Among the many live recordings of ZEP, the Texas Pop Festival has an unshakable status as a standard due to its "real stereo soundboard recording," "compactness that fits on one CD," and "dynamic performance that is typical of 1969." That's why many items have been produced, and last year, the release of the natural and best version from the master under the title "TEXAS INTERNATIONAL POP FESTIVAL 1969" is still fresh in my memory. However, it was a strong standard and sold out in the blink of an eye. There are still calls for a re-release. Of course, it is possible to re-release last year's version, but a year later, a maniac has released a groundbreaking version of this sound source on the Internet. It corrected the stereo image that was clearly divided into left and right, and further supplemented the missing parts with a stereo audience recording on the same day. However, this is not the first time that Texas Pop has been compiled in this way. Such an attempt was already introduced in "THE ONLY WAY TO FLY." However, this time, they took advantage of the evolution of technology and embarked on a full-scale improvement of the stereo image. It is speculated that the stereo soundboard recording of Texas Pop was not recorded by a PA-out cassette (and owned by staff or members), which is the mainstream in the ZEP live sound source world, but by someone related to the festival using a two-track stereo tape recorder. The result is a stereo recording state with a balance between left and right, and the existence of recordings of other performers at the festival also supports this fact. This balance means that you can hear Page and Bonzo from the right, Plant and Jonesy from the left, and cheers. The clearness of the mix was easy to understand and not bad, but on the other hand, it was true that there was a sense of incongruity. In a sense, this version is a "remix" of Texas Pop. This time, it is based on the best version from the master, but the difference is obvious when you listen to it with headphones. The left and right stereo images are quite close to the center, and it's surprising that they have been reborn as a much more natural and sophisticated stereo image compared to the original recording. Yet the increased sense of realism is also a major point of this version. This is the result of synchronizing the two-track soundboard with the stereo audience recording of the same day (familiar from TARANTULA's "PLAYS PURE BOB"), which not only amplifies the natural stereo feeling, but also makes the excitement at the start of "Train Kept A Rollin'" feel much more real than the original recording. Not only did the missing parts get filled in and the stereo image improved, but the high level of completion of this "remix" was also here. In addition, the improvement of the stereo image has had an unexpected effect on filling in the missing parts of the two long songs. In other words, even the discomfort caused by the filling in of the audience recording when "Dazed And Confused" reached 11 minutes or "How Many More Times" reached 19 minutes has been greatly alleviated. No matter how close the sound image is in stereo, there is no sense of separation of the performance, and it was a consistent dilemma in past items that when it was switched to the stereo sound board, a considerable sense of incongruity occurred. In the editing parts of both songs, the extreme separation between left and right has disappeared for the reasons mentioned above, so the performance can be heard more smoothly. In particular, the editing of "How Many ~" is very vivid. Even with headphones, you may forget the switching of the sound source and listen to it. On the other hand, it can be said that the value of last year's "TEXAS INTERNATIONAL POP FESTIVAL 1969", which recorded the original 2-track stereo sound board best and faithfully, is not lost at all. It is a groundbreaking remix version of the classic 69 stereo sound board, and the recording before the opening announcement and the sense of realism have increased, literally reborn Texas pop, which is a fresh surprise. Texas International Pop Festival, Lewisville, Texas, USA 31st August 1969 (65:02) 1. Intro. 2. The Train Kept A Rollin' 3. I Can't Quit You Baby 4. Dazed And Confused 5. You Shook Me 6. How Many More Times 7. Communication Breakdown
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