BBC Sessions (Live) [Remastered]

iTunes Review

At their inception, Led Zeppelin redefined hard rock for an entire generation. While their studio albums were brilliantly recorded documents of the era, their live performances were oddly left in the hands of bootleggers and the less than completely representative The Song Remains the Same collection. These BBC Sessions capture the group in their early prime, stretching out the mania of their early compositions (“Whole Lotta Love,” “How Many More Times”) and jamming out their love for classic rock and roll (“Eddie Cochran’s “Somethin’ Else”) and sturdy, old blues (Robert Johnson’s “Travelling Riverside Blues,” Sleepy John Estes’ “The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair”). Considering singer Robert Plant’s vocal authority on tracks such as “You Shook Me,” “Communication Breakdown,” and “What Is And What Should Never Be,” it’s hard to conceive that he was still considered to be on trial at this early point in their career. By the time of the 1971 sessions, the band spreads out with increasingly intricate material as their classics “Stairway to Heaven,” “Going to California” and “Thank You” are saturated with an eerie vibe that only these young men could invent and sustain.