Next Led Zeppelin reissues

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AM Matt

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The reissues of Led Zeppelin "Zoso" (their 4th album) & "Houses Of The Holy" will be out on Tuesday, October 28 with bonus material!!! Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
The title of Led Zep's song "D'yer Mak'er" has apparently been the bane of many a DJ. I didn't know until fairly recently that it's supposed to be a Brit-accented pun on "Jamaica," which makes sense given its semi-reggae rhythm. For years I've heard it pronounced as "dire maker," as in "tool and die maker!"
 
The song title is actually a take on a crude UK expression, "Did ya make 'er?" (Pronounced more like "d'ja make 'er".) So it was spelled as it was, "D'yer Mak'r", sounded like "Jamaica" (mon), and hence the reggae beat and therefore..."oh, oh oh oh oh, oooh, you don't have to go-oh..." :D

I preordered my two single LP reissues of these titles about five minutes after I got the email from Rhino. :D

The first three albums (and the digital 24/96 downloads) sound slightly "soft", but overall they're the best reissues we've seen in decades. The vinyl is flat, and plays back with hardly any noise at all aside from a stray barely audible tick every so often. What few flaws there are, are more than made up for by the better sound. Anything from 1990 onward sounds like nails on a blackboard in comparsion--those masterings were bright and obnoxious. Even my Mothership vinyl box came from those same masters and it shows...the analog rendering does tame things slightly, but it's still quite a jarring change to move from one to the other.

The Classic Records versions (I think Bernie Grundman may have cut those) are also good with a slight more punch in dynamics, but they are also brighter. And good luck finding one under $100.... :sigh: The tapes very well could have deteriorated over all these years, so this is likely the best we'll hear these for some time now.

BTW, the digital downloads have the "deluxe" extra tracks. My opinion of bonus tracks hasn't changed--if I listen to them once, that'll be about it. (On my music server, I cut them from the main album and put them in their own folder.)
 
The late Casey Kasem said when he did "American Top 40" in 1973, "Dier Maker". Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
The late Casey Kasem said when he did "American Top 40" in 1973, "Dier Maker". Matt Clark Sanford, MI
Oops. :D

He was no Alex Trebek. :laugh: Trebek pretty much uses the correct pronunciation for the "answers" on Jeopardy--that is one thing which stands out about him, and the show. You'd think Kasem, with all his trivia knowledge, would have gotten it right.
 
Oops. :D

He was no Alex Trebek. :laugh: Trebek pretty much uses the correct pronunciation for the "answers" on Jeopardy--that is one thing which stands out about him, and the show. You'd think Kasem, with all his trivia knowledge, would have gotten it right.

Well, being that the show in question was recorded in 1973, it wasn't trivia yet as it was a brand-new record. Those days when we all eagerly looked forward to what we now know as nostalgia...
:exactly:
 
I guess by "trivia" I meant more like "attention to detail". Knowing little-known facts about the artists in his countdown, in other words. Then again, Kasem did go off on a rampage about someone's dog dying. :laugh:

Back to Zep--I gave my older Atlantic LP of Houses Of The Holy a spin. Pressed by Specialty. Not too bad of a sound, maybe a bit thin. It will be an interesting comparison when October rolls around.

I'm reading a Robert Plant bio currently: Robert Plant: A Life. Interesting how it punches holes in the old Hammer Of The Gods Zep bio from a few decades ago--that book tended towards exaggeration and excess.

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I guess by "trivia" I meant more like "attention to detail". Knowing little-known facts about the artists in his countdown, in other words. Then again, Kasem did go off on a rampage about someone's dog dying. :laugh:

And I guess I should clarify what I meant was that since the record was brand-new, perhaps neither Casey nor anyone in the studio knew exactly how the oddly-spelled title was pronounced.
 
And I guess I should clarify what I meant was that since the record was brand-new, perhaps neither Casey nor anyone in the studio knew exactly how the oddly-spelled title was pronounced.
I think at that point, the only ones who knew how to pronounce it were the band! :laugh:
 
I know that this is off-topic, but I agree with Robert Plant poo-pooing any reunion plans.
From the book, I have the impression he likes performing that music with the others, but cannot live with the baggage that goes with being Led Zep. The O2 concert actually came off quite well, with everyone in good form throughout, but I can't see it happening again. Thing is , if it were about the money, they would make a killing. They held a lottery for tickets to O2, and the response was crazy.

.... From music there was the rise of Amy Winehouse and a spate of reunions by British groups—the Police, the Spice Girls, Pink Floyd at London’s Live Earth concert, and also Led Zeppelin.

Of them all, Zeppelin’s comeback had the most seismic impact. The band’s return for a single concert at London’s O2 Arena at the end of the year sparked an almighty scrum for tickets, many millions around the world entering an online ballot for the 18,000 available.

.....

“Robert really, really didn’t want to do that reunion,” says Benji LeFevre. “He called me up about it several times. Reading between the lines and through the conversations that we had I could tell he was apprehensive about it before they even got together. Then there were things that happened in the run-up to the gig that were just so predictable. But what better way to sign off? Twenty million applications for tickets.”

Keep in mind that Robert was in the middle of promoting his very successful album with Allison Krauss at the time also.
 
Celebration Day is playing currently--that's the video of the London O2 concert. Didn't realize how good of a drummer Jason Bonham has become. "Stairway To Heaven" is sort of subdued, but there is a huge uproar from the crowd once they break into the first few notes of "Kashmir."

I also finished this book, which was comprised of interviews with Jimmy Page:

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I remember reading that Page had been into session work in his pre-Yardbirds days, but I didn't realize the extent of it--literally hundreds of sessions. He is one of the session guitarists on the Burt Bacharach "Hit Maker!" LP from the mid 60s (to give it a somewhat A&M-related spin). He played on a lot of familiar records that came out of the UK in those days: "Baby Please Don't Go" by Them, the first Kinks album, the "Goldfinger" theme sung by Shirley Bassey, The Who's "Can't Explain," and Tom Jones' hit single "It's Not Unusual".
 
I just finished up "Zo So" (or IV) (Special Edition) in which on Disc 2, the song "Four Sticks" has somebody (maybe the late John Bonham) saying: "1 2 3 4 5 6, 1 2 3, 1". Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
I might have that in the HDTracks download. Got the files but haven't listened to those yet. I primarily play the vinyl. I only have the single LP versions of the vinyl, not the deluxe.

Bonham played the drum part with four sticks...hence the name. :D
 
I need to spin these again once I get my turntable back in order. :sigh:

I'm anxious for the next releases now.
 
BTW, there was reportedly a defect with US vinyl pressings of Houses Of The Holy--a lot of distortion on "The Ocean". The EU copies (which I have) are OK, but the version pressed for the US has the distortion. The song itself already has a small amount of distortion, but I've read that this defect is very obvious.
 
The song "Dancing Days" (from "Houses Of The Holy") didn't sound great on CD but i'm not sure though. Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
That is more of an issue with the source. I don't think it has ever sounded that good.
 
The reissue of "Physical Graffiti" (with bonus material) out Tuesday, February 24!! Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
Preordered! :agree: Maybe because it's a double album, they're only doing the one album this time? Looks like this will drag out for the rest of the year. :sigh:

I'm wondering if Coda will be a double album. It was a single album originally IIRC, but with the other tracks that were unearthed in the past few decades, they could probably fill another record with them.
 
There is only one disc of unreleased material for "Physical Graffiti" though!! Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
I've only been buying the original albums on vinyl, no deluxe sets. I had the deluxe hi-res downloads but the extra tracks did nothing for me. Unless there are unreleased, completed tracks (like "Traveling Riverside Blues" from the 1990 releases), I likely won't listen to them.

I do have Celebration Day on video (BluRay, ripped to 1080p for the media server), but have no interest in vinyl or CD for that one. I can count the number of live albums I like (by everyone, combined) on maybe two hands... :wink: I'd rather have it with the visuals...and only if the performance was good.
 
I just heard "Physical Graffiti" & the 3rd disc, the song "Kashmir" (called "Driving Through Kashmir") sounds like the original!! I did like the recut of "Brandy & Coke" (known as "Trampled Under Foot") than the original though. The recut song "Houses Of The Holy" I can really hear is the cowbell!! Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
I'm anxious to get PG--it shipped late last week from the UK. (I have had better luck with EU pressings on many albums lately...except for the Dire Straits On Every Street which was pressed by GZ Vinyl and so full of noise and scratches). My other LZ pressings from the EU have been perfect.
 
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