minneapolisgenius said:

It is a great DVD .I just revisited it on New Years Day.Not only do you get a complete Albert Hall show from 1970 (where Coda's "Were Gonna Groove" and "I Cant Quit You" were pulled from) but also some leftovers from "TSRTS" film, and some bits from 1975 and 1979 concerts.In short , it's a history of the group on film....

MrTation said:

Plus those extra bits from the real early days. I love the black and white section from the Danish radio gig, and the audience are all just sitting on the floor. They bands starts jamming on How Many More Times, Robert announces the band members, and you see just a couple of people clapping because no one knows who the hell they are yet.

Supernova said:

Not to mention that "Barracuda" destroys "Achilles" in the lyrics department.

Wandering & wandering, what place to rest the search
The mighty arms of atlas, hold the heavens from the earth



Spare me, Robert.

minneapolisgenius said:

JACKAL said:

minneapolisgenius said:

Tick, tick, bang.

JACKAL said:

This thread needs more pics.....

Early days '69...


Page at soundcheck in '75...



annnnd.....sitting on John Paul Jones....

minneapolisgenius said:

I don't think that's appropriate for this thread.

JACKAL said:

(if only people knew our history, then they'd "get" it)

minneapolisgenius said:

Well, at least one person found about our "history." Which reminds me, you should come to the States in the spring for Music Midtown in Atlanta.

JACKAL said:

hehehe....

I'd better not.

minneapolisgenius said:

But you know you want to. I'm sure we'd have some fun. And there'll probably be some good acts there, too.

I've seen: Cracker, Sheryl Crow, the Smithereens, Bo Diddley, Jerry Cantrell (of Alice in Chains), Buddy Guy, the Time, Al Green, the Isley Brothers, Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, John Hammond, the Black Crowes, Loverboy , Joan Jett, and... umm... I forget who else. LL Cool J. Erykah Badu. Anyway, it's a pretty diverse selection of artists that show up. They have several different stages. A blues/folk stage, alternative rock stage, classic rock stage, hard rock in general stage, hip-hop/r&b/and just about any other black performer who isn't a blues or rock artist stage. Seven stages in all, if I remember correctly.

And even if the bands suck, we'll find something to get into.
[Edited 1/13/05 18:31pm]

That set was missing so much it should be considered a joke.

JACKAL said:

That sounds really cool.

Thinking about it.

minneapolisgenius said:

God, I loved Mr. Bonham's style.

Ifsixwuz9 said:

He was amazing.

minneapolisgenius said:

Thinking about it? Think harder.

VinnyM27 said:

The sad thing is that it has absolutely no appeal. The hardcore won't want it for obvious reasons. And the curious or the person just wanting all of the songs that they hear played to death on classic rock radio won't want it either because of all the absence of too many popular songs ("Over the Hills and Far Away," "Dancing Days," "D'Yer Mak'er," "Ramble On," "The Ocean," and so on).


The one thing that I do think is funny, is that there is one particular Led Zeppelin song that gets tons of airplay and didn't make anybody's list of Zep sets, nor did it make the official release. "Fool in the Rain." I've never understood why radio plays this song so much, because I don't know that many people who really get into it. I personally find it to be pretty annoying.

JACKAL said:

Yeah, it's true that hardcore fans won't even need this sort of thing, since we already have everything anyway. I don't have the Early Days and Latter Days set since I didn't need them. (I also can't get into the heavily played "Fool in the Rain". It's in my bottom ten Zeppelin songs.)

Here's a pretty funny review from Amazon on the Early/Latter Days set.....

"Having previously released no less than four boxed repackages of their studio output, Led Zeppelin may well be the band who made redundancy redundant. Well, surprise! They've done it again. Culled from the band's first four albums by Jimmy Page himself (as if a fourth-grader with an FM radio would have been hard-pressed), this collection captures Page and company's blues-riff-ripping prime, relieved only by the folksy "Battle of Evermore" and the song that made Skynyrd's "Free Bird" (almost) tolerable, the ubiquitous "Stairway to Heaven." Strung end-to-end, this is pretty heady stuff, and a great introduction to Zep's core early work for anyone who's spent the last couple of decades hangin' with Gilligan and the Skipper. The rest of us may just grumble and fast-forward to the previously unreleased 1969 live video clip of "Communication Breakdown." The package includes a 24-page booklet with many rare photos." -Jerry McCulley



I like the fourth grader with an FM radio bit.

minneapolisgenius said:

It's true, though. Have you ever compared the tracklisting of the 2 disc "Remasters" set with the "Early/Latter Days" set. They're almost identical. If I recall correctly, there is at most a 5 song difference. Same songs, same sequencing, new packaging.

And it does seem a bit ridiculous to have the 2 box sets titled "Led Zeppelin" that have everything Zeppelin did in the studio AND the "Complete Studio Recordings" box set, which contains exactly the same thing.

Some artists are definitely underanthologized (why, oh why can't I just get a nice 2 cd set of Queen's best in chronological order), Zeppelin is athology overkill.

JACKAL said:

That's why I don't have the "Early/Latter Days" set because I thought it was the Remasters set at first. It was really confusing for me.

minneapolisgenius said:

"Don't I have this already?"

JACKAL said:

Yep.

JACKAL said:

Hi Jackal, I have to perhaps take back my statement about ITTOD being their worst album. I have been listening to it again, and man it's really growing on me. I haven't listened to it in years, and I'm starting to love it. Even "Carouselambra". I'm begininng to love the last half of that song. I could do without the beginning though. But I'm still not digging "Hot Dog".

JACKAL said:

Man, there's so much crap and misguided views in this thread that it's hard to contain myself! But I absolutely must defend "Fool In The Rain". It's one of my favorite Zeppelin tunes and one of their most finely crafted songs. It's the cherry on top of the sunday. True songcraft at its finest.

And to clear up a bit about the anthologies: yes the Early Days/Later Days set was pointless. It must be remembered though that when the Zeppelin catalog was first put onto cd a completely horrible job was done... the beat-up, sun drenched cassette copy of any of those albums from my car sounded better. Jimmy went in to prepare a remastered set (the 1st box set) to have Zeppelin properly represented on cd. But then there were further uproars. Hardcore fans like me didn't want a remastered boxset, we wanted the individual albums remastered. The casual folk who bought the box though wanted the rest of the catalog. So, Jimmy went in and gave the folk a second box with the rest of the tracks, and prepared the albums as they should be for the people like me. So, there wasn't really an overkill up until that point. The people who bought those box sets got what they wanted (I know many of them, and they're still happy with those sets) and the fans like me got what they wanted, all of the albums remastered. It wasn't until the Early Days/Later Days set that the group pressed into redundancy. Truly weak compilations from any point of view you want to take and ultimately meaningless.

I also disagree with a lot of the views on the last Zep albums. The last few are the best! Presence is weak on the songs? For Your Life? Hots On For Nowhere? You guys have to be kidding me! But I guess it's hard to take seriously a discussion on Zep's songs where "When The Levee Breaks", a cover, is put forward as one of their best songs and where a song by Heart is put forward as being better than Achilles Last Stand. Are you guys kidding me?! I think someone told all of you which of my buttons to push and this thread resulted!

Seriously though, buy the albums then make your own comps. Buy the DVD set and let John Bonham change your religious views. And give a relisten to "Fool In The Rain", as many as it takes untile you GET it! It's a goddamn jewel I tell you, a jewel!


stormbringer

So, what crap and misguided views are you talking about in particular?

minneapolisgenius said:

Really, don't mind me. I'm one of those self-perceived "he-who-only-understands" when it comes to Zeppelin and usually I won't even enter into these things because I just think that people don't really get it when it comes to the band. I know, I'm a self-delusional asshole, but an admitted one... I really should just stay out of it, like I normally do.

But really, it's so hard when people are putting up "Barracuda" as somehow greater than Achilles Last Stand! Really, please...

But as an aside, there are some straight up factual wrongs, like Zeppelin somehow had four anthology type releases before Early Days/Later Days. What?! Name 'em!


stormbringer

thebige said:

Ask Jackal about that one because he's the one who said it, not me. I thought he was just exaggerating to get a point across. Anyway, I thought I was the biggest Zeppelin freak in the world. Although, I STILL don't rate ALS in my top Zeppelin songs. I just have never been able to get into it like some people do, and this is coming from someone who has such an obsession with the band that it's nearly unhealthy.

But at least I can admit that to myself.
[Edited 1/19/05 15:04pm]

minneapolisgenius said:

Oh yeah, regarding Music Midtown in Atlanta... if you're a music lover I'd say skip it. However, if you're a fan of drunk, shirtless, sunburnt people spilling beer on you, being crammed into you from the front, sides, and behind, all whilest they step on your feet and block the miniscule view of whatever band you're straining to see/hear, well, then it might be your cup of tea! I miss the early days of Music Midtown when you could actually enjoy the music and multiple stages and sheer variety. But these days the event has grown too large to enjoy on any kind of musical level. Go as a social "whatever" type of event, but if you go for great sounds, etc, you'll probably be disapointed. Man, I'm a real humbug in this thread, aren't I?! But I went to Music Midtown maybe two years too many and cursed myself for it, so I'm trying to give an alternate perspective on the glorious gathering.


the humbug,
stormbringer

thebige said:

I haven't been to any of these huge, outdoor music festivals in years, mainly because of all the reasons you mentioned. In fact, I almost died of heat exhaustion one year at Lollapalooza a long time ago. I think that's when I stopped going to these types of things.

Although I have been to the North Sea Jazz Festival in Den Haag a few times. That's not so big though.