Led Zeppelin - BBC Sessions
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Free Music Notes for BBC Sessions
Free Music Review: Raw energy and intensity from the early days
Hit: 4 Stars
Led Zeppelin's "BBC Sessions" captures much of the group's energy from their early period, before they became heavy metal gods. The music is raw and there is a lot of cool improvisation, plus some fun surprises with familiar tunes.Disc One features a number of duplicated radio performances, and one might question the inclusion of three versions of "Communication Breakdown." Each performance, however, is different, and one gets a feel of the linkage between the players in this band. Despite the different personalities, these guys played loosely as a tight unit.
Other multiple appearances are made by "I Can't Quit You Baby" and "You Shook Me" and these have unique shades of differences as well, and great unison performance by Jimmy Page on guitar and Robert Plant on vocals.
The rarities on this disk include "The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair," "Somethin' Else" and the great slide blues jam of "Travelling Riverside Blues."
Disk Two features an 'in concert' performance. "Immigrant Song" is tight with great stop/start dynamics. "Black Dog" features a taste of the opening lick to "Out on the Tiles." "Dazed and Confused" clocks in at 18:36(!) but there's some fantastic jamming here by Page. The "Whole Lotta Love" medley also features snippets of some tasty blues.
The liner notes give interesting details on each performance.
This set is a worthy addition to a music collection.
Free Music Review: The brilliance of Page and Bonham make it shine
Hit: 4 Stars
Very enjoyable, with Travellin' Riverside Blues and The Girl I Love . . . alone making this a worthwhile purchase. Two things are abundantly clear after listening to this: First, studio engineers' ability to tone down Plant's vocal histrionics have played a key role in the band's success. He simply is making too much noise on these sessions! Second, their recorded output, as great as it is, would have been even better had the focus been MORE on Jimmy Page, especially if it had captured the tone he lays down in these sessions. Very powerful. Bonham as always is right on.Free Music Review: The Greatness of Zeppelin's live set
Hit: 5 Stars
Led Zeppelin's BBC Sessions to me is as essential as Zoso. This two cd set shows how good Zeppelin gets live and all the energy they pack with it. Some of these tracks I almost prefer to the studio such as: Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, etc. For me, hearing and seeing Jimmy Page whip out the bow and do his thing on Dazed And Confused is almost heaven. This cd is great for Zeppelin fans who want to know how they were live and what made them one of the greatest bands of all time.Free Music Review: think for a second
Hit: 5 Stars
led zeppelin has done a lot of things musically, emotionally, and every other "ally" in the book for people all over the universe. they've accomplished this through various studio recordings and even more-so with live recordings. "BBC Sessions," is a MUST as it can, as cameron crowe reportedly said to his mother, "...change your life." led zeppelin can tend to do just that.led zeppelin, however, cannot...
excuse me, led zeppelin HAS NEVER or ever will be capable of (for more than the obvious reasons) doing anything LESS than what they did, and that is more than the, "best." few musicians have been able to this- jimi hendrix, the thirteenth floor elevators, miles davis, public enemy, etc. etc.
as for the "shunned-i-wish-i-was-an-elitests' motto:"
"[...]not as good without overdubs," a statement i've heard in so many words more or less- whence spoken by a zeppelin "fan" completely revokes their opinion and self-proclaimed, "competence," that they acredit themselves for having.
criticisms, in that manner, from anyone should and/or can ONLY be given when they WRITE/perform/etc. songs contained in the zeppelin catalogue. this means WRITE not be able to play- anybody, including myself, can play these tunes verbatim- as they are standards to mosts guitarists. but,when one of us have written the most "requested rock song in history," or debuted an un-heard song from an up and-coming album to a crowd that stared in silent awe after you played it, criticisms on this matter can be given- but never taken seriously.
jimmy page is the TWO HARDEST WORKING GUITARISTS IN ROCK N' ROLL HISTORY. his perfomances on the 'BBC sessions' and on 'the song remains the same' are proof of this. listening to live versions of his songs showcases his great improvisational techniques with the blues and other songs- deviating away from pentatonic scales and warm-up's i leanred middle-school band class that can be heard a lot of other places. i would've liked to hear jimmy work around some modal tunes as well- but his speed, great sense of time, and odd progressions are the most musical rock 'n roll compositions ever created. live material from led zeppelin are guitarist/song writer/singer/musician/fan "how-to's" and "you wish you could's" that should be appreciated by everyone.
john bonham's ability to play under the group- not over shadowing or being too modest with the rhythm, making it more than a percussive element to the song... in some songs maybe even making it just as, if not, more integral than melodic elements. its funny to see friends air-drum the bridge of 'stairway to heaven' that goes into the solo incorrectly (start counting on 'and'), or when 'dazed and confused' is sometimes mistaken for being in 4/4 or 3/3, getting lost on "misty mountain hop" for a quick count etc. etc... some of the his best drumming on 'bbc...' would have to be on 'since i've been lovin you.' especially after a thorough studying of the recorded version is done. as with jimmy and the rest of the band- listening to a live version is like getting a whole new song- variations on a theme even, and sutdio work is NEVER lacking or missed in these recordings. so for those of you that memorized all of those bonzo solos and confidently pound those dents into your dashboard, get ready for a new learning experience and dents on more places.
robert plant's vocals are undescribable- he too, rarely perfomed recorded versions verbatim live. "soulfull," stylings is what they could be called... could be. i just call it robert plant.
john paul jones' song writing abilites weren't out in the forefront quite yet- at least i don't think, as far as i know- most of the "more melodic/less" dissonant riffs/progressions are his- as i don't know exacts off hand- i cannot give him the proper credit he deserves, most likely even with the specifics.
the best song on the set though would have to be, 'since i've been lovin' you.' displaying the band's entire scope and range- all the way from influences to their signature sound. they succeed in melting the blues influences without sacraficing any oiriginality during the verses and the solo. in the bridge portions and the ending, they drop their trademark, "heavy-metal," sound in which all of the band is other-worldly in sync with each other, creating recorded evidence that they in fact did NOT sell their souls- as many of our parents' parent's might have thought. they even play gospel styled changes, like the ending where robert plant can receive no praise that would suffice. when plant sings, "do you remember mama, when i knocked up on your door..." the song turns into a psychedellic master-piece (along with blues, rock, etc. masterpiece.)
the entire album is perfection- for lack of a better term, highlights being, 'whole lotta love," "dazed and confused," "that's the way," well- i'm not in the mood to type down the entire tracklisting.
all in all- the ablum, for those of us who yearn for new material sometimes, is a "change of scenery." never growing tired of where led zeppelin took us, but just moving us down the street or out to the park for a day- some fresh air and sunshine, and just like the real world- we eventually come back home.
Free Music Review: The best rock CD ever period.
Hit: 5 Stars
Live at the BBC is incredible... It's by far the best live recording from Led Zep. The sound quality is amazing for this time, all the musicians are "on fire"... I couldn't live without it !!!