Good Times Bad Times / Communication Breakdown

L'Olympia
Paris,
10/10/69

FM Broadcast on Europe 2 on December 7, 2007 at 22:30

01 Good Times Bad Times / Communication Breakdown
02 I Can't Quit You Baby
03 Heartbreaker
04 Dazed And Confused
05 White Summer / Black Mountain Side
06 You Shook Me
07 How Many More Times

LOlympia from Wendy is the latest in the string of releases featuring the recent rebroadcast of Led Zeppelins Paris show from October 10, 1969. 1969 was a time in Zeppelins career where every show was full of highlights and worthy of collecting and this show is certainly no exception. The sound quality is absolutely superb. It has to be heard to be believed! I cannot recommend this recording enough. Communication Breakdown contains the same jam as the 6/27/69 BBC recording but without the Its Your Thing reference. I Cant Quit You Baby has a few seconds of Jimmys solo removed to avoid the announcer and was nicely done. This is the earliest known version of Heartbreaker and Page launches right into the solo without hesitation. White Summer is an excellent inspired version by Page and the recording captures Bonhams percussion nicely. How Many More Times has great moments in the jam section where you can tell the band is truly winging it. Overall, the band is really loose and gives a very powerful performance. Compared to the no-label version Wendy is louder and livelier sounding. Having a DJ talk over parts of the music can be rather annoying but Wendy's choice to leave the broadcast intact was a wise one. Tarantura is set to release another version from the unedited source but with so many other titles already out there, I really dont see the point. Wendy packaged LOlympia in a full color tri-fold paper case with early live shots of the band and is a beautiful title to own.

The Paris show at the Olympia was one of the most memorable concerts in Paris by a rock band, in the fall of 1969 and a huge opportunity for Zeppelin to conquer the continent on October 10, 1969. I was lucky enough to get a ticket for it and bring my camera along with me.

A light show had been planned for Led Zeppelins first concert in France but it was quickly dismissed due to malfunctioning. Nevertheless the band agreed to go on without it.

Two crew men projected spotlights on Robert and Jimmy from the rafters up above but that was it for the light show. The band did not mind the film noir lighting and eventually set the stage on fire with the bare minimum of props which included the violon bow segment and the most outstanding acoustic Black Mountainside.

Led Zeppelin in Paris was a barn burner of a show. It struck with the crowd that night and for years to come. Robert Plant was dressed in a black silk puffy sleeved pirate like shirt and wore some type of indian moccasins while Jimmy Page wore shiny satin velvet pants and pink tight T shirt to boot that accentuated his fragile frame and beautiful body.

The show was unbelievable. I had just turned 18, Jimmy would have been 22 at the time, and Robert 21 or so.

Ok, this is what we were looking for a long years! A spectacular and gutsy show in a stunnig quality. Whole concert is so energetic and powerful that can be easily compared with August 31st, 1969. Good Times Bad Times Intro is awesome and Communication Breakdown is filled with some excellent lyrics. An amazing Heartbreaker shows its power and Plants voice is dramatic. Very long and intense How Many More Times contains some renditions to the old Yadbirds' tunes and is a definitive killer of this show.


Type &fmt=18 at the end of the URL for high quality sound and pix!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• rock
• the
• nobs

[angusyounghero]

holy crap at 1:50 was page really that skinny or was that just the way the camera was angled.

[Conneyfogle]

Shadows, although he was pretty thin at times

[francescaemc2]

Paris! ooo la la! This is a very nice song. Good beat. I give it a 10: nice to dance to.

[sertenin]

this is one of my favourite boot

great post!!!

[LedZeppelinFanPage]

\,,/

[Abe91195]

@Pepper2Jason yep, crack does speed up your metabolism, good thing he never overdosed.

[eatthisvr6]

oh how i wish plant still had this voice

[Pepper2Jason]

@Conneyfogle Yea Page was scary skinny in 77.

[meatwadisprez77]

@TheSongsparrow Yea, that Leslie speaker makes following what Jimmy's doing kinda difficult.

[MarinStoikov]

wow, when did Plant song this song better?!

[TheSongsparrow]

Solo on the studio version was indeed special. It was put through a leslie rotating speaker. Overdubed yes, but the organ speaker has a cool sound.

[agus3378]

the best version... plant the best of the best

[1alexandern]

I think its his guitar strap

[marriusmal]

fantastic robert!! led zeppelin are great!!