Led Zeppelin – Los Angeles, CA (09/04/70)

LED ZEPPELIN
1970-09-04
LA Forum
Los Angeles, CA

– NEW AUDx4 MATRIX (16bit)

“As far as I know there can be no Led Zeppelin tapes available. After hearing some time ago that there was going to be an attempt to bootleg some tapes of the band, I flew to America. We’ve managed to retrieve all the tapes and we know nothing in existence that can be issued.” — Peter Grant [Melody Maker, October 3, 1970: “Led Zeppelin Hammer Bootlegs”]

Led Zeppelin – “Ultimate Blueberry Hill: Live at the LA Forum 9/4/70”
Recorded Friday evening, September 4, 1970 at the Forum, Inglewood, California

STEREO MATRIX of 4 audience recordings synchronized & mixed together in varying levels:

Source #1 = Neutral Zone bootleg CDs [the Blimp Records / TMOQ recording].
Source #2 = Rubber Dubber Records bootleg LP.
Source #3 = tape source [of Mud Dogs bootleg].
Source #5 = tape source [of Tarantura (2000) bootleg].
The lesser fidelity tape sources #4 [a/k/a Tarantura (1997)] and #6 (the most recently surfaced one) have been used to patch the introduction which is almost wholly missing from the other circulating tapes. See the Note further below for more information and identification (to the best of our ability and recollection).

SONGS: [2:14:10]

1. introduction [J.J. Jackson] * [1:09]
2. Immigrant Song (Page, Plant) * [3:16]
3. Heartbreaker (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant) * [6:53]
4. Dazed And Confused (Page, Holmes) * [17:11] contains:
   Mars, the Bringer of War (Holst)
5. Bring It On Home (Dixon) [11:09] contains:
   Bring It On Back (Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant)
6. That’s The Way (Page, Plant) [8:22]
7. Bron-Yr-Aur (Page) [3:39]
8. Since I’ve Been Loving You (Jones, Page, Plant) [7:29]
9. Organ Solo (Jones) [6:01]
10. Thank You (Page, Plant) [7:27]
    — [optional disc division @ 1:12:35]
11. What Is What Should Never Be (Page, Plant) [4:56]
12. Moby Dick (Bonham, Jones, Page) * [18:04]
13. Whole Lotta Love (Bonham, Dixon, Jones, Page, Plant) [17:59] contains:
    Boogie Chillen’ (Hooker)
    That’s All Right (Lockwood, Lane)
    I’m Moving On (Snow)
    Shake Your Money Maker (James) *
    Some Other Guy (Leiber, Stoller, Barrett) *
    Think It Over (Holly, Petty, Allison) *
    Honey Bee (Morganfield) *
    The Lemon Song (Bonham, Burnett, Jones, Page, Plant)
14. Communication Breakdown (Page, Jones, Bonham, Plant) [12:22] contains:
    Good Times Bad Times (Page, Jones, Bonham, Plant)
    For What it’s Worth (Stills)
    I Saw Her Standing There (Lennon, McCartney)
15. Out On The Tiles (Bonham, Page, Plant) * [3:54]
16. Blueberry Hill (Rose, Stock, Lewis) * [4:21]

Jimmy Page – guitars
John Paul Jones – bass, organ, mandolin
John Bonham – drums
Robert Plant – vocals & harmonica

A NOTE ON THE AUDIENCE TAPE SOURCES

Source #1 = the classic TMOQ / Blimp Records bootleg recording (by “Dub” Taylor, Sennheiser 805 shotgun mic > Uher 4000 reel-to-reel?) via the Neutral Zone CDs [NZCD-89019/20, songs re-ordered, from vinyl cutting master?].
Small sections flown in from an Empress Valley bootleg CD box [EVSD-385/6] which is somewhat more complete, even after its composite-patches from other sources have been eliminated. Nevertheless, over 5 minutes of “Moby Dick” (and 16 seconds afterwards) and nearly 2 minutes following “Communication Breakdown” are still missing. The recording also has a small splice in “Dazed and Confused”, plus 13 and 10 second cuts after it and “WISASNB”, respectively.

Source #2 = the original Rubber Dubber Records bootleg recording (by Scott Johnson) via vinyl LP transfer [dadgad]; incomplete and in the wrong order on the LP, missing mainly the first three songs and the two encores, “Moby Dick”, nearly 6 minutes of the “Whole Lotta Love” medley (all marked with * above) and 2 minutes of the intro to “Bron-Yr-Aur”. The original tapes have never surfaced and were reportedly lost when the bootlegger was busted, but the available recording is of rather excellent quality for its time and has been used to good effect to augment the sound of the tracks for which it exists.

Source #3 = taken from a transfer of a 2nd gen. reel [Doinker; EVSD calls this recording “TMOQ Alternate Source”]. Retains fragments of the concert introduction but is missing some 1:45 of the intro & tuning before “Bron-Yr-Aur”, most of the “Organ Solo” (just after “SIBLY” ends; 2 seconds is also cut in the applause afterwards), about 12Ω minutes of “Moby Dick”, and about 45 seconds after both “Whole Lotta Love” and “Communication Breakdown”. In addition, 3 seconds is cut in “Dazed” along with 5 and 12 seconds during the introductions to “That’s the Way” and “WIAWSNB”, respectively. Used in somewhat lesser degree than sources #1 & #5, which are arguably superior sounding.

Source #4 = used for the concert intro only, taken from Wendy bootleg CD box (discs 7-8) [WECD-285/6; EVSD calls this “Antrabata Source”]. This recording contains the complete introduction but has poorer sound than the other sources, except the last.

Source #5 = taken from a DAT transfer of a 2nd gen. cassette [javit/dadgad; EVSD calls this “Cobra Source”]. A relatively unscathed recording as it circulates, with just the bulk of “Bron-Yr-Aur” and 45 seconds prior to “Whole Lotta Love” (including the first bars) missing, presumably at tape changes; also has a small cut in “Dazed” and omits 2 seconds after “Whole Lotta Love”. Has more tape available after the show ends (along with the EVSD version of #1). Blends well with source #1 so that together they reduce the shortcomings of each other.

Source #6 = taken from a transfer of the master cassette (ext. mic in taper’s t-shirt to Craig Portable Cassette Recorder). The last source to surface, made available by the original taper. Like #4, captures the complete concert intro but the sound quality is a notch below even that tape.

All six recordings were necessary in making this matrix. Surprisingly, it turned out to be feasible to utilize in some fasion all the four major sources, as far as they are available; as mentioned, the two lesser fidelity sources have been used just for the introduction. (Note that the numbering of sources #4 & #5 is sometimes reversed compared to the preceding.)

The exact details are too complex to be written out but the workflow was to first manually yet accurately synchronize — and where necessary, patch and re-arrange — the recordings in digital realm with high quality varispeed resampling, resulting in a sort of quasi-multitrack/mic recording. Some audio restoration work was then done on each and the general mix for level and stereo balance was arrived at after trial, error, and experimentation, accounting for any gaps in the tapes. Further work was then required to fine-tune the transition points (at tape breaks), the relative levels and EQ until the end result seemed to be reasonably close to what can be achieved, without too obviously audible artifacts resulting from the mixing together a bunch of half a century old analogue recordings, which cannot be completely brought into exact phase and sync.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Thanks are obviously due to all the tapers, whether anonymous or not, and to the good people who have contributed into preserving and making available their work as well as analysing it. You know who you are.

Artwork included. A Nite Owl production (NO-2019-10).