Incredible document of Led Zeppelin lean and mean in various BBC studios in 1969 and unleashed live on a 1971 Paris live show, all lovingly presented in this awe-inspiring triple CD document of lesser-heard recordings from these rock legends!
"Newly remastered by Jimmy Page, the three-disc set featuring recordings from ’69-’71 captures a vibrant and liminal phase of the band's career that shows who they once were and who they would become...
Jimmy Page supervised a new remaster... there’s an additional third disc that includes an unearthed performance that hadn’t been heard since its original 1969 broadcast, Dave Lewis’ contextual liner notes are informative and revelatory, and if you just love black-and-white photos of arcane recording gear and empty performance halls, you’re in luck. But above all that, it’s an exhaustive look at the lengths Led Zeppelin would go to for a chance to make it big through sheer force of music, and it’s borne out by witnessing the band in the process their own self-creation...
To know Zeppelin as musicians puts that into focus: Jimmy Page flourished as an ex-session guitarist who still wanted to try any style as his own. John Bonham was so in the pocket even the fractions between the one and the two sounded deep. John Paul Jones strode with purpose along the border between groove’s backbone and a nomadic soloist whether on bass or keys. And Robert Plant’s voice could wring a Valhallan catharsis out of reading the cooking instructions on a box of macaroni. In isolation they were great; as an ensemble they were supernatural. It’s not that they were merely shredding or otherwise showing off: Led Zeppelin wanted to find out where those sounds they built, borrowed, and stole could really go...
From a present-day perspective... diving headlong into the ’69/’71 timeframe of the band that most necessitated the obnoxious yet fitting phrase “Rock Gods” might otherwise feel like history homework. But 'BBC Sessions' captures an actual excitement, a document of a moment in an oft-told story of a band that isn’t excessively beholden to it. No 'Song Remains the Same' audio-visual stoner-movie overkill, no excess studio futzing, no sense that their peak was either already there or just in the rearview. It’s just a meticulous document of a band whose hedonism kept them from restraining their absurd level of mastery. So here: have Zep as they both wanted to be and eventually were." - Pitchfork
Triple Compact Disc
Tracklist
CD1:
1. You Shook Me
2. I Can't Quit You Baby
3. Communication Breakdown
4. Dazed And Confused
5. The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair
6. What Is And What Should Never Be
7. Communication Breakdown
8. Travelling Riverside Blues
9. Whole Lotta Love
10. Somethin' Else
11. Communication Breakdown
12. I Can't Quit You Baby
13. You Shook Me
14. How Many More Times
CD2:
1. Immigrant Song
2. Heartbreaker
3. Since I've Been Loving You
4. Black Dog
5. Dazed And Confused
6. Stairway To Heaven
7. Going To California
8. That's The Way
9. Whole Lotta Love (Medley)
9a. Whole Lotta Love
9b. Boogie Chillun'
9c. Fixin' To Die
9d. That's Alright Mama
9e. A Mess Of Blues
10. Thank You
CD3:
1. Communication Breakdown
2. What Is And What Should Never Be
3. Dazed And Confused
4. White Summer
5. What Is And What Should Never Be
6. Communication Breakdown
7. I Can't Quit You Baby
8. You Shook Me
9. Sunshine Woman
