Led Zeppelin: Incomplete--Albeit Entertaining--Box Set
Dec 05 '03
Pros A ton of songs--most everything the novice fan could want.
Cons A few missing tracks.
The Bottom Line Four discs, fifty-four songs, all classics. A great collection for the new-ish Led Zeppelin fan.
Full Review
I didn’t stumble on Led Zeppelin in a proper manner. Of course, I knew the classically rocking band’s music well before I knew them but it took until the release of a tribute album titled Encomium for the songs to make any impact.
Funny thing is that when I discovered I not just liked but loved Led Zeppelin, one of my main Christmas requests for 1995 ended up being the 1990 4-disc box set. I guess maybe I should have hit my parents up for the more inclusive, expansive, and honest 10-disc Complete Studio Recordings [1993]. But in any case, my own 4-disc box set has always served a purpose. It is in essence a greatest hits compilation spread over four discs. Aside from the lovely booklet included and nifty-pretty and sturdy cardboard box there’s nothing particularly special about it.
But then again, it was the perfect addition to my (at that point in time) miniscule music collection and served to further educate this small-town girl on the joys of classic British rock n’ roll. This set is most highly recommended for newer fans of Led Zeppelin unwilling to shell out the cash necessary to separately buy each of their eight albums and also the posthumous Coda.
The history of Led Zeppelin is long and winding. Suffice it to say that the band was pretty much immediately popular in their native country and in the United States. Their sound is amazing and classic. Their songs are mystical and wonderful but hard rocking at the same time. Robert Plant (vocals), Jimmy Page (guitar), John Paul Jones (bass, keyboards), and John Bonham (drums) proved in a matter of ten years (1968-1980) that anything is possible in rock music and that there’s not a damn thing wrong with singing the blues while playing textured, almost orchestral arena rock.
This 1990 4-disc boxed set released by Atlantic can be gotten for less than $50 with a little work. I believe it is worth the money, but with that said what new fans will lose is sight of the band’s original vision. There’s little question that Led Zeppelin’s albums were intended to be sweeping musical movements, therefore to uproot songs and splice them together in the form of a greatest hits compilation of any kind is troubling. But with that said, I do think that there’s more good here than bad. So I find myself trying to ignore the fact that these songs aren’t arranged in the proper manner in favor of appreciating them for the musical genius they are.
As mentioned, there are 4-discs here. The songs are roughly arranged in chronological order, but liberties are taken here and there to aid in aural pleasure. In addition, even though the set is largely a greatest hits compilation there are three special treats included. First is one of my favorites (damn that Encomium) Hey Hey What Can I Do, a classic b-side. Also included are an unreleased version of Traveling Riverside Blues (a Robert Jordan cover) and a medley of White Summer/Black Mountain Side. This, of course, helps with the appeal of the box.
All of the usual suspects are included here—plus some. It would be useless to talk about most of these songs. They are classics, and anybody who in any way is a fan of rock should already be well acquainted with a good 90% of the material here. Each of the band’s studio albums is represented here—from Led Zeppelin [I] through In Through the Out Door and everything in between. Even the aforementioned posthumous Coda gets a nod with the inclusion of Ozone Baby, Poor Tom, Wearing And Tearing, and Bozo’s Montreux (which is a part of a medley with Moby Dick).
What is most striking about this set is that there are some unfortunate glaring omissions—but of course the Zepp catalogue is pretty expansive so to cram all the songs into four discs was certainly a challenge at the least. I suppose this is why a second, 2-disc box set followed which included those songs conspicuously missing from this collection: Good Times Bad Times, Down By The Seaside, Bring it On Home, and The Lemon Song in addition to another twenty-eight tracks.
Even though there are missing songs, I can’t help but recommend this Led Zeppelin box set. My personal favorite songs actually are generally from the band’s mid-career albums (with a few early and later selections thrown in for good measure). They are all pretty much covered here (save for the few I mentioned above) including Hey Hey What Can I Do, Black Dog, Immigrant Song, Tangerine, D’yer Mak’er, Misty Mountain Hop, and Fool in the Rain to name but a few. Of course also included are popular favorites Whole Lotta Love, Dazed and Confused, Rock and Roll, Stairway to Heaven, and Kashmir. No album goes ignored—this disc was assembled about as well as a compilation can be.
In any case, I do very much like Led Zeppelin’s box set. There are problems with omissions and the organization, but such is the nature with these kinds of projects. I maintain that the set is well worth the money and serves as a complete enough collection for people not interested in owning every last piece of Zeppelin work ever created.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Track Listing: Disc 1
01. Whole Lotta Love
02. Heartbreaker
03. Communication Breakdown
04. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
05. What Is And What Should Never Be
06. Thank You
07. I Can't Quit You Baby
08. Dazed And Confused
09. Your Time Is Gonna Come
10. Ramble On
11. Traveling Riverside Blues
12. Friends
13. Celebration Day
14. Hey Hey What Can I Do
15. White Summer/Black Mountain Side
Disc 2
01. Black Dog
02. Over The Hills And Far Away
03. Immigrant Song
04. The Battle Of Evermore
05. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
06. Tangerine
07. Going To California
08. Since I've Been Loving You
09. D'yer Mak'er
10. Gallows Pole
11. Custard Pie
12. Misty Mountain Hop
13. Rock And Roll
14. The Rain Song
15. Stairway To Heaven
Disc 3
01. Kashmir
02. Trampled Under Foot
03. For Your Life
04. No Quarter
05. Dancing Days
06. When The Levee Breaks
07. Achilles Last Stand
08. The Song Remains The Same
09. Ten Years Gone
10. In My Time Of Dying
Disc 4
01. In The Evening
02. Candy Store Rock
03. The Ocean
04. Ozone Baby
05. Houses Of The Holy
06. Wearing And Tearing
07. Poor Tom
08. Nobody's Fault But Mine
09. Fool In The Rain
10. In The Light
11. The Wanton Song
12. Moby Dick/Bonzo's Montreux
13. I'm Gonna Crawl
14. All My Love
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