Led Zeppelin - The Rovers Return (1972-12-08) FLAC

GENRE: Hard Rock 
FORMAT: Lossless (Flac) 
SIZE: 725 mb (3% Recovery) 

Good audience recording at The Hardrock Concert Theatre, Greatstone Road, Stretford, Manchester, UK on December 8, 1972.
Label: Empress Valley Supreme Disc - EVSD 124/125/126.
Released: 2001

TRACKLIST:

Disc 1:
01. Rock and Roll
02. Over The Hills and Far Away
03. Black Dog
04. Misty Mountain Hop
05. Since I've Been Loving You
06. Dancing Days
07. Bron-Yr-Aur-Stomp
08. The Song Remains The Same
09. The Rain Song

Disc 2:
01. Dazed and Confused
02. Stairway To Heaven

Disc 3:
01. Whole Lotta Love
02. Heartbreaker
03. Immigrant Song
04. Communication Breakdown

Vocals: Robert Plant
Guitars: Jimmy Page
Bass and Keyboards: John Paul Jones (a.k.a. John Baldwin)
Drums: John "Bonzo" Bonham


NOTES:

Led Zeppelin played two shows at the Hard Rock Concert Theatre in Manchester a week into the biggest UK tour of their career. The Hard Rock Theater is, in the words of Robert Plant, “one step up from Belle Vue which I think they might be right about.” A fair to good tape source exists for this show and was pressed by the Sanctuary label on Hard Rock! in 1999.

Two years later Empress Valley issued the show again on The Rovers Return. For this release they utilize a new audience recording which is is much better sounding. It is still a bit distant, but it captures the music and atmosphere of the event nicely. There are small cuts after “Dazed And Confused,” ”Stairway To Heaven,” “Whole Lotta Love” and “Heartbreaker” which EV edited in the older tape source and “Communication Breakdown” is sourced from the old tape completely. Also, there is fair amout of tape wobble in “I Can’t Quit You” in the “Whole Lotta Love” medley before a cut at 18:53. The transitions between the two tape sources could have been handled a bit better since the edits are abrupt.

Manchester is a very conservative show, perhaps due to it being in the first week of their biggest tour and starting out under a cloud of such negativity. What is particular striking is how the Houses Of The Holy songs, some of which had been added to the setlist the previous summer, still are played very close to their studio counterparts such as ”Over The Hills And Far Away” and “The Song Remains The Same.”

But the ethic in these shows is to inject the heavy parts with particular bite and bile, something Jimmy Page does very well in “Black Dog” and “Since I’ve Been Loving You” early on in the show. Before “Dancing Days” Plant speaks about the ”weekly musical comics” who “managed to get to Newcastle last week. It’s the first English gig they’ve been to for about thirty five years, and you should see how they’ve changed. … If the album would have come out in the summer, as you’ve probably read, it would have been just right, but still, Dancing Days.”

Manchester are impatient during the more quiet, mellow passages and become vocal during ”The Rain Song.” Plant complains about them, sarcastically thanking them “for that accompaniment during the quiet part you silly schmuck, who ever you were. It really doesn’t matter, we’re gonna carry on with Billy Fury numbers all night. Actually, he’s made an album with Eric Clapton, I think. Billy Fury. Here’s one that reminds me of Billy Fury cause it features John Paul Jones” he says before they start “Dazed And Confused.” The half hour long track features “Walter’s Walk,” “Hots On For Nowhere” and “The Crunge” during the long improvisation.

The show concludes with “Whole Lotta Love” which Plant says “typifies everything that we do during our hobby time.” In addition to the regular inclusions in the medley “Everybody Needs Someone To Love,” “Let’s Have A Party” and “Boogie Chillun’” they also include the The Isley Brothers’ “Its’ Your Thing” and Gene Vincent’s “Say Mama.” The medley concludes with a devastating version of “I Can’t Quit You” which morphs into “Going Down Slow.” Manchester is rewarded with three encores: “Heartbreaker,” “Immigrant Song” and a quick version of “Communication Breakdown.”

The Rovers Returnis named after the fictional pub in the British soap opera Coronation Street which is set in the fictitious town Weatherfield, which is by Manchester. The title is also a pun since it also refers to the band’s return after touring the world. Empress Valley chose to package this in a thick bulky booklet with many pictures from the tour. It’s a good show to have and this is the only version of this particular tape on silver disc.

(classicrockreview.wordpress.com)

Plant is regaining control of his voice, belting out the verses with power and bravado during Rock and Roll. Black Dog is brutally heavy. Page shreds through the guitar solo. Plant forgets some lyrics during the first verse of Misty Mountain Hop. Page is on fire during an epic Since I've Been Loving You. A truly powerful performance, one of the best in recent memory. Before Dancing Days, Plant comments on the English music press's fondness for the song. After a long pause, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp begins with a loud hum of feedback from Jones's bass.

Page's fingers fly across the fretboard during an excellent The Song Remains the Same. The Rain Song is fantastic, the perfect balance of delicate beauty and thunderous attack. As shouted requests continue to pour in from the crowd, Plant jokes "it really doesn't matter, we're gonna carry on with Bill Fury numbers all night" before Dazed and Confused. The lead-in to the bow solo features a great heavy jam with Bonzo thrashing violently at anything within reach before a particularly heavy iteration of the San Francisco interlude. The guitar solo/workout section is an explosion of raw energy lead by Page's lightning-fast soloing. The outro is drenched in wah-wah as Plant's screeches and howls echo out over the crowd. An amazing performance.

Stairway to Heaven is plagued by feedback during the verse before Bonzo enters. Page blazes through an excellent guitar solo as Bonzo holds down a martial rhythm. Plant introduces Whole Lotta Love as "a song that really typifies everything that we do during our hobby time." Page leads the band in a jam on a funky riff before the theramin freakout. With a machine gun snare burst, Bonzo triggers the thunderous explosion of the Everybody Needs Somebody to Love section. The band gets into a funky It's Your Thing breakdown before the guitar solo break. Plant skips the usual boogie rap, heading straight into a riotous rendition of John Lee Hooker's Bottle Up and Go. Page, Jones, and Bonzo jam on a bluesy rhythm as Plant struggles to get the boogie back on track. The medley proper includes Boogie Chillen', a raucous rendition of Gene Vincent's Say Mama, Elvis Presley's Let's Have a Party, I Can't Quit You Baby, and Goin' Down Slow after a cut in the tape. As the band leaves the stage, Plant tells the crowd "thank you very much, we've had a very silly time."

Page gets Jones and Bonzo into a high-speed jam in the middle of the a cappella solo during Heartbreaker. He blazes through a lightning-fast guitar solo. The final verse is utterly explosive. Plant introduces Immigrant Song as "a song that's taken all over the world, even Bangcock." The band closes the show with a quick and dirty Communication Breakdown. A devastatingly heavy performance. Must hear.

The tape is clear and well-balanced, if a bit noisy in the higher frequencies.

(theyearofledzeppelin.com)

(links in comments)
(PASSWORD = ra)
Enjoy !