The Last Night In Japan (The Diagrams Of Led Zeppelin TDOLZ Vol. 78)
Daiichi Hall, Kyoto, Japan – October 10th, 1972
Disc 1 (55:44): 1. Rock And Roll 2. Black Dog 3. Misty Mountain Hop 4. Since I’ve Been Loving You 5. The Song Remains The Same 6. Rain Song 7. Dazed And Confused
Disc 2 (40:58): 1. Stairway To Heaven 2. Over The Hills And Far Away 3. Whole Lotta Love (Inc. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love, Boogie Woogie, That’s Alright, Lights Out, Millionaire Blues, Going Down Slow, Shape I’m In) 4. Immigrant Song
“Box set 71-72: I think TDOLZs recent “Last Night In Japan” was an improvement over all previous releases and this LSD release is an improvement over TDOLZs version. It is mastered slightly better with a clearer more full bodied sound”. (Lord Byron Nov 99)
“The Last Night In Japan” is an incomplete below average sounding mono recording at best. The drums sound muffled, the vocals are bit buried, the music eclipses the saturation point almost continuously, and the overall sound is bloody muddy.
Plant, however, does appear in healthy vocal form throughout. He states: “Welcome” before the band launches into “Black Dog”. “Since I’ve Been Loving You” sounds flat and the vocals are quite high- pitched sounding. It’s hard to appreciate this incredibly gifted band with this inferior level recording which acts to compromise their performance. It unfortunately induces an ear-splitting headache with a sustained listen. The recording speed sounded frightfully slow on the “Rain Song” evoking memories of a soundtrack accompaniment to a horror flick.
Plant’s introduction to “Stairway To Heaven” sounded muddy and the normally mellow blissful sounding mellotrone distorts. Zeppelin’s general sweet and sour blend of music is not meant to be heard in this compromised fashion. There was a nice extended crowd applause after “Stairway To Heaven”. Plant started singing “Over The Hills And Far Away” with a twist: “Oh darling you got the love I need…” which sounded good for the first few seconds before bursting into a distorted mess. The bass was a bit more pronounced, however, and this turned out to be the first track that I actually enjoyed. With “Whole Lotta Love” I began to wonder how anyone could actually tolerate listening to this pure and adulterated sounding slop.
My brain hurts…Oooh my ears man! There are no redeeming qualities to this recording and it is recommended to be avoided even for the completests.
