Led Zeppelin Readies Fall Reissue Bonanza

Billboard.com

July 27, 2007, 2:25 AM ET

Jonathan Cohen, Akron, Ohio

 

Led Zeppelin fans will have a lot to celebrate this fall thanks to the release of three new titles in multiple configurations. First up on Nov. 13 via Atlantic/Rhino is a two-disc, 24-track best-of, "Mothership." A deluxe reissue of the soundtrack to the 1976 concert film "The Song Remains the Same" with previously unreleased material and a new DVD edition of that movie will arrive Nov. 20 via Atlantic/Rhino and Warner Home Video, respectively.

 

"Mothership," tracks for which were chosen by surviving members Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, represents all eight of the band's studio albums. In addition to a two-disc set, the album will also be available in both "deluxe" and "collector's" editions with a DVD featuring varied live content from the previously released "Led Zeppelin DVD." A 4-LP vinyl package will also be sold.

 

As for the "The Song Remains the Same" soundtrack, it now sports six songs not included on the original album: "Black Dog," "Over the Hills and Far Away," "Misty Mountain Hop," "Since I've Been Loving You," "The Ocean" and "Heartbreaker." The album and film were recorded during a July 1973 stand at New York's Madison Square Garden.

 

"The Song Remains the Same" DVD includes all 14 songs from the original concert for the first time plus previously unreleased performances of "Over the Hills and Far Away," "Celebration Day," "The Ocean" and "Misty Mountain Hop." Rounding out the bonus items are a 1976 BBC interview with Plant and band manager Peter Grant and contemporary footage from the robbery at New York's Drake Hotel during the MSG run.

 

Beyond a standard DVD, the film will be sold in both HD DVD and Blu-ray formats, as well as a limited collector's edition that includes the soundtrack, a T-shirt with the original album art and reproductions of memorabilia from the era.

 

All the catalog activity gives further heft to rumors Plant, Page and Jones will reunite to perform at a proposed Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert this fall in London. Although no details have been announced, the group is also said to be mulling offers to tour under the Led Zeppelin name in 2008 with the late John Bonham's son Jason filling in on drums.

 

Here is the track list for "Mothership:

 

Disc One:

"Good Times Bad Times"

"Communication Breakdown"

"Dazed and Confused"

"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You"

"Whole Lotta Love"

"Ramble On"

"Heartbreaker"

"Immigrant Song"

"Since I've Been Loving You"

"Rock and Roll"

"Black Dog"

"When the Levee Breaks"

"Stairway to Heaven"

 

Disc Two:

"The Song Remains the Same"

"Over the Hills and Far Away"

"D'Yer Maker"

"No Quarter"

"Trampled Under Foot"

"Houses of the Holy"

"Kashmir"

"Nobody's Fault But Mine"

"Achilles Last Stand"

"In the Evening"

"All My Love"

 

Here is the track list for "The Song Remains the Same":

 

Disc One:

"Rock and Roll"

"Celebration Day"

"Black Dog"

"Over the Hills and Far Away"

"Misty Mountain Hop"

"Since I've Been Loving You"

"No Quarter"

"The Song Remains the Same"

"The Rain Song"

"The Ocean"

 

Disc Two:

"Dazed and Confused"

"Stairway to Heaven"

"Moby Dick"

"Heartbreaker"

"Whole Lotta Love"

 

Are any of you interested in buying any of these Led Zep reissues?

Friday July 27, 04:00 PM

Led Zeppelin finally reissuing rock 'catastrophe'

LOS ANGELES (Reuters Life!)

 

After years of reluctance, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin are reissuing their only live album, along with an associated concert movie described by Q magazine as "one of rock's great catastrophes."

"The Song Remains the Same," which culled material from an underwhelming three-night stand at New York's Madison Square Garden in 1973, was originally released on vinyl and celluloid in 1976.

 

Both packages will come out again in the United States on Nov. 20, laden with previously unreleased tracks and other bonus features. A week earlier, Led Zeppelin will release a two-disc compilation featuring 24 hits, entitled "Mothership.

 

Guitarist/producer Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant and bass player/keyboardist John Paul Jones have given the deluxe reissue treatment to their catalog over the years, including a boxed set of all their eight studio albums in 1993, and a Grammy-nominated DVD in 2003.

 

But they largely ignored "The Song Remains the Same." The double-disc album was released on CD in 1987, and the film on DVD in 1999 -- and that was the extent to which the band acknowledged the project's existence in the digital age.

 

Page once said the concerts were not "one of those real magic nights," while critics and fans felt similarly disappointed.

 

The soundtrack was essentially an obligatory companion piece to the film, a costly project marred from the start by poor preparation.

 

Late director Joe Massot, who was later booted from the project, also filmed bizarre fantasy sequences involving Page, Plant, Jones and drummer John Bonham, whose 1980 death led to the band's dissolution.

 

British music publication Q said it was "the silliest rock 'n' roll movie ever," while manager Peter Grant said it was "the most expensive home movie ever made."

 

The reissues are being handled by Warner Music Group's archival label, Rhino Records, and sister label Warner Home Video. A statement offered just one quote, from Page:

 

"We have revisited 'The Song Remains The Same' and can now offer the complete set as played at Madison Square Garden. This differs substantially from the original soundtrack released in 1976 ... When it comes to 'The Song Remains The Same,' the expansion of the DVD and soundtrack are as good as it gets on the Led Zeppelin wish list."

 

Page, who was unavailable for further comment, credited producer Kevin Shirley for his work on the reissues. Shirley previously worked on the 2003 CD "How the West Was Won," which collected live footage from two 1972 shows.