How the West Was Won 2018

After listening to all of Led Zeppelin's live material, it seems like 1971 was the final year where Robert Plant was still able to sing all of his earlier songs just as well as he did in the studio. Disc 2 of their BBC Sessions live album is a great example of this, recorded in January 1971, months before their legendary 4th album (Zoso) was released. However, by 1972 when this live album was recorded, only a year later, you can notice a slow but steady deterioration in Robert Plant's vocal abilities. Stairway to Heaven (disc 1, track 7) is a great example of this. Robert Plant sounds great throughout most of the song, but when he gets to the climax (“And as we wind on down the road…”), he completely butchers the song. Not only does his voice crack several times, but Plant struggles so much with his vocals that he even brings it down an octave, and it completely minimizes the overall impact of the song. It’s almost painful to listen to. Plant also does that a little bit on “Since I’ve Been Loving You”, although he sounds a lot better on that track than on “Stairway.” The only other track that I feel could’ve been better on Plant’s part is “Dazed and Confused”, but as with “Since I’ve Been Loving You”, he still sounds better than on “Stairway.” In fact, he sounds great on the rest of the album. His most notable tracks are “Immigrant Song”, “Heartbreaker”, “Over the Hills and Far Away” (he sounds just like the studio recording), “Dancing Days”, “What Is and What Should Never Be”, “Bring It On Home”, “Whole Lotta Love” and all of the acoustic songs on the latter half of disc 1As for the rest of the band, they all sound spot-on. They always sound great on any live album I’ve ever heard by them. This album contains some of the best guitar work that I’ve ever heard from Jimmy Page. The music alone makes buying this album completely worth it. If you’re a true Zeppelin fan, as I am, this is an album you must own. I highly recommend it.

I missed this when it first came out in 2003 so I can't compare the sound, but this remastered version sounds remarkably good! Kudos to Eddie Kramer, who made the original June 1972 recordings, to Kevin Shirley and Drew Griffiths who engineered the 2003 release, to John Davis who did the 2017 mastering, and to Jimmy Page who supervised!Sadly I never caught Led Zeppelin live, though I saw many of the classic rock greats in Chicago from 1973-1976, so for me this is an opportunity to hear what I missed. The highlights are the medleys on "Dazed and Confused" (25:25) and "Whole Lotta Love" (20:59). It's also fascinating to hear the live version of "Stairway to Heaven" and note which parts stay the same and which are changed from the classic studio version. "The Crunge," "Dancing Days" and "The Ocean" appear prior to their studio versions on "Houses of the Holy" nearly a year later.While the live recording is quite impressive, I have to say it makes me appreciate Jimmy Page's studio wizardry even more. With the endless possibilities for layering, overdubbing, and the use of extra musicians, the studio recordings are richer and more well-rounded. What we have here is a stripped-down sound, and it is more obvious that this is a Cream-style trio with vocalist. What becomes quite interesting is how Page on guitar and Jones on keyboards create a variety of sounds that go part of the way toward the Vision embodied in the studio.Page and Plant have long been adamant that Zeppelin was not metal, and what comes across clearly in this live performance is how true that is -- good old early rock 'n' roll was prominent in their sound, far from the later metal with the "roll" taken out, and of course there are prominent elements of blues and folk as well.This makes a great addition to the collection of remastered Zeppelin albums that Jimmy Page has overseen!

Jimmy Page produced this Blu-ray audio remaster and it sounds phenomenal! I recently bought this for one to share with my old buddies, one who is a total Zep head, as I had hosted a listening party at my home to showcase my surround sound system as I had recently made an upgrade to an Oppo BDO-105 player.To many Zeppelin fans this will even sound better than the DVD-Audio release from years back. Yes sadly Blu-Ray audio is yet another dead format in high resolution audio but this releases prove it can still have plenty of life and at a great price point too.As for the music you are completely enthralled sonically with the music and vocals it really can't sound any betterthan this...well unless you have a DAC recording of this one. I would be curious to read other reviews of folks who have done that with this stellar recording.What is noteworthy of this disc is the softer songs, such as Going to California and That's the Way, which reveal a luscious and intimate clarity that shows you how well versed the hammer of the gods could be.If you prefer the former than crank it up as John Bottom's thunderous drumming and John Paul Jones's exceptional bass playing will push you into joyous rock n roll rapture, complimenting the most famous duo ever in rock.