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BOTM #8 part 1




In thanks to the squelched ( for now ) rumor os Zep's reunion that was further fueled with reports of a bogus Q107 ( Toronto, Ontario, Canada ) JPJ interview I bring you my impessions of

Listen to my Bluebird ( Image Quality )
http://zeppelinart.com/main/1969/1969-11-02%20toronto/listen%20to%20my%20bluebird%20%28image%20quality%29/listen_to_my_bluebird1.jpg
http://zeppelinart.com/main/1969/1969-11-02%20toronto/listen%20to%20my%20bluebird%20%28image%20quality%29/listen_to_my_bluebird2.jpg

November 2, 1969 O'keefe Center Toronto , Ontario, Canada
http://www.oldbuckeye.com/Houses_of_the_Holy/imagepages/image201.html


Alot of good things can be said about 69. The year of 1969 was also a great one for Led Zeppelin!!! ; ) 4 US tours! Zep 1 released! Zep 2 released!! Gold and Platinum discs!!! Rockin Carnegie Hall !!!! and all the while having a ball. A third album under way...wow. Name me a band today that in one year can go from infanct to imfamous!!!! Go ahead...name me one....

Let's go back... "Pleased to be back..It's very nice to be back in Toronto" Yeay!!!!...and with a sound of Jimmy's hand slide down the neck you hear the double barreled power chord intro of Good Times Bad Times...,o yeah! but alas all it is is just the intro as that quickly turns into the almost punk sounding opening E's of CB. Not the greatest sounding recording as JPJ's bass is a bit booming, Plant's voice echey and distorted, Jimmy's there, but Bonzo's pretty low in the mix. But not ll *that* bad... But Jimmy ups it a notch as the solo kicks in and the Mighty Zep are in full flight!!! After the intitial solo onslaught they break into their free form jam with Jones laying down a funky groove as Jimmy rocks on. Eventually they quiet and slow down as Plant starts singing the lyrics to Bluebird...the words are the only thing close to it and they break back into the closing of CB and immediately go into I Can't Quit you baby, with Plant starting it off with a long mighty AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OOoh!!!
silence...............................................
I Can't quit you baaaaay.......

Although Joney's bass is the dominant foe, Jimmy is clear and loud enough for you to appreciate his pyrotechnics. Nothing a little tweaking in the midrange and dropping the low end can't cure. As Jimmy's main solo starts off he kinda goes off on a bad one but quickly recoups and fires off a rapid onslaught of notes that make you forget his faux pas a second before. After the 'quiet break' you'd think he's gonna break a string with the way he's stretching them notes. "Jimmy Page" goes Plant before launching into another long wail of his own and they finish off the song to great applause.

Plant is a bit muffled so can't really figure out what he's saying at first, but then get him loud and clear as he goes " We intend to try and do as much of the Led Zeppelin Four album as possible ( HA! ) but we thought we'd cut it down by half and instead do Two" "So...." and we get our first tape cut of the evening and next thing you hear is Jimmy's "wobbly" intro note tooooooooooooo Heartbreaker... Too bad Bonzo's sounding distant and buried as some real "tight" drumming from him in the beginning... as it heads into the solo it all gets quite muddy. Some herky jerky moments at first then barrage o rama , again some herky jerk, barrage before the storm where Jimmy does alot of these wah wah wow kinda notes. Plant comes back sounding more echoey and distant that before and the number fades before the end and another cut in the audience. Was the taper conserving tape ??? It returns with the first notes of Dazed and Robert going thank you very much so obviously we missed something. Oh well....

Jimmy's wahhed harmonics sound very similar to the album version with a touch of "BBC" sound to it. Do you know what I mean ? Some volume fluctuations as the number builds , was the taper getting situated better ? Plant's singing this one pretty animated ad libbing a bunch of I don't knows into the mix...a long tremelo of notesright before the bow kicks in so it's kinda catches you off gaurd. And only a few quick ones before Jimmy launches straight into the bow beating. ; ) Bow beating, I like that!!! as he's doing the spooky part, right at around the 06:58 mark Plant bursts out with something that to me sounds like "when you're walking in an ocean" ????? strange... I'm hoping he says something more to make sense of it, but oh well.... Some off key Plant moans fill the air ...not off key DISSONANT I say to myself! ; ) and they launch into the fast part , with Page certainly doing his part to keep the dissonance ( sp ? ) alive. That seems to be the theme for tonites guitar war. Jimmy does some cool things with his volume knob at around 11:50 as things slow down and then they return again to the breakneck speed and we see the forms of parts taking shape that would become later years' trademark segments of Dazed. Some feedback torture by Page right before they go back to the main theme. Cannot tell what the hell Plant is singing as he returns but it certainly ain't the original lyrics... As Jimmy noodles about in the closing segments Plant is heard having fun with his vocal and some effect or something...or so it sounds and then a series of Ahhhhhhhhhhyeahs and other nonsensical jabbering as Jimmy brings the spirit of Hendrrix on.... It's kinda hypnotic.... the number ends with a viking ahhhhhh from Plant.