Re[2]: Story on BBC release in LA Times

[danderso@xxxxxxxxxxx (David Anderson)]

Tom Flannery:

>Well, hopefully, now that the band is getting some press, especially in a
>paper like the LA Times, the date is set in stone. But with Zep, you never
>can tell. I also like the fact that he said "The recently unearthed master
>tapes".

Yeah, me too (did I really say that?).  I suppose Jon Astley had to redo 
the whole thing.  It should blow most of the bootlegs away.  As good as 
Antrabata's "BBC Zep" is, it has a raw sound, too raw for a tape that is 
supposedly a DAT clone of the master.

Article:

|>"This batch of BBC sessions is just the tip of the iceberg. Page has a
|>king's ransom of live recordings in his archives, so you can bet more 
|will
|>be rolling our way."
|>
|>Sounds good to me....

>Sounds good is right, but how realistic is it? There won't be another live
>release for a very long time, if ever, IMHO .

I'll try to be optimistic here.  The record business isn't so good right 
now, too many big acts with big contracts who haven't delivered big sales 
on their latest releases (U2, Genesis, R.E.M.).  Archival releases don't 
cost much to produce relative to the cost of developing a new act.  
Atlantic might want to offset some disappointments with live releases from 
legendary acts.

Page has wanted to do a live Zep release for 20 years.  Perhaps Plant is OK 
enough with it at this point to let Page start some sort of ongoing project 
with Astley's help.  I wouldn't ever expect a "Dick's Pick's" style series, 
but a hefty chronological set would do just fine, as long as it represents 
all of the band's touring eras and shifts in sound.  I'm just tired of 
stuff that's "just OK, not the best, not the worst" (Jimmy's words, not 
mine) being deemed good enough for release.  They have the really good 
stuff, so why not get it out there?

What I fear is that Atlantic will release the Led Zep studio albums AGAIN, 
only this time with live bonus tracks.  I wouldn't put it past them.

- --Dave