Jupiter And Saturn (Tarantura TCD-45-1~3)
Kingdome, Seattle, WA – July 17th, 1977
Disc 1: Intro., The Song Remains The Same, Sick Again, Nobody’s Fault But Mine, Over The Hills And Far Away, Since I’ve Been Loving You, No Quarter
Disc 2: Ten Years Gone, The Battle Of Evermore, Going To California, Black Country Woman, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, White Summer/Black Mountain Side, Kashmir
Disc 3: Moby Dick, Guitar solo, Achilles Last Stand, Stairway To Heaven, Whole Lotta Love, Rock And Roll
Jupiter And Saturn is the first release of the soundboard from Led Zeppelin’s Seattle concert in 1977. Several years ago there were several releases of the complete video soundtrack including Kingdom Come (WT 2001036/37/38) on Watchtower, Return of the Dragon (CD07444/5/6) on Apple, Year of the Dragon (EVSD 149/150/151/152) on Empress Valley and most recently on Dragon Slayers (GM-LZ-17.07.1977-DVD-A-20).
The sound quality of this tape is significantly more lively than the other sources that have been circulating. Some of the balance problems in the early part of the show and present on previous releases are thankfully absent. The concert is still very stiff with a very cold atmosphere. The biggest problem with this show is probably the venue itself. Listening to this source, and watching the video gives the impression the band are very isolated and are playing in a closet with no interaction with the audience.
John Paul Jones even interrupts his piano solo in “No Quarter” to stand and encourage the crowd to make some noise. Anybody who does public speaking for a living can verify the negative affect a cold atmosphere and/or unresponsive crowd has upon a performance. It’s very hard to generate any kind of passion under those circumstances.
My favorite document of this show, and probably the most accurate representation of the event, is the second audience recording that was released on In A Delirious Daze on the Equinox label in the summer of 2000. It’s comparable to the April 28th Cleveland recording and actually makes the show sound interesting. With so many releases of this show Jupiter And Saturn is really superfluous.
