Description
This show from Whisky A Go-Go on January the 5th of 1969 is an impressive release. It was a tremendously exciting time when the rumours appeared that one taper had reel to reels for all of shows Led Zeppelin did at Whisky A Go Go at the time. However this is the only one that has seen the light of day so far. Led Zeppelin played their first concerts in Los Angeles right after New Years Day in 1969 with four nights at the trendy Whisky A Go-Go on Sunset Strip. They shared the bill with Alice Cooper and took turns on succeeding nights as to who would be the headliner. Unlike the San Francisco shows, Zeppelin played one long set instead of two shorter ones. Rumours have circulated for many years that these shows were taped by a member of the audience and stories circulated in 2003 around the one who taped The Yardbirds final run of shows at the Shrine Auditorium in March, 1968 but those stories turned out to be false. However this album finally sees a release of the tapes from this legendary run of shows. This tape of the final of four nights is a very good complete audience recording taped on reel-to-reel very close to the stage. The audience sounds very small (less than one hundred) and are very quiet and attentive with no obstructions what so ever. Of the 1969 audience recordings in existence this is among the better. Page’s guitar dominates in the mix with the vocals pushed back and there are trace amounts of hiss in quieter passages. Further, there is residue from an earlier recording on the tape that bleeds through in the early parts of the show. It is imperfect but still a wonderful recording capturing Zeppelin at such an early stage. Jimmy Page mentioned that he had the flu this week and received medication from a physician so he can play and the performance is mind-boggling considering the conditions. The tape begins with some tuning and Plant’s sound check before he says “Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Can everybody hear me? This is the last night from Led Zeppelin”. The set begins with the As Long As I Have You medley. It was usually played in the middle of the set although it served as the opener for the May 27th Boston show (and also its final recorded appearance). This version is eleven minutes long and Plant sings Eddie Cochran’s Summertime Blues over the band playing Fresh Garbage. After the Hush Little Baby section Jones tries to lead the band into Ray Charles’ Hit The Road Jack but the band don’t follow and end the piece as usual. I Can’t Quit You is played second as usual and at the song’s conclusion Plant says, we’ll do things in a different order. We want to get people to rock and roll…This is called Train before Train Kept A Rollin. This is followed by the earliest live version of Babe I’m Gonna Leave You which Plant introduces by saying, It is traditional. You can hear this on the fantastic album coming out on the fifteenth, Herman’s Hermits Live At The Whisky A Go-Go. Dazed And Confused is introduced as another song from the album coming out and is very close to the studio version including the crescendo at the end. Plant begins the following number by saying, if anybody was here last night…you know how we were saying we were getting over the flu…well we’ve all got it back again. We’re pleased to be here. We’ll carry on with a thing from Muddy Waters. We got it together anyway, by Howlin’ Wolf. This is a thing called Killing Floor and I think that just about sums it up. This version is very short, contains Page playing some very fast scales and omits Plant’s squeeze my lemon till the juice runs down my leg part. For Your Love is the final song of the set and is introduced as something written by Keith Relf and was a number one hit for The Yardbirds. Does anybody remember Keith Relf?…This is written by the bloke who wrote their numbers. The only other recorded live version is from the Fillmore West five days after this in a fair to good recording, so it is a tremendous blessing to have a version so well recorded. It sounds very similar to the San Francisco version with psychedelic feedback and ending with a very long scream by Plant. There is a small cut around 4:17 omitting a bit of the guitar solo but is otherwise complete and ends with Plant saying good night. This album also features 3 instrumental tracks from a November 1968 studio session
Track list:
1. Getting Ready
2. As Long As I Have You
3. I Cant Quit You
4. Train Kept A Rollin
5. Babe Im Gonna Leave You
6. Dazed And Confused
7. Killing Floor
8. For Your Love
9. Instrumental-take 4 studio session 1968
10. Instrumental-take 5 studio session 1968
11. Instrumental-take 6 studio session 1968