Triangle Of Love (Tarantura TCD-109)
Civic Center, Baltimore, MD – June 11th, 1972
Disc 1 (63:59): Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Black Dog, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Stairway To Heaven, Going To California, That’s The Way, Tangerine, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Disc 2 (57:00): Dazed & Confused, What Is And What Should Never Be, Moby Dick
Disc 3 (40:09): Whole Lotta Love, Rock And Roll, Communication Breakdown
There are so few very good documents from one of Led Zeppelin’s greatest tours. Barely half of the shows of the US tour in 1972 were even taped and of the existing documents, the ones that are actually enjoyable can be counted on one hand. Baltimore is one of the better sounding documents in circulation from this era, and benefits from being the complete show.
There have been numerous releases of this show over the years including Baltimore 1972 (Immigrant IM-026~28), Nutty & Cool (Baby Face BF-9604-1-A/2-B/3-C), three discs of the six disc set Baltimore Jack (TDOLZ Vol. 96) and The Axeman Of Cometh (Flagge). Several years ago an improved version of the tape was released on Baltimore 1972 (Wardour-018).
Triangle Of Love on Trantura is the latest version of the Baltimore tape to be released. And while the sound still has somewhat distant, it is louder and cleaner sounding than Wardour.
Zeppelin were touring North America for the first time since the release of their fourth LP and “Stairway To Heaven” had already become a classic, receiving tremendous ovations at every stop. They were also conscious of competing with the Stones tour occurring at the same time and the tapes reveal how ferocious they can be in concert.
There is an air of confidence and unfettered creativity that would disappear after this in their determination to become more professional in their musical presentation. The basic set list is similar to the previous tour. The acoustic set is augmented with the addition of “Tangerine” and “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp,” and with “Dazed & Confused” being placed later in the show. About two weeks after Baltimore they would experiment even more with the inclusion of some songs from Houses Of The Holy, about a year before its release.
“Dazed & Confused” really reached an apex with the usual inclusions of “The Crunge” and riffs from the songs “Walter’s Walk” and “Hots On For Nowhere”. The version played on this night doesn’t have the former song, but it does have the latter with Plant scatting over it. Plant speaks about seeing an Elvis Presley show the previous night in New York City before “Going To California”. The “Whole Lotta Love” medley has the special inclusions of “Need Your Loving Tonight” and “Heartbreak Hotel” joining the standard “Everybody Needs Somebody” and “Hello Mary Lou”.
Tarantura use very thick paper for the gatefold sleeve. The front cover seems to be a very rare photograph from the actual concert along with a picture of the concert ticket. The title comes from a comment Robert Plant makes before “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” calling it a “triangle of love.”
Overall this is a very enjoyable concert and Tarantura have done a great job in offering an upgrade.
2 Comments
This is a solid release by Tarantura…. The sound is excellent and it is a pleasure to listen to. I’m not quite sure what was done to the source tape, but the result is magnificent. I own three other version of this show: Baltimore Jack on TDOLZ, Nutty and Cool on Baby Face, and Baltimore 1972 on Wardour. To my ears, Triangle Of Love is clearly superior. I would say the sound is similar to the better versions of the Tokyo, 09/23/71 and 09/24/71 audience tapes. I would highly recommend this title to any collector.
This one has great separation and is much better compared to Immigrant, TDOLZ, and Wardour which all I either have heard or have silvers in my collection. Top that off with a excellent energetic performance that has me bouncing in in my chair. The thick gatefold with the rare front picture just adds to this essential release.