Led Zeppelin
L'Olympia
L'Olympia
Paris, France
October 10, 1969.
Source: 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
L’Olympia from Wendy is the latest in the string of releases featuring the recent rebroadcast of Led Zeppelin’s Paris show from October 10, 1969.
1969 was a time in Zeppelin’s 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 “It’s Your Thing” reference. “I Can’t Quit You Baby” has a few seconds of Jimmy’s 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 Bonham’s 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 don’t see the point. Wendy packaged L’Olympia in a full color tri-fold paper case with early live shots of the band and is a beautiful title to own.
