Mothership

The vinyl version is a meticulously crafted, four record box set, each record in it's own protective sleeve, placed along with the actual record sleeve with a picture of one of the band on each of these sleeves. When you open the set the vinyl are in their protective sleeves, but are not placed in the picture sleeves; they are just laid alternately one on top of the other. A 20 page book is included which primarily consists of band photos.

Sonically, how does this sound? Well let me just say, this is about as fine a vinyl presentation of any music I have ever heard. Wow! If you are in search of the best sounding Zeppelin, you will not be dissapointed with this purchase. I have the Zeppelin catalogue on the 200 gram vinyl presentation that was issued a few years ago and they do not compare to the sound quality of this 180 gram set. The 200 gram vinyl presentation sounds like it was taken from a CD copy and transferred to vinyl. The Mothership presentation is incredibly rich sounding without the brightness of the 200 gram versions. The drums, bass, vocals, and guitars, are presented in their full dynamic range. You can almost feel the band members in your room as the music is played through your speakers. After hearing this, I'm desperate to hear the rest of the catalogue remastered for vinyl the way Mothership has been and released. My 200 gram copies will be in the hands of a used record store fast if that ever happens. Great work and thanks to the band and RTI!

I am about the biggest LZ fan there is but I goto tell you.If you like harsh,bright,and loud then by all means buy this.If you want to hear Led Zeppelin in a warm and natural way do yourself a favor and buy a turntable and the 200 Gram LP reissues from Classic records.After a few listens you will toss this in the trash.

So you are thinking to yourself: I have everyone of these Led Zep songs. Got the box sets, the "other" greatest hits cd. Why should I plunk down $18 to buy the same old tunes in yet another repackaged cd? Because it is worth it based on the total overall package. The inner booklet is crammed with informative tidbits and pics plus a song by song description of when it was released, etc. Sound and mix is so outstanding, its like hearing these songs for the "first" time. They could have used Fool In The Rain and Dancing Days instead of Nobody's Fault But Mine and Achilles Last Stand, but that's my personal choice. Highly recommended!!!! Especially if you are one of the few Earthlings who has never heard of Led Zep, this would be a great intro into the mystical, magical and musical world of Plant, Page, Jones and Bonham.

How many times does Led Zeppelin need to be remastered? Zeppelin has long been a high-water mark for audio mastering... screwing with it to make it "louder" is sacrilege. It's called "dynamic range," people. That "fatter sound" that you love to hear from today's radio crap is compression killing sonic clarity. There's no way around the trade off between dynamic range and compression.

But the worst part about this CD, despite all the great tracks it includes, is all the great tracks that it's missing. I could do without "Communication Breakdown" (a great song, but one that has been superseded by other better songs), "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You," "Since I've Been Loving You," "Stairway to Heaven" (as if we haven't heard it enough already), "No Quarter" (a song I've always hated), "Trampled Under Foot," and "Achilles Last Stand." I know some of these are inexplicably popular enough to throw on a greatest hits CD, but they're not my first choices.

If I had to choose 24 Zeppelin tracks, here's what I would pick:

"Good Times Bad Times"
"You Shook Me"
"Dazed and Confused"
"How Many More Times"
"Whole Lotta Love"
"What Is and What Should Never Be"
"The Lemon Song"
"Ramble On"
"Bring It On Home"
"Immigrant Song"
"Black Dog"
"Four Sticks"
"When the Levee Breaks"
"Over the Hills and Far Away"
"Dancing Days"
"The Ocean"
"In My Time of Dying"
"Kashmir"
"Nobody's Fault But Mine"
"We're Gonna Groove"
"I Can't Quit You Baby" (Coda)
"Traveling Riverside Blues"
"White Summer - Black Mountain Side"
"Hey Hey What Can I Do"

I would have listened to that all the way through instead of skipping half the tracks the first time around like I did with "Mothership." My list is surely different than some people's taste in Zeppelin, but the fact is that several of the songs included are great, but have been ruined by overexposure. For instance, after "Rock and Roll" became mentally attached to a car commercial in my head, I lost all desire to listen to it again (which is a shame because it's a good song).

I know people are going to hate me for putting down this CD and some of their favorite songs, but these just aren't all the best Zeppelin songs in my opinion, and I think it's a mistake for Jimmy Page to keep screwing with his material over and over again, the way George Lucas ruined the Star Wars films. You want Zeppelin louder? Turn the volume up! There's a reason why the "punchier" music of today sounds so much more duller than music from the 60's and 70's.

Plus, I already own all of these songs.

The re-masters of these songs are fantastic. SAVE YOUR MONEY ON THIS SHAMELESS CASH IN. Get it at the library. WAIT FOR INDIVIDUAL ALBUM RE-MASTERS TO GIVE MONEY.