This is another of the unofficial live Led Zepplin albums I picked up recently. The material comes from the Mothership’s European tour in 1970-71, though the record doesn’t provide much in the way of details. The picture disc claims to have been produced in a run of 1,000 copies. I’m unsure when it actually came out, but given the significant yellowing of it’s vinyl sleeve, I’m guessing it isn’t recent and could in fact be from roughly the same period as the shows.
I was a bit leery of buying this one, as picture discs, especially unofficial ones, in my experience are not of the highest quality. So I was pleasantly surprised when I dropped the needle and the band launched into “Communication Breakdown”. The recording is perhaps the slightest bit flat, but it’s not compressed to the point of muddiness – you can hear all three instruments clearly, with Plant’s voice out in front. Despite a thorough cleaning there is a bit of surface noise, but it’s only a minor distraction, and at the end of the day, it’s an older record, so a little surface noise is going to happen sometimes. It’s mostly noticeable on the quieter tracks, such as “Goin’ To California”.
“Whole Lotta Love” sounds particularly good here, a song that is often disappointing when recorded live. And the Elvis Presley medley was a bit of a pleasant surprise. Despite some pops and clicks, “Goin’ To California” is excellent, as is the version of “Stairway”, though Plant’s vocals get a bit lost at the start of the track. Overall Recorded Live In Europe 70/71 Tour is a quality record, one of the better unofficial live Led Zep’s I’ve heard.
I couldn’t find a listing for this in Ross Halfin’s comprehensive hardback Led Zeppelin Vinyl – The Essential Collection (2021) which was a bit of a surprise, as if this was produced in a run of 1,000 copies it shouldn’t be truly rare. I found a dozen recorded auction sales on Popsike, with none since 2019. Three of the auctions all occurred in a short time span in 2015 an used the same photo, as is true for a pair of listings from 2013, so perhaps a dozen is actually overstating things – maybe this one is more uncommon than you’d expect.