Osaka 1971

Excellent album - most enjoyable. It arrived promptly and there were no issues with it. Many thanks.

"You're too quiet... dishonourably quiet". I'm sure Robert Plant would be more culturally sensitive in this day and age, but the quiet respect of a 1971 Japanese audience really bothers him throughout this concert - so much so, he keeps trying to wake them up. Oddly enough, within the year, many of the same fans of heavy rock would make a lot more noise for Deep Purple, but the 1971 audience's reserve is no reflection of the show - this is Zep in full swing, giving it their all. The versions of Celebration Day and Stairway in particular are fantastic. A great show, albeit Plant is clearly having problems with his voice and doesn't go anywhere near the top notes he managed effortlessly only a few months earlier at the US shows captured on How the West Was Won. I had always understood that the Japanese shows were the last time he could still reach his higher range, but on this night at least, he keeps his powder dry..The recording itself is something of a let down. There's a metallic whistling sound, in particular early on - classic tape-to-tape-to tape generational loss alien phasing sounds. The dynamic range isn't on a par with official live shows. On the plus side, the band is very well mic'd and Bonzo's drums sound fantastic, alongside Page's guitar - you'd swear it's exactly the same recording set-up as the studio Moby Dick, for instance, with Page's tone a near facsimile. Sadly we miss out on Immigrant Song, a medleyfied Whole Lotta Love, C'Mon Everybody, High Heel Sneakers and closer Communication Breakdown, none of which make it to this CD (and all of which would have been preferable to a lengthy Moby Dick.)I'd give the performances 4.5 stars and the recording 3. It's good to hear HtWWW material without the brickwalling. I can only hope Jimmy one day treats us to a full, non-brickwalled How the East Was Won.

Well packaged, good quality sound, and brilliant music

By no means this was ever an FM broadcast. That's just a marketing ploy for these 'gray' labels to secure a (semi) legal status for their output (under European copyright laws, that is). Just like the subsequent show at Osaka Festival hall this was an incomplete soundboard recording, premiered by the elusive Empress Valley label in Japan. It's a nicely balanced mono line recording and enjoyable for both causal and avid Zep heads. These 1971-1973 era concerts are the pinnacle of Zeppelin's live heritage, especially due to Plant's top notch vocals and the pristine instrumental interaction . Four of the five 1971 were recorded professionally (commissioned by Warner Pioneer Japan), but unfortunately these Muti tracks were not taken into consideration as a companion release to How the West Was Won in 2003.(you can guess what the title would have been ;-)

2 discs of Zeppelin from 1971 the Japanese tour,sound quality varies and there are a couple of edits.At approx 2hrs,this suffers from comparison to the audio quality on the Osaka disc on the 'Orlando to Osaka ' release.That being said it does include 'Celebration Day','Thats The Way','Going To Calafornia' and 'Tangerine' which is nice.Again i will get enjoyment from this.Casual fans keep your money.

A very good sound board recording

The acoustics on this are tremendous but this not the whole concert - there is some music missing - it ends with Moby Dick. However the acoustic songs - that’s the way, tangerine and going to California are stunning, the dazed and confused is brilliant and two mickey takes of Beatles songs and folk song down by the riverside are funny. Planty unfortunately does fall out with very quiet audience and that’s interesting by itself. Recommended but with those provisos.

All good