Tarantura is a

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...

based in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

but due to legal reasons they say they are from Japan which releases

bootleg recordings A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. Making and distributing such recordings is known as ''bootlegging''. Recordings may be copied and trad ...

. Since 1993 it has been specialising in

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are c ...

and

Page and Plant Page and Plant (also known as Jimmy Page & Robert Plant) was an English rock band active between 1994 and 1998. The group consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant (both formerly of English rock band Led Zeppelin), accompanied ...

releases. Tarantura is known for its release of high quality recordings and elaborate packaging which, according to Led Zeppelin archivists Dave Lewis and Simon Pallett, often employs a "finesse and style unmatched even by official standards."Dave Lewis and Simon Pallett (1997) ''Led Zeppelin: The Concert File'', London: Omnibus Press. , p. 111. For example, in 1994 the label released ''Monsters of Rock'', an elaborate 3-CD set containing the

soundboard recording A soundboard recording is a sound recording of a concert taken from a direct connection to the soundboard at the venue. Soundboard recordings are considered to be among the highest quality bootleg recordings of live performances though some soun ...

s from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

and

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

from Led Zeppelin's 1973 concert tour of the United States. This release contained concertina-style fold-out packaging, with each disc in individual heavy stock and card sleeves. The front of the pack was designed in the style of a 1950s

B-movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

poster of a giant spider, "Tarantura!" Initial copies even included a

jigsaw puzzle A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaiced pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture. When assembled, the puzzle pieces produce a complete picture. In t ...

of the cover art. However, the main criticism levelled at Tarantura is that the prices charged are outside the reach of many collectors. Each title is extremely limited (usually only 300-500 sets), sometimes individually numbered, and sold through one outlet in Japan with no mail order. They are therefore difficult to obtain overseas and command extremely high prices when they do appear for sale. By way of example, the estimated value of ''Monsters of Rock'' currently stands at over £400. The Tarantura label can claim responsibility for some notable Led Zeppelin releases, including the 19-CD box set ''A Week For Badgeholders'' which captures the six shows performed by the band at the

Los Angeles Forum Kia Forum (formerly The Forum) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Inglewood, California, United States, adjacent to Los Angeles. Located between West Manchester Boulevard, across Pincay Drive and Kareem Court, it is north of SoFi Stadium and ...

during its 1977 concert tour of the United States. It has also released sets from the band's two performances at Knebworth in 1979, their entire 1972 Japanese tour, and every show from their 1980 tour of Europe.

References

{{Authority control Japanese independent record labels Rock record labels

See also

References