Much like their fellow rock legends the Rolling Stones and the Who, the Led Zeppelin collective have in recent years found it hard to resist the various lucrative business opportunities presented to them – be it revisiting their back catalogue, makin’ whoopee with Cadillac or lending their name to amusement park rides.
And so the trend continues. Looking to ride the huge wave of publicity generated by their forthcoming one off reunion gig in aid of the Ahmet Ertegun education fund, surviving members Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones have put together a 24 track “best of” entitled Mothership.
In addition to a two disc set, the compilation will also be available in a deluxe edition with a DVD offering scraps from their previously released eponymous box set. Music purists will also be to get their hands on a four LP vinyl package.
They say:
Uncut: “Gives us an insight into how devastating this arcane, courageous, frontierless, much loved, much feared music from so many worlds ago can still sound.”
Virgin: “There’s not a single song of filler here.”
We say:
From the raunch fest ‘Black Dog’ and Eastern flavoured ‘Kashmir’ to the fable like epic ‘Stairway to Heaven’, all the usual suspects have been rounded up for your listening pleasure, simultaneously breaking every rule in the rock book and dispelling a few heavy metal half truths.
Indeed, contrary to popular belief, Zeppelin weren’t a heavy metal band at all. Sure, they could rock out with the best of them and they contributed to the scene via a horde of ‘70s and ‘80s copycats, but their music was essentially about light and shade, or heaviness and delicacy, with Page mixing mind melting guitar blues with gentle acoustic folk elements.
And when Plant sang, you can be damn sure he meant every word of it, putting every subsequent faux mystical lyricist to shame. There was substance to their grand madness. Daring, unrelenting, and remastered to perfection, Mothership alone is evidence of this.
And while a quick glance reveals it to be virtually identical to Zeppelin’s earlier greatest hits collection Remasters (albeit with poorer art work), Mothership comes at a far more reasonable price, which makes it a great starting point for those few poor souls not yet familiar with Zeppelin’s exotic brand of blues and folk based rock. You know who you are. All three of you.
Like this? Try these:
Cream – Cream Gold
Deep Purple – The Platinum Collection
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss – Raising Sand
RELEASED
12 Nov ‘07
LABEL
Atlantic
POSTED...
Tue 13 Nov 2007 at 7:17am
