pittmike wrote:
Dignified Rube wrote:
Frank Coztansa wrote:
Royal Albert Hall, 1970
Southampton University, 1973
Final nite at MSG, 1973
LA Forum; June 21, 1977
Knebworth; Aug 4, 1979
Final night at MSG, 1973 is great. Plant was in his best voice of the whole American tour. The version of Stairway is majestic, but sadly, has never been released in soundboard quality. For me, the 2nd night is a little better because of the superb versions of TSRTS, TRS and No Quarter, which all were on the Song Remains the Same album.
I like the version of Thank You from Southhampton. Great stuff.
In my opinion anything to do with The Song Remains the Same can't be their best concert. I was not really impressed as a youth. Or maybe I was simply being contrarian because so many tried to preach it as the best thing of all time. Either way the stuff I heard from the How the West Was Won or whatever sounded better.
Plant's voice changed between 1970 and 1971 and the Song Remain the Same Concerts at MSG in July of 73. He couldn't hit the high notes anymore and when he tried, it cracked. But as a band, they made great strides musically. Page's playing in '73 was more lyrical, his improvisations were magical (maybe even literally), which shows on songs like Since I've Been Loving You, No Quarter and Stairway. Their playing on Dazed hit its peak in '73, especially with the arrangement of "San Francisco" and the eerie Bow Section, during those dates. Pittsburgh from a few nights earlier might be better, but the recording is a little rough. The bow section is really haunting with Plant wailing in accompaniment.
Yeah, so a song like Over the Hills from How the West Was Won does sound better, because Plant's vocals were still pretty good in '72 at LA. But I wouldn't consider that a better concert than some of the American '73 shows. The '71 shows are superior to the '72 shows, except for the two shows at Nassau which were really good, high energy concerts.
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