by Mott the Dog
re-mastered By Ella Crew
5 Stars *****
At last a true document of the greatest band that ever
trod the boards in the name of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Twenty-four years after
their last concert together, and twenty-three years since the tragic death
of powerhouse drummer John Bonham, we get the proof that Led Zeppelin were
the Lords of Rock ‘n’ Roll. They were then and they still are today.
If you had to put a 4-piece band together from any era at the peak of
their powers, these are the four young men you would pick.
John Bonham was the most powerful drummer ever to sit
behind a drum kit and was the engine room for Led Zeppelin, battering both
his drum kit and his audience into submission.
John Paul Jones was a pioneer of the bass guitar, felt
of finger and heavy on the riff, leading the way for other such talented
bass players who played as if they were a lead instrument not just part of
the rhythm section.
Out the front for Led Zeppelin was a certain Robert
‘Percy’ Plant who was to become the template for all lead vocalists
following in Zeppelin’s wake. Robert Plant never misses a note in this
entire collection of songs.
Founding member of Led Zeppelin was the brilliant Jimmy
Page, who had already a flourishing career as a session guitarist starting
to work professionally at the age of sixteen. It was Jimmy Page who laid
down the guitar introduction to The Kinks ‘You Really Got Me’, which
was the riff that gave us heavy metal music in the first place.
Spread over two discs you get four and a half hours of
music running chronologically from 1969 to 1979, which has almost been set
out as one long concert. The way it has all been edited together is a
credit to Jimmy Page and his sidekick Dick Carruthers, who painstakingly
spent months going through any footage they could find of the band and
carefully brought them back to life.
One of the most fascinating aspects of this DVD
collection is that it captures, intimately for the first time, a band that
famously fought shy of cameras throughout its career.
Included for your amusement and edification is an
hour’s worth of promo clips, interviews, and such forth, all lovingly
put together in such a way that nothing interferes with the music, adding
up to over five and a half hours of scintillating viewing.
As you watch the delights of Led Zeppelin unfold, the
most fascinating aspect is that although the whole band starts off at warp
factor nine at the Royal Albert Hall in 1969, as they play through the
years arriving at Knebworth in 1979, they still managed somehow to
improve. The only song that is featured live twice over the four and a
half hour journey is ‘Whole Lotta Love’. Although the playing on both
is simply stunning, the difference ten years make leaves your jaw on the
floor.
A companion audio only 3 CD collection of a completely
different recording, compiling an entire Led Zeppelin concert from 1975,
has been released simultaneously under the title ‘How The West Was
Won’. So you get one set to watch at home and one to listen to in the
car. The release of these two volumes surely represents the long searched
for Holy Grail of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Led Zeppelin: Robert Plant - Vocals and Harmonica,
Jimmy Page - Electric and Acoustic Guitars, John Paul Jones - Bass Guitar,
Keyboards, and Mandolin, John Bonham - Drums, and Percussion
Tracks: Disc One - We’re Gonna Groove, I Can’t
Quit You Baby, Dazed and Confused, White Summer, What Is And What Should
Never Be, How Many More Times, Moby Dick, Whole Lotta Love, C’Mon
Everybody, Something Else, Bring it On Home. Extras: Communication
Breakdown (Promo-1969), Dansmark Radio-1969, Supershow-1969, Tous En
Scene-1969.
Disc Two: Immigrant Song, Black Dog, Misty Mountain
Hop, Since I’ve Been Loving You, The Ocean, Going To California,
That’s The Way, Bron Yr Aur Stomp, In My Time Of Dying Trampled
Underfoot, Stairway To Heaven, Rock and Roll, Nobody’s Fault But My Own,
Sick Again, Achilles Last Stand, In The Evening, Kashmir, Whole Lotta
Love. Extras: NYC Press Conference, Down Under. The Old Grey
Whistle Test.
Promos - If that track listing does not make you want to buy it then
nothing will, and, by the way, you missed the boat.
To contact Mott the Dog email: [email protected]
Book Review: Bangkok 8
Mott’s CD review: 
