2 February 1969, The Rockpile; Toronto, Canada

Bonus Tracks: Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, You Shook Me, Baby Come On Home aka Tribute To Bert Berns.

September-October 1968, Olympic Studios, London, England

Editor's Note: The Parliament Hill show (Ottawa, Canada; 4/14/70) is known to exist in a more complete version, though the person that is currently in posession of that tape is reported to be waiting for the proper amount of cash before it will be released. Look for it on a Japanese label in the near future.

Red Snapper Deluxe (Montreal, Canada; 6/7/72) was mastered from inferior tapes, so a more complete and better-fidelity version of that is also rumored to be in the works, also from Japan.

No word on upgrades or reissues of Beast Of Toronto (Toronto, Canada; 11/2/69), except that it remains very hard to find. Trade for a tape version.

Comments: Plant loses himself in an intense Train Kept A Rollin', throwing out lyrics offtime and getting in his speedy harmonica work. After the volume drop, the closeness of the between song clapping makes you think that the microphone has been repositioned lower. I Can't Quit You, although played at nearly every show, is a great blues lyric, especially as Plant sings it here. The drums become clear as Dazed And Confused starts, and despite a nice bow solo, they don't stray far from the studio version.

The first three songs present nothing special: a below average audience recording with hiss and a rote performance. Before the first set ends though, the band tightens up for some nice interactions that redeem the performance. For You Shook Me, Page slides into some weeping chords, and Plant plays hurricane through his harp! He moans in and out with some bent, low notes like the studio version. The guitar break features some unusual phrases, especially considering that this is a blues number. The recording cuts the solo to the call and response section at the very end.

How Many More Times carries the entire first set performance with a splendid 'Bolero'. Under the solo, the finally audible Jones jams on a funk riff that Bonham picks up on. His mature note selection on bass pushes the song beyond the blues. Plant then starts the bow solo himself by singing Jimmy's riffs. Jimmy answers Plant with the bow, and Bonham plays the same line on his kit. Jones continues to get it on with another funk groove. When Plant belts out "Put your arms around me, when you start to hold me tight..." you realize that they're playing a totally new song, with no content from the original composition. Drawing on soul classics as he typically did on the first three US tours, Plant sings some lines from 'Money'. The performance finally starts to hint at the Tea Party gig of less than a week ago. The recording ends with the first set.

Although the cover lists "Two Takes" for the bonus studio material, it's incomplete and sped up. The performances are great though, especially the version of Babe I'm Gonna Leave You where Jones nearly solos on bass while Jimmy picks out his chords.

Editor's Note: The bonus material is available in much better quality on Olympic Gold, among others.

The disc comes in a single jewel case with a clear tray that shows off a reproduction of an ad from the actual show! The booklet includes several black and white shots of Jimmy throughout the Zeppelin days.

Sound Rating: 4-6 (2 February), 8.5 (Sept- Oct 68)

Editor's Note: This release, along with the Live At The Lyceum, are claimed by Totonka to be parts 2 and 1 respectively, of a three CD series. No one that I have spoken with has ever seen or heard of the third volume. It's identity remains a mystery, and most likely it has never been released. I really don't think that this is the same Totonka that was responsible for some really nice non-Zep releases in 1994-1996.

Eric Romano (6/2/97)