Led Zeppelin - " Bourbon Street Renegades"
( 5-14-73), New Orleans, Louisiana, Municipal Auditorium
Audience + Soundboard Recordings
Lineage: Silvers > EAC > WAV > Flac ( All Tracks Tested With TLH)
Label: Empress Valley
Original Tapers: Audience Recording: Freezer
Soundboard Recording: N/A

Cheers and thanks go out to:

- The tapers for taping and sharing their recordings with everyone in the community.

- My mate Porgie for hooking me up with this release.

Happy Mardi Gras!


Discs One To Three:

New Orleans, Louisiana, (5-14-73), Municipal Auditorium, Soundboard Recording (Main), With Audience Recording Patches:

Disc One:

1) Rock And Roll * + ( Fades In)
2) Celebration Day *
3) Black Dog *
4) Over The Hills And Far Away *
5) Misty Mountain Hop *
6) Since I've Been Loving You *
7) No Quarter * + ( Fades Out)

Disc Two:

1) The Song Remains The Same * ( Fades In)
2) The Rain song * ( Cut, Incomplete Song)
3) Dazed And Confused * ( Includes: "San Francisco", Fades Out)

Disc Three:

1) Stairway To Heaven * ( Fades In)
2) Moby Dick * + ( Cut, Incomplete Song)
3) Heartbreaker *
4) Whole Lotta Love * + ( Includes: "The Crunge", "Cold Sweat", And "Boogie Chillen")
5) Communication Breakdown * + ( Includes: "Cold Sweat" (Reprise), Fades Out)

Discs Four To Six:

New Orleans, Louisiana, (5-14-73), Municipal Auditorium, Audience Recording (Main), With Soundboard Recording Patches:

Disc Four:

1) Rock And Roll + ( Fades In)
2) Celebration Day +
3) Black Dog +
4) Over The Hills And Far Away +
5) Misty Mountain Hop +
6) Since I've Been Loving You +
7) No Quarter + ( Fades Out)

Disc Five:

1) The Song Remains The Same + ( Fades In)
2) The Rain song + ( Cut, Incomplete Song)
3) Dazed And Confused + ( Includes: "San Francisco", Fades Out)

Disc Six:

1) Stairway To Heaven + ( Fades In)
2) Moby Dick * +
3) Heartbreaker +
4) Whole Lotta Love + ( Includes: "The Crunge", "Cold Sweat", And "Boogie Chillen")
5) Communication Breakdown + ( Includes: "Cold Sweat", Fades Out)

Enjoy!

Please Do Not Convert To Lossy Formats
Please Do Not Sell
Please Share With Others

Legend:

*: Soundboard Recording
+: Audience Recording
* +: Combination Of Both Source Recordings


Review From Underground Uprising:

Bourbon Street Renegades (Empress Valley Supreme Disc, EVSD-180,181, 182) 6CDs
New Orleans Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, Louisiana, 14 May 1973

Discs 1 & 4: Rock And Roll/Celebration Day/Bring It On Home introduction - Black Dog/Over the Hills and Far Away/Misty Mountain Hop/Since I've Been Loving You/No Quarter,
Discs 2 & 5: The Song Remains The Same/The Rain Song/Dazed & Confused
Discs 3 & 6: Stairway To Heaven/Moby Dick/Heartbreaker/Whole Lotta Love/ Communication Breakdown

This title from EV is a 6CD set, the first three of which largely feature the now familiar soundboard recording, and the remaining three of which entirely feature the newly surfaced audience recording. There is nothing wrong with this title itself. The soundboard as featured in the title is actually an upgrade over that featured in the past titles, since it especially has nice fatter bottom ends. On the other hand, the audience recording is truly a wonderful newly find! It is very dynamic and atmospheric and is thus generally more enjoyable than the soundboard which, as upgraded, is still somewhat thin and dry. The audience tape should, and I’m sure will, be an essential item for any serious collector. On the front of the package of the title, a rare color picture of all the four members of the band standing in casual styles on the Bourbon Street is printed, which adds some value for our collection (, although it looks like a shot in ’77 rather than in ’73). On the inner sides of the package, there printed are two black & white pictures of Jimmy on stage, both of which look standard in terms of his postures and attires on the '73 U.S. tour but may be rare.

However, when I compare this EV title with Winston Remasters' recent matrix title called “New Orleans May 14th 1973”, it has become difficult to assess its real value. On Disc 1, EV filled the beginning of the show (up to the start of Jimmy's guitar solo in "Rock And Roll") with the audience tape, just like WR did, because it is missing in the soundboard. The quality of the soundboard is not very different as between the two titles. Actually, WR title has less hiss noises than EV's. As the color pictures of what seem to be the master cassette tapes are shown on the back cover of the EV title, I suppose that it is true that EV used the master tapes in producing its audience tape version. However, the quality of the audience tape is again not very different as between the two titles. Rather, EV's version has more noticeable hiss noises than WR's, especially because EV amplified the audio. (In addition, WR seems to have made some noise reduction efforts artificially, without muffling the sound very much.) Unlike WR, however, EV did not dare to fill the apparent gap which exists in the audience tape close to the end of "The Rain Song" (probably due to the tape change). Overall, therefore, some people, like myself, may feel more comfortable and enjoyable when they listen to cleaner WR's title rather than EV's. However, it would not be bad to have the pressed CD versions of the upgraded soundboard and the newly surfaced wonderful audience recording, with this title from EV marketed with the nice package. (Takemi Hiramatsu Sept. 06)