12 January 1969, Filmore West; San Francisco, California

Bonus Tracks: Train Kept A Rollin', You Shook Me, Communication Breakdown, As Long As I Have You (cut at end).

25 April 1969, Winterland Ballroom; San Francisco, California

Comments: Bill Graham, I presume, introduces the band as "One of the giants of the future!", and the Supporting Act plays pure blues. A tight As Long As I Have You opens the set with a wall of ripping distortion. To keep it short, no instrumental call and response or medleys are played, but Plant gets in some great a capella lines to close the song "I won't feel lonely and blue... as long as I have you." The cleaner guitar tone of I Can't Quit You improves the recording quality and Bonham's fills are nicely audible, although sounding tinny.

Plant's insistently beautiful singing plays devil's advocate in Dazed And Confused: I earn all the money a good man could ever earn, but all you seem to do is burn, burn. Page makes that guitar talk with the bow and Bonzo plays the dark mood with his exotic drumming. As the fast solo builds, Bonham drops some off-time lines and then seamlessly jumps back on the beat to end the song. From the improvised rythmic passage that opens Communication Breakdown, you couldn't guess what song it would turn into until the main riff. Plant betrays the roots of the song with some extra "Nervous Breakdown" lyrics, a song that I believe is originally bluesman Albert King. Like the other Led Zeppelin I pieces, Communication Breakdown runs by fast, short, and similar to the studio version. White Summer, like Babe I'm Gonna Leave You and I Can't Quit You Babe, sounds clearer due to the lack of fuzz guitar effects.

Pat's Delight features polyrythms: Bonzo keeps one tempo with his feet and his arms generate another. He keeps it short and powerful, linking back to the main guitar theme with some sweet rolls. To finish the concert, Plant applies lush vocals to EVERY section of How Many More Times, while Page takes an extended bow solo. Robert again betrays the pure blues roots with his "How Many More Years" lyrics from Howlin' Wolf, and then gets into a forgotten part of the studio version: When I was a young man, I couln't resist! Jimmy's dynamic bow solo qoutes lines used in Dazed And Confused from the studio and even the future 1973 US tour. The fast tempo of his bowing settles to a lower volume of expressive sounds. Psychedelic! The Jimi Page Experience then brings the volume back, crushing along into a section with unintelligible screams from Plant; he gives another "Guuuuun!" scream to end the song. The encore of Killing Floor is the garage band version, a straight 12-bar blues at high speed.

Compared to the January concert, the April tracks sound like soundboard quality. Another great performance there too, with an especially biting You Shook Me. The recording's echo blends perfectly with the band's sound, and they lock in with some great rythms under Jimmy's blues solo.

This Lemon Song release comes in a delicious 3-panel folding glossy package, with seven color photos, all from 1969. Some feature Jimmy in a long cape, and there are also rare shots of Jonesy and Bonham. The graphics are layed out beautifully and the CD's are done in red and green with the title in big print in a circle around the center. An example of how these CD's should be packaged.

Sound Rating: 4 (12 January); 6 (25 April)

Eric Romano (5/27/97)

The review for "California '69" is ©1997 Eric Romano, and may not be reproduced in any media, electronic or otherwise, without the express permission of the author.