Sunset (The Diagrams Of Led Zeppelin TDOLZ Vol.055)
The Forum, Los Angeles, CA – June 27, 1977
DISC ONE: The Song Remains The Same, Sick Again, Nobody’s Fault But Mine, Over the Hills and Far Away, Since I’ve Been Loving You.
DISC TWO: No Quarter, Ten Years Gone, The Battle Of Evermore, Going To California.
DISC THREE: Going Down South, Black Country Woman, Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp, Dancing Days, White Summer/Black Mountain Side, Kashmir, Trampled Underfoot, Out On The Tiles/Moby Dick.
DISC FOUR: Page Solo, Achillies Last Stand, Stairway To Heaven, Whole Lotta Love, Rock And Roll
The last night of the LA Forum stand for 1977 and as it would turn out sadly, the last night at the Forum for ever. The Forum along with Madison Square Garden in New York were truly two of the Houses of the Holy for Led Zeppelin and when they played there you could always count on something special happening.
The Diagrams of Led Zeppelin label present this show to us by way of an excellent sounding audience recording. While the sound may not be quite as good as Listen To This Eddie, it is still excellent and very enjoyable to listen to.
The playing on this night in my opinion is only average to slightly above as Jimmy suffers from off and on episodes of sticky fingers, most notably in “The Song Remains The Same” and “Kashmir”, but all in all I have heard worse so it’s not such a big deal for me. And in fact these negatives are more than offset by the performance of an acoustic version of “Dancing Days” during the acoustic set. This has always been one of my favorite tunes so to hear this acoustic version for me was a real treat! There was that “something special” that I was referring to earlier Another novelty on the night is a tune called “Goin Down South” that kicks off disc 3. It’s a short one at only 1:34, but interesting to hear none the less.
A bird chirping whistle can be heard off and on throughout, which causes Plant to comment, after “Battle Of Evermore”, “Who’s got that funny whistle?”
Technical Details:
Disc 2 begins by using an inferior tape source for Plants introduction to “No Quarter”. The better source is switched back in though by the time the actual music begins.
Some very very minor tape flutter can be heard during the guitar sections of “No Quarter” and then again during the acoustic set
The section of tape where Plant talks about not playing “Dancing Days” in five years is partially repeated.
“Achilles Last Stand” contains a cut near the middle of the song.
There is a drop out after “Trampled Underfoot” possible caused by a tape swap.
The set is unnecessarily spread over four discs when it could have easily been accommodated on three.
TDOLZ packages this release in a dual cardboard foldout sleeve with two discs sliding into each side. Attractive pictures decorate both the inside and outside of the sleeve. The inside also contains a listing of all other TDOLZ titles that were available at that time.
Shows from Los Angeles automatically make it onto my own personal “must have” list and this one is no exception, so if you don’t have it, you should. If you are not interested in shelling out big dollars for one of the premium label releases, this more affordable offering from TDOLZ would make a great alternative.
