In Collection
#2840
Seen It:
Yes
#2840
Seen It:
Yes
USA / English
-DVD-Coverdale / Page
1993.12.20 (First of two nights)
Osaka Festival Hall
Osaka, Japan
11th Anniversary Edition
Authored, sound emastered and presented by jameskg
This a free show. DO NOT SELL!
Jimmy Page - Guitar
David Coverdale - Lead Vocals
Denny Carmassi - Drums
Guy Pratt - Bass
Brett Tuggle - Keyboards / Vocals
Background:
In 1991, Jimmy Page and Whitesnake's David Coverdale were both approached by some third party who wished to see these guys work together. They met and discussed the idea in March 1991. They then met several times over the next few months and quickly assembled new material that became the Coverdale / Page album, released by Geffen Records on March 27, 1993. This studio album marked the first return to commercial success for Jimmy Page since his days with Led Zeppelin, and a world tour was planned, starting in Japan. The US leg was cancelled due to sluggish ticket sales and the partnership was over at the end of the year. A further six tracks recorded between Page and Coverdale remain unreleased. If you have them - let's hear them!
About this show:
Some of you may remember that tenaciousd99 tried to torrent this about 6 weeks ago, but all he had been given was a single 4GB+ VOB file. Of course, you can't burn a file that big to Video DVD due to the UDF file system's limits. I offered to get the video from him and fix it up so we could re-torrent it and he was kind enough to mail a data disc to me from Canada.
I demuxed the whole show and set to work. The DVD had no menu, though I did find one that looked like someone attempted to start a generic one and gave up. The file did have a few chapter points, but they seemed to land in the middle of songs. Then there was the audio. The show was videoed from high-up and the audio was very tinny and thin, but clear. There was also this digital popping noise around 12kHz that got worse during Jimmy's guitar intros. Digital grunge, most likely from the AC3 conversion.
All that aside, I watched the entire concert (because I had no way to skip around :lol: ) and thought it was a pretty good historical record.
SOUND: I decided that I'd not only fix the 4GB VOB problem, but I'd also remaster the audio to make it [i]sound[/i] like a concert - i.e. drums you can hear and an out-front guitar. Coverdale was WAY too up-front in the original audio track. Thanks to the DVD format's ability to run multiple audio streams at once, I was able to include both the remastered track and the original thin track from the camcorder. There is a bootleg available for this show and I gave some thought to obtaining that, syncing it up and including it as well, but I couldn't find a copy. If anyone ever comes across it, I'd like to have it. It's in stereo, so it could be a big improvement. Then we ca release the "Ultimate Edition" with 3 tracks like the bootleggers do! :)
Track 1: (English) AC3 384kbps: Remastered audio (default)
Track 2: (English) AC3 256kbps: Original untouched audio
Chapter Breakdown
1. Little hut thing
I don't know why this is here - I almost cut it. I just silenced the HUGE amount of static audio on it, left alone it and set the DVD to start 3 seconds later from the chapter menu. You can direct-access it if you really want to see it. :)
7:18 PM
2. Absolution Blues
From Coverdale /Page - 1993 - The show starts with the purple lights sweeping the rafters and a killer guitar riff. Fast tempo song with lots of screaming from Coverdale. Coverdale spots the camera right off during the first verse of this song. Coverdale's voice is in good shape - especially to start off with gymnastics like this. I could do without the wolf howls, though ;)
3. Slide it In
From Whitesnake's "Slide It In" - 1984 - "eers a sing for ya!" - probably the worst intro I could think of. Coverdale is over-excited about playing live w/ Page, it seems. Cheesier song than I remembered it being. I wish they'd have done "Slow and Easy" from this album, but this is pretty good.
4. Rock and Roll
From Led Zeppelin
"Good Evening!" - Cheesiness from Coverdale. It gets worse - I started to cut it all but I'm a purist. :)
5. Over Now
From Coverdale / Page - 1993 - A great slow rocking song with a great revolving riff bridge. Killer intro on Page's Transperformance Guitar that Page would later use to great effect on the Page / Plant tour. More of this later in the show.
6. Kashmir
From Led Zeppelin "Physical Graffiti" - 1975 - Page uses "Over Now" to seg into this as he's always been fond of doing with Kashmir. Brett Tuggle does a great job backing Page. Nice and thick. Camera man falls over or something during this song.
More cheesiness from Coverdale. He actually berades the help. You start to understand that poor Coverdale will never be Robert Plant. He should have gone to more Zep shows in the 70s. :)
7. Pride and Joy
From Coverdale / Page - 1993 - Brett Tuggle handles 2nd guitar on this for Page. Comes off really well. Can't help but think about how great this would have been as a Zeppelin song with Bonzo's swagger behind it. But wait - Coverversion stops the song to scream "fuck" at the audience and introduces Brett Tuggle (again), who proceeds to do an 1895 style old-west bar room piano solo. Jimmy comes back in and starts shreading the riff with Tuggle tickling the top of his board. Doesn't ruin it, but I'd preferred they just let Page play the song. Coverdale does manage to pull off the end pretty well. And introduces Tuggle again - and comments on his shirt.
More cheesiness from Coverdale again introducing Guy Pratt, who does a pretty bass solo to lead into:
8. Take A Look At Yourself
From Coverdale / Page - 1993 - Starts off pretty good. I never thought this song fit the album, but was pretty good. Sometime during this song, you learn that, although none of these guys are really backup singers, they aren't afraid to try anyway. Meh. Page, of course, is right on target. Coverdale should have sung it solo.
9. Take Me For A Little While
From Coverdale / Page - 1993 - This song rocks. A great Page song. Gibson double-neck. Just wait 'til you hear the solo. SHREAD. Makes you take notice and go "That's Jimmy Page!" Song fits Coverdale's voice very well.
Coverdale toasts the crowd.
Jimmy introduces the next song as only Jimmy can.
10. In My Time Of Dying
From Led Zeppelin "Physical Graffiti" - 1975 - Out comes the Danelectro and the boys proceed to bring this old song to life. Page slide-solos his ass off.
11. Here I Go Again
From Whitesnake - 1987 - This would have been a good place for a harmonizer for Coverdale instead of having the band sing on the chorus. Page dutifully plays the guitar part - and pretty good solo, too (maybe the shortest of his career!) The band's backing vocals kind of ruin this one.
Coverdale kisses Jimmy's ass.
12. White Summer / Black Mountain Side
pre-Led Zeppelin - available on 1990 box set and "Complete Recordings" - Jimmy sets the stage with a neat old chair and begins wailing away at his DADGAD signature piece. Pretty good rendition, too - not many sticky fingers at all. I keep waiting for it to go into Kashmir :lol: . Then he DOES! but not before going into Over the Hills and Far Away.
Coverdale actually says "Are you ready to rumble?"
13. Don't Leave Me This Way
From Coverdale / Page - 1993 - I really like this song. Great soulful Page song. Fit's Coverdale's voice very well, too. Check Page's solo. Starts off slowly, then he really comes to life. Another "Hey - That's Jimmy Page!" moment. Unnecessary drum solo from Carmassi. Drums heads are too damn loose - bunch of clicking. I'd rather he played the Barracuda riff :)
Coverdale says "fuck" a few more times and asks the crowd about their cocks. Also asks them to "Make some noise" as if he's at a Beastie Boys show.
14. Shake My Tree
From Coverdale / Page - 1993 - Brett Tuggle shows us that Guy Pratt is the one who can't sing by singing the bridge for Coverdale surprisingly VERY WELL. The TransPerformance guitar and Theremin solo that Jimmy will use later on the Page / Plant tour makes it's debut here. You saw it first here, folks!
At this point, Coverdale has said domo arigato more times than the entire country of Japan during 1993 and he asks the crowd "Are you ready to rumble?" again.
Encores
8:50 PM
15. In The Sill of The Night
From Whitesnake - 1987 - Killer song - purple sweeping lights - check out the UNENHANCED JAPANESE crowd singing along in English. They know this shit. It becomes obvious here that Page has really practiced this one - he's dead on. Too bad he didn't join Whitesnake in the 80s! Check out Page's classic rock-god look with the cigarette and head down. Reminds you of why this guy is Slash's hero. Now the really cool part: The infamous stringed middle section. Page handles the whole thing on his own. The tempo is really a bit too fast, but Page digs in and NAILS it anyway with amazing precision. A real highlight of this show.
16. Black Dog
From Led Zeppelin
Quick Zeppelin medley into "Feelin' Hot":
17. The Ocean / Wanton Song / Feelin Hot
18. Sayonara
Show ends 9:13 PM
Summary -
Great show. Most of the show, Coverdale was over-doing the front man thing between songs like a kid at his first show, further cementing his rep as "David Coverversion", as Plant has WAY more command over a stage. Too much "oo ta tay, yes indeedy deedy deedy, fuck this, fuck that, Osaka...OOOOsaaaaakaaa.... Domo Arigato, make some fucking noise, get ready to rumbuuulll", etc. But he DOES have a great voice and sounded BIG, like a rock star.
Page was in great form - really coming alive and playing in a way he hadn't in years on this tour. It's worth it to watch this, because - In reality, this mini-tour is probably what got Page interested in reuniting with Plant. The magic wasn't quite there with Coverdale, but it made Page remember just how good a guitarist he is and long to be on stage again with Robert Plant.
Two days later, the tour and the partnership were over. Not long after, Jimmy and Robert began working together on the unplugged special for MTV.
B+
I felt like this show deserved a beefed up soundtrack and some good menus for the DVD. There is also a slideshow of the tour's program. Can't quite get the resolution on DVD to be able to read the small print on some, but you can read the source scans at http://www.stryder.de/tourbook.html , a fantastic Zep website.
ENJOY! -jameskg (1/DEC/2004)
Screenshots:
New Menu
Main Show
Encores
Audio Selection
Tour Program Slideshow
Various concert caps
2006.05.03 - R-O - jameskg
| Edition Details | ||
| Region | Region 1 | |
| Date | 1993-12-20 | |
| Standard Features |
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| Discs | 1 | |
| Personal Details |