If you’re like me and grew up around the time I did and are a fan of rock n’ roll music, then you’ve got more than just a passing familiarity with the works of Led Zeppelin.  In fact, their songs, just about all of them, are probably ingrained in your very DNA.

When I heard that Jimmy Page was supervising a re-release of the original 9 Led Zeppelin albums (I, II, III, IV, Houses of the Holy, Physical Graffiti, Presence, In Through The Out Door, and Coda) remastered and with bonus material, I was intrigued, to say the least.

As popular and successful as Led Zeppelin is/was, like the Beatles I was curious to hear alternate/early versions of their most famous songs.  Works in progress, if you will, that eventually lead to the songs I’m so very familiar with.

Yet when the first three albums were re-released with bonus material, I heard mostly negatives concerning the bonus stuff.  The albums themselves, critics noted, sounded bright and clear and beautiful in the new remasters, but the bonus stuff…it wasn’t all that.

So I held back.  While I’d love to listen to the new remasters, frankly, I’ve heard the stuff so many times that I doubted the new clarity would be enough to draw me in.

I was (somewhat) wrong about that.

The other week I broke down and picked up the middle three albums, Led Zeppelin IV (otherwise known as Zoso and even better known as the album that features what is arguably Led Zeppelin’s most famous song, Stairway to Heaven), Houses of the Holy, and Physical Graffiti.  I made a mistake with Physical Graffiti and bought the remixed album version sans bonus stuff.  Though I was upset by this mistake, after hearing the bonus material on the other two albums I felt I didn’t miss all that much after all.

Look, I’m going to be clear here: The albums sound excellent in this remastered version.  In fact, they sound far better than any previous release or re-release (the albums have had at least two remasters before, if memory serves).  So if you’re coming into this wanting to get the very best version of these particular albums, then go for it.

However, if you’re not as picky about the new level of clarity on songs you are very familiar with and, instead, are like me and found yourself curious to hear the alternate/early versions of these famous songs, then the bonus material present in both IV and Houses of the Holy will probably not prove all that impressive.  The rough/alternate versions of the songs presented on the bonus disc (yeah, I bought the CD) sound exactly like what they are, close to finished rough/alternate drafts of the finished product found on the album itself.  You may detect minor different guitars or bass or drums or an extra “aaaaahhhh” from singer Robert Plant and the sound levels aren’t quite there, but in the end this bonus material is not all that far from the end product.

Which makes this a curious…fail…to me.  Yes, the albums themselves sound great but if you’re looking for genuine insight into the creative process, you’ll not get all that much from the bonus tracks found in both IV and Houses of the Holy.

Oh well.

Here is a review I found of these three albums by Mark Richardson for Pitchfork.com.  Unlike me, he was more focused on the actual albums and therefore was far more impressed with the product than I.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19834-led-zeppelin-ivhouses-of-the-holyphysical-graffiti/

Presented below is the Sunset Sound Mix of Stairway to Heaven.  This is the version presented on the bonus disc of the IV album.

As someone noted, this version appears to have a little more reverb but otherwise is pretty much the released album version of the song!