Visit the Photo Place

New DVD, CD set revive Led Zeppelin fervor

Whole lotta live Led Zeppelin was worth the wait

By BEN WENER

Date published: 5/29/2003

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

On Tuesday, the legendary Led Zeppelin's long-awaited live juggernaut landed in stores and arrived on doorsteps. The two-disc "Led Zeppelin DVD" and three-CD "How the West Was Won" should spark maximum Zeppelin mania--in the States alone, the DVD shipped quadruple platinum (400,000 copies) and the audio collection shipped a million.

It's hardly astonishing, though, that a new release from a long-defunct band (other than the Beatles) might debut at the top of the charts with record-setting sales--not when you recall the grass-roots fervor that Zep has commanded virtually since its formation 35 years ago. It's that sort of cult-like devotion that catapulted the group to superstardom without benefit of most promotional tools, save for progressive FM radio.

Easily the most important and complex hard-rock outfit in history, and a formidable rival for the crown of greatest live band ever, Zep nonetheless has never issued a definitive statement about its storied concert career.

What has come before has been either shoddy (the dull 1976 midnight-movie favorite "The Song Remains the Same," which suffers from subpar performances and inane Tolkienesque interludes) or incomplete and repetitive (1997's outstanding "BBC Sessions," which runs out of material not long after the band's landmark, untitled fourth album).

Good or bad, then, this comprehensive eight-hour sprawl must be considered a monumental release. That the bulk of it is spectacular will ensure such status in the Zep canon.

I've heard the CD set more than a few times and seen two of the DVD's five hours of unreleased material, and my appetite has been merely whetted. It's such a strong, cherry-picked assortment that it's even got me tolerating those aspects of Zep I typically can't stand--the overlong jams, Robert Plant's spastic b-b-b-b-baby-baby-baby scat, any version of "Moby Dick" that isn't on "Led Zeppelin II."

About the CD set first, for I still contend Zep is best heard, not seen--and "How the West Was Won" is a tremendously forceful piece, the polar opposite of "The Song Remains the Same." Culled from 1972 gigs at the Los Angeles Forum and Long Beach Arena and sequenced as one epic show, it captures the band at what I think is a pinnacle.

Follow us on

Date published: 5/29/2003