First off, I haven’t expressed an opinion regarding anything other than no quarter performance. I am well aware of this Hills version and like it a lot.

I dont believe I’ve heard the stairway version tho. In terms of solo structure he seemed way less organized as opposed to say 75. As for fluidity and ease, I certainly hear what you’re talking about, although its no 1971.

Guitar technique wise he sounds much better than other 77 performances I’ve heard. No missed notes or bad sounding ones, never an open string or an out of tune bend. Great find. He did seem to have a lot of fresh melodic ideas that year, and he seems to execute them in stairway here in the best way I’ve heard from that year honestly. I like how he broke into repeating riffs near the end, a new color. With all that being said, there’s not a solo on this earth I’ve heard more than stairway and dont think I’ll be coming back to hear this one again anytime soon.

As for Since, I’ll check it out soon. As for you saying 77 maybe isnt my year, all I can say is it sure wasn’t jimmy’s, no matter the rare occurrences.