Re: Zep Unravel In Disarray?

[Jwycliffe@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 97-11-19 09:51:58 EST

Chris Williams cited Brian's post of the DFP's BBC Review:

<< Brian Ingham thoughtfully provided the text of Sunday*s Detroit 
Free Press review:
 
 While I thought the review was "nice", it contained the following:
 
       "But in a live setting, as this set confirms, the band at its
        best cut a hot-and-loose groove, at worst threatened to 
        unravel in sloppy disarray."
 
 Whattz up wit that? I believe that I read something similar in another
 review. While I'm not a musician, I do think of myself as an intelligent
 listener. I've never been able to find fault with these early shows. >>

Chris:

   There is definitely *some* merit to the reviewers comments. The
use of the word sloppy would be inaccurate, but it is an undeniable
casualty of Zep's excessive spontaneity in the early shows, that at
times experiments would "unravel in disarray". The odd aspect of
this criticism is that it bears no relevance to the BBC release the
writer is reviewing; as these were "in house" concerts they are by
nature fairly conservative and the tracks lack the "experimental"
characteristics of the truly live shows which would at sometimes 
grind to a halt. This "disarray" of which he speaks was always a
temporary phenomenon, which Zep would quickly overcome. A
few examples???

"How Many More Times" - Miami Image Club 2-14-69: This whole
concert is extremely raw and experimental, but "HMMT" becomes
so "free-form" with its excessive call and response games that the 
whole band loses direction and the song it falls apart before the 
recording is cut. Even so, I love this type of experimentation by 
the band, and this is one of my favorite concerts as a result.

"How Many More Times" - SF Winterland Ballroom 4-26-69. One
of the great all-around concerts, vastly better than the following
night. However, Page's wanderings create an extremely disjointed
feeling in this track, and at times I get the impression the whole
thing is about to collapse (he puts the whole thing together more
fluently the following night... the only part of 4-27 superior to this
show)

Whole Lotta Love medley: Tokyo Budokan Hall 9-24-71. Perhaps
the greatest WLL medley on record. Nonetheless, when Plant 
tries to jump start "Your Time Is Gonna Come" the whole piece
grinds to a temporary, awkward halt, before the band shifts back
into high gear.

   These are not even particularly good examples. In the early shows
the band was always on the edge of pushing things too far, and in
danger of having the whole thing collapse on them... this was the 
excitement of the '69 shows: forging into previously unchartered
waters, knowing that at times they would get lost. What lead singer
has ever had to create more awkward "segues" than Plant? No one,
because nobody else pushed the envelope as far as early Zep. Who
has gotten lost "in media res" more times than Jimmy Page? No one, 
because few other guitarists went out on a limb to create a new solo 
for each live track every night. This danger of "unravelling" was not a
weakness, it was what made Zeppelin great, and it is the magic that
was missing for most of the '73-'80 concerts.

~Paul