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 1975 - UK Return "Earls Court"

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1

Demand Unprecedented In

 The History Of Rock Music

(The Complete Earl's Court Arena Tapes)

Empress Valley Supreme Disc (EVSD 91-112) 22CD box set, limited to 250 copies.

The Complete Earls Court Arena Tapes I

Date: May 17,  1975, The UK Return
Venue: the Earls Court Arena, London, UK
Label: Empress Valley Supreme Disc, 4 CD
Sound: AUD:  not rated yet
Notes: Jules McTrainspotter July 02
taken from the undergrounduprising website
Disc 1:  Introduction by Bob Harris, Rock & Roll, Sick Again, Over the Hills & far away, In my Time of Dying, the Song remains the same, the Rain Song, Kashmir
Disc 2:  No Quarter, Tangerine, Going to California, Thats the Way, Bron-Y-Aur-Stomp
Disc 3:  Trampled Underfoot, Moby Dick
Disc 4:  Dazed & Confused, Stairway to Heaven, Whole Lotta Love / Black Dog
17th May, the first night. Introduced by 'Whispering' Bob Harris, this has always been the poorest sounding of the five nights. Previously there has only been one source tape in circulation (used by Antrabata on their 3CD Arabesque & Baroque) but a second, almost complete source tape surfaced a some years ago. This initially appeared on the incredibly scarce and limited For Tainspotters Only (3CD, Anorak Records). The person who recorded this actually introduces it! This was copied by Power Chord for their 4CD (the original release was on 3CDs) release Devil's Banquet. Empress Valley have also used this second source tape (from CD, as the master tape is not accessible) as their mainstay, and neatly filled the gaps with the first source tape. They have increased the EQ (as they have for all the other nights on this set), which gives the sound a very punchy feel, with more bottom end, compared to the original master tape sound. Whilst this evening's performance was not the greatest, first night nerves and so on, Empress Valley have now produced the definitive version.
 

 

The Complete Earls Court Arena Tapes II

Date: May 18,  1975, The UK Return
Venue: the Earls Court Arena, London, UK
Label: Empress Valley Supreme Disc, 4 CD
Sound: AUD:  not rated yet
Notes: Jules McTrainspotter July 02
taken from the undergrounduprising website
Disc 1:  Introduction by Johnnie Walker, Rock & Roll, Sick Again, Over the Hills & far away, In my Time of Dying, the Song remains the same, the Rain Song, Kashmir
Disc 2:  No Quarter, Tangerine, Going to California, Thats the Way, Bron-Y-Aur-Stomp
Disc 3:  Trampled Underfoot, Moby Dick
Disc 4:  Dazed & Confused, Stairway to Heaven, Whole Lotta Love,  Black Dog

18th May, the second night. Things improve both in sound and performance for the second appearance in the arena. DJ Johnnie Walker introduces the band. The previous best sounding source tape was released by Immigrant many years ago on the 3CD Complete Earl's Court Arena. This source, in stereo, has also been used by Empress Valley, and again the EQ has boosted the sound level higher than previous releases. It must be said that this fashion of cranking up the EQ is something you either love or hate. Whether to leave the original tape as it is or to play around with it and possibly (although this is not always the case) inprove the overall sound quality. Come what may this second night is in excellent sound and by and large a excellent job has been done. Both this and the previous night could have fitted onto three CDs.
 

 

The Complete Earls Court Arena Tapes III

Date: May 23,  1975, The UK Return
Venue: the Earls Court Arena, London, UK
Label: Empress Valley Supreme Disc, 4 CD
Sound: AUD:  not rated yet
Notes: Jules McTrainspotter July 02
taken from the undergrounduprising website
Disc 1:  Introduction by David "Kid" Jensen, Rock & Roll, Sick Again, Over the Hills & far away, In my Time of Dying, the Song remains the same, the Rain Song, Kashmir
Disc 2:  No Quarter, Tangerine, Going to California, Thats the Way, Bron-Y-Aur-Stomp
Disc 3:  Trampled Underfoot, Moby Dick
Disc 4:  Dazed & Confused, Stairway to Heaven, Whole Lotta Love,  Black Dog
23rd May, the third night. The audience source tape for this night has always been one of the best sounding of all the five nights. The previous best release was the Tarantura 4CD Thunderstorm, although Jelly Roll's 4CD Physical Express is close behind it. Once again Empress Valley have done a excellent job in producing a great sounding release (and a great performance by the group as well).
 

 

The Complete Earls Court Arena Tapes IV

Date: May 24,  1975, The UK Return
Venue: the Earls Court Arena, London, UK
Label: Empress Valley Supreme Disc, 4 CD
Sound: Excellent Soundboard  (not the Video Source)
Notes: Jules McTrainspotter July 02
taken from the undergrounduprising website
Disc 1:  Introduction by Nicky Horne, Rock & Roll, Sick Again, Over the Hills & far away, In my Time of Dying, the Song remains the same, the Rain Song, Kashmir
Disc 2:  No Quarter, Tangerine, Going to California, Thats the Way, Bron-Y-Aur-Stomp
Disc 3:  Trampled Underfoot, Moby Dick, Dazed & Confused
Disc 4:  Stairway to Heaven, Whole Lotta Love,  Black Dog
24th May, the fourth night. The most famous of the five nights at Earls Court, largely because it has long been available in a near complete soundboard recording. The many releases used a combination of the video soundtrack and a proper soundboard source tape. However this was incomplete, running for only 180 minutes. Several years ago Celebration released the 4CD Odysseus, which should and could have been much better. More soundboard tape was used (in Dazed and Confused and for Moby Dick), but there were still gaps in the acoustic section which should have been filled by the audience source. Recently however even more of the soundboard source tape appeared, and this was used by Watch Tower for their 4CD release To Be A Rock And Not To Roll. The gaps were carefully filled with an excellent audience tape. Unfortunately, like so many of Watch Tower's releases, this was again spoilt by numerous digital 'clicks' and 'ticks'. Empress Valley rush released the 4CD He Must Be Dazed And Confused to counteract this (sad or what). The sound quality is similar to Watch Tower, perhaps a very small improvement, but the big gain is in the strength of Robert Plant's voice, which is much louder and clearer in this new version. Again the gaps have been filled with an excellent audience tape.
 

 

The Complete Earls Court Arena Tapes V

Date: May 25,  1975, The UK Return
Venue: the Earls Court Arena, London, UK
Label: Empress Valley Supreme Disc, 4 CD
Sound: Excellent Soundboard  
Notes: Jules McTrainspotter July 02
taken from the undergrounduprising website
Disc 1:  Introduction by Alan "Fluff" Freeman, Rock & Roll, Sick Again, Over the Hills & far away, In my Time of Dying, the Song remains the same, the Rain Song, Kashmir
Disc 2:  No Quarter, Tangerine, Going to California, Thats the Way, Bron-Y-Aur-Stomp, Trampled Underfoot
Disc 3:  Moby Dick, Dazed & Confused, Stairway to Heaven
Disc 4:  Whole Lotta Love,  Black Dog, Heartbreaker, Communication Breakdown

25th May, the fifth night. This release is undoubtably the most important and exciting release of an Earls Court concert for a very long time. A virtually complete soundboard source tape has been discovered, and used to dramatic effect. In fact the sound quality rivals the previous night, it is simply superb. Again the gaps have been filled with the audience tape (the end of No Quarter and parts of the acoustic section are missing from the soundboard and have been filled with the audience recording). Thank goodness Empress Valley did not repeate their complete howler as they did for the New York 29th July 1973 soundboard release (Grand Finale), by using the previous night's soundboard to fill the gaps. Therefore this last night, all 222 minutes of it, is destined to become a classic, much sought after by fans. Wishing to capitalize on this Empress Valley subsequently released the last night as a seperate 4CD set called The Zeppelin Express Physical Rocket.

Well that is it, an incredible release from Empress Valley, easily their most ambitious production so far. A very scarce and beautiful artifact, this soon sold out and is becoming extemely hard to find and very collectible indeed. Already copies are being offered (and bought!) for four times the original price! It would have been a true classic release if Empress Valley had put the first two nights onto 3 CDs, and left the acetate release on 2 CDs (nice as it is) out and made it a completely seperate release. An 18 CD box set would have been the finest tribute to these five historic nights in Earls Court that could have been made. Considering the size and number of CDs, the cost compares very favourably with other Empress Valley releases, being the equivalent to three of their 4CD sets. Hardly what can be called a bargain, but in these days when only luxury labels produce anything, very reasonable.
 

 

No Quarter (Bonus Discs)

Date: May 18,  1975, The UK Return
Venue: the Earls Court Arena, London, UK
Label: Empress Valley Supreme Disc, 2 CD
Sound: AUD  
Notes: Jules McTrainspotter July 02
taken from the undergrounduprising website
Disc 1:  Introduction by Johnnie Walker, Rock & Roll, Sick Again, Over the Hills & far away, In my Time of Dying, the Song remains the same, the Rain Song, Kashmir
Disc 2:  No Quarter, Tangerine, Going to California, Thats the Way, Bron-Y-Aur-Stomp
In addition to the complete audience recording for this show, Empress Valley released the classic vinyl LP No Quarter. The original tapes perished in a fire, along with a lot of the vinyl copies, when the garage lock-up where they were stored burnt down. However Empress Valley have tracked down the original acetates, taken from the master tapes, and released them on 2CDs. This contains the first half of the show, as far as Bron-yr-Aur Stomp. The CDs are housed in a matt card gatefold slipcase, and the original Red Devil label vinyl cover is used on the front. The sound quality is near excellent stereo, and the snaps, crackles and pops inherent on an acetate have been digitally removed. In the booklet it is revealed that Empress Valley had originally planned to release this night only as a 6CD set, the four audience CDs plus the acetate on 2CDs. It would have been better to have released it seperately rather than include it in this box set. However it is a very important addition to the Earls Court catalogue
Liner Notes from the Cover:  In the late Seventies The Master Tapes Made The Original Vinyl Were destroyed By Fire At The Warehouse With All Stock. Fortunately, The Original Acetate For The Vinyl Did Survive! This Is Why The Master Tape Never Exists Today. We Thank You Very Much For The Great Discovery! Recording Equipments: Sony 152SD Taperecorder & Two Sony Microphones
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