Led Zeppelin 2014 remasters -- the complaints thread

I agree. This could have been the time to do it really superbly with as much decent material as possible, not just recreating the flow of the original albums with outtakes in tehe same order........so much more could have been done.

although it woulda been cool to see JUST the PG sessions done as an alternate LP, all with different takes....

 

I apologize if somebody has already bitched about this, but how about the whole damned, misconceived project? Nobody, even people on this list, will ever listen to the companion disc a second time. With very few exceptions, all of the out-takes were dull and unnecessary. Every disc should have been paired with a live recording from the year or era that matched the studio album, and if Pagey didn't have a suitable live recording in his vaults---which seems unlikely---then shame on him. He shouldn't have bothered.

 

?

 

Yeah - the more distance I get from this series of remasters the less I like them.

They are still OK for low-level listening, but for digital Zep played loud I always go back to my Diaments...

 

Funny, I have Coda companion disc in the car as I type.... I agree however that a live show from each release should have accompanied each edition, above and beyond the companion material

 

Good luck for a live show with Coda then

 

The deluxe content on all except Coda and the debut bore me half to death, and I would sell them and buy the standard editions (for the real back covers) if not for the fact that the booklets for the standard editions lack some of the artwork in the deluxe sets (namely, my favorite pictures). Oh well. At least I didn't have the albums at all before getting all nine deluxe sets... but I'd feel pretty ripped off if I'd upgraded my collection for this content. Luckily, I really enjoy the sound of these remasters, and since I don't need to listen to the bonus content, it's all fine. But it could have been so much better.

 

any show played between august 15th 1979 and Sept 25th 1980(which would be July 7th 1980, no?) would suffice IMHO

 

I think the companion discs of LZ I, Presence, and Coda are worthy of revisiting, but I have no interest in the others.

All are on Spotify, so I got to listen before investing. Decided on the single-disc versions of III, the fourth album, and ITTOD.

 

The eight-page booklets in the standard editions were and are a complete waste of money and resources; on the LZ IV booklet, there's two pictures... two. Jimmy Page and/or the powers-that-be should absolutely have sold the vinyl replica CD editions contained in the Super Deluxe boxes separately (with plastic or paper inner sleeves to protect the discs alongside cardboard inserts replicating the original inner sleeves where applicable), the standalone remastered vinyl editions had no booklets attached, and they were sublime in both packaging and sound quality.

Just my own humble, fallible, and entirely subjective opinion, for what it's worth.

 

Interesting, I thought III was one of the better bonus discs.

 

Some people feel that way. I don't.

 

I like the deluxe bonus tracks for the Third album and Coda, those are the best for me. I hate the packaging for the cds.
My Coda cd deluxe cardboard ripped when trying to fit the cd back in.

 

I think it is. It's my 2nd favorite companion disc, behind Coda. You get a true completely different take - something rare across the entire Zep reissue campaign - of Since I've Been Loving You; the wonderful dulcimer version of That's the Way, in the original pitch; and the very nice Key to the Highway/Trouble in Mind. You also get a great instrumental version of Out on the Tiles (which I like because the riff is fantastic but the lyrics are perhaps the dumbest Plant ever wrote); and a clean cut between Friends and Celebration Day, without the synthesizer whine they used to cover over the accidental erasure of the original drum intro to Celebration Day.

 

III and Coda. "Meh" to the others.

 

The backing track to "thank you" is one of the highlights of the whole series. ..that Hammond and the drums are incredible. Can nobody hear that?

 

There are two solid discs of companion disc material that can be assembled. Not all of it is a waste, nor is all of it disappointing. That said, a lot of it seemed redundant and unnecessary. Granted, this has been discussed ad nauseam, but some of the alternate mixes that were practically identical to the master recordings (such as Kashmir and Rain Song for example), and were unnecessary to say the least. Even the presented mixes for songs like In My Time Of Dying sans some guitar overdubs were pretty underwhelming (why not release an alternate take of the song?). The good stuff is the truly unique performances such as Since I've Been Loving You (take 1), Bring It On Home (rough mix), If It Keeps On Raining (rough mix), Everybody Makes It Through (early version/in transit) Sick Again (early version) -- songs that present a glimpse into the creative process of the band, embryonic versions of songs (clearly that sort of vault material exists, but very little of it was issued). JP clearly wanted to keep those types of performances to a minimum and seemed to want to promote the perception that Zeppelin rarely showed such creative vulnerability in the studio and that the outtake material sounded as good as the finished masters. And that is why there were so many underwhelming alternative mixes and instrumental backings (although to be fair, some of the instrumental backing tracks are pretty dynamic in that form such as Battle Of Evermore, The Song Remains The Same, and No Quarter). Of course, the "new" songs (La La, Jennings Farm Blues, Key To The Highway/Trouble In Mind, St. Tristan's Sword, and 10 Ribs & All) are great in their own right (particularly the few tracks that were unabated), but considering these "new" cuts plus the handful of actual alternate takes (not mixes) made up roughly only a small fraction of the companion disc content, it goes without saying that the archives dump was not overly successful.

 

Would love to see your (and other people's) tracklists of the best of the bonus tracks.

 

Waveforms look like freshly mown grass.

 

They're not that bad.

 

Good luck with that! No known shows were mulitracked during the 1980 European tour, and Page was the real wild card at that time...very sticky playing.

 

I totally agree

 

I don't agree. Here's the Zep I CD. When you zoom in, it's even more dynamic looking than this.

 

No, they do not. Besides, the waveforms do not tell the full story

 

Don't forget about the crisper non mandolin Gallows Pole