Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions (UPDATE - Remastered & Expanded CD & Vinyl Releases 16th September 2016)

It may be that BG is hand etched rather than stamped. It's been a while since I looked!

 

I made an iTunes playlist rejiggering the running order with '71 show as main set and most of '69 live tracks as encore (didn't have them perform CB twice, although they might have done that early on!).

 

Nice! I put them in iTunes chronologically by date - so I disentangled the 1969 tracks into the original radio broadcast mini-sets, and added the couple of '71 tracks from the bonus disc into the running order of the rest of the '71 set. Either way all good though!

 

This is what I did as well.

 

I scored the box sealed in Disc Union here in Japan for just under $70. I even got a 10% discount on top. Amazing for Disk Union. It's perfect inside, of course, except that Side One has a pressing fault: it looks horrible but doesn't affect sound at all (albeit it's over a noisy part of the track). To answer my earlier question: it's pressed by Optimal. Curious who mastered it. John someone?

Are there any comparisons with the Grundman-mastered Classic? I can't imagine it would sound much better, though. The artwork is fantastic. Soundstage wonderful!

 

Enjoy "Getting the Led Out"!!

 

John Davis mastered the 2016 reissue. IMHO it's the best-sounding version there is.

 

Gotcha. It does sound great.

 

LP’s 3 and 4 are mono, correct?

 

I can’t remember the circumstances, but I managed to get this vinyl set for around $35 several years back. That’s OK. Good for you. “Cheap at twice the price”, as they say.

 

How mcuh better than the 1997 version? Any specifics? I wonder if the Mastered for iTunes version is simlar to the 97. I have the 97 cd and the Mastered for iTunes from a 2015 download purhcase.

 

I haven't spun this set in awhile and need to pull it off the shelf again.

 

The Mastered for iTunes versions are sonically identical (or at least 99% identical) to the official CDs/digital releases of the time. So the Mastered for iTunes version you got in 2015 would be identical to the 1997 original release - unless the 2016 remastering got out early on iTunes, similar to what happened with the tracks from the 2014/15 album reissues: in that case, the new masters showed up on iTunes in December of 2012(!) - although only the original album tracks and none of the bonus/companion disc material. This was totally unannounced and no mastering info (other than the new 2012 copyright) was given at the time. A lot of us Zep audio nerds spend a good deal of time listening and analyzing (and listening and analyzing, and listening and analyzing...) to make sure we weren't imagining things. Finally in early 2014 when the first three album reissues came out, we were able to compare rips from those CDs to the 2012 MfiT tracks and confirm that iTunes had indeed gotten the new remasters more than a year early.

If your 2015 MfiT download version does contain the 2016 John Davis remaster (albeit I assume only for the tracks on the original 2-CD release, and not the 3rd CD of extra tracks that came with the 2016 reissue, yes?), you will be able to tell pretty easily, as the original 1997 mastering is way more trebly than the 2016 remaster. The two versions sound different enough that I would imagine you would immediately be able to notice it, especially on the first disc's worth of tracks (the four 1969 sessions).

As for how much better the 2016 mastering is than the 1997, personally I would say quite a bit - but it's subjective and opinions differ. The 1997 has pretty notably goosed treble - it's not subtle. And I personally find it too trebly. The 2016 sounds a lot more like most of the decent-quality bootlegs - more polished and cleaner of course, but in terms of the basic frequency balance/profile, pretty similar.

Some have complained that the 2016 remaster doesn't have enough treble. Personally I disagree with that for the most part. The release is based on four different 1969 radio sessions, and one longer 1971 one. My opinion is that one of the four 1969 sessions (about four songs I believe) could have benefitted from a bit more treble in mastering on the 2016 remaster - but the other three 1969 sessions and the one long 1971 session are all the best-sounding ever, IMHO.

Hope this helps!

 

Yeah, I own the 1997 cd but I got it after I downloaded the MFIT version because at some point I lost the disc I burned of the MFIT version after my laptop had broken so I couldn't just make another one. I just bought a cheap copy of the cd, although my MFIT version is still on my working iPod classic lol and it also streams through my Apple Music. So I think what I can do without having to play the cd for comparison is stream the Apple Music version with my personal library version. I'm pretty sure my HTWWW iTunes download from 2015 is the 2003 version because 2018 was a bit off down the road. I had to buy that on cd again too, the 2003 one that most don't like lol but it was cheap.

 

Any reason to keep the old 1997 BBC double cd as I have the later box set and high resolution download. I just wondered if there was any extra music on the older cd?

 

Probably no need to keep the old version, but read this before you decide: The Garden Tapes - BBC Sessions and The Complete BBC Sessions

 

Thanks. I am at coffee reading through this thread! Thanks for the link. I shall keep most of my Zep BBC related boots but I have way too many official cds that kind of duplicate each other - not just Zep hence the question. I like the download which I put into a more chronological sessions order.

 

The 2016 set blows the 1997 version out of the water. I got the '97 CD when it came out. At that point I had a Marantz CD-53, '70s Pioneer SX-950 stereo receiver, and JPW P1 speakers. The treble was somewhat muted, shall we say? When I got better components, the '97 CD started to become unlistenable. I wouldn't part with it though. I was dating a woman who was a major Stones/Zep/Faces fan in 1997, and this was part of the soundtrack to a Bacchanalian summer...

 

For those who are not happy with the 2016, there is an alternative out there now with less bass heavy sound and 40m of extra material.

 

And it’s great!

 

I was happy enough with 2016 but I’m always up for an upgrade and extra material. I will search it out…thanks!!!

 

Link?

 

I don’t think so, even for used . Maybe cd’S

 

Until a few days ago that is!

 

I'm good, thanks!