The title of "Greatest Live Band in the World" has been applied too often. Is it The Rolling Stones? The Who? Was it [insert name of your favorite here]? For years it was said that Led Zeppelin were the titleholders, but all we've had to go on for the last 20-some years is the concert film, The Song Remains The Same, an interesting and sometimes exciting but ultimately flawed document of their 1973 tour. The band voted least likely to be photographed sure did keep the mystery shroud pulled down tight. Other bands from that era have been covered so well in the decades since their demise, so why not Zeppelin? Where was the footage? Where was the proof that they were better than they seemed to be in that one lone document their most rabid fans have each now seen at least fifty times? Well smile, people, because it turns out there was indeed footage, and quite a lot at that, and now smile bigger because you can have it for a song. But more on that shortly.
For many of us who hit our teens in the early 1970s, there was nothing like the sound of Led Zeppelin. I'm not talking about "Oh, I like that, I think they're real good" I'm talking about "Holy shit, what made THAT sound!? And THAT one?! Why do I want to go have sex!? Hey, I never liked that girl before, why am I hitting on her??!" The older kids knew, but the younger ones just suspected it had something to do with using your leg as a lemon juicer, which seemed strange yet suddenly erotic. The sounds were responsible, not you. "It's not MY fault your daughter's pregnant, Mr. DeAngelos. Talk to Jimmy Page about that guitar sound."
Anyone currently thinking "What the hell is this guy talking about" was either past hormone hell when Led Zeppelin hit their stride or they were babies or not born yet, and those people got hot listening to Boy George. All I can say about that is you... Actually, I can't think of a thing to say about that. I'm here to talk to those who understand exactly what I mean when I say Zeppelin made it so it didn't matter if you couldn't afford a lid because the music made you high as a kite.
Case in point: The year John Bonham died, 1980, Zeppelin had already slipped a step - at least in their ability to present an entire album of consistently outstanding material - but they were still considered gods by the rockers of the world. At that time I was living in a Three's Company situation. One of my roommates was a young lady known as "Too High" Tafoya. Too High was in constant motion, goin' here, goin' there, a pint-sized ball of energy and humor. But there was one thing that could stop her in her tracks, and that was Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir." As long as I live, I'll never forget the image of "Too High" Tafoya in the living room, on her knees (down, boys, it's not what yer thinkin') with her head leaning against one of our oversized stereo speakers as "Kashmir" blared out of it. I watched her pray at that altar through the whole song, as if it gave her life. "Too High," if you're out there, this DVD's for you, even if the band didn't know they should dedicate it to you.
And to you, if you are extremely excited to hear that the new 2-DVD set, simply titled Led Zeppelin, contains five and a half hours of footage you've probably never seen before. Anything you may have seen before would be performances from European television broadcasts, but these have not been available commercially. There is so much music here from so many phases of the band's career that it is probably not advisable to attempt watching it in one sitting. That would be like eating all your Halloween candy at once. Make it last by watching one event at a time and you could have a week of new Zep, and that's figuring a multi-song performance per viewing plus one viewing that includes all the single songs and interviews. Just a suggestion from someone who's fairly sure it'll be a long time before we get another set like this.
Disc one contains the legendary Royal Albert Hall concert from 1970. The band is still getting things together at this point, and the sound is there but they lack the showmanship skills they will later have in spades. The band isn't stock-still by any means, they're just clearly concentrating more on the music than on moves. Jimmy Page does use the violin bow, but not as theatrically as we saw in The Song Remains The Same. Page is also wearing a sweater that may be the only reason this fine concert was never released until now. We're talkin'... pretty ugly. The standout performer here is John Bonham, who wasn't bad in The Song Remains The Same but shows here why he was Led Zeppelin's drummer and why they immediately disbanded when he died. His playing is brutal, impossibly fast and technically dazzling at the same time, and when he breaks into a ten second hydraulic windmill roll, one begins to feel sorry for those poor drum heads. The concert is approximately 1:45 long and if your opinion of Zeppelin as a live band doesn't improve after Albert Hall, you know you fell asleep. Refer to your DVD player owner's manual for remote control instructions, back up several chapters and pay attention. After the concert, get back to the main menu and look for the TV shows. These are sweet little mini-concerts, the first being half an hour and the other two being just under 10 minutes each. At one of these performances it's clear that Robert Plant was fighting a head cold, as his voice is different and he's struggling for the high notes at first, but he adjusts and then, once he warms up, battles for his sound, and wins.
We find ourselves at a strange starting point on disc two: a fan's bootleg of "The Immigrant Song" where the sound is clearly from a different source and isn't matched to the image. To make up for that, there are a million fast cutaways to other video sources using shaking images and all manner of distractions. Enough to give many people motion sickness, I'd suspect. I came through it fine, though not entertained. It's the one and only thing in this entire set that I will never watch again. Once that ends - or you've hit the "next chapter" button - you'll find four songs that were cut from the film The Song Remains The Same. Two of the songs were cut in favor of better performances ("Black Dog" and "Since I've Been Loving You"), but these are still close to par. Apparently the other two were cut for time consideration, as the performances of "Misty Mountain Hop" and "The Ocean" are just fine.
Next up is a very special treat for fans of the acoustic side of Zeppelin, as we head to 1975 and Earl's Court, where the 49 minute show is opened with a sit-down, unplugged-style set of "Going to California," "That's the Way" and "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp," with Plant sitting between Page (acoustic guitar) and John Paul Jones (mandolin). Then out comes Page's Danelectro black and white guitar for a dynamite version of "In My Time of Dying" the strength of which is in the raw bluesy feeling as opposed to the effects-heavy studio version that was more about stoner atmosphere. They move right into another Physical Graffiti staple, "Trampled Underfoot," before closing with their by then refined and perfected classic, "Stairway to Heaven."
Think that's it? Think there couldn't possibly be more? Feast your eyes on this, Zeppelin freaks! 52 minutes from their 1979 Knebworth appearance, which would be the last time the band played in jolly ol' England. It's a very different looking band than you saw at Earl's Court. Four years have taken their toll. John Bonham and Jimmy Page have been living very hard and they look to have aged a whole lot more than four years. Robert Plant looks older, yet better, and that's a surprise. In the time between Earl's Court and Knebworth, he was in a serious car accident with his wife that involved a lot of painful recovery time, and worst of all, his 6 year old son, Karac, died of a stomach infection in 1977. A year and a half of near exile followed. Here at Knebworth, however, it is Robert Plant's show from the opening notes of "Rock & Roll." He's confident, powerful, and he works the audience. It is here, in the final live performance of the DVD, that we see Robert Plant at his best as a showman. Jimmy Page, who is drowning in sweat within approximately two seconds, performs fine while playing rhythm and - I'm sorry, I have to say it - poorly when he solos, as if he either can't find the notes or his fingers have been jabbed with novocaine. This gets better as the show goes on, but at times... hooo boy, it's dodgy. Bonham pounds like crazy, as always, but he looks like he's seen better days, and we know he has because we've been watching him have them. John Paul Jones, on the other hand, just keeps perking along, the consummate bass player and utility man, able to play any instrument needed and play it well. As he plays the synth for "In The Evening," we notice a telephone resting on the edge of one of the keyboards. Nothing ever happens to clear that one up for us, dammit, so we're left to wonder.
As the show rolls on it becomes more and more entertaining, between moments of concern for Page. (Will he have a heart attack? Will he drown in that sweat? Wait, this was 24 years ago and we know he lived to compile this DVD. Stop thinking and enjoy the damned concert!) The set includes outstanding versions of "Nobody's Fault But Mine," "Sick Again," and "Whole Lotta Love," and I suppose if you like "Achilles Last Stand," that might be just as good. I'm considered a freak, you see, for I have always really hated that song. But I digress...
The ultimate highlight, in my opinion, is "Kashmir," performed well though rather oddly as the band removes one beat from the end of every run, causing a great jolt in the music and making over-zealous foot tapping a hazardous endeavor that could sever Achilles' last tendon. I don't know why they chose to do that, and I'm not sure if it's interesting or distracting, I just know that it didn't break the soaring, Bolero-like mystique of the song, and I know that somewhere out there, "Too High" Tafoya is hugging her surround-sound speakers.
There are interviews to watch that are interesting, though I recommend watching them between shows, as they are anticlimactic when the concert footage has all been viewed. This 2-DVD set is more than a series of concert films to Led Zeppelin fans. We've waited forever for something like this to appear and doubted the entire time that it ever would. We grew up with a strong emotional attachment to this particular band. Very few bands in history have generated that kind of devotion from so many people.
Now we've seen some evidence. We've seen a young band, still working things out, put on an amazing performance at the Royal Albert Hall. We've watched TV appearances where we could see the band's stage personas develop. We've seen their soft side at Earl's Court and their swan
song at Knebworth. Are they the best live band ever? Depends on if you think they are. That's the one lesson most people never seem to learn about music: nearly everything's subjective. Are they a better live band than we thought they were from the evidence The Song Remains The Same presented? Without a doubt.
Purchase this set at Amazon.com
