LED ZEPPELIN (1969-1982) 40th Anniversary / Definitive Collection (2008) 12×CD, Album, Reissue / SHM-CD / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The Definitive Collection of Mini-LP Replica CDs boxed set is a twelve compact disc collection of albums by English rock group Led Zeppelin, distributed by Atlantic Records in conjunction with Rhino Entertainment on 4 November 2008. It contains all nine of the original Led Zeppelin studio albums digitally remastered and compressed, with the inclusion of previously unreleased tracks that had surfaced on the 1990 Boxed Set, on disc 12, as well as the two disc remastered edition of the film soundtrack The Song Remains the Same, which also includes bonus tracks. The albums are placed in chronological order all with miniature replica sleeves of the original vinyl releases. Previous to this boxed set, these replica CDs were only available as individual releases from Japan. A Japanese deluxe boxed set was made available initially from 10 September 2008, limited to 5,000 copies on SHM-CD format.

The miniature replica sleeves have made all efforts possible to preserve the original artwork and functionality of the original vinyl releases. As such, the sleeves and CD labels only list what songs were originally released, omitting the bonus tracks from the packaging. web

Led Zeppelin I (1969)

Led Zeppelin is the eponymous debut studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was recorded in October 1968 at Olympic Studios in London and released on Atlantic Records on 12 January 1969 in the United States and 31 March in the United Kingdom. Featuring integral contributions from each of the group's four members, the album established their fusion of blues and rock. It also attracted a large and devoted following to the band; Zeppelin's take on the emerging heavy rock sound endeared them to parts of the counterculture on both sides of the Atlantic.

Although the album was not critically well-received when first released, it was commercially successful, and critics have come to view it in a much more favourable light. In 2003, Led Zeppelin was ranked 29th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, keeping that position when the list was updated in 2012. In 2004, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Tracklist:

1. Good Times, Bad Times (2:46)

2. Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You (6:41)

3. You Shook Me (6:28)

4. Dazed And Confused (6:26)

5. Your Time Is Gonna Come (4:34)

6. Black Mountain Side (2:05)

7. Communication Breakdown (2:27)

8. I Can't Quit You Baby (4:42)

9. How Many More Times (8:28)

Total Time 44:37 

Line-up / Musicians

Jimmy Page / acoustic, electric and pedal steel guitar, backing vocals

Robert Plant / lead vocals, harmonica

John Paul Jones / bass guitar, organ, backing vocals

John Bonham / drums, tympani, backing vocals

Additional musician

Viram Jasani / tabla drums (6)

Led Zeppelin II (1969) 

Led Zeppelin II is the second studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 22 October 1969 in the United States and on 31 October 1969 in the United Kingdom on Atlantic Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at several locations in the United Kingdom and North America from January to August 1969. Production was credited to lead guitarist and songwriter Jimmy Page, while it also served as Led Zeppelin's first album to utilise the recording techniques of engineer Eddie Kramer. With elements of blues and folk music, Led Zeppelin II also exhibits the band's evolving musical style of blues-derived material and their guitar and riff-based sound. It has been described as the band's heaviest album.

Upon release, Led Zeppelin II sold well and was the band's first album to reach number one in the UK and the US. In 1970, art director David Juniper was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package for the album. On 15 November 1999, it was certified 12× Platinum by the RIAA for sales in excess of 12 million copies. Since its release, writers and music critics have regularly cited it in polls of the greatest and most influential rock albums.

Tracklist:

1. Whole Lotta Love (5:34)

2. What Is And What Should Never Be (4:46)

3. The Lemon Song (6:18)

4. Thank You (4:47)

5. Heartbreaker (4:14)

6. Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman) (2:38)

7. Ramble On (4:24)

8. Moby Dick (4:21)

9. Bring It On Home (4:21)

Total Time: 41:29

Line-up / Musicians

Jimmy Page / acoustic, electric & pedal steel guitar, backing vocals

Robert Plant / vocals, harmonica

John Paul Jones / bass guitar, organ, backing vocals

John Bonham / drums, backing vocals 

Led Zeppelin III (1970)

Led Zeppelin III is the third studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was recorded between January and August 1970 and released on 5 October by Atlantic Records. Composed largely at a remote cottage in Wales known as Bron-Yr-Aur, this work represented a maturing of the band's music towards a greater emphasis on folk and acoustic sounds. This surprised many fans and critics, and upon its release the album received rather indifferent reviews.

Although it is not one of the highest sellers in Zeppelin's catalogue, Led Zeppelin III is now generally praised, and acknowledged as representing an important milestone in their history. Although acoustic songs are featured on its predecessors, it is this album which is widely acknowledged for showing that Led Zeppelin were more than just a conventional rock band and that they could branch out into wider musical territory.

Tracklist:

1 Immigrant Song (2:23)

2 Friends (3:54)

3 Celebration Day (3:28)

4 Since I've Been Loving You (7:24)

5 Out On The Tiles (4:05)

6 Gallows Pole (4:56)

7 Tangerine (2:57)

8 That's The Way (5:37)

9 Bron-Y-Aur Stomp (4:16)

10 Hats Off To (Roy) Harper (3:42)

Line-up / Musicians

John Bonham – drums, percussion, backing vocals

John Paul Jones – bass guitar, Hammond organ, Moog synthesizer, mandolin, double bass in "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp", string arrangement

Jimmy Page – acoustic, electric and pedal steel guitars, banjo, dulcimer, production, bass guitar on "That's the Way", backing vocals

Robert Plant – lead vocals, harmonica

Led Zeppelin IV (1971)

The untitled fourth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, commonly referred to as Led Zeppelin IV, was released on 8 November 1971 on Atlantic Records. Produced by guitarist Jimmy Page, it was recorded between December 1970 and March 1971 at several locations, most prominently the Victorian house Headley Grange.

After the group's 1970 album Led Zeppelin III received lukewarm reviews from critics, Page decided their fourth album would officially be untitled. This, along with the inner sleeve's design featuring four symbols that represented each band member, led to the album being referred to variously as the Four Symbols logo, Four Symbols, The Fourth Album, Untitled, Runes, The Hermit, and ZoSo (which was derived from Page's symbol). In addition to lacking a title, the original cover featured no band name, as the group wished to be anonymous and to avoid easy pigeonholing by the press.

Led Zeppelin IV was a commercial and critical success, producing many of the band's best-known songs, including "Black Dog", "Rock and Roll", "Misty Mountain Hop", "Going to California", and the band's signature song, "Stairway to Heaven". The album is one of the best-selling albums worldwide at 37 million units, and with a 23-times platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America, it is the fourth-best-selling album in the United States. Writers and critics have regularly cited it on lists of rock's greatest albums.

Tracklist: 

1 - Black Dog (4:56)

2 - Rock And Roll (3:41)

3 - The Battle Of Evermore (5:52)

4 - Stairway To Heaven (8:02)

5 - Misty Mountain Hop (4:39)

6 - Four Sticks (4:45)

7 - Going To California (3:32)

8 - When The Levee Breaks (7:08)

Line-up / Musicians

Jimmy Page - Guitars

Robert Plant - Vocals

John Paul Jones - Bass, Organ

John Bonham - Drums

Sandy Denny - Vocals (3) 

Houses of the Holy (1973)

Houses of the Holy is the fifth studio album by English rock band Led Zeppelin released by Atlantic Records on 28 March 1973. It is their first album composed of entirely original material, and represents a musical turning point for the band, who had begun to record songs with more layering and production techniques.

Containing some of the band's most famous songs, including "The Song Remains the Same", "The Rain Song", and "No Quarter", Houses of the Holy became a huge success, and was certified eleven times platinum by the RIAA in 1999. In 2012, it was ranked #148 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The title track was recorded for the album, but was delayed until the band's next release, Physical Graffiti, two years later.

Tracklist:

1 The Song Remains The Same (5:30)     

2 The Rain Song (7:38)     

3 Over The Hills And Far Away (4:49)     

4 The Crunge (3:15)     

5 Dancing Days (3:41)     

6 D'yer Mak'er (4:21)     

7 No Quarter (6:59)     

8 The Ocean (4:31) 

Line-up / Musicians

Jimmy Page - Guitars

Robert Plant - Vocals

John Paul Jones - Bass, Organ

John Bonham - Drums

Physical Graffiti (1975)

Physical Graffiti is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released as a double album on 24 February 1975. The band wrote and recorded eight new songs for the album at Headley Grange. These eight songs stretched the total time of the record beyond the typical length of a single LP, so the band decided to make Physical Graffiti a double album by including unreleased tracks from earlier recording sessions: one outtake from Led Zeppelin III, three from Led Zeppelin IV, and three from Houses of the Holy, including the unused title track.

Physical Graffiti was commercially and critically successful; the album went 16x platinum in the US in 2006, signifying shipments of eight million copies, and was a number one album in both the US and UK.

Tracklist:

1 Custard Pie     4:20

2 The Rover     5:54

3 In My Time Of Dying     11:08

4 Houses Of The Holy     4:01

5 Trampled Under Foot     5:38

6 Kashmir     9:41

7 In The Light     8:46

8 Bron-Yr-Aur     2:07

9 Down By The Seaside     5:15

10 Ten Years Gone     6:55

11 Night Flight     3:37

12 The Wanton Song     4:10

13 Boogie With Stu     3:45

14 Black Country Woman     4:30

15 Sick Again     4:40

Line-up / Musicians

Jimmy Page - Guitars

Robert Plant - Vocals

John Paul Jones - Bass, Organ

John Bonham - Drums

Presence (1976)

Presence is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released by Swan Song Records on 31 March 1976. The album was a commercial success, reaching the top of both the British and American album charts, and achieving a triple-platinum certification in the United States, despite receiving mixed reviews from critics and being the slowest-selling studio album by the band (other than the outtake album Coda).

It was written and recorded during a tumultuous time in the band's history, as singer Robert Plant was recuperating from serious injuries he had sustained the previous year in a car accident. Nevertheless, guitarist Jimmy Page describes Presence as the band's "most important" album, proving they would continue and succeed despite their turmoil.

Six of the seven songs on the album are Page and Plant compositions; the remaining song being credited to all four band members. This can be explained by the fact that the majority of the songs were formulated at Malibu, where Page (but not Bonham and Jones) had initially joined a recuperating Plant.  With Plant at less than full fitness, Page took responsibility for the album's completion, and his playing dominates the album's tracks.

Both Page and Plant had planned this album's recording session as a return to hard rock, much like their debut album, except at a new level of complexity. It marked a change in the Led Zeppelin sound towards more straightforward, guitar-based jams. Whereas their previous albums up to and including the previous year's Physical Graffiti contain electric hard rock anthems balanced with acoustic ballads and intricate arrangements, Presence was seen to include more simplified riffs, and is Led Zeppelin's only studio album that features no keyboards, and with the exception of a rhythm track on "Candy Store Rock", no acoustic guitar. The record stands in sharp contrast to their next studio album In Through the Out Door, which features keyboards on all tracks and pushes Page's guitar into the background on several songs (most notably on "Carouselambra", where Jones takes the lead on a synthesizer for most of the song, and Page is not truly heard until four minutes into the song).

The changed stylistic emphasis on this album was a direct result of the troubled circumstances experienced by the band around the time of its recording.

Tracklist:

1. Achilles Last Stand 10:30

2. For Your Life 6:21

3. Royal Orleans 2:59

4. Nobody's Fault but Mine 6:28

5. Candy Store Rock 4:08

6. Hots On for Nowhere 4:44

7. Tea for One 9:23

Line-up / Musicians

Jimmy Page - Guitars

Robert Plant - Vocals

John Paul Jones - Bass, Organ

John Bonham - Drums 

The Song Remains the Same (1976)

 The Song Remains the Same is the live soundtrack album of the concert film of the same name by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. The album was originally released in October 1976, before being remastered and reissued in 2007.

The Song Remains the Same is not without its charm. This, more than any of their studio albums, captures both the grandiosity and entitlement that earned the band scorn among certain quarters of rock critics and punk rockers in the mid-'70s, which makes it a valuable historical document in an odd way, as the studio records are such magnificent constructions and the archival live albums so powerful. Plus, there is a certain sinister charm to the sheer spectacle chronicled on The Song Remains the Same, particularly in the greatly expanded 2007 reissue, which adds six previously unreleased tracks, helping pump up this already oversized album into something truly larger than life. At this stage, Zeppelin only seemed concerned with pleasing themselves, but they only did so because they could -- others tried to mimic them, but nobody could get the sheer size of their sound, which was different yet equally monstrous on-stage as it was on record. It wasn't as consistent on-stage as it was on record -- a half-hour "Dazed and Confused" may be the stuff of legend, but it's still a chore to get through -- but the very fact that Led Zeppelin could take things so far is part of their mystique, and nowhere is that penchant of excess better heard than on The Song Remains the Same.

Tracklist 1:

1. Rock And Roll

2. Celebration Day

3. Black Dog (including Bring It On Home)

4. Over The Hills And Far Away

5. Misty Mountain Hop

6. Since I've Been Loving You

7. No Quarter

8. The Song Remains the Same

9. The Rain Song

10. The Ocean

Tracklist 2:

1. Dazed And Confused

2. Stairway To Heaven

3. Moby Dick

4. Heartbreaker

5. Whole Lotta Love

Line-up / Musicians

Jimmy Page - Guitars

Robert Plant - Vocals

John Paul Jones - Bass, Organ

John Bonham - Drums

In Through The Out Door (1979)

In Through the Out Door is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, and their final album of entirely new material. It was recorded over a three-week period in November and December 1978 at ABBA's Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, and released by Swan Song Records on 15 August 1979. In Through the Out Door was the band's eighth and final studio release to reach the top of the charts in America, and was the last released by the band before the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980.

The album is a reflection of the personal turmoil that the band members had been going through before and during its recording. For example, frontman Robert Plant and his wife had gone through a serious car accident, and their young son, Karac Plant, died from a stomach illness. All four band members also felt weary of dealing with record companies and other associates. Despite this, the release wound up being a huge commercial success, particularly in the United States (sitting at the #1 slot on Billboard's chart in just its second week on the chart).

Tracklist:

1. In the Evening 6:53

2. South Bound Saurez 4:13

3. Fool in the Rain 6:10

4. Hot Dog 3:18

5. Carouselambra 10:34

6. All My Love 5:53

7. I'm Gonna Crawl 5:29

Line-up / Musicians

Jimmy Page - Guitars

Robert Plant - Vocals

John Paul Jones - Bass, Organ

John Bonham - Drums

Coda (1982)

Coda is the ninth and final studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in 1982. The album is a collection of unused tracks from various sessions during Led Zeppelin's twelve-year career. It was released two years after the group had officially disbanded following the death of drummer John Bonham. The word coda, meaning a passage that ends a musical piece following the main body, was therefore chosen as the title.

Coda is a unique album for us to review. Although it is listed officially as the ninth and final studio album by Led Zeppelin, it could just as well be listed as a quasi-compilation of unreleased tracks in the tradition of The Who’s Odds and Sods or Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes. Like those, this is a fine and entertaining album, and a must-have for any serious fan of the artist. But we internally debated whether it was proper to include Coda with our reviews from 1982. After all, it had been a full two years since the death of drummer John Bonham and the subsequent disbandment of Led Zeppelin as a cohesive group. Also, the most recent recordings on Coda were made four years prior to its November 1982 release, with the earliest recording stretching back to the late 1960s. The truth is, we simply could not overlook this album. After all, this IS Led Zeppelin and this band is likely to be the only one which Classic Rock Review covers every single studio album (I mean, we’ve already done Presence, what can we possibly exclude?)

The album spans the band’s entire career, from live performances just after their debut album to unused songs from In Through the Out Door sessions. However, it focuses mainly on the bookends of very early material and very recent material with very little representation from the band’s most popular “middle” years. This is most likely due to the fact that 1975’s Physical Graffiti included many unreleased songs from that era.

With such a chasm between the early and recent material, producer and lead guitarist Jimmy Page did a great job making it all sound cohesive. This included extensive, yet not overwhelming, post-production treatment of each track. According to Page, the album was released because there was so much bootleg stuff out following the disbandment. However, Coda was not a comprehensive collection in its original form. The 1982 LP contained eight tracks and ran at a mere 33 minutes in length. Eleven years later, four more tracks were added to CD versions of the album, tracks which were mysteriously excluded originally. Some have suggested it was really only released to fulfill a contract obligation to Atlantic Records.

Tracklist:

1 We're Gonna Groove

2 Poor Tom

3 I Can't Quit You Baby

4 Walter's Walk

5 Ozone Baby

6 Darlene

7 Bonzo's Montreux

8 Wearing and Tearing

9 Baby Come On Home [Bonus Track]

10 Travelling Riverside Blues [Bonus Track]

11 White Summer,Black Mountain Side [Bonus Track]

12 Hey Hey What Can I Do [Bonus Track]

Line-up / Musicians

Jimmy Page - Guitars

Robert Plant - Vocals

John Paul Jones - Bass, Organ

John Bonham - Drums