Suspended Animation (Image Quality IQ075/076)
Muzikhalle, Hamburg, Germany – March 21st, 1973
Disc 1 (48:12): Black Dog, Misty Mountain Hop, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Dancing Days, Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp, The Song Remains The Same, The Rain Song
Disc 2 (59:33): Dazed And Confused, Whole Lotta Love (incl. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love, D’yr M’ker, Boogie Chillun’, Baby I Don’t Care, Let’s Have A Party, I Can Quit You, Lemon Song), The Ocean
The soundboard fragment of Led Zeppelin’s March 21st, 1973, consisting of most of “Dazed And Confused,” “Stairway To Heaven” and “Whole Lotta Love” is referred to with glowing praise as one of the greatest performances in their live history. The latest and best sounding release of this fragment can be found on A Soundboard Platter on Scorpio, released several years ago.
A complete audience tapes does exist. It is distant but clear enough to be enjoyable because the full force of the performance it captures. The only silver pressing is Suspended Animation on Image Quality. They use the tape generation that was common at the time. It runs a bit too slow and is missing “Rock And Roll,” “Over The Hills And Far Away” and “Stairway To Heaven.” These songs were deliberately withheld by the taper.
In November 2009 a 2nd generation copy of the casette surfaced with the complete show. Given the high quality of the show and the improved sound quality, a silver release of that tape would be much welcomed and an improvement over Suspended Animation. This was a commendable effort by the label to press a show that had been neglected, but is one that can safely be skipped over without much loss to the collection and hopefully a silver pressing utilizing the new complete generation will surface.
2 Comments
Patroclus, the friend of Achillies in Homer’s Illiad! There’s no sin in mentioning Beelzebub here. It’s just that when I do mention him, he bombards me with emails.
I’m aware he released it on CDR. It would be nice to see the audience tape (alone!!!) pressed on silver disc.
“Out of Control” recently released by – dare I type it – Beelzebub Records, purports to have the entire Hamburg ’73 Opus with soundboard embedded into complete audience tape you refer to. I’ll be pilloried for mentioning Beelzebub in the same breath with what you rightly describe as a concert admired by the rational, and revered as a relic by the seething faithful, so delicately subject to flights of violent rhetoric when perceiving provocation from within their long years of lonely vigil within “The Houses of the Holy”. Nonetheless, do you offer any opinion as to the merits and/or defects regarding the above silver pressing by … the unnamed!
Cordially,
Patroclus