9291971 (Tarantura TCD-71-1~3 / 929-1~3)
Festival Hall, Osaka, Japan – September 29th, 1971
TCD-71-1/929-1/Disc 1: Opening, Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Black Dog, Dazed And Confused, Stairway To Heaven, Celebration Day
TCD-71-2/929-2/Disc 2: interval, That’s The Way, Going To California, Tangerine, Friends, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, What Is And What Should Never Be, Moby Dick
TCD-71-3/929-3/Disc 3: Whole Lotta Love, Communication Breakdown, organ solo, Thank You, Rock And Roll
RSR209-A/ Disc 1: Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Stairway To Heaven, Celebration Day, Tangerine
RSR209-B/ Disc 2: Moby Dick, Whole Lotta Love, Communication Breakdown, organ solo, Thank You
9291971 (or Geisha or Smoke Gets In Your Eyes) is a five disc box set on the Tarantura label documenting Led Zeppelin’s September 29th, 1971 show in Osaka. This is part of the Kurofune box set that was announced several years ago but so far has seen only the Hiroshima show on Zingi and now this. This has got to be the most beautiful Led Zeppelin bootleg ever produced. The outer box has a painting of the kurofune “black ships.” The kurofune refer to the ships the western merchants and traders used to first visit Tokyo between the 15th and 19th centuries.
The implication is that Led Zeppelin, just like Commodore Perry, came to conquer Japan for the west. Inside the box are two gatefold sleeves. The three disc set with the complete show has a similar theme, and the other gatefold sleeve has an awesome photograph of Jimmy Page taken at one of the shows. This will be considered one of the greatest Led Zeppelin bootlegs ever produced by future generations and one of the most beautiful.
It is a stunning work of art that will enhance any collection. This is limited to only one hundred copies and sold out before it was even officially released. One collector asked why they only made a limited amount. And the obvious answer is because beautiful titles like this should only be in the hands of the super connected and the super elite. Making it commonly available would be like throwing pearls before swine. It will command very high prices in the future if ever a copy does surface, but honestly anyone who is lucky enough to own this will never want to part with it.
The three disc set uses a combination of the soundboard recording and older tape sources. It is slightly cleaner than Fatally Wanderer on Wendy, but also noticably more compressed and lacks the dynamics of the previous release. The organ solo on disc three has about seven really loud and nasty digital scratches that are not present on any other release. The second two discs contain the complete soundboard recording alone without any edits and is significantly more distorted than on the three disc set. (I know what you’re thinking. I don’t know the purpose of this either). However sound quality simply isn’t an issue with rare and legendary releases like this. Given the unique beauty of the set the closest most of us will ever get is this review. But to those connected enough to actually get a copy, it will look awesome collecting dust on your shelf.
14 Comments
If you can find the Wendy Fatally Wanderer, there are two of them, they are both good titles to own. I have them as well as this Tarantura release and I prefer them to this. Unfortunately there are so many versions of this concert it begins to get convoluted after a while. After listening to releases that sound good, the word definitive seems to be more of a description based upon personal preference. If one could afford them, the “soundboard” source and the better of the audience sources are both worth getting, this concert is one of my top five Zep shows of all time, excellent highly improvised performance
thanks for all that info. anybody possibly know anything about the 3CD digipak “A Cellarful of Noise” by Scorpio (same show)? is it actually sourced from vinyl, and/or does it sound noticeably worse than the very best versions of the same show? thanx to anybody who could help us
a couple or few months ago i got the “Definitive Version” of Wendy’s “Fatally Wanderer”, and i was very disappointed! how the hell can they call it the definitive version?! it sounds downright awful to me! it sounds rather muffled & rough, esp. during “Immigrant Song” near the start of the show, and that kind of sound i really can’t stand.
then a couple or few weeks later, i got Scorpio’s digipak “A Cellarful Noise”, which sounds a lot better in my personal opinion, but unfortunately has several edits/cuts & thus at least several minutes or so of missing music.
can anybody recommend anything better? thanks
for this particular legendary concert, i’ve read that there a lot of versions that claim to be soundboard but are actually audience recordings, as is often the case for many boot recordings that claim to be soundboard, but are there any true soundboard 3CD versions of this show available that aren’t too difficult to find or track down these days? if yes, then can anybody recommend any specific ones? how about the “Live in Japan 1971” 3CD version by Empress Valley or the “Unprocessed 929” 3CD (no label)? or are they not soundboard at all?
i don’t necessarily need one of the very best or definitive versions of this show, but i certainly don’t want one of the worst either. is one of the better true soundboard versions superior enough to the audience versions that it would be worth seeking out even if more difficult to find, or should i just settle for one of the better audience versions?
any helpful advice would be really very much appreciated…thanx…and you can email me at XYZxyzee[“at”]AOL[“dot”]com
Hi. Sorry for the confusion. The top is the first edition, the second is the second edition, and the bottom is the third edition.
What’s with the third photo of Plant having tea with two geisha girls? Is that a third version of this set? I am assuming the top photo is the front of the package and the second photo is the back of the package? Or is each photo the front of three different versions / editions?
I would like to know from the elitest out there that are proud owners of this or other versions of this show, how was the bands performance. Where would you rank it compared to other shows?
Thanks
As a collector of live music recordings, I’ve grown incredibly skeptical of anything hailed as “definitive” because I’m not sure who’s made that determination, and why. Is it based on sound quality? Is it based on how the recording is packaged for the collector? I would vote yes to both of these questions and, as a result, firmly conclude that this latest masterpiece by the wonderful Tarantura label can only be topped by a true soundboard recording of this show PLUS sweet packaging to accompany the recording. How terrible was EVSD’s packaging when first presenting this show in the longest version to date? I’d say very, and particularly for the asking price. Wendy’s “Fatally Wanderer” was (and is) a great surprise to me, but it, too, suffered from unimaginative packaging. And then there’s T’s effort, which to my ears and eyes is the result of care and respect for the collectors who are into this kind of stuff. So, for me, Tarantura’s version of 929 stands as definitive. It also stands beautifully on my shelf.
Due to the hype of this particular release I went back and revisited the other versions of this show I have in my collection (Please Please Me – Wendy, Japan Wonderful Place – Beelzebub, Fatally Wanderer 929 – Wendy, Last Stand Box Set, 2 diff. Low Gens) so that I would be better prepared to compare and rate this set accordingly. After checking my mailbox yesterday I opened the package containing this release. I sat down and started my 5 disc listening party. The first thing that struck me was how much clearer this release sounds compared to other releases. A lot of the quiet stage banter between members seems to jump out and is more present in the recording. Alos the transactions between sources is executed rather well. While there are a few issues during the Organ Solo I am pleasantly surprised and very happy to have this in my collection. Now keep in mind that this is my opinion and I am not a sound engineer. Everyone’s speakers are going to sound different so in a sense everyone’s listening experience will be different. The best thing we can do as collectors is to report on whether or not we feel others should add this to their collection. I think everyone would be happy to have this release. I know I am… HarleyDog (May 2, 2008)
“Super Elite”??…well it must be true what they say, membership DOES have its privileges. :-) For what its worth though I like this release as well. As gsparaco even mentions in his “A Note About Sound Quality Section”, sound quality is indeed a very subjective issue. But for me it is not JUST about the sound. Of course that is important. But when you have Very good (or better) sound + great packaging + low print run, then you have the recipe for a very desirable collectible piece. Just my non-super elite 2 cents. :-)
Not elite, SUPER elite. The Superelite are those who know the bootlegger personally and were able to actually get this title. And regarding the remastering faults, if I paid $170 to the bootlegger (or three times that through Fisheads) I would be really pissed off. For this kind of money, it must be perfect.
And if you didn’t listen to all of the other releases of this tape, how can you say this is the best one of all?
I wouldn’t consider myself “ELITE” however I agree with gobucks that this title is clearer and better sounding compared to both versions of Wendys “Fatally Wanderer”, EV’s “You Were There In Spirits”, Mad Dogs “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”, and Last Stand Disc “Complete Live In Japan”. I will admit I didn’t listen completely to all of the above however I did listen to enough that I feel comfortable submitting this. My only complaint is the diginoise during the “Organ Solo” which GS mentions above.
This box set contains a 3 CD thick paper foldout case called “Geisha” and a separate 2 CD thick paper case called “Live in Osaka”. The important centerpiece of the box set is the 3 CD “Geisha” set. The main source tape used for this box set has been referred to as the “soundboard” source and has been around for many years. However, there is some confusion about that tape as it is not from the soundboard at all but is rather a very good to excellent audience tape. Tarantura (like Wendy) has filled in the gaps in the better “soundboard” source with the 2 alternative audience tapes that exist for this show and can be found in the 5 CD 929 box set on TDOLZ. The 1st 3 CD’s of the Tarantura box set sound cleaner & clearer than the Wendy title “Fatally Wanderer”. To achieve the clearer sound quality Tarantura did compress the tape somewhat. However, it really does not take away from the enjoyment of listening to the CD’s, especially at higher volume levels. Tarantura has done an excellent job editing in the alternative source tapes to fill in gaps and cuts in the main source tape i.e. During Pennies From Heaven in D&C. The edits are smoother and less jarring than those found on Wendy’s release. The final 2 CD’s from the Tarantura box set, “Live in Osaka”, contain an incomplete and rough version of the main “soundboard” source. The discs say “Rock Solid Records” on them. So, it is possible they are a copy of the old CD release “Live in Japan 1971” on the Rock Solid Records label. But, I do not own that release and can not say for certain. All in all, this is a very good release by Tarantura. Yes, the artwork is quite nice as well. It will be very hard to find a copy. But take heart, as another version of the release will be available soon.
Great overview of this release… However, I believe too much space was utterly wasted commenting on the sound quality. In fact, why even mention the music at all? It’s truly inconsequential next to the packaging.
I’ve heard whispered rumors that the next Tara release will be a previously unseen artist-rendered depiction of Jimmy Page in the buff (unmasking for the first time his long-rumored swastika buttock-tattoo) in a hand printed edition of 5! No music included! Sweet. All hail the almighty Tarantura. Again, delightful review!