Led Zeppelin - "Lord Of The Strings II: The Two Tapers"
(2-25-72), Auckland, New Zealand, Western Springs Stadium
Raw + Remastered + Audience Recording Merge + Remaster, (A Group/Personal Project)
Lineage:
Main Recording (Raw):
"Western Springs Stadium, 2nd Tape Source", (No Label):
2nd Gen > Tascam 112MKII > Echo Layla 3G >Sound Forge 6.0 > Complex EQ and channel Balancing > WAV > Flac Frontend (Level.8, Align On SBE's) > Flac
Main Recording (Remastered):
"Western Springs Stadium, 2nd Tape Source", (No Label):
2nd Gen > Tascam 112MKII > Echo Layla 3G >Sound Forge 6.0 > Complex EQ and channel Balancing > WAV > Remaster > Flac Frontend (Level.8, Align On SBE's) > Flac
Patching/Secondary Tape Source: "Lord Of The Strings: One Riff To Rule Them All", (No Label):
Trader CD-R > EAC > WAV > Flac (Level.6, Align On SBE's) > TLH, Decode > WAV > Remaster > Flac Frontend (Level.8, Align On SBE's) > Flac
Label: N/A
Original Tapers:
Source One: N/A
Source Two: N/A
This is a Group/Personal project by "The King's Of Garbage In, Garbage Out", Jasonnz, Doinker, Porgie, Mark, The 7th Son, Joel, Mike, and Acapulco Gold.
We hope that everyone who chooses to pick this up will enjoy this, and will pass it along, and will share it with others, or just pass, the choice is yours.
This is not meant to be a "definitive" recording.
Cheers and thanks go out to:
- The taper, (and his brother) for both taping and sharing their recording with everyone in the community.
- My mate Jasonnz for sharing this recording with myself, and everyone in the community. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work on it, and be apart of it's release.
- My mate Doinker for helping with the tape transfer, and thank you for giving me all those notes about transferring recordings, appreciate your help and kindness.
- My mate Porgie for all his help and input on the sound of the recording, always appreciate your input mate.
- My mate Mark for putting together the artwork for this project, once again you managed to top yourself mate, always a pleasure working with you.
- My mate Mike for going on all those coffee runs.
This project is dedicated to everyone who helped make this project possible, and everyone in the Zeppelin community.
Discs One + Two, (2nd Tape Source, Raw Recording):
Disc One:
1) Introduction/Immigrant Song
2) Heartbreaker
3) Black dog
4) Since I've Been Loving You
5) Celebration Day (Tape Cut Near End Of Song)
6) Stairway To Heaven (Two Small Tape Cuts Near End Of Song)
7) Going To California (Tape Cut At The End Of Song,Tape Flip)
8) That's The Way
9) Tangerine
10) Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp (Tape Cut In Middle Of Song)
Disc Two:
1) Dazed And Confused (Includes: "The Song Remains The Same" (Instrumental), And "Wake Up Little Susie" (Teases) )
2) What Is And What Should Never Be (Has Two Tape Cuts,Tape Flip)
3) Moby Dick
4) Rock And Roll
5) Whole Lotta Love (Cuts Out, Cut, Incomplete Song)
Discs Three + Four, (2nd Tape Source, Remastered):
Disc Three:
1) Introduction
2) Immigrant Song
3) Heartbreaker
4) Black dog
5) Since I've Been Loving You
6) Celebration Day
7) Stairway To Heaven
8) Going To California
9) That's The Way
10) Tangerine
11) Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp (Fades Out)
Disc Four:
1) Dazed And Confused (Includes: "The Song Remains The Same" (Instrumental), And "Wake Up Little Susie" (Teases) (Fades In)
2) What Is And What Should Never Be
3) Moby Dick
4) Rock And Roll
5) Whole Lotta Love (Cuts Out, Cut, Incomplete Song)
Discs Five + Six, (Remastered 2nd Tape Source (Main) With Remastered 1st Tape Source Patches):
Disc Five:
1) Introduction *
2) Immigrant Song *
3) Heartbreaker *
4) Black dog *
5) Since I've Been Loving You *
6) Celebration Day *
7) Stairway To Heaven * +
8) Going To California *
9) That's The Way *
10) Tangerine *
11) Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp * + (Fades Out)
Disc Six:
1) Dazed And Confused (Includes: "The Song Remains The Same" (Instrumental), And "Wake Up Little Susie" (Teases) (Fades In) *
2) What Is And What Should Never Be *
3) Moby Dick *
4) Rock And Roll *
5) Whole Lotta Love (Medley) * +
Includes:
- Boogie Chillen
- Hello Marylou
- Let's Have A Party
- Going Down Slow
- The Shape I'm In
6) Communication Breakdown + (Fades Out)
Discs Seven + Eight, (Remastered 1st Tape Source (Main) With Remastered 2nd Tape Source Patches):
Disc Seven:
1) Introduction *
2) Immigrant Song * +
3) Heartbreaker +
4) Black Dog +
5) Since I've Been Loving You * +
6) Celebration Day *
7) Stairway To Heaven * +
8) Going To California *
9) That's The Way * +
10) Tangerine +
11) Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp + (Fades Out)
Disc Eight:
1) Dazed And Confused (Includes: "The Song Remains The Same" (Instrumental), And "Wake Up Little Susie" (Teases) (Fades In) * +
2) What Is And What Should Never Be *
3) Moby Dick *
4) Rock And Roll *
5) Whole Lotta Love (Medley) * +
Includes:
- Boogie Chillen
- Hello Marylou
- Let's Have A Party
- Going Down Slow
- The shape I'm In
6) Communication Breakdown +
Legend:
*: Source 2
+: Source 1
* +: Combination of both tape sources
Enjoy!
Please Do Not Convert To Lossy Formats
Please Do Not Sell
Please Share With Others
Notes:
I'd like to start off my notes with notes from my friend who sent me the tapes to give everyone the backstory/history of this tape source, and how it was discovered:
"These tapes were given to me as a gift from the taper's brother, (who is a friend of mine).
I was introduced to him through my wife, (who actually met him through her job).
One day, while they were both at work, the two of them struck up a conversation, and while they're talking, the subject of music comes up, and how big a music buff he is, and how he tries to get to a concert every week.
These conversations lead up to an exchange of rare music between myself, and the taper, however, these exchanges were not done face to face, I hadn't met him yet.
I would give the shows to my wife, and she would pass them on to him at work.
I finally got to meet him at a wedding, he was working at the event.
We met face to face, struck up our own conversation, and realy hit it off.
We had such a great conversation, that I actually missed the wedding, and just went to the reception.
When we were talking, he tells me in conversation that he's a huge Zeppelin fan, so I decided to give him some Zeppelin audio bootlegs I downloaded, as well as the Seattle 77 and Earls Court DVD's.
One day, after coming home from work, my wife tells me that I have a present waiting for me, I take a look, and I see that it's tapes of Led Zeppelin in Auckland, New Zealand.
The tapes have been in my possession for approximately 2 years, but it wasn't until last July (when I took some time off of work to sit and compare the tapes) that I realized that this version of the Auckland show differed from the tape source used for boot releases like "Going To Auckland" (EVSD) or "Kiwi Express" (GM) in both completeness and sound quality.
I noticed that this version of the show was longer, and had tracks that were missing from my older versions of the Auckland tape.
After realizing what I had in my possession, I contacted the taper, and started a dialog with him about what we could do with his recording.
I also asked him what it was like seeing Zeppelin live, I never had the chance to see them perform, and didn't attend this show because I was living in the U.K at the time the band was playing in New Zealand.
When I asked the taper about what he remembers from the concert, he unfortunately couldn't give me a straight answer, or any concise information about it because the taper is a total pothead, and can't even remember yesterday clearly.
All that he remembers is that the concert was "A Bloody Good Night".
The taper had considered the idea of selling them,but after much discussion and deliberation, he decided to instead let me have control over them (in terms of how they should be distributed).
We came to an agreement that sharing the show on the internet would be the best thing to do.
Our biggest reason for doing this instead of selling the tapes off is because we wanted to give something back to the online/Zeppelin community that has given us so much enjoyment over the years.
The taper and I are both fans of the group, we've picked up and enjoyed many Zeppelin bootlegs over the years, we would love to help share and contribute as well.
So I sat on the tapes until I felt it was the right time to release the show.
That time is now."
Notes about the history of this performance:
After playing a few shows in Australia (Perth, Adelaide, and Melbourne), the band made it's way over to New Zealand to play this one and only show in the country.
To quote from Ray Colbert's "A Special Report: Fear & Led Zep In New Zealand":
"Zeppelin had come from Australia, and in keeping with a number of rock acts who've played there, they didn't have much of a time there. A harrowing raid on their motel in Perth had obviously left it's mark on a still-shaken Jimmy Page at the small party quickly arranged for them the night they arrived. You sensed they were going to play this one through on alcohol before getting back to Sanity. "Australia was really pretty s---," said Page as his eyes wandered around the room."
Besides the issues going on in Perth, there were rowdy audience members at Adelaide, and the Melbourne performance had to be cut short due to a rain storm, so the band were hoping that the Auckland performance would turn out better then the 1st few shows in Australia, which it apparently did according to an interview Page did in December of 1972 with Peter Frame from "Zig Zag" Magazine.
According to the interview, the New Zealand performance did leave a good impression with Page, and the rest of the group:
JP: We've opened up a lot of markets, or whatever you want to call it, Venues, where people haven't been before, or haven't been for a long time, like Australia- never been there for a long time, nobody's been to New Zealand for sure.
PF: Really?
JP: And, that was really quite an event to go there, 'cause they say like five percent of the population turned up at the gig.
PF: Could I ask what kind of reaction they had to you?
JP: Oh no, it was really fantastic. It was really like the old Bath Festival, I always remember that one, and we took all the equipment over there. It cost us more money to do the gig then what we got, but it was good, it was terrific, it was really tribal and fiery without any mishaps, you know, we got off without any bad scene, it was just really good spirit. And for them it must have been just what it was over here at Bath, a really good community spirit.
This show was another outdoor arena performance, and was to be held at Western Springs Stadium, an arena ususally used for stock car races.
Tickets were being sold at "John Courts" (a department store in New Zealand) for $3.10 and $4.10.
The concert brought in a crowd that was close to 25,000 people in attendence.
People who attended the show didn't just come from major cities like Auckland or Wellington, but from all over New Zealand (as far away as Dunedin, the other end of the country, about 900 miles).
A lot of them were brought in by train, a "Zeppelin Express" ( hence the title for Genuine Masters "Kiwi Express").
According to press reviews, the sound was apparently so loud that the band could be heard 5 miles away.
Notes about the band's performance:
Everyone in the group is in fine form, especially Plant, he seems to be on the mend from his bout with the "Australian Bug".
Jimmy is doing some excellent soloing at this concert, and sneaks in an instrumental tease of "The Song Remains The Same" during "Dazed And Confused.
The crowd was extremely receptive to the band, and vice versa, they seem to be really enjoying themselves.
Plant pays tribute to the audience/country during "Whole Lotta Love" by repeating "New Zealand...New Zealand" a couple of times, and then thanks them several times after they finish the song.
Notes about tape sources of this performance:
With the discovery of this 2nd tape tape, we (referring to Zeppelin collectors/community) now have two tape sources of the band's performance in Auckland.
Technically, we now have 3 tape sources when we count the "Led Before Bed" material because an FM Radiobroadcast of a Zeppelin concert does count as a different version.
In these notes however, I'm only going to discuss the differences between the two tape sources, and not the FM material because the FM material isn't complete, and doesn't give the listener a complete concert experience like the tape sources do.
Both tape sources sound very good, and both offer/bring something to the table for collectors, but do have their differences in both sound quality and completeness.
Here's a breakdown on how the 2 tape sources differ from each other:
The 1st tape source:
- The 1st tape source's total time clocks in between 83-85 minutes depending on which version you have in your collection. Some run at the correct tape speed, and some run either too fast or too slow.
- As I previously stated, both tape sources are very good, but the 1st tape source does have the better sound of the two tape sources.It's sound quality is much cleaner and has a more even distribution of instruments then the 2nd tape source. The sound quality of the 1st tape source stays consistent through out the performace, whereas the 2nd tape sources sound quality goes in and out (starting out muffled and distorted to becoming cleaner).
- The 1st tape source sounds like it was taped closer to the stage, possibly from the ground/floor seats, and possibly recorded from a middle row, which could explain why the recordings sound is so nicely balanced.
- There is very little to almost no taper chatter/commentary on the recording, from time to time you can hear some soft giggling from either the taper, a friend of the taper, or someone near the taper on the recording, but it only happens during Plantations, and doesn't interfere with the actual music at all.
- The 1st tape source is quite incomplete, it has 2 incomplete songs ("Immigrant Song", and "Dazed And Confused"), and is missing a large number of songs that were played that night ("Celebration Day", "Going To California", "What Is And What Should Never Be", "Moby Dick", and "Rock And Roll").
- The recording is also quite riddled with several tape cuts, they can be found on these songs, and where they occur:
"Since I've Been Loving You" (the taper missed a portion of Plantations leading up to "Celebration Day", and of course completely missed "Celebration Day")
"Stairway To Heaven" (there are 2 very brief tape cuts when they finish the song, the taper missed a portion of plantations leading up to "Going To California", and of course completely missed "Going To California")
"That's The Way" (the taper missed some plantations leading into "That's The Way")
"Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp" (there is a brief tape cut before they play the song, and the taper missed a portion of crowd cheers after the band finished the song)
"Whole Lotta Love" (the taper missed a portion of crowd cheers before they play the song, and there are a few tape cuts during the medley (they can be found when they play "Let's Have A Party", and "The Shape I'm In").
- Although the 1st tape source is quite incomplete, the 1st source is the only one with a complete version of "Whole Lotta Love", and the encore "Communication Breakdown".
The 2nd Tape source:
- The 2nd tape source clocks in at a total time of 112 minutes.
- The sound quality of the 2nd tape source is very good, but isn't as consistent as the 1st tape source. The sound quality does go in and out throughout the recording, starting out muffled and distorted, to improving around the time the band plays the acoustic set. To summarize, it's a distorted, yet listenable recording, I would say it's simular to London, (11-20-71).
- The 2nd tape source sounds like it was taped from a slight distance from the stage, instruments and plantations are quite clear, but not as clear as the 1st tape source.
- Unlike the 1st tape source, the 2nd tape source has quite a lot of taper chatter, the taper and his brother talk quite often during the show, while the band is playing, and while Robert is talking to the audience. There are moments when it can become quite grating on the listener, (the most disturbing moments are during the acoustic set where the taper burps several times into the mic, putting a sort of damper on the acoustic set), and there are moments when it can actually be quite funny (a good example of when their commentary is quite funny is during "Dazed And Confused" (during the bow solo) when the taper refers to Plant as "A Fucking Idiot").
- Unlike the 1st tape source, the 2nd tape source has a bit of tape source.
- The 2nd tape source is the most complete recording of the 2 tapes, not only does it have complete versions of songs like "Immigrant Song", and "Dazed And Confused", but also has material that the 1st tape source is missing like "Celebration Day", "Going To California", "What Is And What Should Never Be", "Moby Dick", and "Rock And Roll".
- Unlike the 1st tape source, the 2nd tape source has very few tape cuts. The tape cuts can be found on these songs, and when they occur:
"Stairway To Heaven" (there are 2 brief tape cuts during the 3rd solo of the song, and a large portion of the ending solo is missing)
"Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp" (the taper stopped recording briefly in the middle of the song, missing a small portion of music)
"Going To California" (the taper missed a small portion of crowd cheers after the band finished the song, this was due to a tape flip)
"What Is And what Should Never Be" (the taper stopped recording briefly in the middle of the song, missing a portion of Jimmy's guitar solo, and also stopped taping near the end of the song, this was due to a tape flip)
"Whole Lotta Love" (the taper recorded only a small portion of the song)
- Although the 2nd tape source is more complete then the 1st tape source, the 2nd tape source is missing the majority of "Whole Lotta Love", and is missing the encore "Communication Breakdown".
Our project goals, and what we wanted to accomplish with this project:
What we wanted to do with this project was to not only debut the 2nd tape source to the community, but also offer up the community the most complete versions of the Auckland performance, to give the listener the most complete experience.
So we decided to make this project a combination of a raw, untouched, warts and all version of the 2nd tape source, a remastered version of the 2nd tape source for those who would like to hear it cleaned up and have the tape issues corrected, and merged versions (one that uses the 2nd tape souce as the primary source with 1st source patches, and one with the 1st source as the primary source, with 2nd tape source patches).
By offering up the project up to everyone this way, I think we've covered every kind of Zeppelin collector that's out there, (collectors who like raw tape sources, collectors who like remasters, and collectors who want to try and collect the most complete version(s) of a show).
We hope that everyone will enjoy what we've done to the tape sources.
What we've done to make the remasters:
1st tape source:
The raw recording we were working from was quite nice on it's own, there was a nice distribution of the instruments had hardly any tape hiss in the channels, but it did have a few issues that could use a little tweaking:
- There was a bit of bass distortion in the channels.
- The volume of the recording was amplified a touch too much, drowning out a few things in the recording, like crowd comments.
- There were some instruments that were a little more up front then others (bass, and vocals are more present then guitar and drum fills)
- The whole recording was running at the incorrect tape speed, the raw source was running about 3% fast.At first, I thought this recording was running at the correct tape speed, but my mate Mike brought it to my attention that it needed to be slowed down.
So the goal of this project was to correct those issues I've listed, and try to also breathe some new life into the recording.
- We've tried to balance the instruments.
- We've corrected the tape speed issues.
- We've tried to bring out things that were buried in the recording (crowd cheers, taper commentary, clapping, etc).
- We've fixed some of the tape cuts that were found in the recording.
- We've tried to give the listener a sense of ambiance.
2nd tape source:
The raw recording suffers from quite a bit of tape hiss, and as I mentioned previously, is muffled and distorted, we hoped that the recording would benefit from some tweaking.
- We've tried to balance the instruments.
- Some light noise and hiss reduction has been applied to reduce some of the tape hiss, and reduce the distortion, and muddiness in the raw source.
- We've tried to bring out things that were buried in the recording (crowd cheers, taper commentary, clapping, etc).
- We've fixed some of the tape cuts that were found in the recording, and have tried to make the transitions as smooth as possible.
- We've tried to give the listener a sense of ambiance.
In regards to the tape source merges:
We've patched up the holes found in both tape sources with whatever pieces of missing audio we had at our disposal.
We've tried to make each merge as complete a recording as possible, and have tried to make the transition from source to source as smooth as possible.
Here's a breakdown on what songs we've patched up, and what was added on to make each tape source merge a complete show:
2nd tape source:
"Stairway To Heaven" (the missing pieces of the final guitar solo have been patched up to make the song complete).
"Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp" (the missing portions of the song that were cut off have been patched together to make the song complete).
"Whole Lotta Love" (the missing portions of the song that the taper missed have been patched together to make the song complete).
"Communication Breakdown" has been added to make the merge complete, the taper also missed recording this song.
1st tape source:
The introduction found on source 2 has been added on, the taper of the 1st source missed the introduction.
"Immigrant Song" (the taper missed the majority of this song, the missing portions have been patched together to make the song complete).
"Since I've Been Loving You" (the taper missed a portion of plantations that followed the song, they've been merged with the song).
"Celebration Day" has been added to make the merge complete, the taper missed recording this song.
"Stairway To Heaven" (the taper missed a portion of plantations before they played the song, and a portion of plantations after the song, they've been merged together with the song to make it complete).
"Going To California" has been added to make the merge complete, the taper missed recording this song.
"That's The Way" (the taper missed a portion of plantations before they played the song, they've been merged together to make the song complete).
"Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp" (the taper missed a portion of crowd cheers that followed after the song, they've been merged together to make the song complete).
"Dazed And Confused" (the taper missed a good portion of this song, the missing portions have been merged together to make the song complete).
"What Is And What Should Never Be" has been added to make the merge complete, the taper missed recording this song.
"Moby Dick" has been added to make the merge complete, the taper missed recording this song.
"Rock And Roll" has been added to make the merge complete, the taper missed recording this song, also, a small portion of plantations and cheers before the band plays "Whole Lotta Love" have been added.
Notes about the title:
Those that picked up the 1st "Lord Of The Strings" project will probably already know the story about how we came up with the title for the 1st project, but for those that didn't pick up the 1st project, and are are unaware of the reasoning behind it, here's the backstory:
We came up with the title "Lord Of The Strings" while we were mulling over possible title choices, and settled on that one because we felt it both referenced the country where the show takes place, and makes reference to the band as well, particularly Jimmy.
We thought we might be able to come up with something clever from a Plantation from the concert, or from a press review quote, but all those leads turned up dry, so we started to do some research about New Zealand to see if we could come up with something clever that we could use/relate to the project.
We dug through the country's history, and also through it's popular culture to try and find something to use.
I really wanted to use something from the t.v show "Flight Of The Conchords".
For those that may not know about the Conchords, they're a comedy musical duo from New Zealand, that also have their own show on HBO.
It's about themselves, they move to New York from New Zealand, and are trying to make it big in America.
Unfortunately, the show didn't really give us anything really concrete to use, so finally we thought of the "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy, which was filmed in New Zealand.
I don't usually like recycling title names, I've always tried to come up with an original title idea for each project.
We did come up with some title names, some were good, some were kind of corny, all of them didn't realy pack the punch and stick like "Lord Of The Strings" did, so we thought about trying to reuse the title, but in another way, kind of like a sequal title (like "Going To California II", Berkely, (9-13-71)).
We also thought it would be suitable to reuse the title because the Lord Of The Rings series is based in sequels, so we played on that idea.
With the title idea decided, we came up with these two choices:
1) "Lord Of The Strings II: The Fellowship Of Western Springs" (a play on the 1st movie title "The Fellowship Of The Ring", it makes a connection to the venue where the concert takes place).
2) "Lord Of The Strings II: The Two Tapers" (a play on the the 2nd movie title, and also makes a connection to the two tape sources).
The two title options were run by everyone who was involved in the project, and everyone agreed on the second title.
We feel like we've made the right decision.
We hope everyone here will enjoy this project.
Cheers