Music CD - Led Zeppelin: BBC Sessions

	Music CD: BBC Sessions Artist: Led Zeppelin List Price: $96.98 Our Price: $599.99 Your Save: $ ( % ) Availability: Manufacturer: Classics France
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Tracks: 1. You Shook Me 2. I Can't Quit You Baby 3. Communication Breakdown 4. Dazed and Confused 5. 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
Binding: LP Record EAN: 0601704306117 Format: Box set Label: Classics France Manufacturer: Classics France Number Of Discs: 2 Publication Date: 1997 Publisher: Classics France Release Date: 2000-02-15 Studio: Classics France
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Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Best version of Led Zeppelin 2 Ever!! Comment: Led Zeppelin's second album was my "gateway Zeppelin" experience. That is what I like most about this studio/live recording. While I have always loved the songs and sounds of II, the production values were HORRIBLE! It has a muddy, bottom heavy sound that never did the songs justice. On this BBC live in the studio double disc, the best of II are there with a dynamic, bright and inspired (LIVE) sound. The original Led Zeppelin II can only be enjoyed at 1 or 2 o clock on the volume. This BBC studio set sounds great at 10 or 11 o clock! Stop reading these reviews and BUY THIS DOUBLE CD! Customer Rating: Summary: Squeeze that Lemon Comment: My wife got this for me for Valentines. Not knowing anything about this collection I thought it was just going to be a rehash of songs I already had. From the minute I popped it in though I realized that the versions presented here (in fact duplicate but unique versions of some songs) really highlight what a great band Led Zeppelin was, as their songs could morph at any moment into something totally unexpected, yet still pound with the energy that they are known for. I'm going to enjoy listening to this one as it brings a new freshness to these songs, even though they were recorded almost 30 years ago. Customer Rating: Summary: Led Zeppelin-BBC Sessions Comment: It is a good example of the first few years of Led Zeppeling-however, there is a lot of duplication of songs (three versions of "Communication Breakdown" for example)and the first CD plods a bit. That being said, the second CD is an excellent BBC concert from 1971 and, if you enjoy Led Zeppelin, that is why you should purchase this CD> Customer Rating: Summary: BBC Sessions vs. How The West Was Won Comment: Which should you buy? Both, but if it must be one, I recommend How the West Was Won. The biggest reason is sound quality. How the West Was Won has fantastic sound quality - the best of any Zeppelin album, whereas BBC Sessions seems average or below average, worse than the studio recordings. This opinion seems to be contrary to most of the reviewers here, and I certainly know nothing about mixing recordings, but to my ears the HtWWW sound is much fuller, more alive, and better differentiated than BBC. In terms of musical performance, leaving aside sound quality, I love both albums, but again I would pick HtWWW first. The first CD of BBC Sessions is early Zeppelin (1969), and very bluesy. This stuff is great, especially Something Else, Travelling Riverside Blues, and both versions of I Can't Quit You Baby. If you love the early blues side of Zeppelin most, this is the CD for you. HtWWW has much less of that, although it does have some - obviously including Since I've Been Loving You and the Whole Lotta Love medley. The second CD of BBC Sessions is from a 1971 concert. All the songs on it, except Thank You, are also performed in the 1972 concert recorded as HtWWW. Thank You is a truly great song, and its ommision from HtWWW is unfortunate, but on the other hand HtWWW contains several tracks not on BBC CD2 (some are from Houses of the Holy, which did not exist at the time). All these songs are great (HtWWW does not contain a bad track), but especially Over the Hills and Far Away, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, The Ocean, and Bring it On Home. If you are looking for more classic live songs from Zeppelin at their absolute best, HtWWW is the album for you. A brief comparison of some of the best songs that are on both BBC Sessions and HtWWW with the studio versions: Stairway to Heaven: HtWWW version is better than both BBC and the studio version, BY FAR. Plant's voice on the HtWWW version is fantastic, including all the asides he makes throughout ("Wait a minute..", "Remember laughter?", etc). Page's guitar on the the HtWWW version is perfect (and longer than the BBC and studio versions). Perhaps the best performance for each of them I've ever heard on any song. The BBC version is great. Both versions prove that this song deserves every accolade it gets, but I like the HtWWW version better. Going to California: Again, I prefer the HtWWW version. It is extended, with extra guitar work between the verses, and it is lovely. The BBC version is also great, and I think both are better than the studio version. Plant's performance in the BBC version might be better than HtWWW, but the extended guitar makes up for it. That's the Way: I prefer the BBC version. It is a bit simpler than the HtWWW version, and in this case that is better. Great stuff. Again, both better than the studio version. Whole Lotta Love medley: HtWWW is longer, and I prefer the songs in the medley, especially Hello Mary Lou. Both BBC and HtWWW are great, but HtWWW is again better. Dazed and Confused: I like the BBC version more. The violin bow playing is gentler on my ears than in HtWWW :). Very cool. To summarize, BBC Sessions is a very good CD. It is especially fun to notice how Zeppelin tweaked the songs and lyrics. However, How the West Was Won is BRILLIANT. Customer Rating: Summary: Led Zep's Best & Rawest Blues Comment: Undoubtedly Led Zep's best Blues-influenced Cd as it includes their rawest live versions of numerous Blues classics such as "You Shook Me" (written by Willie Dixon & J. B. Lenoir and first recorded by Earl Hooker as an instrumental which was then overdubbed with vocals by Muddy Waters in 1962), Willie Dixon's "I Can't Quit You Baby" (previously made famous by Otis Rush), and "How Many More Times" (which incorporated lyrics from the great Albert King's "The Hunter" and Howlin' Wolf's "How Many More Years"). It also includes an exquisite live version of my favorite Zep Blues tune: "Since I've Been Loving You." I can't think of any band that could perform a song in so many different ways, yet each one feverishly impassioned, and this Cd is testimony to that. Each member is at the top of his game on this Cd as shown by Plant's vocal power, Page's blistering guitarwork, etc. Not to be missed for true Led Zeppelin fans. (If you like Blues, be sure to also check out "Tea for One" on 'Presence' as well as Joe Bonamassa's version on 'You and Me'). More Reviews
Editorial Reviews: Frequently bootlegged and now digitally remastered by Jimmy Page, these tapes capture a 25-month (1969 to 1971) arc in which Zep's sound grew to encompass the speed rush and jazz/blues festival stuff of their 1969 debut, the fully developed folkie musings of "Going to California" (in which Plant vowed to make a hejira right up to Joni Mitchell's front door), and the band's modestly popular multilayered epic "Stairway to Heaven." The Sessions also give a glimpse of nearly off-the-cuff invention in an intense take on Robert Johnson's "Traveling Riverside Blues." Most other white blues musicians would've rushed to get this on vinyl; Page and Plant instead used it for parts, most notably taking its profound acoustic freneticism for Led Zeppelin III. --Rickey Wright