Led Zeppelin reissues - what went wrong?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Guy Gadbois, Nov 21, 2016.

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  1. Guy Gadbois

    Guy Gadbois Chief Inspector Thread Starter

    Something I think about is how the Beatles, Stones and Beach Boys, Hendrix (among others) all released fantastic reissues, ones that are just about on par, or better, than the originals.

    Yet Jimmy Page dropped the ball with the Zeppelin reissues. Most people here agree that the original US versions, and certainly the original UK pressings, are far superior to the reissues. I wonder what happened? Any thoughts?
     
  2. Daniel Plainview

    Daniel Plainview God's Lonely Man

    Gee, I bought a new copy of III and thought it smoked my US original.
     
  3. FashionBoy

    FashionBoy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    You said it in your post. Jimmy Page dropped the ball. I blame it on his involvement! Keep him far away from the remastering process, hand the original tapes over to a great engineer, and we might get some incredible reissues. Or not... I'm not sure of tape condition, so I am not particularly optimistic on that end.

    But it was mentioned elsewhere on here that the Classic Records Grundman cut mother for Zep II is in great shape and could potentially grant us a new pressing (if licensing is ever possible). Let's beg Chad.
     
  4. Revolver

    Revolver Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    Same with my Canadian copy.
     
  5. Guy Gadbois

    Guy Gadbois Chief Inspector Thread Starter

    Possibly. But it's not better than a UK. Whereas I can play my Beatles White Album reissue and it sounds just about as great as my UK original
     
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  6. DPM

    DPM Senior Member

    Location:
    Nevada, USA
    Why use the Bernie Grundman mother when the Robert Ludwig mother is somewhere out there. Having a new pressing featuring RL's original mastering would be the best option.
     
  7. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident

    Location:
    Paradise
  8. FashionBoy

    FashionBoy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Oh for sure — I had no idea the RL mother was out there somewhere. Any idea where it is?
     
  9. DamageCase77

    DamageCase77 Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Chicago
    Outside of some warping issues and the infamous static on "The Ocean" they are pretty great. Considering beat to hell original copies go for the same price or more in Chicago. LZ III is especially great as is LZII, the bass makes my floor shake.
     
  10. DPM

    DPM Senior Member

    Location:
    Nevada, USA
    Though I haven't heard any of the UK originals, I can say that (IMHO) the new LPs of III, Presence and In Through The Out Door smoke the US originals. In fact, I think the new III and Presence also smoke the Classic Records pressings. Finally, those two recordings have some warmth and body to them.
     
  11. DPM

    DPM Senior Member

    Location:
    Nevada, USA
    Nope. This info just came to my attention a few days ago on this forum in a different thread. I would guess that Atlantic Records (or whomever owns said company) would have them.
     
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  12. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    I've bought all the reissues now except for two, and they're awesome, and have killed all of my originals and other reissues.

    Sorry. Jimmy didn't blow it, IMO. He did it right!
     
    Inthesticks, laf848, wrat and 38 others like this.
  13. DamageCase77

    DamageCase77 Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Chicago
    I have originals of LZI, In Through the Out Door, Coda, and Presence. I feel the new remasters I have of LZII, LZIII, LZIV, and Houses of The Holy sound so much better and full and lively. LZIII is just so great.
     
    MRM1965, Frosst, sekaer and 6 others like this.
  14. maxnix

    maxnix Forum Resident

    No complaints here. I thought they were, except for some initial disappointment with the extra discs, terrific and I've had them in every format and pressing imaginable.
     
  15. Mal

    Mal Phorum Physicist

    :laugh:

    [​IMG]
     
    sekaer, ramdom, Clanceman and 7 others like this.
  16. David-Shea

    David-Shea Toastmaster General

    Location:
    Drake, ND
    They were perfect. No problems here.
     
  17. You must have a pretty bad UK original if that's the case.
     
    Lownote30, BDC, Clanceman and 7 others like this.
  18. marcb

    marcb Senior Member

    Location:
    DC area
    One, I doubt this is true. Two, the Classic cut of LZ2 is frequently panned and considered the worst of the bunch.
     
    Clanceman, tmtomh, John and 1 other person like this.
  19. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Apart from the Beatles mono LP reissues, I haven't heard of any reissue campaign where the consensus was that the results meet or exceed the originals. The general opinion seems to be that the reissues are pretty good but don't equal, let alone surpass, an original pressing. This is what I've heard about Black Sabbath, the Stones, Rush, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin reissues. I think that all things considered, the Zeppelin reissues were about par for the course.

    And I don't believe they were "remastered by Jimmy Page" for a moment. Somebody else queued up the tapes and twiddled the knobs, he just signed the paperwork. :laugh:
     
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  20. marcb

    marcb Senior Member

    Location:
    DC area
    I would say the likelihood of this being true is somewhere between 0.0 and zero.
     
    astro70, mesaboogie, Satrus and 4 others like this.
  21. marcfeld69

    marcfeld69 Forum Resident

    Have you compared the new III to the German reissue that has R/S Alsdorf in the deadwax? I think is as good as if not better than the latest remaster, and I came across the 90s reissue (has even more bass).
     
  22. RJJETS

    RJJETS Forum Resident

    Location:
    RSM
    My RL II smokes the Page reissue. Not in the same league.
     
  23. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    I'd be surprised if they lasted this long especially considering that they recut the album soon after the RLs were released. If they still existed even in the mid 70's why didn't they use them instead of recutting again? I'd like for them to exist but I doubt that they do.
     
    rockclassics likes this.
  24. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
    People making competing and mutually contradictory claims about which vinyl versions of LZ albums blow away, smoke, kill, crush, and destroy other vinyl versions is a reassuring and never-changing feature of the forum.

    In a world where the overwhelming majority of people only buy or listen to a single copy of any given album and leave it at that, hat's off to the total insanity of buying multiple versions of Led Zep LPs and pitting them against each other in a feverish Darwinian struggle for maximum dinosaur awesomeness!
     
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2016
  25. I333I

    I333I Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ventura
    Compared to the PF vinyl reissues, though screwed up it's been, I do feel like it could've been better. I won't complain, I bought and am content with all of them, but I have this aching feeling, that yes, it could've been more successful if we had someone like BG handling it.
     
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