Mothership

Hard to believe that as a 45 year old I am only just discovering how great Led Zeppelin was! The funny thing is that way back when; when the music was being played for the first time and garage cover-bands were doing their best to capture LZ's essence at pool clubs, I thought Plant's voice was as annoying as a cat being strangled!
And now! Wow, I am so enjoying "getting my Led out". For their time they really were pretty revolutionary. Spiritual, psychedelic, demonic, and violins too!!
If you don't already have all their music on CD or if you're only just now becomng a fan then this collection is for you.

Love Led Zep. Favorite band growing up and still think they were the best. I'm glad we are getting some remastered versions that turned up the volume. And I like some of the new mastering - especially "Immigrant Song" where the bass really pops now. However, "Kashmir" sounds no different than the 1990 remasters except higher volume.

Only problem I have with MOTHERSHIP is the song selection and shortness of the CDs. CD1 is 66:18 and CD2 is 69:21. So we have about 20-22 more minutes that could have been used. Absolute musts for these 20 minutes should have been "The Ocean" (4:30) from HOH, "Gallows Pole" (4:55) from III, "Battle of Evermore" (5:49) from IV, and "The Wanton Song" (4:06) from PG.

Then I have to wonder why so many of these Led Zep hits collections continue to include the 10 minute "Achilles Last Stand", the 7 minute "No Quarter", "Trampled Under Foot" (5:39) and "D'yer Maker (4:23). These songs are just not that good - they have parts that are OK but in total they are tedious and boring, or with the latter, just silly. But I understand that "No Quarter" is considered a classic so I guess leave that on even though it is mostly slow, quiet and boring. But taking out the other 3 frees up 21 more minutes. Better songs to fill that gap could be "Living Loving Maid" (2:39) and "What Is and What Should Never Be" (4:43) from II, the superb "The Rover" (5:35) and the short instrumental classic "Bron-Y-Aur" (2:06) from PG, and "Fool In The Rain" (6:12) from In Through the Out Door.

But by far the biggest omission on MOTHERSHIP is "The Ocean." This song has one of the best opening riffs that Led Zep did and it would have been great to hear this in the new re-mastered sound. How this was left off is beyond me.

The programming I would have done is as follows:
CD1 (TOTAL TIME ~ 77:10)
1. Good Times Bad Times (2:47) from I
2. Communication Breakdown (2:28) from I
3. Dazed and Confused (6:28) from I
4. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You (6:41) from I
5. Whole Lotta Love (5:32) from II
6. Ramble On (4:22) from II
7. Heartbreaker (4:15) from II
8. Livin Lovin Maid (2:39) from II
9. What Is and What Should Never Be (4:43) from II
10.Immigrant Song (2:26) from III
11.Gallows Pole (4:55) from III
12.Since I've Been Loving You (7:23) from III
13.Black Dog (4:54) from IV
14.Rock and Roll (3:41) from IV
15.Battle of Evermore (5:49) from IV
16.Stairway to Heaven (8:02) from IV

CD2 (TOTAL TIME ~ 78:30)
1. When the Levee Breaks (7:10) from IV
2. The Song Remains the Same (5:32) from HOH
3. Over the Hills and Far Away (4:49) from HOH
4. The Ocean (4:30) from HOH
5. No Quarter (7:00) from HOH
6. House of the Holy (4:04) from PG
7. The Wanton Song (4:06) from PG
8. The Rover (5:35) from PG
9. Bron-Y-Aur (2:06) from PG
10.Kashmir (8:29) from PG
11.Nobody's Fault But Mine (6:16) from Presence
12.In the Evening (6:51) from ITTOD
13.Fool In The Rain (6:12) from ITTOD
14.All My Love (5:50) from ITTOD

I have made a 2CD set like this, although I don't really care for Led Zep's extended blues song "Since I've Been Loving You" and I've already dissed "No Quarter" so I replaced these two 7 minute songs with "Black Mountain Side" (from I), "Friends" (from III) and "Custard Pie" and "Black Country Woman" (from PG). I also think "In the Light" from PG is a great song if only they would edit out the the meandering synthesizer in the first 2 minutes - similar to how "In the Evening" begins.

Review no. 42. What true Zep fan could even resist the price of this title, anyway? Some of these Zeppelin gems one can never grow tired of are "Communication Breakdown", the sappy "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You", one of my personal Zeppelin favorites of all time "Ramble On", "When The Levee Breaks" (I have personal memories of this track - some years ago in my home town, we were having some major flooding - entire trailer parks were being evacuated, etc. - some wide-mouth afternoon DJ played this song several time, obviously outraged several listeners - believe he only received a slap on the wrist for his prank) and the beautifully played "Over The Hills And Far Away". The DVD simply has too many out-standing tunes to list here. Some I know I've seen on other Zep compilations. Recommended.

Arguably one of the best compilations of Led Zeppelin music one could hope for...the DVD is quite good too. A genuine value for the savvy consumer and a must have for the true Zep fan

The only reason to buy this is the DVD.

The rest of the tracks are available on all the original albums as well as the various box-sets.

The packaging is horrible - it is almost impossible to get the CD's / DVD out without either tearing the package or putting fingerprints on your CD's and DVD.

Thank goodness for I-Pods and Apple Lossless so I can just rip this and be done with it.