In the world of unofficial vinyl and CD’s, we tend to see a lot more of certain bands than we do of others. Led Zeppelin is one of those bands, and Unstoppable Metal Machine: Earl’s Court, May 25th, 1975, is one of those in demand pressings. Originally released on splatter vinyl by the Antenna label, this five LP set has recently been repressed on solid color vinyl. It seems that this is almost always the case with Antenna. They’ll do a limited and numbered run, and then put out another run that’s also limited, but not numbered. In this case, there were 250 copies issued of each version, although the solid color version is not individually numbered.
This is one of those boxes I had sitting on the shelf for a while, sort of saving it for a special occasion. Next month, I’ll be getting one or two other Zeppelins that are just coming out, so I figured that now was a good time to listen to this one. Initially, I did some research on the show itself to see what people thought of it. Opinions ranged from this being one of their best recorded shows to some people saying it was one of the worst. The people who thought it was bad are certainly in the minority, but that sentiment is out there. I did discover (and it’s pretty obvious upon listening) that Robert Plant was recovering from a cold here, so this is not his best vocal performance of all time or anything. I still think he did a pretty excellent job, though.
The box itself looks amazing and is the same setup as the other Antenna Broadcast boxes. Basically, it’s a gimmix style box with wrap around artwork glued on top. This creates a paper hinge, so the top of the box doesn’t separate from the lower half when you open it up. I know this sounds like it would be very delicate, but that’s not really the case. As long as you handle it with common sense, it’s sure to last more than a lifetime. The artwork is certainly cool, and the box materials are of very high quality. In addition to the five LPs, the set also comes with a nice booklet, complete high-quality printing and color photos, along with some history of the gig.
When I opened up the box, I was initially pretty impressed. The colors look nice, and the labels are cool. On each disc, the front side has a track listing, and the back side has some artwork featuring the band members. I noticed that disc four, the purple one, had a slight edge warp, but I figured it was nothing I couldn’t fix with my flattening machine. Besides that, everything looked alright. I did my initial cleaning using my VPI vacuum, and prepared to give these a spin. I will tell you that unfortunately, this is pretty much where the good news ends. If you thought I only had good stuff to say here on the blog, this review is especially for you.
To get it out of the way before I dive into the problems I had with this box, I will say that there isn’t anything wrong with the actual show. The front of the box states that it was “pro shot” (maybe they mean pro-recorded or that this audio was taken from a video tape?), and the source sounds excellent. My problems are all entirely due to pressing issues, and they are unfortunately present throughout the entire box. Some places are worse than others, however. As usual, we have a great looking setlist that any Zeppelin fan is bound to enjoy:
Disc #1 was actually the best of the lot, and while it did have some clicks and pops here and there, it was nothing unlistenable. This is the white disc you see in the photos, and as I have probably mentioned before, I really hate white vinyl. It’s boring to look at, and it’s impossible to see any damage on the surface. It’s also really difficult to clean, since any fluid you might put on it blends right in, and you can’t really tell which parts are wet and which are dry. The real problems started with disc #2 however, which is the blue one. Even after a thorough cleaning, I had an awful skip during the beginning of “Kashmir”. I looked pretty closely at the record and couldn’t see anything wrong with it in that spot. I checked it with a magnifying glass that I usually keep around to read really tiny matrix codes, and low and behold, there was some hard white material in the grooves.
After some deliberation, and multiple failed attempts to remove the debris in a gentle way, I just used my thumb nail to scrape off as much of it as I could. Obviously, this did nothing to remove the junk that was deep inside the grooves, but it did smooth out the surface. Then, I polished the area with a melamine sponge and went through the cleaning process again. When I put the record back on, it no longer skipped and would at least play through. The obnoxious clicks, however, remained intact. When it got the end of the track, the skipping started again on the final note of “Kashmir”, and I repeated the process on that damaged area as well. Once again, I needed a magnifying glass to see it, but the same hard white substance was lodged in the grooves.
Moving on to disc #3 (pink), this one sounded pretty good on both sides. That gave me some hope that I would get to the end of the set without any more issues, but of course that wasn’t the case. By the time I got to disc #4 (purple), I got another brutal skip during “Moby Dick”. Using the same procedure, I was able to at least get the disc to play through, but the horrible clicks and pops are still present during the damaged section. On the bright side, this might very well be my favorite version of “Moby Dick”. Even for someone like me that doesn’t like long drum solos, this one doesn’t feel too long at all and is classic Bonzo. I read that some other people felt as though the drums lack “punch” on this recording, and I agree. It’s especially noticeable during the solo, but really, this is just a minor complaint.
When I finally arrived at disc #5 (black… actually really translucent purple if held up to the light), things weren’t looking great. Unlike the other discs that looked ok upon first glance, this one actually looked bad from the start. Being a dark color didn’t help, but it appeared to be pretty filthy even after an intense cleaning with various solutions, including a powerful enzymatic one. This disc is loaded with most of the fan favorite tracks, so I was disappointed but not surprised when I started getting some jumps during “Stairway to Heaven”. To be clear, skipping and jumping are two different things. The skips, such as those that were present on the other discs, have the stylus essentially getting stuck in the groove and playing the same few seconds over and over until you shut it down. Jumping is when the stylus reaches a damaged area on the disc and jumps over it, landing back in the groove a few seconds later. Both of these scenarios are bad, but at least tracks that jump are playable.
So, once again, I repeated the same scraping and cleaning process. This time, I was able to get enough of the mystery substance out of the groove that not only did the disc play through on both sides, but it also sounded pretty good. There was still a bit of surface noise which is present throughout almost the entire show, but disc #5 turned out to probably be the best of the lot. Undoubtedly, this is the most effort I have ever out into listening to a show on vinyl. If it didn’t cost so much and look so nice, I would have probably just thrown it in the trash and been done with it. At the end of it all, I even tried using my recently purchased ultrasonic cleaning machine in an attempt to clean up some of the surface noise, but sadly, it didn’t do any good. The VPI vacuum machines do a fantastic job, and it’s my experience that if they don’t get the job done, an ultrasonic machine probably won’t help very much either.
So, what was that hard mystery substance lodged in the grooves? While I can’t say for certain, my guess is that it’s probably paper dust. Occasionally at a record plant (probably more so at ones that manufacture bootlegs and maybe aren’t as thoroughly maintained), there will be some paper dust left over on the labels from where the holes are punched out. If the machine operator isn’t paying attention or just doesn’t care, this stuff can blow back into the vinyl and get pressed into the records surface. The result of this being all these little bumps that you can never fully get out of the wax. Needless to say, this makes the playback sound awful. This is just a guess, but no matter what happened, the product I got was of inexcusably bad quality.
To sum things up here, I know this review didn’t focus very much on the actual material, but I feel like there was just a ton to be said about the pressing issues. After all, we all know Zeppelin was pretty awesome, right? As far as ratings are concerned, Unstoppable Metal Machine gets a 9/10 on packaging, a 9/10 on audio source, and 2/10 on pressing. I have reviewed several Antenna boxes in the past, like Ozzy Miami and Ozzy Mid-South, and I really loved those. If you look at other reviews, most people who got Unstoppable Metal Machine really liked it, and the set is still highly sought after. This fact, combined with the fact that this set is quite expensive, is why I decided to review it here.
I don’t have any way to know this for sure, but I think most people who are happy with this set probably have the splatter copy. It was the first run, and obviously a different pressing. Most likely, it didn’t have any of the problems I talked about here. There is also no way of knowing if all the solid color copies are like mine, or I just got unlucky. I can’t, however, recommend in good conscience that another collector buys the solid color version of this. If you have to have this show on vinyl, you would do better to seek out a splatter version. If you are lucky enough to find one, you should be prepared to pay double the cost of the solid version because you know, cool color and stuff.
If you just want to hear the May 25th, 1975, Earl’s Court show at its best, there are other options. If you are like me and you just want something that’s collectable and sounds great, there are a ton of high-quality CD pressings out there. Labels like Empress Valley Supreme Disc and Tarantura have pressed some amazing sounding (and amazing looking) versions of this show on CD, presented in box sets and other packaging that rival almost any vinyl set in existence. If you are looking for a great version of any Zeppelin show or are looking to pick up the new and exciting addiction of collecting high-end unofficial CDs, these labels and many others are worth seeking out. Don’t say you weren’t warned about falling down the rabbit hole, though.