Led Zeppelin flies again

Simply put, no other band has done more to ignite my passion for music than Led Zeppelin. Having grown up with my father's collection of classic rock music, perhaps it was inevitable they made such an indelible mark upon my musical psyche. As I grew older, my love for their music would never fade, and when I first started buying music of my own, their catalog of albums was the first I would buy - all nine of them (on cassette at that time). When their first box set came out in 1990, it was the first thing on my Christmas list.

That being said, I was excited to hear about a flurry of Led Zeppelin related news. First, the entire Led Zeppelin catalog will be available via iTunes in a digital boxed set containing Led Zeppelin’s entire discography. It's aptly titled The Complete Led Zeppelin and is now available for pre-order through the iTunes Store. It is a 165-track collection of all 13 of the group’s albums, including the new career-spanning Mothership retrospective, for only $99.

Secondly, the release of the above mentioned retrospective Mothership, as a separate two CD release that is set to be available tomorrow. Its two CDs contain twenty-four tracks hand picked by Page, Plant, and Jones arranged chronologically starting with Good Times Bad Times from Led Zeppelin I and ending with All My Love from In Through the Out Door. Their will also be available an edition with a DVD that includes live concert footage of the band. While everyone will have complaints about what is here and more importantly what is left out, it's an enjoyable collection never the less. Having been lucky enough to receive a copy before hand, I only have two minor complaints about it. First, there is nothing here from Coda. Second, it would have been really interesting to have read the group's reasons for including the songs they did in the liner notes. Regardless, it's a pleasure to listen to these twenty-four tracks remastered back to back.

Finally, the re-release of The Song Remains the Same with SIX additional tracks that were not on the original release, due out November 20th. In addition to the re-release of the soundtrack, a new edition of the DVD will also be available and will include footage of the additional tracks as well as a rare 1976 BBC interview with Robert Plant and Peter Grant; vintage TV footage from the Drake Hotel robbery during the New York concert stand; and a Cameron Crowe radio show.

I can't imagine the pains it must have taken culling through such a lengthy collection of incredible tracks to choose twenty-four for this release (hence the wish for explanations in the liner notes). Imagine my difficulty in now choosing two tracks to share with you here. In the end I settled on one of my favorite Zeppelin tracks, Nobody's Fault But Mine, a fine representation of the band's skills near the end of their career together, and Communication Breakdown, one of their first tracks, which is a great display of their younger rawer sound. Enjoy and count down the minutes for all the new (old) Zeppelin coming our way.


Led Zeppelin - Communication Breakdown : Mothership

Led Zeppelin - Nobody's Fault But Mine : Mothership

Mothership with bonus DVD

Visit their website, the official Mothership website, their label Atlantic Records, and become their friend on MySpace.

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The Yardbirds (with Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton) - You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover (Bo Diddley cover) : London Times Volume 2

Robert Plant and Tori Amos - Down By the Seaside : Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin