Montreal Gazette (Wendy WECD-60/61/62)
The Forum, Montreal, Quebec, Canada – June 7th, 1972
Disc 1 (54:46): Introduction, Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Black Dog, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Stairway To Heaven, Going To California, That’s The Way, Tangerine
Disc 2 (52:46): Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, Dazed And Confused, What Is And What Should Never Be, Moby Dick
Disc 3 (39:29): Whole Lotta Love (includes Everybody Needs Somebody, Boogie Chillun’, Hello Mary Lou, Running Bear, Money Honey, Mess O’ Blues, Going Down Slow, When The Levee Breaks), Rock And Roll, Thank You
There is some confusion regarding the tape sources for Zeppelin’s Montreal concert. Wendy claims in their press release that three different sources exist and are used. A source close to the taper of the better source claims that two different generations were used for the almost complete source. The original reel-to-reel was transferred to a cassette and then erased.
The gaps in that tape are fixed with a third generation. The second source used for the rest of the show, covering “Whole Lotta Love” and the encores come from the second source that surfaced several years ago. The former source was released many years ago as Red Snapper Deluxe on Balboa many years ago, but Wendy sounds far superior.
Whatever the case is the main tape used is distant from the stage but is very good and clear. The master had “Immigrant Song” and first part of “Heartbreaker” accidentally erased. Second and third generation copies of the same tape source is used to fill in that gap and is used intermittently throughout the show (intro to “Going To California”, “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp”) and sounds very hissy.
The tapers talk a lot between the songs discussing the equipment set up and sharing the binoculars. The second tape source is used for the latter part of the show, “Whole Lotta Love”, “Rock And Roll” and “Thank You”. The only cuts on this tape are in the “Whole Lotta Love” medley and the organ solo before the final encore (the last couple of notes are still present).
The show is almost typical for 1972. They play the opening bars of “Black Country Woman” before “Going To California”, stop and say it is from the next album. Were they considering this for Houses Of The Holy? (They would play the entire track two weeks later in Seattle). “Dazed & Confused” features the first reference to “Walter’s Walk” which was also recorded before the tour. The “Whole Lotta Love” medley contains some surprises.
After the small cut after “Hello Mary Lou” the tape picks up again in “Running Bear”, a song they played in the two shows in Europe the preceding week. “Money Honey” (written by Jesse Stone and recorded by Elvis) is also very rare, found elsewhere in the second Nassau Coliseum show on this tour. That track segues into “Mess O’ Blues”, a constant in the 1971 medleys but rare for ’72.
Bonham goes into a marching beat during the intense solo in “Going Down Slow”. At the very end of the piece, before the return to “Whole Lotta Love” Plant most often sings a line from “The Lemon Song”.
On this night he sings “When The Levee Breaks”, “mean old levee taught me to weep and moan / I said it has what it takes to make a mountain man out of me.”
This is the only record of Plant singing that track in the medley and is spectacular to hear. Any document from this tour is worth having and Wendy did a very good job with the editing of the tapes. The transitions could have been a bit smoother but nothing distracting. Tarantura should be releasing a five-disc set called The Barbershop Quartet (a comment Plant makes before “Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp”) which will probably archive the two tape sources.
Montreal Gazette is a very good and affordable edition of this show and is worth having.
