The Mellotron Group

I have always been a big Zep fan, pretty much since 1969. Big O  is putting 
up some pretty good material for free download on their site. I  thought I 
would make anyone else who may be interested aware of this. All  this music 
will be up over the next few days. There is a lot of good stuff  up there 
now. All legal and virus free.  

_http://www.bigozine2.com/_ (http://www.bigozine2.com/) 
 
Frank
 
 
 
_THE Z FILES: PART  2_ (http://bigozine2.com/feature/?p=478) 
October 14, 2010 – 9:54 am   
 
From 1993 to 2000, the print  publication Live! Music Review kept bootleg 
CD collectors abreast on all the  latest offerings. In the age of torrents, 
many of these recordings are now  available as downloads. As a service to 
music fans, L!MR editor Bill Glahn is  making reprints of these reviews 
available for the first time on the web,  exclusively on BigO Worldwide. 
Throughout its seven-year history, Live! Music Review reviewed hundreds of  
bootlegs by Led Zeppelin. Zep was one of the first bands to be bootlegged 
in the  rock era, notably two famous vinyl boots called “Pb” (Pure Blues) 
and “Live on  Blueberry Hill” in 1970. The band’s tendency to stray far from 
their studio  output, including many cover tunes and drastically extended 
and altered  arrangements of their official output, made them concert 
favorites from the  start. And bootleg favorites as well. I’ve made a notation on 
when the reviews  originally appeared. Please keep in mind that many upgrades 
have become  available for many Zep shows in the intervening years. I have 
not heard many of  the more recent upgrades, but for those that I have heard, 
I have made the  appropriate notations. 
 
(http://www.bigozine2.com/features10/Aimages/BGlmrzfiles02pics/LZoverhillFr.jpg)  
(http://www.bigozine2.com/features10/Aimages/BGlmrzfiles02pics/LZoverhillBk.jpg) 
Click on the graphic to download full-size  artwork. 
LED ZEPPELIN
Over the Hill & Far Away [Great Dane  8914]
This is a bootlegger with a sense of humor. Isn’t it amazing  how the 
simple removal of an “s” from one word (hills) in the title can change  its 
meaning? 
Well, the contents of this CD show that Zeppelin nay have been having some  
problems in 1975, but they were definitely not “over the hill.” Although 
not a  spectacular performance, this is an excellent quality CD which shows 
the band  exploring the most extreme examples of improvisation in rock music. 
This is a  soundboard recording from Dallas, Texas on March 4, 1975. This 
is the most  easily obtainable version of this recording and clocks in at an 
impressive 78  minutes. A double CD on Rocks Records was the first version 
of this CD to appear  on CD and features an additional 12 minutes of music. 
That version is near  impossible to find, however. 
When bootlegs were manufactured on vinyl, 1975 always seemed to be the tour 
 that was most difficult to find in good quality. There have been several 
good  ones to appear on CD and this is the best of the lot.
[recommended  upgrade: Chasing The Dragon (Empress Valley Supreme Discs) is 
a three-CD set of  the complete soundboard]
(Bill Glahn, May 1993, issue #3) 
 
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LED ZEPPELIN
Knebworth 1979 [TNT Studio]
Zeppelin  played only four shows in 1979. They were scheduled to play the 
Knebworth  Festival (two shows) and two warm-up dates in Copenhagen. This 
double CD is from  the second Knebworth performance - their last performance 
ever in Great Britain.  It is from a superior quality audience recording. 
None of the 1979 shows seemed to be particularly inspired affairs. Many new 
 songs were introduced for the first time. “In the Evening” has been 
stretched  out a bit from its studio version. “Whole Lotta Love” no longer 
contains the  never-ending medley of blues classics that the band tagged onto it 
during  previous tours. “Hot Dog” makes its live premiere in 1979, and Page 
seems to  genuinely enjoy playing this little hillbilly ditty. It’s nice to 
see that even  at this late stage in their career, the band does not always 
take themselves too  seriously.
[recommended upgrade: Dinosaurs In The Park (Diagrams of Led  Zeppelin) 
contains the entire performance]
(Bill Glahn, May 1993, issue  #3) 
 
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LED ZEPPELIN
Tour Over Europe 1980 [Seagull  004/2]
“Tour Over Europe” on Twin Eagle CDs was the first ever Led  Zeppelin 
soundboard recording to appear on CD. It contained 90 minutes from the  June 29 
Zurich show. Since that show surfaced on CD, a multitude of other 1980  
soundboard recordings have found their way onto CD. The Zurich recording is  
still the best of the lot. The above listed title is a reissue of the Twin 
Eagle  set with a different cover and label. 
1980 brought the return of “Train Kept A Rollin’” as the show opener 
(absent  since 1969). “All My Love” makes its live debut during this tour. The 
1980  Zeppelin shows are the most “produced” in the group’s history. The set 
list is  almost constant from show to show, with “Communication Breakdown” 
making only  several appearances throughout the tour as a final encore. The 
performances are  mechanical and only the final show in Berlin extends past 
two  hours.
[recommended upgrade: Tour Over Europe 1980 (Diagrams of Led  Zeppelin) is 
a four-CD set that includes both the complete soundboard recording  of the 
show and the complete audience recording used to make the vinyl boot,  Swiss 
Made]
(Bill Glahn, May 1993, issue #3) 
 
(http://www.bigozine2.com/features10/Aimages/BGlmrzfiles02pics/LZbhill1Fr.jpg)  
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LED ZEPPELIN
Blueberry Hill [Triangle 035/036]
The  first bootleg I ever bought was The Rolling Stones’ “Liver’ Than You’
ll Ever Be”  (Lurch Records). It wasn’t too long after that that I 
purchased Led Zeppelin’s  “Live on Blueberry Hill” (Blimp Records). Both made an 
impact on me that lasts  to this day. Both are still among my favorite live 
recordings of all time,  legitimate releases included. 
If “Liver’” was the lure that attracted me to bootleg recordings, then  “
Blueberry Hill” (The Forum, Los Angeles, September 4, 1970) was the hook 
that  made me a lifelong fan. I was already a fan of the band when I bought my 
first  copy of this bootleg classic. A friend had recommended their first LP 
to me.  From Led Zeppelin II onward, I was always the first in line to buy 
their new LPs  on the day of release. 
Still, nothing prepared me for what I was to hear on this double LP set. 
The  packaging was similar to what I expected. A bare bones insert picturing a 
 psychedelic collage showing a bare breasted woman, some “Oliver Twist” 
type  children and a Zeppelin descending into clouds in front of the moon. The 
discs  were thicker than most vinyl from that period. In those days most 
shopping was  still done “downtown.” Downtown for me meant taking the bus (I 
was still too  young to drive) into Trenton, NJ to buy my records at one of 
the two “mom &  pop” record stores. One was called “Hal’s Stereo” and the 
other was called “The  Record Museum.” Record Museum handled most of the 
bootlegs that were just  beginning to crop up. They also handled all the “
underground” papers such as  Rolling Stone and Crawdaddy. Record Museum got most 
of my hard earned paper  route money. 
Anyway - I got home and expected to hear live versions of what was on the  
studio LPs. I did get a lot of the same songs, however, they were so far 
removed  from the LPs as to be almost unrecognizable. Two of my favorite songs, 
 “Communication Breakdown” and “Good Times Bad Times,” were meshed into a 
medley  that also included “For What It’s Worth” (Buffalo Springfield) and 
“I Saw Her  Standing There” (The Beatles). “Dazed & Confused” had 
developed into a  17-minute opus. “Out On The Tiles” had thundered on the LP. It 
was a full-blown  hurricane on Blueberry Hill. The “Whole Lotta Love” medley 
was my introduction  to a plethora of blues standards that I never knew 
existed. “Blueberry Hill” was  something else - Fats Domino had never sounded 
like THAT! Every few years I  would always buy a replacement copy after 
wearing my existing copy out (LED  Records, then a series of TMOQ repackages). 
The first release of Blueberry Hill on CD was issued by Neutral Zone CDs.  
They used the original reel-to-reel tapes. Because of the extra length 
available  on CDs, they were able to include the complete performance, including “
That’s  the Way” and Bron-Y-Aur Stomp.” The sound quality is still amazing 
to me  considering it is an audience recording from 1970. It borders on 
professional  sound and should be considered a “must” for any comprehensive 
collection of rock  music. 
All subsequent issues of this double CD set are copies of the Neutral Zone  
issue. All have equally good sound. The Triangle version is the most 
readily  available.
[recommended upgrade: Tarantura and Empress Valley have each  released 
nine-CD sets that include multiple different tape sources of the  Blueberry Hill 
show. Expensive!]
(Bill Glahn, July 1993, issue  #5)
Click _here_ (http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=603)  to download Live On 
Blueberry Hill (Empress  Valley) - the version drawn from the Trademark Of Quality 
alternate source. 
 
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LED ZEPPELIN
Plays Pure Blues [Whoopy Cat  910121]
While Woodstock was going on, Zeppelin, during their third  lengthy tour of 
the US in under a year, were setting the stage on fire at the  Boston Tea 
Party club in Massachusetts. Two weeks later, however, they would  play at a 
lesser known festival in Dallas called The Texas International Pop  
Festival. 
Woodstock had made international headlines and now it seemed that every 
young  person that missed being there would not pass up a second opportunity to 
cash in  on the fun. There is a one-hour video of this festival circulating 
(one Zep  tune) which pans the crowd quite a bit - images of open dope 
smoking and  prevalent nudity. In other words - typical for the day. 
This CD captures the Zeppelin performance in almost perfect soundboard  
quality. A minor glitch during “How Many More Times” is the only flaw, and it 
is  so minor that it went unnoticed to these ears for several listenings. I 
don’t  think Zeppelin put on a bad performance in 1969. They built their 
reputation on  the road, not in the media - most critics panned their first LP. 
There were some PA problems at this show, but Zep still performed  
magnificently. The interaction between Page and Plant is as good as ever. And  the 
highlight is John Bonham’s drumming. His style during this show is  
especially versatile and “jazzy.” 
Oh Boy Records from Luxembourg have issued this performance twice. Once as  
Don’t Mess With Texas and a second time as “Texas International Pop 
Festival.”  The Whoopie Cat version is the original Japanese issue of the show. It 
is the  rarest of the three releases. All three have excellent sound  
quality.
(Bill Glahn, August 1993, issue #6)
Click _here_ (http://www.bigozine2.com/archive/ARrarities07/ARlztexas.html) 
 to download Led Zeppelin in  Dallas 1969. 
Next up in The Z Files: Live! Music Review goes to Japan. 
Note: Bill Glahn wrote, edited and published Live! Music Review, a  
magazine devoted to bootleg recordings when bootlegs were not so common. And  they 
are still not so common today. Live! Music Review is also on Facebook  
(click _here_ 
(http://www.facebook.com/pages/Live-Music-Review/134036103297394?ref=ts) ) and on Twitter (LMRonTwit).  Do drop by to say hello and, as Bill 
says, all comments  welcome.