THE CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE
July 22, 2008 – 5:08 am
If you, like $ingapore minister Lee Kuan Yew, believe in conspiracy theories, here’s one music related conspiracy that’s well worth discovering.
For decades after the breakup of Led Zeppelin, fans were led to believe there was nothing left in the vaults worthy of release. Then in early 2004, an amazing recording emerged in Japan of a fantastic quality Led Zeppelin show from 1975, almost 30 years to the day. It was not a TV show. It was not a live concert broadcast on radio. This was a brand new soundboard recording. The conspiracy of silence had been broken.
Click on the panels for a better view or to download artwork.
LED ZEPPELIN
Conspiracy Theory [Empress Valley EVSD 263/264/265, 3CD]
Live at Sports Arena, San Diego, March 14, 1975. Mono soundboard.
So why was this soundboard recording of Led Zeppelin mothballed for almost 30 years?
The initial reaction after the euphoria of its discovery was that the San Diego show had its faults. Robert Plant was tired and his voice was mangled and sore. The band too struggled with John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page missing cues. Only drummer John Bonham was in high spirits. You can hear his onstage banter during the marathon Moby Dick. Since then other better shows of soundboard quality have escaped from the vaults.
The clues all point to the 2003 release of the Led Zeppelin archive project - How The West Was Won - a 3CD or 2DVD set. The DVDs covered TV appearances in England, from London’s Royal Albert Hall show in 1970 to their legendary multi-night stand at Earls Court in 1975 and their final show in England at Knebworth in 1979. The triple CD set meanwhile featured a 1972 show at Long Beach, California, confirming once and for all just why the quartet was able to build a reputation as an exciting live act.
For Zeppelin to offer so many gems from the length and breath of their career required that they had searched thoroughly for all the soundboard recordings they had made. Someone must have kept copies of the rejected shows. These shows offered evidence that night after night, Led Zeppelin were able to keep the tempo and match the performances to their growing status as one of the loudest rock bands. Among their peers, Zeppelin had the sense to properly record their shows for posterity.
It is now known that many Zeppelin shows were recorded. There are soundboards from 1975 and 1977 as well as their final European tour in 1980. But whether all have escaped from the vaults remains unknown. Hardcore fans have multiple versions of these rare recordings.
Since 2004, a second, slightly better master of this San Diego show has been released by Genuine Masters that adds a better bottom, more isolation of instruments and a wider, albeit, mono soundstage. GM’s Mystic San Diego released as a DVD-Audio disc is said to blow Empress Valley’s version away. Both versions however are missing a part of the encore. The entire Whole Lotta Love section is still waiting to be found.
This is one conspiracy with a happy ending - that there are more shows still hidden away. The other type of conspiracy is all about fear mongering. That should be avoided.
- Professor Red 
Click on the highlighted tracks to download the MP3s (these are high quality stereo MP3s - sample rate of 192 kibit/s). As far as we can ascertain, this recording has never been officially released.
These tracks are no longer available for download. Kindly email us at mybigo@bigozine.com if you want to download these tracks at a later time.
CD 1 (54.24):
Track 01. Rock And Roll (5.6MB)
Track 02. Sick Again (8.5MB)
Track 03. Over The Hills And Far Away (11.4MB)
Track 04. In My Time Of Dying (16.8MB)
Track 05. The Song Remains The Same (7.6MB)
Track 06. The Rain Song (12.3MB)
Track 07. Kashmir (12.2MB)
CD 2 (65.35):
Track 08. No Quarter (43.7MB)
Track 09. Trampled Underfoot (11.0MB)
Track 10. Moby Dick (35.3MB)
CD 3 (54.58):
Track 11. Dazed And Confused (45.6MB)
Track 12. Stairway To Heaven (17.2MB)
Track 13. Heartbreaker (12.5MB)
When Led Zeppelin finally ended their silence and released archival recordings, it was greeted with excellent sales. Later when they reformed for one night in 2007, the internet was swamped with gossip about a possible reunion tour. While you wait you can buy a copy of their triple CD How The West Was Won here.
Click here to read Lee Kuan Yew’s conspiracy theory. He is 84 years old.
11 Responses to “THE CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE”
Wow,thats real good stuff.In the last 30 years I have heard so many Zeppelin tapes and CDs.The most of them were quality bullshit.Made with taperecorders in a distance of 100 meters.
More noice than music.But this concert is one of the best.The quality is so that you enjoy it.
Thank you for this gift!! !!!!!!!!!!!!
By Joe "The Catman" on Jul 22, 2008
Excelente page & roios…You’re amazing,but…update roios faster.cheers
By Queruza la merluza on Jul 22, 2008
GREETINGS FROM ATHENS-GREECE! i’ve just sampled KASHMIR and TRAMPLED UNDERFOOT. i think robert plant’s voice sounds as great as ever, in that period’s shows. the mono quality of the recordings, leaves something to be desired, but generally speaking, sounds to me like a great show.
thanks.
By Theo on Jul 23, 2008
You did it again ! Once agan my entire family thanks you for you relentless efforts.
If you are ever in Northern California and need a guided tour through the Redwoods and beaches, record stores,etc. just lmk.
This is a great show, the sound is great and I feel great !
I was really needing some good Zep and you guys came through once again with perfect timing.
Thank You for your time and generosity,
~Myche
By Myche on Jul 23, 2008
Thank you so much for this site and this release in particular. Please, Please, Please! More Zeppelin, Please!
By Bonham Rules on Jul 24, 2008
Í saw Led Zepp at the two Bath Blues Festivals in the UK (1969 and 1970). They were up-and-coming at the first festival and at the second festival they were a lot bigger and had roadies diving into the crowd right near the stage and ripping cassettes out of machines with no argument and no apologies. Now you can read Jimmy Page saying things like “I just heard this new bootleg and I was playing these amazing little riffs between songs, all these great riffs that were never heard again … we were that hot!” Lucky those cassettes survived the roadies, eh, Jimmy? Thanks for this San Diego show. Unfortunately I don’t understand the “visit the html page to download track”, and thus I am missing three tracks. How do I visit html page?
By Christopher Maddock on Jul 25, 2008
Awesome….much appriciated! Keep up the good work!~Trip Daily
By trip daily on Jul 25, 2008
Excellent stuff - yet again.
Many thanks
Alan
PS To Bonham Rules,
You click on the track number (ie Track 08, Track 11 or Track 12) and it opens up another page to download from.
By Alan Ford on Jul 26, 2008
A great bootleg, a great recording. High quality of Sound. One of the best groups in the rock history. Physical Graffiti is one of my favorites. I never hear before a bootleg like this.
THANK YOU.
THE BIGO TEAM: ALWAYS THE BEST.
By Mario on Jul 30, 2008
Had to come back for more ! Thanks for the new addiction… ;^)
Included is my new URL
Cheers everyone.
By Myche on Aug 2, 2008
Excuse me. …The BEST band (group) in rock history, Mario. Bar none. the end
By zeppelin main-liner on Apr 20, 2010