BBC Article from NY Daily News

[Tom Carroll <tcarroll@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From today's (11/9) New York Daily News:

by Jim Farber

Mining Led for Gold

'BBC Sessions' from '69 and '71 offer a whole lotta gems - and miscues- from
the band's early days.

     One of rock's most valued buried treasures will soon be exhumed.  Led
Zeppelin's "BBC Sessions" - a series of live radio recordings made by the
legendary band at the genesis of its tumultuous career - receives its first
release Nov. 18. 
     In the tradition of other, formerly submerged sonic artifacts - like
Dylan's "Basement Tapes" or the Stones' "Rock and Roll Circus" - Zeppelin's BBC
recordings have ranked among the most sought-after - and bootlegged -
performances in rock, trickling out over the last 28 years in crumby-sounding
piecemeal packages.
     Now fans can hear them with the fidelity they deserve in a sprawling 2
1/2-hour double-cd set.  The album corrals three sessions: The first two date
from March and May of 1969 and include the debut of "Whole Lotta Love" five
months before it appeared on vinyl.  The last batch comes from February of '71
featuring a nascent "Stairway to Heaven" eight months before the band honed its
classic studio take.
     Bassist and band arranger John Paul Jones couldn't be happier about the
cuts' finally getting exposure.  "It's fascinating to hear the live
performances in such detail," he says. "When you're there at the show it's more
about the event.  But with this, you can hear everything."
     Even the flaws.  As Jones says, "in this case, mistakes are like diamonds.
They last forever."
     But they only adds to the spontaneity and the barreling energy of the
performances.
     It's the latter quality that first arrests the listener.  The double bass
drums of the late John Bonham come crashing through the speakers with a
heaviness unlike anything previously heard in rock.  Singer Robert Plant hits
all the high notes he can no longer manage, and Jimmy Page gives his guitar a
different character in every song.
     No wonder, upon rediscovering these recordings, Jones recalls his first
thought was, "everything is so hard and fast."

A band with a plan
     Amazingly, Zeppelin has only been together five months when it made the
first of the BBC recordings.  Jones says the reason its early sound boasts such
confidence was because "Jimmy already knew what he wanted the music to sound
like - a mix of acoustic
and electric sounds, hard and soft dynamics.  I had ideas for arrangements.
And we both knew how to run a band and plan an act."
     To cement that last part, Zeppelin positioned itself in contrast to the
laid-back approach of so much late-'60s hippie rock.  "Groups at the time
tended to wander onstage and look at each other, then decide what key to play
in.  We came on and did three numbers hard and straight, and people just stood
with their mouths open."
     Even a few years into the band's reign, they could still have that effect.
Jones remembers debuting "Stairway to Heaven" in these sessions.  "A lot of
people  just sat there thinking, 'what is this thing?'  It's got jazzy chords
and it starts slow, then changes.  People used to sit and wonder when we'd get
around to playing 'Whole Lotta Love.' "

Double shot of 'Love'
     On the BBC set, fans get to hear them play "Love's" stuttering chords
twice, in six and 13-minute versions.  The set also offers two every different
takes on "You Shook Me," two of "Dazed and Confused" and three of
"Communication Breakdown."  "Night to night the songs would change," explains
Jones.  "We'd go with whatever fit the moment."
     The new set also offers two songs that never appeared on a studio LP:
Sleepy John Estes' "The Girl I Love" and Eddie Cochran's "Something Else".
perhaps the band's sole rockabilly recording.  The result counters the vibe of
the Zep "reunion" of Page and Plant in '95.  While that comeback emphasized
Zeppelin's sophisticated, world-beat edge, this set mines its raw, youthful
blues.
     Jones still expresses hurt that Page and Plant didn't invite him to
participate in their reunion.  "I just don't know why they did it," he says.
At least now his work will receive a fresh showcase with these sessions.
     Hearing them again, Jones has come to understand why the cuts retain such
brashness even after nearly 30 years.
     "There was no formula to our sound," he explains.  "We didn't worry about
what style we wrote in, or about going to far.  Just as long as everything
sounded right."