Customer Reviews

Remasters

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"LED...ZEPPELIN...IS...BACK!" shouted the TV advertisements for this collection, distilled from 1990's four CD box set. Indeed, the 3CD "Remasters" (two music discs plus a third interview disc) provides near-perfect middle ground between the group's collected works box and 4CD box, and the inferior "Early Days" and "Latter Days" one-disc sets.

"Remasters" spends its first disc on Zeppelin's seismic first four albums, leaving out some essential "II" tracks ("What Is And What Should Never Be," "Living Loving Maid") but culminating where it should, with "Stairway To Heaven." The second disc concentrates on Zeppelin's most experimental work and could lead to greater appreciation of 1976's "Prescence." "Achilles Last Stand," with its understated (for him) Robert Plant vocal, and "Nobody's Fault But Mine" are represented; "Candy Store Rock" would've been a nice addition also.

The third disc features a 30-minute radio special (featuring a lo-fi, interwoven "Hey, Hey What Can I Do"), individual interviews with surviving band members, and some Jimmy Page's song intros ("Hello, this is Jimmy Page and this DJ is insane!" "Hello, I'm Jimmy Page. It's time to wake up and get the Led out!") This is all as essential music as any released since the Beatles' breakup, and should be owned (either here or on the original LPs) in some form.

All of Led Zep's albums (with the possible except of Led Zep IV and Physical Graffiti) have had some outstanding tracks, but some not so great ones. And here, in one handy package, are virtually all the outstanding ones. This is nearly as good quality as buying all 8 seperate albums, but much much cheaper (I got the British edition, which doesn't have the interview disc but has the two music discs, for [amt], which is about [amt]!) It has all the classics, from the opener 'Communication Breakdown' through 'Babe I'm Gonna Leave You', 'Whole Lotta Love', 'Since I've Been Loving You', 'Black Dog', 'Rock and Roll' and my favorite track of all time 'Stairway To Heaven', then onto the second disc which is concerned with Physical Graffiti (once described by British music magazine Q as the heavy alternative to Seargeant Pepper) and the other experimental albums, and contains more great numbers like 'The Rain Song', 'Houses of The Holy' (which, contary to logic, does not appear on the album of the same name but on Physical Graffiti), 'Kashmir' and closer 'In The Evening'. It is a great place to start for begginers to Led Zep, and despite some ommisions (where is When The Levee Breaks or What Is And What Should Never Be) it is a wonderful collection of music and a brilliant introduction to one of the most pioneering rock bands of the 20th century.

Well what can you say about Led Zeppelin that no one already knows. They absolutely positively rock. The man to thank for this brilliant CD is Jimmy Page, the God on the guitar and the backbone of the band. In this cd jimmy displays his absolute best. The best way to describe this cd is old classics remastered for the 90's. The crisp clear sound only makes you appreciate the music more. My only advice is to quickly GO BUY THIS CD! STILL HERE GO I SAID GO

It's strange, the Zeppelin legacy. Nowadays, Zep. are largely regarded as the original heavy metal rock dinosaurs whose cartoon excess on tour and on stage cataysed Punk and killed off the 60's. Odd that, as listening to this collection of songs I can't find a SINGLE bloated heavy metal track among them. If Metal spawns from below the waist, Zep music comes from an altogether more sinister and mystic place. Sure, it has balls, and Zep could rock with no peers (Rock & Roll, Black Dog, Immigrant song etc) but there is a restraint and spiritual discomfiture in this music which has more in common with mediaeval troubadour folk than Deep Purple style lumpen metal. Zepplin music is of shadows and needful things, not of MTV.

Tracks like 'No Quarter' are EVERY BIT as chilling as Robert Johnson's timeless recordings : ' The dogs of doom are howlin' more' indeed. 'Gallows pole' is desperate, and 'the Battle of Evermore' is pure Canterbury tales: Gothic, existential, disquieting.

There is lyrical conceit for sure (unintentionally Parodied later by bands like Rush) but the sheer magnificence of tracks like 'Kashmir' justify the Homerian timbre of the lyric: ' O Father of the four winds fill my sails..'. Truly inspired by ethnic music at is purest and most spiritual long before Paul Simon made it trendy, Zeps best music draws from a huge variety of sources ALL of them base, ancient, spiritual.

Page's restrained guitar work is more effective than any cranked-up modern metaller can ever be, it's what he doesn't play which says the most.

'the Rain Song' is just plain beautiful, but again the retraint renders the song imploring, unfulfilled, fearful like almost no other modern music.

Plant's early shredding vocals (Whole Lotta Love, Communication breakdown) were effective enough, but gave way to an unsettling existential moan over time, (Kashmir, Achille's last stand, No Quarter). John Bonham's sex groove underpinned all their best work, and gave Hip Hop-pers an obvious drum sample along the way '(when the levee breaks, the Ocean)

Don't buy this album as a historical document, as you would , say, a Who album, for Like Gregorian Chant , Zep music is both of it's time and timeless.

Buy it, love it and be unsettled. We will never see their like again.

This album is essntial.

It is so good I could listen to it for hours on end! If you like Led Zeppelin than you have to get these discs!

The best set to get for all those who love Zed Zepplin, with all the best versions of all their good songs!

I'm a Led Zepplin fanatic. If you are interested in buying Zepplin's music and don't have the cash to shell out for the 4 CD box set (or all the individual studio allbums), then this is a must purchase. The versality and artistic abilities of the bands members are captured on "Remasters," and the sound quality is superb.

LED ZEPPELIN-REMASTERS: If the Led Zep box set is too much of a good thing for you (or too tough on your purse strings), then this double CD abbreviated set is the next best thing. Chronologically skimming the cream from all their classic albums, disc one is pretty much one of THE definitive histories of blooze-infested heavy metal, from the bombastic first track COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN to the last, that eight minute all-time FM radio juggernaut that need not be mentioned by name here. In between, you get the psychedelic drone of DAZED AND CONFUSED, the stereo headphone freak-out WHOLE LOTTA LOVE, the gargantuan crunch of IMMIGRANT SONG, and most of LED ZEPPELIN IV. The second, weaker disc represents the less interesting last half of their career, tho' the cuts from HOUSES OF THE HOLY and PHYSICAL GRAFFITTI, including the reggae-accentuated D'YER MAK'ER, and hypnotic KASHMIR are on a par with anything from Zep 1-4. The wimpy, keyboard-led ALL MY LOVE especially sounds like a final gasp...and it was, actually. There will never again be another partnership as musically volcanic as that of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, and at long last Led Zeppelin gets a greatest hits treatment worthy of its legacy.

RATING: FOUR STICKS

I saw Zeppelin back in 1970. By the mid 70's "Stairway to Heaven" was a staple of midnight rock radio, and already acquiring the varnish of an FM "classic." But by then I had already lost touch with their album output. Now, thirty years later I've got my hands on this remastered set. Given that I used to listen to them on an 8 track player in my car, this is a revelation. I had to wait a long time to hear Zep on a decent stereo system, but better late than never.

That Zeppelin was a blues based band was always overshadowed by their popular acclaim as a "heavy metal" band. This set sets the record straight. They kicked [...] as a rockin' blues band. Period.

I am not a die-hard Led Zeppelin fan. But I have come to have enormous respect for the quartet of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham. I have come to realize that the efforts of a great work ethic have produced some of the stuff that legends are made of - and Led Zep takes the cake. As a 30 something music fan, I decided this would be one of my first entry points into the Led Zeppelin music library. 'Remasters' seemed like the perfect entry point - most of Zeppelin's great songs remastered on 2 CDs - plus a third 'Interviews' CD to get insight into the band. This box set is very good. It doesn't deliver that knockout punch or homerun, but it is very good.

First the packaging - It seems that nowadays everything that is above 2 CDs that is considered a "Boxed Set". There really have become 2 categories of Boxed Sets. The first is a "Classic Boxed Set". This comes in a covered box about the size of an LP and contains CDs (sometimes in jewel cases, sometimes just on the bottom of the box) and a book about the same size. The second type is more like a 5.5" x 10" hardcover book which I term "Hardcover Box Set'. The CDs basically are stored in the hardcover binding and the book is in the middle. I much prefer what I call the Classic Boxed Set to the Hardcover format. The 'Led Zeppelin Remasters' set is a subset of Hardcover format. The disappointing thing - no book in the middle. Just two little booklets in the upper left corner. I know Led Zeppelin has more comprehensive boxed sets (The Complete Set and the 4 CD set), but I still would have liked to see a little more here.

The music is on 2 CDs and basically is divided into Early Zeppelin and Late Zeppelin. The first CD encompasses songs through the 'Led Zeppelin IV' album while the 2nd CD takes us to the end with songs from 'In Through the Out Door'. I think the Zeppelin fan will be satisfied here. I am more of a fan of the later stuff. I was very disappointed to find that 'Fool in the Rain' was not included on this set. However if you want to hear remastered versions of 'Stairway to Heaven', 'Kashmir', and 'Trampled Underfoot' - you won't be disappointed. On a side note, I think those are the three best Zep songs.

The third CD is divided into 3 sections over 43 tracks. The first section is a profile of the band which is 28 minutes long, but much of that is taken up by replaying songs such as Kashmir. I think it would have been nicer to go deeper with the band profile. The 2nd section is Station Liners and if you are a die-hard fan, this is perfect. I wish more boxed sets had preserved this type of stuff. The third section is individual Q&A with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones. Much like the first section, it doesn't go as deep as I would have liked to hear. The potential is there, it just doesn't deliver the depth.

All and all, I'm still happy I got this and it left me for wanting more.