|
Only thing good about this box set is the packaging and design and so on. However the booklets the CDs come infall apart easly and some of the disc come pre-scratched as they fit too tight.As for the recordings, Jimmy said it well, they again are flat sounding.Too bad the Mothership wasn't a complete box set, tracks are clean and clear.
Cool box set design.It includes all of the Led Zeppelin' studio albums.They're all remastered.Got a little "extra" booklet too, with some photos.
Just do yourself a favor and get this set, if you are a newcomer to Led Zeppelin, or have the original cd's like myself and want to upgrade to a better quality sounding Zeppelin, just please get this and save yourself from buying other sets that won't sound as good.
This full-album approach is evidenced by the fact that they never released a single in the UK. (I was always a little miffed that the song "That's the Way" didn't make it onto the first box set).The re-master quality is great, but there are songs which the re-mastering process couldn't repair, possibly because the master tape was warped or unmanageable (cf. .not the two other box sets. The 1990 box set and its 1993 supplement, although handsome and concise (you get all 9 studio albums, plus a few extra b-sides, in only 6 discs), breaks all the songs up in a loose diachronic order. Other songs, such as "Stairway" and "Kashmir" sound a lot cleaner and clearer, as if recorded just yesterday, but it is the quieter moments where the re-mastering stands out ("Rain Song," "No Quarter," "Stairway," etc).If you're looking to experience LZ the way they intended, album for album, pick up this set. Moreover, LZ was born and popularized during the days of vinyl records, and they wrote their music to accommodate this format. Moreover, you are not at the mercy of what the record company or the band might think is worthy to appear on one box set or another (I constantly find myself in disagreement over what songs are chosen for "greatest hits" compilations), which we had to endure before the second little box set came out in 1993.
At times it sounds like the dynamic range of the songs was expanded without any cleanup of tape hiss. Why.LZ was adamant about people buying their full albums. the opening cymbal crash on "Dancing Days"). Knowing these things, it is important to listen to each album, at least the first few times through, in the order in which it was intended. With this set, you have the opportunity to travel through each disc as it was intended to be heard. They are noticeably louder than previous CD releases prior to the re-mastering process, but there is no need to worry about dynamic range compression - as far as I can tell, there is no clipping or compression throughout the CDs. The double box set released in the early 1990s doesn't do the albums or the band justice.
This set is well worth the $100 price tag (10 CDs for over a $100, a bargain) and was also a Platinum seller despite the fact it didn't chart. Also, the albums in this set come with the original vinyl artwork (save the Atlantic and Swan Song picture labels on each record (those are on the 2008 Mili-LP sleeve box set as is the 1976 concert film soundtrack album The Song Remains the Same)) and excellent liner notes courtesy of former Rolling Stone music writer and now famous movie director Cameron Crowe (Mr.
Th Complete Studio Recordings by Led Zeppelin is a great box set that includes all NINE of the band's studio albums (Led Zeppelin I, II, III, IV (a/k/a Zoso a/k/a Runes a/k/a Four Symbols), Houses of the Holy, Physical Graffiti (a double album/2-CD set), Presence, In Through the Out Door and the rarities collection Coda) all in one place instead of either spending an extra $30 or so buying them all individually or buying the recently released mini-LP sleeve box set (which has all of those aforementioned albums (plus The Song Remains the Same Soundtrack album in its 2007 re-issued form) all packaged in mini-LP sleeves with original LP labels) although that set is still nice to have as well). Led Zeppelin's first box set of all of their studio albums in one box entitled The Complete Studio Recordings was released in September of 1993.
The sound of the albums as a whole have not ever sounded better, especially Presence and Led Zeppelin III (my two favorite albums of theirs) plus Led Zeppelin IV, Physical Graffiti(2 CDs), Hell all of their studio albums sound crystal clear on this box set (the mastering was done at the time of the 1990 box set and still best sounding of Zep tracks). In addition to having properly remastered versions of all of Led Zeppelin's studio albums, the real treat on this set was the expansion of the 1982 outtakes album Coda which has four bonus tracks which were four of the five bonus tracks on the two separate Led Zeppelin box sets which had been released in 1990 and 1993 respecively.
The bonus tracks on Coda on this box (and the 2008 mini-LP box apparently) are "Baby Come on Home" (which was an outtake from Led Zeppelin I and first appeared on 1993's Led Zeppelin Boxed Set II) and three of the four previously unreleased on Zeppelin album tracks from 1990's Led Zeppelin Boxed Set 1 which were "Travelling Riverside Blues" (recorded at the BBC in 1969 and excellent and was a rock radio hit in 1990 and MTV promoted the Zep box set when MTV was good), "White Summer"/"Black Mountain Side" recorded at the BBC in 1969 and the long-lost B Side to 1970's "The Immigrant Song" and a long time radio staple "Hey Hey What Can I Do" (recorded during the Led Zeppelin III sessions). Nancy Wilson to Heart fans).
Hugely recommended.
|
