For the purposes of the key below, WLL refers to Whole Lotta Love, SIBLY to Since I've Been Loving You, and HMMT to How Many More Times, three fine songs for harvesting clips.
1) C#2 from Calling To You. Not easy to hear anything below E2 in this clip, but the C#2 is there!
2) G2, possibly touching F#2, from a 1973 soundcheck. (Song is 'Love Me', by Elvis.)
3) A2 from The Ocean. Funny how people always forget how low this is!
4) Famous A2 from Going To California. Lowest studio note from in Zep.
5) Very powerful C5 dropping onto B4 from The Lemon Song.
6) Soulful D5 from SIBLY.
7) Multiple chest E5s from Black Dog.
8) Easy E5 from We're Gonna Groove, 9/1/70.
9) E5 slide in Rock And Roll.
10) E5 that could smash a brick wall from WLL, 3/5/71.
11) Phenomenal F5 from Black Dog live in Montreal, 1975. Yes, really, 1975.
12) Wailing F5 from Communication Breakdown.
13) HMMT's F5.
14) Brutal F5 from SIBLY, Milan in 1971.
15) F#5 improv on the Immigrant Song, 3/5/71. One of Rob's best gigs ever.
16) F#5 from Babe I'm Gonna Leave You.
17) Legendary F#5 from WLL.
18) F#5 from SIBLY, Inglewood, 4/9/70. Quite a famous bootleg.
19) ...And another one, same pitch, same show, same song.
20) Onto the G5s! SIBLY, 19/9/70.
21) Octave slide up to G5 from Trampled Underfoot, 27/4/77.
22) Easy HMMT G5, from 11/1/69.
23) WLL G5, Montreaux '71.
24) Another G5 from the 11/1/69 HMMT.
25) ...And yet another. Same show and song.
26) A sweet G5 from Operator, recorded just before Zep.
27) One of MANY G5s from HMMT, 30/12/68. Earliest known Zep recording.
28) The G5 from studio SIBLY. So much chest on this note, it's developing a rugged kind of hair.
29) Same note live at the BBC in 1971. Kapow.
30) Wild G5 from SIBLY, 24/11/71. How I wish there was a soundboard...
31) Astounding G5 and F#5 from As Long As I Have You. Washington '68.
32) Mind blowing G5 from HMMT, 27/5/69.
33) Also great G5 from SIBLY, Copenhagen, '71.
34) G5 from HMMT, Fillmore East, 31/1/69. I'm pretty sure the guy on the mixing desk died.
35) G#5 from I'm Gonna Crawl.
36) G#5, WLL, Belfast '71.
37) A few of the G#5s and G5s from You Shook Me.
38) Killer chesty G#5. WLL, 28/6/72.
39) Another G#5 from WLL, Copenhagen '71.
40) Strong G#5 from Black Dog, Belfast '71.
41) Whoa, what a note! Explosive G#5 from SIBLY, Bournmouth, 2/12/71.
42) Nice G#5 being hit by a power drill. Wait, that's not a drill, it's Plant! HMMT, WA '68.
43) Another from the same song and show. Sounds easy, too.
44) Brutal G#5, HMMT, 10/1/69.
45) G#5. 27/5/69. Perfect air-raid siren.
46) A5, almost Bb5, from SIBLY, Madison Square Garden, July '73.
47) Wondrous glissando to A5 from WLL, Hawaii, 6/9/70. Plant at his most effortless at the head voice highs.
48) Wild A5 from I Can't Quit You. 30/12/68.
49) Strong A5 from HMMT, 9/1/70. After the note, Plant sings "I couldn't make it that time". I wonder what exactly he was trying to make...
50) An even better A5 from ICQY. Date unknown.
51) Haunting A5 from WLL, 25/6/72.
52) Famous A5 from Black Dog; Plant's highest studio note.
53) VERY chesty A5 from, yet again, ICQY. 14/2/69.
54) Stunning A5 from WLL. Ipswich, Nov. 71.
55) Head voice Bb5 from SIBLY, 25/6/72. Get the official release!
56) Bb5 WLL slide. Live at the LA Forum, 21/9/71.
57) Killer chesty Bb5 from You Shook Me. Note that this time, Plant says 'we got it'. This must be his favourite note... July '69.
58) Back to HMMT, WA '68 for a stunning Bb5.
59) Another Bb5, obviously full voiced. HMMT, 31/1/69.
60) A falsetto B5 from an ol' pre-Zep number called Sea View.
61) Full B5 from SIBLY. Date unknown, but probably the winter '71 UK tour.
62) Powerful C6 from the Dazed improv section, Ipswich '71.
63) Explosive C#6 from You Shook Me, 14/2/69.
64) E6 from the first-ever live WLL. Mic distortion makes it tough to decipher, but it's full up until the Bb5, and possibly beyond, topping at an E6.
65) Falsetto F6 from The Ocean, 25/6/72.
66) Strangely powerful A6, landing on full F#5 from SIBLY. 2/10/72.
67) Lastly, this striking A6, then Bb6 (!) from HMMT, 30/12/68.
Having given the subject a great deal of research, I deem Plant as having a 'full' range of C#2 to B5, or C#2-B5(-Bb6).
Many thanks go out to Tommy and Cat for trawling the '73, '75 and '80, and '77 and '79 tours respectively for significant notes, a task I doubt I'd have had the patience to do.
Another thank ought to go out to the Zep bootleggers through the years, for dodging Chris Grant and capturing a Whole Lotta Lovely live music!
Remember, folks, never buy nor sell bootlegs for cash. Keep the spirit of trading alive, and thus help keep the artists satisfied too.
Lastly, thanks to you for watching!
9 сен 2024
