Led Zeppelin
The Forum
Inglewood, CA
June 22, 1977 (Night Two of Six)
Barry G Master Tapes via JEMS and dadgad
Dadgad Mastered 16/44 Edition
Barry G Master Series Vol. Two
Contrast Clause: This is a direct transfer of Barry G’s audience master tapes, which are partially used in lesser quality on this:
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=732506
Recording Gear: Sony TC-55 portable cassette recorder
JEMS 2023 Transfer: BG Master cassettes > Nakamichi CR-7A > Sound Devices USBPre2 > Audacity 2.1 24/96 capture to .wav > dadgad mastering > xACT 2.50 > FLAC
01 Sick Again (joined in progress)
02 Nobody’s Fault But Mine
03 In My Time Of Dying
04 Since I’ve Been Loving You
05 No Quarter
06 The Battle Of Evermore
07 Going to California
08 Black Country Woman
09 Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp
10 White Summer > Black Mountain Side
11 Kashmir
12 Out On The Tiles > Moby Dick
13 Over The Hills And Far Away
14 Guitar Solo
15 Achilles Last Stand (cut)
Known Faults: Missing “The Song Remains the Same,” “Ten Years Gone,”
“Stairway to Heaven,” “Whole Lotta Love” and “Rock and Roll”
JEMS is thrilled to relaunch our partnership with longtime Southern California taper Barry G with his recording of Led Zeppelin at The Forum on night two of the band’s historic 1977 residency. Barry began taping in the early ‘70s and has been active ever since, though his later work focused more on video than audio. In his heyday, Barry was a dual threat, recording the shows he attended and photographing too with impressive results.
Beyond his own captures, Barry was a close friend of the late Mike “The Mike” Millard, attending many concerts with him. Like Jim R, Barry shared Mike the Mic tapes with JEMS that are not in general circulation which will be released in our continuing Lost and Found Mike the Mic series.
But this Led Zeppelin show marks the start of a standalone series of Barry G’s own master recordings. In late 2019, JEMS put out Barry’s fine tape of Queen at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, March 11, 1976, a heretofore unheard and welcomed capture of Queen on tour in support of A Night at the Opera which is still active on the tracker here:
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=659723
Following that initial foray, Barry has now agreed to release more of his master tapes circa 1973-83 which include previously uncirculated shows and recordings of David Bowie, Genesis, Roxy Music, Fleetwood Mac, Rory Gallagher, Eric Clapton, Supertramp, The Who and others.
On occasion, Barry and Mike Millard taped the same show and his tapes provide alternative sources to Millard’s work, including a few instances that fill in missing gaps (among them a major Yes ’74 show). Even more valuably, Barry taped gigs Millard didn’t attend, as is the case with his Led Zeppelin recording of the under appreciated second show of the band’s six-night stand at The Forum in 1977, one day later than the famous Listen To This Eddie recording of June 21.
All told, Millard recorded four nights in 1977 but not June 22 or June 24. This release features all two hours and thirty-five minutes Barry recorded on his Sony portable tape deck with a built-in microphone. While he didn’t have Millard-caliber gear, because he was also a photographer, Barry put a premium on getting seats close the stage, and he waited in lines and paid scalpers for the privilege.
On June 22 he was close to the band’s very loud PA, so close that his tape is distorted in the low end. But the fidelity of his recording is otherwise very good, impressively clear and suffers from little audience interference. Samples provided. With the help of dadgad’s fine mastering work, Barry’s June 22 master recording becomes a nice listen indeed, and to our ears an upgrade to circulating copies of the show, some of which compile lower-generation pieces of Barry’s source.
We believe this to be the first-ever release of Barry’s full 6/22/77 recording, and while he misses the first song and a half of the show, “Ten Years Gone” and the everything from the middle of “Achilles Last Stand” to the end, the large portion of the performance he does preserve is excellent.
A purported four-source recording of the 6/22/77 show was posted to YouTube last April, and in his notes, Led Zeppelin Boots writes: “This is an incredible show, one of the best of the year easily. Despite being less well known compared to the more famous Listen to this Eddie and For Badgeholders Only shows, this concert is just as good as either, if not even better. This show notably features the longest ever performance of “No Quarter,” clocking in at over 33 minutes, as well as the only time that “Over the Hills and Far Away” and “In My Time of Dying” were played in the same set for 1977 (and both are contenders for the best versions ever imho).”
After listening to Barry’s recording, especially the three songs LZB calls out specifically, I agree June 22 has been slept on. Hopefully the release of Barry’s master recording gives collectors the chance to reassess the performance.
As we have done in the past, we’re making Barry’s recording available in two editions: a 1644 file set with mastering by dadgad that we believe greatly improves the listenability; and a pitch-corrected, channel-aligned but otherwise raw transfer in high res 2496.
JEMS wants to thank Barry G for trusting us with his incredible work in audio, video and photographic forms (Barry’s photography of the show is featured on the included cover art), and for deciding now was the time to share that work widely with fans. Please let him know how much you appreciate it in the comments. Of course, these shows would all be stuck on hard drives if it wasn’t for the contributions of mjk5510. As always, we couldn’t do it without you. Shout outs as well to Professor Goody for his pitch advice and dadgad for his sonic enhancements.
We look forward to sharing more of Barry’s master recordings in 2024.
BK for JEMS
themidnightcafe.org 