Led Zeppelin Live at the Beeb

In the past few years, it's become very fashionable to dig around in the archives of the British Broadcasting Corporation and unearth tapes of live performances of all the great bands who've played there. Such lumineries as The Beatles, The Yardbirds, and David Bowie, just to name a few, have taken the tapes of their live performances, mastered them expertly, and released them for the enjoyment of the music-consuming public. In 1997, Led Zeppelin, aided by the compilation and mastering skills of one Jimmy Page, did the same thing, and the result is BBC Sessions--Led Zeppelin, a spectacular collection of some electrifying performances by one of the greatest bands in rock 'n roll history.

Performing a live concert in the studios of the British Broadcasting Corporation must have been a difficult thing for Led Zeppelin to do--as I pointed out in an earlier review of live BBC recordings by the Yardbirds, most bands would have to feel restrained in such a small venue. For a band like Led Zeppelin that played at high volume and created a true arena sound, it must have been difficult not to roll all the knobs to the right and send the needles on the board into the red, creating distortion and other problems that sometimes plague a live performance. This collection is remarkably clean, and the mix achieved during the live performances is balanced and has good separation of the various instruments and voices.

This collection has two discs--Disc One was recorded at various times in 1969, and Disc Two contains performances from 1971. One of the strengths of Led Zeppelin has always been thei band's ability to improvise, and despite the constraints of performing in the studios of the BBC, the essence of Led Zeppelin is captured perfectly in these performances.

Highlights Of Disc One