LED ZEPPELIN - CD
GRAHAM'S SUPERB VOL. 1

LABEL:
Image Quality IQ-059/060
SOURCE:
Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco - April 26, 1969
FORMAT:
2CD
RUNNING TIME:
58:30/62:31
SOUND/SOURCE:
Excellent Audience
PACKAGING:
Fatboy Jewelcase
 

Graham's Superb Vol. 1 front

Graham's Superb Vol. 2 front


SOUND 8.5 / PACKAGING 9 / PERFORMANCE 10

 
TRACK LIST:
Disc One: 1st Set: Comminication Breakdown, I Cant"t Quit You, Dazed & Confused, You Shook Me, How Many More Times (including Smokestack Lightning, Roll Over Beetoven, The Hunter, Girl Of The North Country and others I'm not familiar with)
Disc Two: 2nd Set WhiteSummer/Black Mountain Side, Killing Floor (including Lemmon Song and That's Alright Mama), Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, Pat's Delight, As Long As I Have You and the encore of for the 1st time ever played Whole Lotta Love
 
REVIEW:

This has become one of my favorite shows over the years because it breaks so many grounds.  First, it's the first display of Jimmy using his THERAMIN!!!  Wow, what a job he did with "Dazed & Confused" as well as "How Many More Times".  Secondly. for an ENCORE it is the first time that "WHOLE LOTTA LOVE" is ever played LIVE!!  Much different then later versions when he uses the THERA MIN.  The sound quality is overall VERY GOOD THROUGHOUT for the standards audience recordings of the day and is well balanced.  You can hear the instruments clearly as well as Plants voice.  They really put out all the moves during this show.
 
Disc 1 starts with the soundcheck for the 1st set with Jimmy playing part of "Bouree", then the M.C. Bill Graham himself announcing Led....Zeppelin.  They start a roaring version of "Communication Breakdown" clocking in at 5 min 46 seconds,  which surges straight into "I Can't Quit You" a very bluesy piece lasting 6 minutes, 57 seconds.  Plant is so pleased to be playing a bigger venue bringing many more people to see them then the previous night and thanks them and continues to put on a show that will be the beginning of making the California area their home away from home.  Then comes "Dazed and Confused" with the first time ever use of the THERAMIN and WOW is all I can say.  What banter between Jimmy and Robert and how exciting a duel it is, totally awesome.  If I only could have been there!  It lasted for a total of 15 minutes, 42 seconds.  They finsish off the first set with rousing versions of  "You Shook Me" and (Plant then introduces the band and its members) before going into another dramatic version of  of "How Many More Times", clocking in at 10 minutes, 51 seconds - and 10 minutes, 6 seconds respectively. The crowd goes WILD wanting more. What an end to an AMAZING  first set.. But its not over they come out to a more laid back 2nd set. With a few BIG SURPRISES on hand!!
 
Disc 2 the 2nd set starts off with a more laid back bluesy affair with a nice long version of "White Summer/Black Mountain Side" which is well appreciated by the audience since its probably the first time the crowd has ever heard it.  It then moves on to "Killing Floor" another great version (with the "Lemon Song" and "That's Alright Mama" included in the melody), then Plant intruduces the next song as being "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" another great Bluesy song lasting 7 minutes 22 seconds.  Robert then introduces John Bonham on drums for his solo of "Pat's Delight", a song written about John Bonham's wife, a short but sweet durm solo lasting roughly 6-and-a-half minutes.  Page states that they have enjoyed their stay here but must go before playing "As Long As I Have You".  The audience shouts "MORE! MORE! MORE!" until the band come out and  play for the very first time ever, "Whole Lotta Love"!!  Very interesting since the first album hasn't been out long and the 2nd album which would contain "Whole Lotta Love" wouldn't be out for another 7-8 months!  There is no THERAMIN in this early version of the song and would be introduced later as we know.  That is the show folks.  In my opinion the show that broke them wide open in California and also for the rest of the world, regardless what Rolling Stone magazine had to say about them.
 
There are a few other titles out there with this show such as The Avacado Club on Empress Valley, Led Set/Psychedelic Ballroon on Tarantura, Psychedelic Explosion on TDOLZ and Smokestack Lightning on Black Swan.  The two best versions are the Tarantura set and Image Quality set which I am describing here in full.  They are both very similar but the difference in sound quality is very minimal and you can't really tell the diference, so if  you can still locate either one, good luck, they have been out of print for many years  The Image quality is less expensive. 


I have this version too. It's great and IMHO the best of all the '69 shows. Trouble is finding a copy nowadays. IQ must have packed up years ago.
Comment by DR wrote on 2008-04-03 14:42:39

DR: I hope to get some more Image Quality reviews up shortly if all goes well. Thanks for your comments I appreciate them.
Comment by SPACED1 wrote on 2008-04-04 23:18:47

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Apr 2, 2008 - 4:54:59 PM


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