The Oxygen Destroyer (Tarantura TCD-66-1~3)
Freedom Hall Fairgrounds, Exposition Hall, Louisville, KY – April 25th, 1977
Disc 1: The Song Remains The Same, Sick Again, Nobody’s Fault But Mine, In My Time Of Dying, Since I’ve Been Loving You, No Quarter, Ten Years Gone
Disc 2: The Battle Of Evermore, Going To California, Black Country Woman, Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp, White Summer / Black Mountain Side, Kashmir, Moby Dick
Disc 3: Guitar solo, Achillies Last Stand, Stairway To Heaven, Rock And Roll
This release is very special to me. Not because it is the best version of this show, or a particularly excellent concert. It just represents one of those moments when several things I love all come together and worlds collide beautifully.
First I live in Louisville, KY and have all my life, so when concerts from your hometown are released it is very special. Secondly the packaging is based on a Godzilla theme. I love kaiju movies especially the king of monsters Godzilla! The oxygen destroyer was the device used to destroy Godzilla in the original 1954 Japanese film. This package features a photo of Godzilla’s eye on the front cover and the Oxygen destroyer itself is pictured with the four Zeppelin runes printed on it. How cool is that? The odd thing is that there is really no connection between LZ, Godzilla, and Louisville. The package may have been suited better for a Japanese show, but I feel it was done just for me.
So Led Zeppelin one of my favorite bands + Godzilla one of my favorite monsters + Louisville my hometown = must have edition of this concert.
General notes: The package is a hard cardboard fold out, typical of many Tarantura releases. It does have a small poster that just folds out and repeats some of the packaging photos. The performance is very good and features a standard 1977 set and level of performance. Performance highlights include “Since I’ve Been Loving You”, which is always great! “No Quarter” which features a very unique jam section including the “Nut Rocker” instrumental and is one of my preferred versions of this tune for this era. “Achilles Last Stand” and “Stairway to Heaven” are also played very well with excellent guitar solos. The sound quality is good, not great, but not a distraction either.
Bottom Line: There are definitely less expensive alternatives to own this show. Louisville Slugger on Wendy, and Kentucky Bourbon on Empress Valley. As far as I know the sound and content on all three of these releases is practically identical. See (Zep expert) G.S.’s review of Kentucky Bourbon on this site for a more complete description of the performance. I believe Wendy’s title is the most available, since this Tarantura release was very limited.
But if you are a Godzilla fan this ones for you!
