BBC Sessions article

[Brian Ingham <bingham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As printed in the Sunday*s Detroit Free Press, November 16, 1997 Section F

Led Zeppelin

By Brian McCollum
Free Press Pop Music Critic

*Led Zeppelin: BBC Sessions* (Atlantic) =2424.98 (4 stars out of 4)

It*s about time.

For 21 years, Led Zeppelin fans - at least the ones nobly resisting the =
bootleg market - have endured the lousy *The Song Remains the Same* album =
as the sole memoir of the band*s live legacy.

So it*s wonderful to hear the remastered *BBC Sessions*, a collection of =
1969 and 1971 performance tracks long available - with erratic reproduction=
 quality - on the black market.

Despite the sonic scrub from guitarist and producer Jimmy Page, it*s warts =
and all on this two-disc package of scorching blues and soaring heavy =
rock, some takes recorded onstage, others cut live in the studio with =
nominal vocal overdubbing. Zeppelin*s carefully crafted studio work is =
among the most influential music of the last 30 years. But in a live =
setting, as this set confirms, the band at its best cut a hot-and-loose =
groove, at worst threatened to unravel in sloppy disarray.

That*s not an indictment of Led Zeppelin or the new album, which scores =
big points simply for providing an intriguing peek into the youthful bloom =
of one of rock*s most vital bands. Anyway, Zeppelin wasn*t about pieces =
nearly fitting together. The band was about a sum of musical parts: the =
fat bottom end from John Bonham and John Paul Jones, Page*s guitar - =
electric in every sense - slipping and sliding on top, Robert Plant*s =
roaring, carnal vocals thrust into it all.

The combination is at its most effective here on tracks like *Communication=
 Breakdown*, which pops up in three versions recorded in an 11-day span. =
Each time, despite Zep*s trademark day-to-day tinkering, the song crackles =
and sizzles with the sort of slicing energy that made the studio version a =
prototype for years of subsequent hard rock.

Led Zeppelin was evolving fast in 1969, a year that yields 14 of the set*s =
two dozen tracks. Set compiler Page wisely offers two takes on *You Shook =
Me* - recorded in March and June that year - and reveals the year-old =
band*s fast development. In three months the song grew by five minutes, =
with markedly bolder interplay between Page and Plant, and more assured =
steering by drummer Bonham, who tacks a nifty stutter onto his tom fills.

Other goodies: *Dazed and Confused* and *Whole Lotta Love* each make two =
appearances, each radically different. The 1969 sessions include a =
never-released original. *The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair*, =
whose riff went on to decorate the song *Moby Dick*. And the 1971 live =
rendition of *Stairway to Heaven* - whose opening passage is so airy you =
can hear the snare drum skin shimmering from guitar vibrations - marks =
that song*s second public performance.

There*s more of this BBC stuff lying around. So the only quibble is that =
the slot assigned here to *Traveling Riverside Blues* - already available =
on Zep*s 1990 boxed set - could have been reserved for something else. But =
that*s a minor beef and, hey, it just means we get to look out for *BBC =
Sessions II*. Stay tuned.