Led Zeppelin/California, USA 3.24.1975

There are peaks and valleys. That is the staging of ZEP at the LA Forum, which became the end of the 1975 American tour. Originally, the 1975 American tour was carried out due to Plant’s cold and Page’s injured finger, but from the second leg of the tour, which was held after these troubles had subsided, ZEP steadily improved their condition. I’m going. Signs of this had been seen since around Dallas, where sound board recording is famous, but from the second day at Long Beach Arena, the voltage of the performance suddenly increased dramatically, and from there each person started playing lively. The peak continues. It is well known among enthusiasts that this period is full of masterpieces from 1975, and the continued excavation of sound board recordings proved that it had reached its peak. Given the circumstances, it seemed like they would continue with the same momentum for the three LA shows, but surprisingly that didn’t happen (lol). There is now a strong image of LA Forum = ZEP’s famous performance in the 70s, and there is no doubt that items such as Blueberry Hill and Eddie made a great contribution to its spread. However, since the LA Forum in 1975 did not have such a passionate performance, the evaluation was not as good as expected even among ZEP enthusiasts. Perhaps because of this image, their items were not as popular as Blueberry Hill and Eddie. However, the reason why the impression is so weak is because the second day in Long Beach and the two shows in Seattle were so outstanding, and the performance in LA also has its peaks and valleys, making it a very interesting performance. , that would be true. First up is the live performance on March 24th, the first day. On this day, the timing of the ending of “Sick Again” at the beginning of the song was shifted, which is evident from the fact that the timing of the ending of “Sick Again” was shifted, and the rush that had been present at the live show from mid-March until then had subsided, and surprisingly, It looks as if he is trying to play very carefully. You can see an 8mm video taken from the audience seats on this day on the official website, and it shows Page playing with quite intense stage action, and he was so focused on it that he made careless mistakes like the one before. It must have gone away. The first half of this day has a somewhat scary atmosphere, but the performance suddenly becomes intense with “In My Time Of Dying” where Page plays the slide guitar. In other words, it is definitely not a lackluster live performance throughout, which is common on the bad days of 1977 (for example, each live performance in July). Rather, what is interesting about the LA performance in 1975 is that sometime in the song, there will be a moment when it shines so clearly that it can be seen. It can be said that the first masterpiece of the day was “In My ~”. Another characteristic of this period was that around Seattle, “Dazed And Confused” began to grow in length to over 30 minutes, and by the three days in LA, it had evolved to the point where it was 30 minutes long on every day. . However, in most of these developments, Page stretches out the “connection” parts of each section of a long performance, and the improvisational maneuvers are not longer than usual. On the contrary, on this day, as soon as the performance started, Page’s Les Paul went out of tune (“Dazed And ~” at Budokan in 1972), and trouble tends to occur at the beginning of this song…) , Page manages to tune in between performances, but I can’t help but feel like I’ve been let down. Although it was a day of ups and downs, the group came together as one towards the end. In “Stairway To Heaven,” Page sings a phrase that literally seems to be on fire, and it’s amazing! “The Crunge,” which appears on “Whole Lotta Love,” also shows a much more cohesive development than Long Beach. As expected, Page still has explosive power, and was able to quickly recover from the misses that were seen here and there over the course of three days, and was not in a situation where his play became rough, which is probably unique to 1975. Mike Millard caught the spectacle show on the first day with an incredible high-quality audience recording. As you will understand if you listen to this release, the three days in LA in 1975 is a recording state that boasts a shocking sound pressure among the ZEP sound sources he left behind. Above all, on the first day, the sound of Page’s guitar was so realistic that it is no exaggeration to say that it is at the sound board level. That’s why the mistouches he made on this day were so vividly captured, they can only be described as astonishing. However, perhaps because this was the first day for Millard, the maestro of audience recording, he got distracted by the rest of the tape in the middle of “Trampled Underfoot,” and at the same time the volume went up and the sound cracked. I am. Perhaps you touched the volume level while preparing to change the tape. Millard captures a surprising sound image of the 1975 ZEP stage, where the performance mistakes mentioned above are seen here and there, but in the end, they are defeated, and JEMS has transferred it from the low generation version to the latest version. The best version has been released. Of course, the purpose of the release is to faithfully contain the mirrored sound source this time, and the cut parts such as the opening “Rock And Roll” are not compensated. Please enjoy the pure mirrored recording! The Forum, Inglewood, CA. USA 24th March 1975 Mike Millard Unmarked 1st Gen Cassettes Transfer Disc 1 (52:55) 1. Rock And Roll 2. Sick Again 3. Over The Hills And Far Away 4. In My Time Of Dying 5 . The Song Remains The Same 6. The Rain Song 7. Kashmir Disc 2 (57.11) 1. No Quarter 2. Trampled Underfoot 3. Moby Dick Disc 3 (73:19) 1. Dazed And Confused 2. Stairway To Heaven 3. Whole Lotta Love 4. Black Dog 5. Heartbreaker