BOTM#10 part 1 of many

[tytlane@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

For my tenth BOTM I decided to do a special show. One that I remember 
that I held dear from the first time I ever had the tape, yes I said 
tape, in my hand. One that I remember made my jaw drop as I heard it's 
stunning quality teh first time. One that years later made my jaw drop 
again and ushered in a whole new era of boot collecting for me and I'm 
sure alot of you as well. One that set the bar for things to come.
What I'm talking about is

 February 12, 1975

Madison Square Garden New York, New York USA
http://www.oldbuckeye.com/Houses_of_the_Holy/imagepages/image134.html

One of the Holiest of the Houses  - my biased opinion of course. But 
hard to deny considering some of the awesome shows put on there by Led 
Zeppelin.

The boot in Particular that I am talking about today is the 2002 release 
of Flying Circus.
http://zeppelinart.com/browse.asp?dir=1975%2F1975%2D02%2D12+new+york%2Fflying+circus+%28empress+valley%29


There have been a bunch of releases that follow each trying to trump the 
other, mastering remastering, re-re-remastering...but if this is the 
bottom of that barrel, so be it. I love it.

Audience noise...anticipation...group noise...a chord from Jimmy, couple 
drum hits from Bonzo....c'mon allready!!!!!

Rock ' ROLL!!!! And it hits you ...that full stunning soundboard quality 
that makes your hair stand on end!  Everything is nicely balanced. The 
cymbals are a little high, but that's what an eq is for!!!  Plant's 
voice is rough, it's '75 there's no going back to pre influenza days!!!
And Same goes for Page's solo...it ain't 71 anymore!! But even with it's 
sticky fingers it's overlooked as you're still picking your jaw up off 
the floor from the awesome sound of this one! A final drum roll from 
Bonzo finishes this one off and they immediately go into Sick Again. ( 
No Rover Oner! ) Bonzo is a speed demon just prior to Jimmy's solo. 
After a full year's absence from the stage, Bonzo is making his Presence 
known! Jimmy's solo dosen't come off too well, sounds kinda hollow/dry. 
And of course sticky. ; ) Definately one where the audience hears it 
better than us.  One thing I love about this number live is that you 
really get to hear the big contribution JPJ's bass makes to the whole 
song. Can't tell as much on the studio cut, but here you can really hear 
Jonesy ripping it up with just a monster line throughout. The second 
solo comes off much better as Jimmy's loosening up and they begin to 
gel. Plant's voice cracks like a whip as it ends and then he belts out a 
mighty "NEW YORK!!!!!  Good Evening...I said good Evening....that's 
better.  We came four blocks in the snow to get here you realise that? 
Well let me tell you something...people...people were calling me on the 
telephone today saying Is it gonna be on ??Is it gonna be on ??? For a 
minute I wondered about my anatomy, but I realised it was a discrepency 
about the weather." Plant is obviously in a good chatty mood and has his 
witt about him. I'd transcribe the rest, but Instead I'll tell you about 
" something that goes like this..."

 And Jimmy starts into Over the Hills and Far Away. Nice tone with just 
a hint of amp distortion. Plant sing it nice and Wam Bam Many times...
tight. And as you listen you hear in that tightness a looseness to 
Jimmy's playing. Sticking to the pieces but everyonce in awhile a little 
extra something... Acapulco Gold !!!! And Then it's solo time, which 
Jimmy starts with what almost can be described as a howl from his 
guitar. The Rhythm machine is just awesome as Jimmy takes us through a 
trip spiced with Morrocan accents and heavy riffs playing games with 
Bonzo's drumming patterns. Jonesy takes a bit of a detour hitting his 
own dissonant notes. Then they all come together into that "power riff" 
before the ascending end to the solo. awesome. As Plant ends the song 
with some Ooooh yeahs, his voice is a bit strained it sounds. Maybe that 
walk in the snow wasn't a good idea?

 "Thank you...This is what we would consider to be the last of the New 
York concerts...we got the Nassau county ones but we've always really 
dug playing at the Garden, so tonight we're gonna have a really ecstatic 
one. Right ? This is co-dependant on two things. Us and you. I'm in the 
mood to do alot of talking"  NO KIDDING!!!!!

 Introduces Physical Graffitti and new tracks...  "And this is one of them"

And Jimmy introduces us to his slide via a slow draw down the strings 
and here it comes.... tight but loose at it's finest.IMTOD has got to be 
one of the most intense pieces of rock slide guitar ever written. 
American Delta Blues on a ‘roid rage. It’s a phenomenal piece. I’ll 
never forget the moment  May 27,2003 when sitting in a theater full 
after watching an oddly enough May 1975 version of this being aired, 
when at the end this booming voice rang out HOLY SHIT!!!!! I can imagine 
that being the reaction from a ton of people mass wise at the Garden as 
Jimmy hits those first crunching  chords in synch with JPJ and Bonzo. 
Holy shit.
Now add to that Roberts mournful pitiful lyrics of a man's dying wishes. 
A classic. It's just such a great piece I'm not gonna ruin it with my 
words. All I'll say is Robert's crackling voice suits it perfectly.

" Pardon ? ? Thank you very much...Ironically that was what one call an 
old folk standard. They become folk songs when nobody writes the music 
to them anymore and they're passed down by memory can you ever imagine 
WLL wound up like that? "