#122 THE VERVE - Hultsfred Festival, Sweden, 1994 (Flac)

The Verve’s first three singles all released in 1992 reached #1 in the UK indie charts, a marker for greater future success. By the time of the debut album release ‘A Storm in Heaven’ in June 1993, the Verve already had enough tracks to compile an alternate album. Some were released by Hut on The Verve & No Come Down EP’s – now long out of print, these are well worth seeking out.

This show was their fourth last of the year and broadcast on Swedish radio at the height of the summer festival season.

After Kurt Cobain’s death earlier in the year, the domination of American alternate rock bands on the UK music scene ended and new English groups broke through to increasing mainstream success, the Verve’s music looked back to the pyschedelia of the 60’s and incorporated elements of the UK's shoe-gazing scene from 1988 to 1990 and also soul and funk influences. The Verve’s synthesis made for an inspiring and influential sound as the free form composition of their early singles and debut album was improvised and extended throughout their live shows. 

Along with Glastonbury and Chicago from 1993, this is amongst the best early shows sound-wise and for performance, it includes a guest appearance by Oasis and has early versions of This Is Music, Rolling People and the unrecorded (at the time) Mover.

The Verve
Live at Hultsfred Festival
Sweden
August 13, 1994
FM Radio Broadcast

01 Intro (Swedish)

02 The Sun the Sea                                 
03 Slide Away                                         
04 Blue                                                   
05 Been on the Shelf Too Long (early version of ‘This Is Music’)
06 A Man Called Sun                                          
07 Mover                                                 
08 Rolling People (early version later recorded for ‘Urban Hymns’)
09 Gravity Grave                                    

LINK

#121 THE CURE - Rock Werchter Festival, Belgium (1981) (Flac)

The Cure released their third album, 'Faith' nearly three months before this performance. Only the title track and Doubt were not performed at this festival.

A show infamous for the somewhat fallible memory of Robert Smith who was quoted as saying.

We'd only been on for about half an hour and everything was running late, so Robert Palmer's road crew started motioning to us to stop. This bloke ran on and said "If you don't stop playing, we're gonna pull the plug". Simon immediately walked to the mike and shouted 'Fuck Robert Palmer! Fuck rock 'n' roll!' and we started playing a really slow version of 'A Forest' which lasted about 15 minutes. It was fucking brilliant. Unfortunately, when we finished, they threw all our stuff off the back of the stage."

The actual turn of events can be heard on this excellent hour long FM broadcast. A recording and performance that is the best from the 'Seventeen Seconds' and 'Faith' era.

The Cure
Rock Werchter Festival
Festival Park
Werchter, Belgium
July 5, 1981

FM master (2 broadcasts)>CDR>CDR>EAC>Flac>SF8>FLAC (see notes)

Broadcasts:
Hilversum 3 broadcast / a Forest is cut
Hilversum 3 broadcast / only a Forest

01. intro
02. The Holy Hour
03. In Your House
04. The Drowning Man
05. 10:15 Saturday Night
06. Accuracy
07. The Funeral Party
08. M
09. Primary
10. Other Voices
11. All Cats Are Grey
12. Fire In Cairo
13. Play For Today
14. A Forest

Thank you to lepep, who sent the source flac files to me.
I've removed the incomplete A Forest and edited in the complete song to form a complete show. The source and mix were the same, so this edit is not detectable. Recording volume of show raised slightly.

Seeded to PPTC/forever drowning in torrent 2005-01-19
All editing by terrapinstation 2005-01-19
Another Porky Prime Cut From Terrapin Station!!

LINK

#120 JEFF BUCKLEY - Knitting Factory, New York 1997 (Flac)

Knitting Factory, New York, NY.
Tuesday 4 February, 1997

The most recent official Jeff Buckley release "You And I" appeared in early 2016. It comprised of session recordings discovered by Sony as they sought to compile material for a 20th anniversary re-release of Grace in 2014. They were recorded at Steve Addabbo's West 21st Street, New York studio, over two solo eight-hour sessions in early February 1993. Further recordings with back up musicians followed at the Knitting Factory in May, and these were stored together with the test session tape in Columbia's archives.

I had considered the 'Grace' sessions for this post but I could see difficulties with take down notices emerging if I had posted it and I don't wish to upload butchered bootlegs. (ie. those stripped of 1, 2 or 3 official tracks etc.) 

Therefore I have gone for this live performance, we move on to Tuesday 4 February 1997. It would be Jeff's last solo performance in New York, part of the 10th Anniversary celebrations at the Knitting Factory, the downtown club where he had performed early in his career. Struggling with sound problems affecting his guitar and telling the audience that his voice was "shot" he nevertheless turned in a fascinating and important performance over a short seven-song set. There is a sparse raw feeling to the music, playing mostly new tracks; Jeff was also accompanied by his former band mate Gary Lucas on a live version of 'Grace'.

A week later Jeff and his band would fly to Memphis to continue the ill-fated Easley sessions with Tom Verlaine. These newer songs would appear in a more finished version on the official release '(Sketches For) My Sweetheart The Drunk'. This bootleg has five songs that would appear in a more complete style on that posthumous release. The sparse sound here focuses the spotlight on Jeff's incredible voice. 

Whenever I play Everybody Here Wants You to friends or relatives, who are not familiar with Jeff's music, the reaction is always the same "What a great voice" or "What a great song"

Jeff drowned while swimming in the Mississippi river on 29 May, 1997. His second album provisionally titled 'My Sweetheart The Drunk' was unfinished. 

Listen to this and acquire '(Sketches For) My Sweetheart The Drunk' for a more complete view of his post 'Grace' work.

01. Lover You Should've Come Over (8:07)
02. Jewel Box (5:41)
03. Morning Theft (4:29)
04. Grace (feat. Gary Lucas)* (6:43)
05. The Sky is A Landfill (7:11)
06. Everybody Here Wants You (5:27)
07. Yard Of Blonde Girls (4:57)

Total running time: 42:35

SOURCE
Soundboard recording
Lineage: Flac > CDr > EAC (sec. mode) > Wav > Flac
Uploaded to Dime in 2005


LINK

#119 THE CRAMPS - Club 57, New York (1979) (Flac)

Club 57, Irving Plaza,
New York, NY.
August 18, 1979

“I Don’t Care If You Want Me, I’m Yours Right Now”

Deciding on which Cramps bootleg to include on the blog was a close call between the ‘Ohio demos’ and this. With the alternate 100 bootlegs format I am now able to include this live performance from Club 57 in August 1979.

Club 57 opened in 1979 and closed four years later. It was an anti-disco, anti-glitz, dingy diamond of the early new wave era, and was managed by budding performance artist Ann Magnuson. Hired by the owner of Irving Plaza whose smaller club at St. Mark's needed alternative' entertainment to attract the neighbourhood’s local youth. She used her creativity and turned the basement into her own "low rent answer to Andy Warhol's Factory."

One of Club 57's more successful nights was the Monster Movie Club, every Tuesday, showing "the worst monster movie they could find," according to Drew Straub. The soundtrack for these absurdist, weekly carnival shows were stars of the outer reaches of punk, new wave and rap. The club featured performances by St. Marks resident Klaus Nomi, Fab Five Freddy and John Sex. and also more established names such as the Buzzcocks and the Cramps. (thanks to the Bowery Boys New York History blog for information about Club 57)

The latest unofficial bootleg release by Moonlight Records in 2011 has several issues with the mastering and sound quality. The main body of that silver disc is taken from the FM broadcast of Club 57, Irving Plaza, New York on August 18, 1979. It also includes 9 demo bonus tracks, these have been subjected to crackle and hiss removal, resulting in quite muffled sounding audio. The demo tracks can all be found on the bootleg vinyl release ‘Tales From The Cramps’ and while there may be some hiss and crackle on that boot, the sound quality is superior and more natural than the processed tracks on the Moonlight release.

The tracks presented here are all from a master tape of the WPIX FM broadcast. It has superior sound quality with much crisper audio, the raw edges have not been blunted by any additional and unnecessary remastering. 

In the summer of 1979, the Cramps had just completed their first European tour and returned to New York. They officially signed to IRS and commenced work on their debut album produced by Alex Chilton. After the album recording sessions had finished they went out on a major US tour, some dates as support to the Buzzcocks.

The debut album “Songs The Lord Taught Us” would not be released until March 1980, mainly because of mixing problems and difficulties caused by the producer’s perfectionism. This FM broadcast is an excellent representation of the raw and savage sound of the early Cramps live and should be played at much louder volume than studio recordings to gain the full sonic effect.

SKOTF ARCHIVE VOL. 131

FM>MASTER CASSETTE>1ST GEN REEL TO REEL>STAND ALONE BURNER>WAV>FLAC

BAND:
Lux - vocals
Ivy - guitars
Bryan Gregory - guitars
Nick Knox - drums

SETLIST:
01. UFO
02. Domino
03. Twist & Shout
04. Weekend On Mars
05. Voodoo Idol
06. Zombie Dance
07. Rockin’ Bones
08. Human Fly
09. Garbageman
10. Teenage Werewolf
11. Sunglasses After Dark
12. TV Set
13. - crowd -
14. The Way I Walk

LINK

#118 LED ZEPPELIN - How The East Was Won 1971 (EVSD SBD)

How The East Was Won (Empress Valley Records 2CD)
Excellent Mono Soundboard recordings.

Osaka Festival Hall,
Osaka, Japan
September 29, 1971

Disc One
01. Introduction
02. Immigrant Song
03. Heartbreaker
04. Since I've Been Loving You
05. Dazed And Confused

Disc Two
01. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
02. What Is And What Should Never Be
03. Moby Dick
04. Communication Breakdown
05. Rock And Roll

Lineage: My Silver > Xact > Flac > You!

 

Empress Valley have finally released the long awaited September 29th, 1971 Osaka show, sourced from soundboard. It has previously circulated for years, from a lower quality audio source copied from the multitrack mixdown. It comes with a major drawback in that the complete show has not been released. With the 28th show also in their hands, Empress Valley look to maximise their return with these fragmentary releases. Fans have already been busy incorporating the previously released, Stairway to Heaven and Friends surprisingly omitted from this bootleg.

This was Zeppelin's fifth and final performance on their debut Japanese tour of 1971. It is regarded as one of their greatest ever shows and significant for one offs and surprises, such as the only known performance of Friends during the acoustic set. A brief extract of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes follows and Pennies From Heaven is included within Dazed And Confused, these one and only performances add to the importance of the show.

Unfortunately the 30-minute Whole Lotta Love is missing as is Good Times Bad Times and You Shook Me but we do get the closing track of the three-hour set, Rock and Roll which was another first for this tour. A tasty preview from the upcoming album IV.

LINK

September 29, 1971 Osaka Led Zeppelin - More Comedy, Less Work

Soundboard + Winston Merge (fixed)

CD1:
01 - Welcome To Osaka
02 - Immigrant Song
03 - Heartbreaker
04 - Since I've Been Loving You
05 - Black Dog
06 - Dazed and Confused

CD2:
01 - Stairway to Heaven
02 - Celebration Day
03 - That's The Way
04 - Going To California
05 - Tangerine
06 - Friends
07 - Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
08 - What Is and What Should Never Be
09 - Moby Dick

CD3:
01 - Whole Lotta Love
02 - Communication Breakdown
03 - Organ Solo
04 - Thank You
05 - Rock and Roll

SBD - soundboard (speed corrected -2%)
MT - multi track stage recording (edited to completion with Plantations and various patches by Winston)

This is a merge of the newly released soundboard, previously released stray soundboards and the excellent remaster done by Winston. 

Besides the speed correction on the SBD portion there are a few small fixes to clean up some very minor sloppiness in the performance. Moby Dick is not quite complete but about 90% there. Black Dog is taken from the 28th Soundboard.
 
SBD levels were brought down in order to level match and for headroom. Very minor eq and limiting was applied and only in spots to get more cohesion in sound.

What an amazing Zeppelin concert performance. Thanks to the great work by Winston (he really pulled great sound from his sources) and the sharers of these soundboard recordings. This is not meant to be definitive, just cranked. (Enjoy! ledsox)

 

(unavailable! thanks to Mega deleting the links)

#117 ARCTIC MONKEYS - Earls Court 2013 (Flac)

Earls Court, London.
October 26, 2013 
(Flac Radio Webcast)

"Absolute Radio broadcast the first fourteen songs in the correct order and also track 17 and 18.  Advert breaks have been edited and minor fades inserted where necessary. The show is now in the correct set list sequence.  I have excluded as many of the Absolute Radio voiceovers as possible. Some remain as it would have meant making cuts to the music."

The above notes were written by the original upoader. There are still frequent interruptions after many of the early songs in the set announcing 'Absolute Radio'. There is no slack as the set has been tightly edited for broadcast. The only slight flaw is that further editing work on the announcements could have been done without missing any music for a smoother playback.

Earls Court will be familiar to older blog readers as the venue of the classic Led Zeppelin UK shows in 1975. Like the Hammersmith Palais it no longer exists, demolished along with many of London's iconic and historic live venues. See the review below by Andrew Trendell 

'No tricks - just pure hedonistic entertainment from rock's new royalty'

"Earl's Court is a bit of a sorry site. Built in 1937 and since playing host to the likes of Muse, David Bowie, Queen and even the Olympics, this once grand hall has fallen from an iconic palace of culture to a rackety and cavernous aircraft hanger of an enormodome - due to be demolished in the not too distant future. Which is why it seems fitting that Arctic Monkeys should be one of the final huge gigs here: From The Ritz To Rubble.

It would be criminal if Arctic Monkeys didn't smack a big wet kiss goodbye to the old girl and join the ranks of the many legends to tread the boards here before she's razed to the ground - because that's what they are now - and now they look the part too.

Many have slammed the current Elvis-like incarnation of Alex Turner and his slick and stylish bandmates - but what do you want from the biggest band in Britain? Now they've finally got the balls and the bravado to match the bombast and brilliance of their sound. From the spotty Yorkshire lad firing out spikey riffs from his Strat hung just below his neck, to the lizard-like suited and booted rake that snakes and snarls his way across the stage today, the evolution of Turner into a rock god is now complete.

The roar that greets the band for the rumbling intro of the brilliant opener 'Do I Wanna Know' is a true heroes' welcome, and kicks off a set with no troughs whatsoever - just a series of peaks, battling to remain at the forefront of your memory.

The relentless quickfire explosion of 'Brianstorm' sees the sea of wild fanatics burst into a mosh that lasts the evening. Everyone in every corner of this vast hall is up on their feet and out of their minds for 'Teddy Picker', and even the once maligned 'Crying Lightning' is received warmly in the context of the milestone of a band striving for greatness.

Former guitarist with The Coral Bill Ryder-Jones makes an appearance for the wonderful 'Fireside', but it's 'Why Do You Only Call Me You're High' that truly hails the universal adoration of the AM material. You might be shocked to hear that this week is the eighth anniversary of 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor' debuting at No.1, but that once instant burst of promise sounds ever bit the golden oldie tonight, and goes down with the inevitable insanity of nearly a decade of indie discos.

The immediate connection of 'No 1 Party Anthem' and 'Snap Out Of It' ram home the fact that AM is an album of potential singles, but without overcomplicating or diluting anything about that Monkeys' approach. The beauty of the Monkeys lies in their simplicity. Other than a shower of confetti from the crowd-swaying 'I Wanna Be Yours',  there are no grand rock cliches here - and no OTT stadium statements. There are no dubstep electro breakdowns, no dancing robots or daft lazer special effects. They just let the music do the talking without using props as a crutch. It's just pure rock n' roll entertainment, with no tricks.

Even after Earl's Court is long gone, people will still be talking about when Arctic Monkeys breathed the fire of life into her for one last time, showing a heartwarming inverse reflection of the venue: from rubble to rock royalty. No band has unifed a generation like this since Nirvana or Oasis - who's next to challenge them? Viva the Monkeys." (review by Andrew Trendell of Gigwise - October 2013)

Setlist:

01. Do I Wanna Know?
02. Brianstorm
03. Dancing Shoes
04. Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair
05. Teddy Picker
06. Crying Lightning
07. One for the Road
08. Fireside
09. Reckless Serenade
10. Old Yellow Bricks
11. Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?
12. Arabella [with War Pigs snippet]
13. Pretty Visitors
14. I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
15. Cornerstone
16. No. 1 Party Anthem
17. Fluorescent Adolescent
18. I Wanna Be Yours
encore
19. Snap Out of It
20. Mardy Bum [semi-acoustic]
21. R U Mine?

Codec: FLAC 16 bit 44.1
Streams: Absolute Radio (FLAC 16bit 44.1kpbs) 
Internet radio lossless streaming trial (OGG-FLAC)

We are currently broadcasting our services without compression using OGG-FLAC technology.
This will no doubt be pleasing for all you audiophiles out there but do bear the following points in mind: This is a trial - we don't guarantee it to be perfect!
Lossless streaming takes up a LOT of bandwidth. It averages 1 MBit/sec.

 

LINK

#116 BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE - Entering A New Ride (1997) flac

Despite positive reviews the “F-Punk” album (released in June 1995) wasn't a major commercial success, and the next year BAD would play no live dates at all, as they worked on new material, which would see them change direction once again.

Work started on BAD's second album for Radioactive, “Entering a New Ride” during 1996. Chris Kavanagh and Gary Stonadge had already left the band, whilst guitarist Nick Hawkins played on the sessions, but left to form his own band Dynamo Jo, after the album was completed.  New members Joe Attard (DJ/vocals), Bob Wond (drums/vocals), and Daryl Fulstow (bass/vocals) were recruited along with Ranking Roger (vocals) who had previously enjoyed success with both The Beat and General Public.

There were now two DJ's in the band, and the emphasis switched from the guitar driven music of the “F-Punk” album, to music that once again reflected current trends in UK club culture. Unlike “Megatop Phoenix” though, Mick's vocals were not present throughout the album, and he was credited as being the guitarist and MC. This meant other members of the group contributed more to the album vocally than on any previous BAD project, and it sounded somewhat different to anything the band had issued before. So different, in fact, that Radioactive Records refused to release the album when it was finished, as it seems they couldn't work out how to market a band who could change styles so dramatically from one album to the next.

Promotional copies of both the single “Sunday Best”, and the album were circulated, and Norman Cook a.k.a Fat Boy Slim gave the “Sunday Best” single the following enthusiastic review in Wax magazine:

“Mick Jones' Ladbroke Grove contingent return from an all too long absence with a shockingly good record. For my mind this venerable statesman of rock/dance crossover has a genius for keeping up with the pace of underground dance and incorporating it into his own sound. Mick carries on with his love affair with promoting London as his beloved metropolis after dark, but he's interjected the social/big beatbreaks and sirens to astounding effect. Remember this was the man who in the Clash introduced a generation of NME readers to rap, funk and reggae, and if you don't like the A side there's a tough instrumental on the flip. Go ahead London.”

Despite these positive comments Radioactive refused to change their stance, and both the single and the album remained officially unreleased. BAD fans started an internet campaign known as “BAD Aid”, in which all fans were encouraged to write to Radioactive records showing an interest in the unreleased  album, and requesting its release, but despite a great deal of time and effort by a number of BAD fans the album remains in the Radioactive vaults to this day.
 
Pro-quality CDR copies have been circulating amongst BAD fans for a number of years now. So in the end the BAD fans didn't lose out, but the record company did, and in many respects so did the band, as the album really deserved it's full release, and the royalties that would have come from it.

BAD played two dates in Hull on August 9, and 10th 1997, as part of a Mick Ronson tribute, and this marked the first and last time that any of the material from the “Entering a New Ride” album was played live.
 
The BAD Sound System was formed during 1997 and consisted of DJ?s Mickey Custance and Joe Attard, Andre Shapps on keyboards and samples, and Mick as the MC. The Sound System held regular DJ sessions at Club Maximum in London, but it seems that Radioactive Records decision not to release the “Entering” album signalled the end of Big Audio Dynamite as a band, with the name only being associated with the Sound System after BAD's final appearances in Hull in August 1997.
 
1998 saw the BAD Sound System play further dates in the UK and Europe, and they also remixed records for other artists including DJ Punk Roc, and Hurricane #1 (1999). The official Big Audio Dynamite website: www.bad.co.uk was launched in 1999, and tracks and out takes from the unreleased “Entering a New Ride” album were made available as MP3's on the site.

The reformation of the original line up of BAD was officially confirmed on 25th January 2011 with the announcement of a 9 date UK tour, which delighted fans that had probably given up hope of ever seeing the band in action again. From late March to early September BAD toured the world, played festivals, and appeared on prime time TV. Reviews were good, with the better writers also pointing out that music the band recorded all those years ago, was not only influential but underappreciated too, and we finally saw the band get the acclaim they deserved for being so far ahead of the game all those years ago. (written by David Parker for planetbad.files)

The info above (in pdf format) was published in January 2012 and includes a pictorial history of Big Audio Dynamite and their releases. Until someone writes a history of the band, you will not find a better source of information about them. Available for download here: https://planetbad.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/planetbad1.pdf

Opposing forum reviews below:

"I think EANR was BAD's finest hour. This captured for me exactly what Mick was always trying to achieve Rock n Roll guitar with dance and other musical cross overs. EANR achieves this more than any of the other albums including This Is B.A.D. The way Mick uses Rock 'n' Roll guitar that glues all these dance influences together is in my opinion pure genius.

I love its urgency and energy and the way the songs build up the excitement, is where this album provides the best adrenalin rush, over all the other BAD material and thats really saying something.
The sharing of the vocals just lends the songs to be appreciated on so many layers creating an amazing organised chaos that was more punk than any other band i can think of.

I also like the way it splits fans from those that love it and those that hate it - for me that's what makes it really special and the fact we get a free rough copy which was never released just makes it a Legend. Not wanting to be geographical but this album is London street level at its very best and unique to the end with no commercial worth - yeah it is brilliant!"

and

"The template for Gorillaz. Maybe if they'd had more varied vocalists trading with Mick. Obviously that was the idea with Roger, but I'm not sure that was sufficient, and Joe and Mickey were monotone  though they did have their "London street level" merits. Or maybe it was just too much to ask people to accept the project as "Big Audio Dynamite." MCA in the UK liked the Sunday Best single, but the album confused their marketing people. It wasn't "dance" enough. With Gorillaz, Damon was clever not to call it Blur plus he had the huge advantage of hiding his Britrock self behind a cartoon character. Mick knew that his image was in the way, and tried to finesse the situation but not enough.

There are three mixes of the album. The Acton mix with Roger, and two from Whitfield Street, where they remade most of the tracks over. There's a mix from Mick and one from the engineer. The one from the engineer is the one they gave away."

Tracklist
01. Man, That Is Dynamite!  (6:23)
02. B.A.D. And The Night Time Ride (4:55)
03. Sunday Best  (4:20)
04. Must Be The Music  (6:08)
05. Taking You To Another Dimension (6:49)
06. Sound Of The B.A.D. (6:20)
07. Cozy Ten Minutes (8:11)
08. Get High (5:01)
09. Bang Ice Geezer (4:33)
10. On The Ones And Twos (4:59)
11. Nice And Easy  (6:53)

The Band:
Mick Jones - Producer, Vocals & Guitar
Nick Hawkins - Guitar
Andre Shapps - Keyboards
Bob Wond - Drums

Ranking Roger - Vocals (removed from this version)

No longer available due to its semi official release status

#115 LED ZEPPELIN - MSG, NYC. 12 FEB 1975 (Flac)

February 12, 1975
Madison Square Garden
New York City, NY

Flying Circus - 40th Anniversary Edition (from the 9CD Box)
EVSD - Audience and Soundboard Matrix
Lineage: My Silvers > Flac level 8

Disc 1
01. Rock And Roll
02. Sick Again
03. Over The Hills And Far Away
04. In My Time Of Dying
05. The Song Remains The Same
06. The Rain Song
07. Kashmir

Disc 2
01. No Quarter
02. Trampled Under Foot
03. Moby Dick

Disc 3
01. Dazed And Confused
02. Stairway To Heaven
03. Whole Lotta Love 
04. Black Dog
05. Heartbreaker

LINK

Numerous soundboard & matrix versions of this show exist:

Physical Riffiti [A Group/Personal Project] (SBD)
Four Blocks in the Snow V.2 A [Bluecongo Production] (SBD/AUD Matrix)
That's Alright New York [Godfatherecords] (SBD)
SBD - 96khz/24 bit 5.1 Dolby Surround
Keeper Of The Seasons [Liquid Led] (SBD)
Flying Circus [EVSD] (SBD)
Definitive Flying Circus [EVSD] (soundboard with audience)
Flying Circus 40th Anniversary Edition [EVSD] Audience and Soundboard Matrix

From Empress Valley we have graduated from the soundboard in 2002, to the Definitive Version! and finally (at the moment) the 40th anniversary edition in 2015. It was difficult to discern any major difference in sound quality between the Bluecongo production 'Four Blocks In The Snow' and this. With so many versions available I can recommend this release by Empress Valley.


A review on Redditt gives the show some context as follows:
"This was the third and final night at Madison Square Garden. It took place during a blinding snowstorm in New York City, which Plant mentions during the show. This concert is from the middle of the band's 1975 American tour, Plant has the flu and it shows. He mostly sings in a hoarse voice, and is clearly congested with a sore throat. Fortunately, the rest of the band makes up for it. Jimmy is still recovering from his broken finger injury that he suffered about a month beforehand, but he's fine form here, full of energy and enthusiasm in his soloing. Jones and Bonham are tight as ever, playing as one solid unit throughout.

The band moves as one as they pummel the crowd with their thunderous attack. An amazing performance. The tape is a phenomenal matrix of an outstanding soundboard recording and an excellent audience recording (reportedly done by a regular Grateful Dead taper). The clarity of the recording is jaw-dropping. Both the music and atmosphere are left perfectly intact. Honestly, in terms of pure sound quality, this could easily pass for an official release. If you're a sucker for good sound quality, this is quite possibly the best Led Zeppelin bootleg. I even personally put it above The Song Remains the Same in terms of sound. It is that good.

The best version of this show is easily Bluecongo's "Four Blocks in the Snow". It's a perfect example of a matrix done right. Neither recording ever goes out of sync, leaving us with the best sounding Led Zeppelin bootleg yet (and yes, I'm including Southampton)."

theyearofledzeppelin blog describes 'Kashmir' as sounding 
"like an army marching into battle." The final verdict "An unbelievable performance. An outstanding matrix of audience and soundboard recordings."

and from Underground Uprising:
"In my previous review of "Led Zeppelin's Flying Circus" I wrote that the soundboard, while of incredible quality, exposed Robert Plant's flu-ridden voice mercilessly. The result was so difficult to listen to that I recommended the audience tape over the soundboard. Why was this? The original house mix wisely buried Plant, while placing Jimmy's guitar up front. And Jimmy was having a very hot night....I originally approached this release with a fair bit of skepticism, but was quickly impressed with the great improvement.

"Now that I've lived with the recording for a while I wholeheartedly endorse this as the definitive release of this show. The quality of a matrix recording depends on the sources used; and on this release, the frequencies of the audience and soundboard recording complement each other very well. From "Heartbreakers Back In Town" we get the rich, full frequency response and clarity of the soundboard. From "Can't Take Your Evil Ways" we get the excitement and vibe of the audience recording. So far, par for the course. But what really makes this release outstanding is the way that the matrix seems to bury the lower frequencies of Plant's voice (where all the flu-created roughness lies) while maintaining clarity. Furthermore the audience recording really adds "balls" to Pagey's guitar sound - something that was sadly lacking from the soundboard mix. Without a doubt, "Four Blocks…" could be an official release – it's that good.

"Finally, while the release may be criticised for missing time, it's important to note that these are cuts to clapping and audience noise; not music. While I agree that shows should be as complete as possible, in my opinion the cuts in no way lessen the listening pleasure for either the casual listener or the serious Zeppelin fan alike. Given the outstanding sound quality, the amazing performance, and the incredible "vibe" of this recording, not only do I consider "Four Blocks…" to be the definitive release of this performance, but also one of the best Zeppelin bootlegs ever."

Bootleg bible Hot Wacks declared:
"Led Zeppelin had a very rough start to the '75 tour. Plant's vocals were in bad shape due to the flu and Page had broken a finger. The American tour started on January 18th so this show is about three and a half weeks in. By this time Jimmy's finger had healed and Robert was improving, although not completely up to par but was gaining more control over his vocal. This is an interesting show played during a snow storm and the title comes from Plant's comments "We came four blocks in the snow to get here..."
For "No Quarter", John Paul Jones hadn't yet incorporated the change to acoustic piano and he goes a little over the top at the end of Page's solo where Jimmy has to reel him back in for the final verse. "Dazed And Confused" is the longest version so far from the tour and contains a piece from "Walter's Walk" starting at 22:44 lasting less than a minute.
"Whole Lotta Love" is the first encore featuring an abbreviated version that runs nonstop with "Black Dog" and the second encore, "Heartbreaker" contains a jam on "That's Alright, Mama" during the break in the middle."


Empress Valley have issued soundboard recordings of the following dates on the 1975 tour:
 

Ultra Violent Killer Droog (Hellfire Club)        2/10/1975                Landover        2016
Flying Circus                                                     2/12/1975                NYC                2002
King's of the Stone Age                                     2/13/1975               Uniondale        2013
St. Valentine's Day Massacre                             2/14/1975               Uniondale        2008
St. Louis Blues                                                   2/16/1975               St. Louis          2004
Rampaging Cajun                                               2/28/1975               Baton Rouge    2009

Rock Super Stars                                                3/3/1975                Fort Worth         2015
Chasing the Dragon                                            3/4/1975                Dallas                2003
Days Confused                                                    3/5/1975               Dallas                2007
Long Beach Californication                                3/11/1975             Long Beach       2009
Conspiracy Theory                                              3/14/1975             San Diego          2004
Haven't We Met Somewhere Before?                 3/17/1975              Seattle               2011
Snow Jobs                                                           3/19/1975              Vancouver         2006
Snowblind                                                           3/20/1975              Vancouver         2012
Deus Ex Machina (deluxe)                                 3/21/1975               Dallas               2017

He Must Be Dazed and Confused!                     5/24/1975               Earls Court       2002
Zeppelin Express Physical Rocket                     5/25/1975               Earls Court       2002