Throwing The Wild Seeds – Nassau Coliseum 1975 Complete Tapes (The Godfather Records G.R. BOX 22)
Led Faces Over Coliseum
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum Uniondale New York February 13th, 1975
Disc 1 : Intro Announcements, Rock and Roll, Sick Again, Over The Hills And Far Away, In My Time Of Dying, The Song Remains The Same, The Rain Song, Kashmir, No Quarter
Disc 2: Trampled Underfoot, Moby Dick, Dazed And Confused
Disc 3: Stairway To Heaven, Whole Lotta Love, Black Dog, Communication Breakdown (with special guest Ronnie Wood)
Few Hours With St. Valentine
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum Uniondale New York February 14th, 1975
Disc 1 : Intro Announcements, Rock And Roll, Sick Again, Over The Hills And Far Away, In My Time Of Dying, Since I’ve Been Loving You, The Song Remains The Same, The Rain Song, Kashmir
Disc 2: No Quarter, Trampled Underfoot, Moby Dick
Disc 3: Dazed And Confused, Stairway To Heaven, Whole Lotta Love, Black Dog, Heartbreaker
Armed with a new double album, Physical Graffiti that would be in stores soon, Led Zeppelin prepared for their much anticipated 10’th US tour. The tour was to be broken into two legs following two European warm-up shows in Brussels and Rotterdam. In keeping with rock shows of the day, this tour was to be much more grandiose, incorporating a massive light show and laser bean effects for Jimmy’s violin bow solo during Dazed and Confused. And, for the very first time Bonzo and his drum kit were perched high atop a riser.
The first leg of the tour was plagued with ill health. Jimmy injured a finger which forced him to develop a new “3 finger” technique. This also meant that Dazed and Confused would be put on the shelf, only to be replaced by How Many More Times. Robert had the flu, and ongoing voice issues while Bonzo struggled with stomach problems. John Paul Jones it seemed was the only member of the band to remain healthy throughout.
Songs from the new album that were added to the setlist were Sick Again, In My Time Of Dying, Kashmir and Trampled Underfoot, with Kashmir quickly becoming one of the highlights of the show. As Plant would often mention during the shows, the set list had been constructed to highlight a broad cross section of material from the groups six and a half years.
After what I consider to be the best show of the tour to that point at Madison Square Garden on February 12’th, the band must have been feeling quite good about themselves as they set up camp for two shows at the Nassau County Coliseum in Uniondale New York.
The February 13’th show was very good. By this time, Dazed and Confused was back in the set list as Jimmy’s finger problems appeared to be much less problematic. This show is historically notable due to the fact that Rolling Stone Ron Wood joins the band during the Communication Breakdown encore. For fans that are used to seeing Jimmy handle all the guitar work , it is interesting to see the interplay between the two of them as they both take rather long solos. February 14’th was another energetic and forceful performance despite Robert struggling with his voice again in the early going. Highlights on this night were the inclusion of Since I’ve Been Loving You into the set as well as John Paul Jones at his improvisational best during No Quarter.
Soundboard tapes for the February 14’th show have circulated for quite some time already and have been released by various labels. The big excitement though was the discovery of the soundboard from February 13’th which surfaced only just recently. With this discovery, Godfather Records saw the perfect opportunity to package both these superb shows into a single deluxe box set.
As for the sound quality, that is always a very subjective thing from one listener to the next, so speaking for myself only, I feel this release does contain the best available sound and is very close to rivaling an official release. I’m not an audio engineer so I can’t give you the details of what Godfather have done to the sound, but trust me…it sounds good!
Never one to disappoint on the packaging front, Godfather has created another visually appealing box set. Enclosed in the outer box are two trifold cardboard cases, one for each night, as well as two miniature tour posters and a beautifully illustrated 18 page booklet.
If you have always been a fan of the New York shows as I have this box set will make a wonderful addition to your collection. Both visually and aurally stunning it gets high marks from me.
3 Comments
I’m well pleased with the set..top marks to Godfather yet again..
I can just agree with you relayer67, maybe just to add note that they shold do another box in the same way….can’t imagine myself listening to Maryland 77 in same stunning quality for example. All thumbs up for Godfather.
When compairing the sound of the 2/13/75 to the Elgrass Kings of the Stoneage (EGL20253/54/55), the Godfather does not sound as loud but much more natural, they have also eliminated much of the distortion early on in the recording, Rock and Roll is much more easily enjoyed. When compairing the 2/14/75 to St Valentines Day Massacre (EVSD 507/507/509)again the Godfather does not sound as loud thus reducing the some of the high frequency saturation, the difference is just minor though. Godfather has added extra tape, including the indtroduction of the “American Return” and the Tangerine fragement from the well knowen audience tape. The splices are nice and smooth and thankfully give us the complete concert.
The only way this set could have been improved upon would have been to add the recording of the 2/4/75 Nassau show, even with its poor quality it has never had a silver release and while it would not garner repeated listeneings would have been a great addition for completists. One must also give credit to EV, although they they do not seem to get the respect they deserve, they are responsible for providing many of the great soundboards over the past decade. Over all an excellent Zeppelin box set by Godfathers, who’s packaging and extras set the bar from which other companies are compaired.