Led Zeppelin - 1975 - The Hermetic Order Of The Golden Dawn

Led Zeppelin 

1975

The Hermetic Order Of The Golden Dawn 

May 24, 1975

Earl's Court Arena

London, UK

101. Intro

102. Rock And Roll

103. Sick Again

104. Over The Hills And Far Away

105. In My Time Of Dying

106. The Song Remains The Same

107. The Rain Song

108. Kashmir

201. No Quarter

202. Tangerine

203. Going To California

204. That's The Way

205. Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp

206. Trampled Underfoot

301. Moby Dick

302. Dazed And Confused

401. Stairway To Heaven

402. Audience

403. Whole Lotta Love

404. Black Dog

405. after show

Led Zeppelin’s May 24th, 1975 gig in Earl’s Court, the fourth of five shows in London that month, is one of the longest, tightest, and most dramatic concerts they performed in the latter days. Despite Clinton Heylin’s criticism that it is dull and tedious and features a very stoned Robert Plant wittering on about friend and family who have fallen by the wayside, it remains one of the best recordings of the band at the very height of their popularity.

A good quality audience tape was use for vinyl releases in the seventies, but a partial soundtrack to the video surfaced and was used for the compact disc releases. An almost complete soundboard was used in the Empress Valley box set Demand Unprecedented In The History Of Rock Music. They also released the show on its own, but soon after Watchtower issued a competing version of the show in improved sound quality.

In July 2012 Empress Valley reissued several titles including this one in very affordable jewel cases and half way decent artwork. Thankfully they didn’t revisit their TMQ sleeve disaster of the past couple of years, but actually manufactured a title that is worth having. And it has a mega-cool picture on the cover. This is a good and affordable way to obtain the definitive version of this classic Led Zeppelin concert.

The second to last night from Zeppelin’s Earl’s Court run were the first soundboard fragments to surface from these five shows in the UK. Initially, from “Dazed And Confused” through “Trampled Underfoot” had been all that was available from the video soundtrack and this segment was also missing “Going To California” (although a few split seconds could be heard between “Tangerine” and “That’s The Way”). After some time the virtually complete video soundtracks became available but was still missing “Going To California”, the very beginning of “That’s The Way”, and also “Moby Dick”. TDOLZ’s Your Mother Wouldn’t Like It is from this version as was the original Tarantura Graf-Zeppelin-Marsch. Celebration released Odysseus Earl’s Court 75, a four disc set which included for the first time an improved section of tape which included “Moby Dick” from the soundboard but Celebration failed to use the audience source in the acoustic set to complete the show. Watch Tower’s To Be A Rock And Not To Roll and Empress Valley’s He Must Be Dazed And Confused were released after and were more complete versions including “Moby Dick” from the soundboard and “Going To California” patched in from the audience source and more than likely comes from the upgraded video source that now circulates.

The set list is identical to the previous three nights and the encore section wouldn’t be expanded upon until the final night. Some collectors absolutely love these shows while others prefer Zeppelin’s earlier years before Robert’s voice became so road damaged. However, the band is really starting to sound comfortable in their Earl’s Court residency and is very enjoyable musically. An extended 75 set list to include the acoustic songs and the fact that “Tangerine” was played by the whole band makes these shows all the more collectable.

May 25, 1975

Earl's Court Arena

London, UK

101. Before The Show

102. Band Announcements

103. Rock And Roll

104. Sick Again

105. Over The Hills And Far Away

106. In My Time Of Dying

107. The Song Remains The Same

108. The Rain Song

109. Kashmir

201. No Quarter

202. Tangerine

203. Going To California

204. That's The Way

205. Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp

206. Trampled Underfoot

301. Moby Dick

302. Dazed And Confused

401. Stairway To Heaven

402. Crowd Anticipation

403. Whole Lotta Love

404. Black Dog

405. Crowd Anticipation

406. Heartbreaker

407. Communication Breakdown

408. After The Show

The final Earl's Court show, the final 1975 show, and the last ever performance of Dazed And Confused. The initial string of numbers are high powered and aggressive! No Quarter is a really great jam and the acoustic section is pretty good. Moby Dick and Dazed are rather boring however, which is sad and rather unfitting as it is the last ever performance of the latter. Stairway To Heaven was dedicated to Plant's daughter: "Carmen - this song's to a little girl who sits probably wondering what it all about ... so, where is the bridge? Well, Carmen, were's your chance to find out where the bridge is ... and if you know, please let me know after the show." The solo is wonderful and the encores contain a tortured Theremin solo from Jimmy before the extra songs are played for the last night's sake.

The band's fifth and final night at Earls Court begins with Alan 'Fluff' Freeman announcing "we are here tonight because you and I have great taste" before Rock and Roll crashes into motion. Page blazes through the second guitar solo in Sick Again. As the song ends, Plant announces "good evening and welcome to the last concert in England for a considerable time." Page shreds frantically through an excellent guitar solo during Over the Hills and Far Away. In My Time of Dying is introduced as "an old work chant." Page solos wildly as Bonzo and Jones pummel the crowd. An incredibly powerful performance, one of the best thus far.

Bonzo is on fire during The Song Remains the Same, thrashing at his drums with wild abandon as Page's fingers race across the fretboard. The Rain Song is absolutely fantastic, one of the best in recent memory. Jones's somber piano solo during No Quarter features hints of Concierto de Aranjuez. The instrumental section is an epic journey. The band receives a thunderous ovation as the piece comes to a close. The climax is reached during the blistering outro. An outstanding performance. Page plays a bit of Tea For One as Plant introduces Tangerine. Going to California is delicately beautiful. Jones's mandolin work is fantastic. Plant makes a few references to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, asking the crowd "what is a shrubbery amongst friends?" before an excellent That's the Way.

The band gets into a bit of Robert Johnson's If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day before Bron-Y-Aur Stomp. Plant gives the crowd a brief history of Johnson's life before introducing Trampled Underfoot. Page shreds erratically through an aggressive guitar solo. Bonzo is introduced as "our blood brother" before a particularly thunderous Moby Dick. Plant says a few kind words about Peter Grant before introducing Dazed and Confused as "the essence of the early Zeppelin." The San Francisco interlude is hauntingly mournful. Plant's ghostly howls echo through the arena. Page's fingers are like razor blades as he slashes and shreds through the frantic guitar solo/workout section. Plant can be heard exclaiming "amen!" off-mic during the call and response section. Page solos wildly during the outro jam. A somewhat uneven final performance of the band's signature song.

Plant dedicates Stairway to Heaven to his daughter Carmen, saying "this is a song to a little girl who sits there, probably wondering what it's all about." Page delivers an excellent guitar solo despite breaking a string near the end. Plant sings the final line in complete silence. As the band returns to the stage, Plant says "is this our swan song, I wonder?" Page hints at Ozone Baby following an excellent funky jam during Whole Lotta Love. Plant unleashes a series of blood-curdling screeches during the violent theramin freakout. Page's fingers get a bit sticky during the extended guitar solo in Black Dog. As the song ends, Plant announces "good citizens of Great Britain, it's been five glorious days... thank you very much for bein' a great audience, and if you see Denis Healey, tell him we've gone."

Plant exclaims "this is somethin' we never do!" as the band returns to the stage once again, joking "any requests?" Page blazes through the fast guitar solo during Heartbreaker. Plant pushes his voice to the limit during the final verse. The band closes the show with an explosive Communication Breakdown. Plant does his best Jamaican accent during a fantastic funky breakdown. As the band leaves the stage for the final time, he announces "thank you very much for showin' us that England is still alive and well." A fantastic finale to 1975. Must hear.

BONUS STUFF:

First Class Ticket 

(Cosmic Energy CE-022)

Earls Court Arena, London, England - May 25th, 1975 - The Video

Rock And Roll, Sick Again, Over The Hills And Far Away, In My Time Of Dying, The Song Remains The Same, The Rain Song, Kashmir, No Quarter, Tangerine, Going To California, That’s The Way, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, Trampled Under Foot, Moby Dick, Dazed And Confused (incl. San Francisco), Stairway To Heaven, Whole Lotta Love (incl. The Crunge), Black Dog, Heartbreaker, Communication Breakdown

First Class Ticket was first released by Cosmic Energy last year as their first attempt to bring high definition Blu-ray technology to Led Zeppelin’s final Earl’s Court show on video tape.

Recently the reissued this release but on NTSC DVDs instead of Blu-ray.  The normal disc has as much clarity and are as enjoyable as the first release and is much improved over Empress Valley’s Demand Unprecedented on DVD.   

Cosmic Energy use the same footage as Empress Valley (including the crowd shots at the beginning), and offer an upgrade of the video.  Comparing the two releases, the Cosmic Energy does look more sharp than the Empress Valley.  Without access to the master tapes the editing is understandably limited, however.   

The final minute of “No Quarter” and “Tangerine” are still missing and a high generation copy of the video is used to fill the gap.

A good video of a concert is able to convey not just the personality of the artists, but all of the action on stage and the atmosphere of the event.  One of the concerns about this footage is, since it was produced with the intention of giving close-ups to attendees in the arena, the screen would be dominated with them.  It is good then that the video on this release is not like that at all. 

Beginning with shots of the audience getting to their seats and Earl’s Court filling up, to Freeman’s animated introduction and throughout the three and a half performance by the band, it perfectly captures the excitement and emotion of Zeppelin’s final show in England for, in Plant’s words “a long long time.” 

Many times the cameras pan away to capture the band members interacting with one another.  There are a minimum amount of times when the cameraman’s judgment is called into question, but it is easy to overlook them. 

Conveyed is the power of the music and watching Plant bop along to Page as he plays the opening to “The Song Remains The Same” and other such visuals is exciting to watch.  Some startling images are also captured, such as the light show during “Trampled Under Foot,” the laser beams during “Dazed & Confused,” Page’s hand motions during the theremin solo, and Bonham whaling away at the drum kit.

One of the essential Led Zeppelin videos to have, Cosmic Energy have produced an excellent DVD production of this great videotape.