Led Zeppelin/California, USA 1971

In our ZEP vintage masterpiece reprint series, which has continued with OG, Pb, and Badge Holders, this time we finally have the classic masterpiece “GOING TO CARIFORNIA” from the 1971 American tour. It feels like the live sound source of ZEP has run out, but surprisingly, the master sound source and upgrade have not been discovered yet, and as a result, the original LP is the best sound, or the only one that can be listened to. There are many live recordings left. Our store has released a number of masterpiece LPs from among these, with a focus on creating CDs that respect the original sound and original recording condition. This time’s “GOING TO CALIFORNIA” was released by TMOQ, also known as Trade Mark Of Quality, a label that can be said to be a pioneer in releasing rare sound sources. One of the top ZEP masterpieces from TMOQ is the 1970 live classic “LIVE ON BLUEBERRY HILL.” Moreover, the same label recorded that LA Forum. It is no exaggeration to say that this is a historical masterpiece that captures the beginning of ZEP’s forum legend. The most important thing was to show off the awesomeness of ZEP’s live performance, which was a hot topic all over the world. One year after that Blueberry Hill, ZEP will visit America again. However, TMOQ recorded this time surprisingly not at the last LA Forum, but at a community center in Berkeley on the same west coast. In the early 70’s, when rock concerts were held here, the community center was the venue. Moreover, reflecting ZEP’s ever-growing popularity in the United States, Berkeley was chosen as a place they had never visited before. “GOING TO CALIFORNIA” was recorded on September 14th, the second day of the performance in Berkeley. However, what surprised everyone when the same LP was released was the plant’s poor performance, which was noticeable when the opening “Immigrant Song” started. The cause of this was that since his debut, he had continued to shout hard due to his youth, and as a result he had begun to suffer from the fatigue in his throat that you can hear here. After all, the 1971 American tour was good until the schedule was expanded to reflect its popularity, but it suddenly started with five consecutive nights of performances, and even after that, a conspicuous schedule of consecutive performances was assembled. The best example would be the performance on the fourth day of the tour and the second day of the LA Forum. As the live performance progressed, Plant’s throat became increasingly fatigued, and in the end he was able to squeeze out his voice with the force of his youth. Of course, as the Japanese performance after this proved, Plant’s scream voice period still continues, but this tour was the time when the shadow was beginning to disappear from his amazing shout. Moreover, the second day of Berkeley is the final stage of the American tour. If that’s the case, it can’t be helped that Plant’s voice seems tired from the opening…However, perhaps this is the power of youth, and as the live progresses, he gets better and better, which surprises me. “GOING TO CALIFORNIA” was recording such a day at the end of the American tour, but interestingly, in “Immigrant Song”, not only Plant’s voice but also the recording was suffering. At the beginning of the song, the sound quality was monaural, which was still of high quality for an audience recording in 1971, but from the middle of the next song, “Heartbreaker,” the sound quality was stereo, boasting amazing clarity and a wide sense of presence. It suddenly changes. What’s more, the sound cuts out in between, but it’s as if the microphone was not connected properly to the recorder and it was fixed. Excellent freshness from there, just rich stereo sound quality… This is really amazing! One of the reasons why this record is ranked alongside Blueberry Hill is its outstanding sound quality. However, even in “Black Dog”, the left channel is turned off, or cuts that occur in places such as the second half of “Dazed And Confused”, etc. can not be said to be a perfect recording state compared to Blueberry Hill. However, even putting aside such recording problems, the dynamism and freshness of ZEP heard here has not faded at all even in 2015. The recording balance is also exquisite, and the sound seems to confirm the testimony that the sound from the venue at ZEP’s live performance was extremely loud. Moreover, it is also wonderful that the voice of the plant, which demodulates in a blink of an eye, is captured in a vividly on-sound image. After all, Plant is still young, so the basic voice quality itself is still the same as that exciting scream voice. However, I think that the 1971 ZEP is unique in that the footwork of the performance is light. Certainly, the inter-play exchange in “Dazed And Confused” does not reach the weight and skill like after 1973. However, at this point, in the strategy of the same song, the development in which the plant cuts in with light footwork is unique to 1971. Moreover, on this day he sang a rare passage of Chuck Berry’s “Back In The USA”, which is also really interesting. And the biggest performance on this LP is the medley of “Whole Lotta Love”. The cover song selection and development can be said to be the standard at this time, but “Hello Mary Lou” that appeared here is a masterpiece among the masterpieces in the medley version of the same song, and Plant’s song is wonderful after all. Speaking of “Hello Mary Lou” from the “Whole Lotta Love” medley, many enthusiasts will think of the performance here. Unfortunately, however, the master tape of the masterpiece “GOING TO CALIFORNIA” has not yet been found. While the original sound source of Blueberry Hill was widely available, it is strange that this sound source has not been discovered at all. Perhaps it was a sound source provided by another taper, judging from the recording condition that was completely different from Blueberry Hill. Thanks to this, recording from the TMOQ edition has become the only way to make it into CD, and many items have been released so far. This time, it is carefully recorded from the reissue “The Trademark of Quality Years” (10LP) set, which uses the same stamper as the original version, which is said to have the best quality among the same discs. Early releases of TMOQ tend to have quite a bit of noise even in mint condition due to problems with the vinyl material used, but later reissues are actually of better quality and have extremely high-fidelity sound. You can enjoy it. This time, this reissue has been made into a CD without any equalization other than noise removal to avoid affecting the sound quality. Berkeley Community Theatre, Berkeley, California, USA 14th September 1971 The Original “The Trademark of Quality Years” LPs (Matrix # LZ 1,2,3,4) Disc 1 (48:24) 1. Immigrant Song 2. Heartbreaker 3. Since I’ve Been Loving You 4. Black Dog 5. Dazed And Confused Disc 2 (48:02) 1. Stairway To Heaven 2. That’s The Way 3. Going To California 4. Whole Lotta Love incl. Boogie Chillun’, Hello Mary Lou, My Baby Left Me, Mess O’Blues, You Shook Me, The Lemmon Song