc 2: Dazed & Confused, Stairway To Heaven, Moby Dick, Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love, The Ocean

On There’s So Much More Sound To Hear, Empress Valley release their version of a tape that first surfaced about a decade ago on Tarantura’s LZ Rider and copied on LZ Rhoder on Thinman and On The Rhode Again on Image Quality. This version of the tape sounds better than LZ Rhoder sounding less tinny and more dynamic and natural and thus more enjoyable. EV has edited the first five minutes of “The Song Remains The Same” from the audience recording of the July 28th Madison Square Garden show in New York for completeness. I wish they’d mention that on the artwork, but it’s pretty obvious which version they used (listen to how Plant’s voice breaks on the second “push” at 3:48, it’s the identical version from the movie). Surprisingly they didn’t choose to fix the cuts in “Dazed & Confused” and “Whole Lotta Love” which makes their action even more puzzling. It’s up to the collector whether or not this editorial decision by the bootleggers is good or nor not. Some distain this whereas others don’t really mind. I just wish labels would document what they’re doing and be consistent. The concert itself is outstanding, one of the better ones from the tour. The band themselves stated in an interview that they really began to gain momentum by the final week of this tour and documents like this, the Baltimore, Pittsburgh and New York shows really show that. This was the evening following the disastrous Boston show and Plant mentions it before “Misty Mountain Hop”. Thankfully the audience cooperates and the show goes off without incident. This title by Empress Valley sounds very good and is worth having. (GS)

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