Led Zeppelin - Jimmy's Birthday Party (Empress Valley Multitracks) - Live at Royal Albert Hall, London, UK January 9, 1970

Artist: Led Zeppelin
Date: 1970-01-09
Venue: Royal Albert Hall
Location: London, England
Source: Multitrack Reels
Title: Live At The Royal Albert Hall - Jimmy's Birthday Party (Empress Valley)
Lineage: Slivers>cdr(2)>Eac(secure mode/read offsets corrected)>wav>flac (level 7)

Tracklist:
Disc 3
01. We're Gonna Groove (3:31)
02. I Can't Quit You Baby (6:57)
03. Dazed and Confused (16:05)
04. Heartbreaker (3:55) (cut)
05. White Summer/Black Mountain Side (12:19)
06. What Is And What Should Never Be (5:03)
07. Moby Dick (15:30)

Disc 4
01. How Many More Times (20:48)
02. Bring it On Home (7:54)
03. Whole Lotta Love (6:22)
04. Communication Breakdown (4:31)
05. C'mon Everybody (2:38)
06. Something Else (2:14)
07. Long Tall Sally (3:53) (cut)

Notes: Disc 1 and 2 are a mix of the SBD and Kevin Shirley multitrack mixes. Discs 3 and 4 are strictly from the multitrack mixes

My Comments:
Yet another amazing show courtesy of Led Zeppelin, played at a time when they were just about a year old. Even then, they were well on their way to super stardom, as they had received a lot of face time during 1969's many music festivals (Woodstock not being one of them unfortunately), and by the end of the year's touring they would be playing sold out shows to tens of thousands in venues like NY's Madison Square Garden and the LA Forum. To start out 1970 Zeppelin decided to embark on a short UK tour to promote their second album, which had come out the year before. Expanding on their late 1969 setlist, they decided to drop the opening number Good Times Bad Times/Communication Breakdown in favor of a Ben E. King cover We're Gonna Grove, which the band had actually recorded for the third album but had passed it over in favor of Immigrant Song later in the year. In addition to that, they also debuted Since I've Been Loving You and Thank You in this tour, but unfortunately both tracks did not survive the test of time on this recording and thus only a snippet of the organ solo appears in the official DVD (Heartbreaker is unfortunately incomplete). But what did manage to survive are incredibly fiery versions of Dazed and Confused and How Many More Times, Dazed in particular featuring a fantastic reference to Cocaine Blues, sung quite masterfully by plant. Tonight's How Many More Times has all the elements to make it a definitive version of this song, featuring unparalleled intensity, dramatics and flat-out excellent playing from all four members that leaves one hanging at the edge of their seat. On a more slightly serious mood is White Summer/Black Mountainside, which really showcases jimmy's incredible improvisational skills, including his exotic middle-eastern riffing which always leaves me hoping for Kashmir seguing in at the end of the song. This excellent show closes off with a generous share of encores including Communication Breakdown, Bring It On Home (played on the "Black Beauty" custom Les Paul which was a rarity), Eddie Cochran's Something Else and C'mon Everybody, and finally finishing off with Little Richard's Long Tall Sally; which is unfortunately cut on the multitracks (not on the SBD though). In a nutshell, along with Live On Blueberry Hill, this is a must have bootleg to have for 1970. Enjoy!

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