BBC Sessions (1997)


 
Disc One 1. You Shook Me 2. I Can't Quit You Baby 3. Communication Breakdown 4. Dazed and Confused 5. The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair 6. What Is and What Should Never Be 7. Communication Breakdown 8. Traveling Riverside Blues 9. Whole Lotta Love 10. Somethin' Else 11. Communication Breakdown 12. I Can't Quit You Baby 13. You Shook Me 14. How Many More Times Disc Two 1. Immigrant Song 2. Heartbreaker 3. Since I've Been Loving You 4. Black Dog 5. Dazed and Confused 6. Stairway to Heaven 7. Going to California 8. That's the Way 9. Whole Lotta Love 10.Thank You

 

A 'BBC' compilation. The first disc is from the very early period of Led Zeppelin. So early that one song, The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair hadn't been morphed into Moby Dick from the band's second album Led Zeppelin II. The band sounds very raw and hungry. Since these are different sessions, there are quite a few repeats that bring down the listening experience a notch. It also gets a tad wearisome to hear Plant croon "Squeeze that lemon 'til the juice runs down my leg....." on, what seems, every other song.

The second disc is from 1971 after they had somewhat conquered the world, yet still new enough to where no one in the Paris audience had heard Stairway to Heaven yet. The little trinket makes the experience a bit more special somehow. The whole second disc sounds much more polished than the first - although not necessarily better. Cut out the repeats(and three-peats) from the first disc and you'd have a much better album.

NOTE: In 2016, they released the Complete BBC sessions which tacked on a third disc. Sadly, it's 90% repeats of what we already have here. The only strong addition is the Jimmy Page solo White Summer. There's an unreleased track on that bonus disc (Sunshine Woman), but the quality is so bad, I can't recommend.

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