Inner City Blues

One of the many semi-official (bootleg) cds originating from the early seventies that now proliferate Amazon (and other sources). All documenting the live experience of some of the biggest rock bands there will ever be.This particular one comes from the night Led Zeppelin played Southampton University 22nd Jan '73, one of the final dates of their winter 72/73 UK tour, and one of the very last occasions they would play venues of this size. In fact, after Jan '73 Zeppelin would only play seven more gigs in the UK (Earls Court '75 and Knebworth '79) as their output became ever more sporadic through the second half of their career together before Bonham's untimely death.Zeppelin's 1973 set is more than familiar to anyone with even a passing interest in them, primarily due to the official TSRTS record/film from MSG later that year. This night follows Zeppelin's well established set with all the usual highlights in there (Stairway, Whole Lotta Love, the extended Dazed & Confused and so on). The quality of recording here is superb, good enough for an official release, with everything in clear balance throughout. Also, it may be due to the gig being in a small venue but they all sound a good deal more relaxed than on recordings from later that summer, by which time I think a certain weariness had started to set in after an extended period on the road (a situation which almost led to JP Jones quitting the group in late '73). On this UK leg of the tour, Zeppelin are still playing with a great deal of energy and belief, totally committed to what they are trying to achieve together. A Zeppelin that was flying high at this point in proceedings. Unfortunately, for UK audiences, the group would virtually disappear from view after this tour ended, rarely being spotted in their homeland.For any serious, or even half-serious, Zep-head this is fairly essential stuff. High quality recording of LZ at one of their peaks, before laziness, drug abuse and some tragic personal circumstances knocked them permanently off-course. The full Led Zeppelin 1973 live experience, in high quality, at a price way cheaper than it would have been 30/40 years ago (if you could get your hands on this stuff back then).Fully recommended for any Zeppelin fan or for anyone interested in 1970s UK rock, a golden age for so many acts.

if you're a zeppelin fan buy it now before it disappears.i wanted to get an early review in for people worried about sound quality - don't be.i'm no audiophile or a hardcore bootleg collector but this is superb, it has the sound and feel of the paris theatre concert on the bbc sessions cd.it is stereo with page mainly in the right channel, drums and bass in the left both bleeding across with plant up centre.it plays through both cds as one concert with no nasty edits, crowd noise is obvious between songs, (as are plants sometimes cringeworthy intros) but does not bleed into the playing.it is 1973, not 72 as stated and two months before the release of hoth, so arrangements are largely similar to tsrts, although dazed and confused and whole lotta love do explore noticeably new avenues.the few bars of beck's bolero on how many more times is of course touching and apt, in fact the feature of cd 2 in particular is the range and freedom of improvisation.the only hiccups are page turning down too low at the outro of over the hills and a ramshackle start to heartbreaker, as first page's guitar is too low, then plant's vocals - all corrected during the solo.i have 6 of these zeppelin radio broadcasts from amazon and this is the best, although jimmy's birthday bash has great sound too ( ripped from the dvd?) and osaka deserves an honourable mention.if this was a official release i would still be over the moon with this but as always if you're new to zeppelin always go through the original back catalogue first.

Decent cd

Love this. Of course, it's a bit ropey in places, due to the recording technology, but it's as enjoyable to listen to as "How the West Was Won". Really great stuff.

Super cool CD, heard great reviews from the person it was given to for their birthday. Can't wait to have a listen when I visit!

This sounds like a sounboard recording, possibly one they were going to use as the basis for a live album.I saw them in December '72 not long before this was recorded. It seems to follow the same pattern. Plant's voice a bit rough to begin with (he's obviously developing problems with the high end ) and a general sluggishness to the performance for the first half of the concert (apart from John Bonham who's opening salvo at the start of rock n roll tells you what he is going to get up to). By the end though it's full throttle rock and roll as it should be. no pitch or time corrections or apparent overdubs, rerecorded solos etc.When I saw them, there was as acoustic break where they played Going to California, Gallows pole and possibly Battle of evermore or Bron yr aur stomp. Were they just not included for cd time or just not played?The start of Since I've been lovin you also seems to be missing or did Pagey just start a solo and just drift into it?

Forget Song Remains the Same or BBC Sessions, this is the Led Zeppelin live album to have. Apparently (from the sleeve notes) Jimmy Page wanted to release this but the management decided to wait for the upcoming US tour to record and film the much bigger venue concert at Maddison Square Garden. This CD features a warm up gig for the US tour from Southampton University, the band are really on fire for this one and the sound is great. The violin bow section from Dazed and Confused (a Jake Holmes song reinvented by Page) is amazing. The small venue means Robert Plant has some fun chatting to the audience as well.