How the West Was Won

Led Zeppelin - How the West Was Won

How the West Was Won
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CD Details

Artist: Led Zeppelin
Brand: LED ZEPPELIN
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Live
Published: 2003
CD Release Date: 2003-05-27
Music Label: Atlantic
Product features:
  • LED ZEPPELIN HOW THE WEST WAS WON (3CD)
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. LA Drone
  2. Immigrant Song
  3. Heartbreaker
  4. Black Dog
  5. Over The Hills And Far Away
  6. Since I've Been Loving You
  7. Stairway To Heaven
  8. Going To California
  9. That's The Way
  10. Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp
Music CD 2
  1. Dazed And Confused
  2. What Is And What Should Never Be
  3. Dancing Days
  4. Moby Dick
Music CD 3
  1. Whole Lotta Love (Medley)
  2. Rock And Roll
  3. The Ocean
  4. Bring It On Home

Music reviews of How the West Was Won

Music Review: Are We Really That Old?
Rating: 3 Stars

This recording is an archive. It is analogous to finding a papyrus scroll of Egyptian incantations. You can read the words, but all ceremony is lost. Gone from the recording is the anticipation of the upcoming concert, the atmosphere of the crowd, the joy of seeing your musical heroes in person and, perhaps, most important, your youth. In short, all the things that made the music at a Led Zeppelin concert great. This is not a bad recording. It is exciting some of the time, boring some of the time and self-indulgent most of the time. In other words, just like the baby-boomer generation which comprise its most ardent fans. At this point, I must confess that I am a baby-boomer and a true Led Zeppelin fan. I can tell you not only all of the group's albums and songs, but the order of each song on each album. I saw the group on this particular tour in San Diego. I loved every minute of the concert. My ears rang for days. All that having been said, with the benefit of thirty-something years, I ask myself, Is this great music? The answer: Of course not. Oftentimes, I regret to report, it is not even good music. For perspective, listen sometime to Mahler's "Sixth Symphony," Strauss' "Four Last Songs" or Puccini's "Madama Butterfly". If I could summarize, I would say that the appeal of this recording has very little to do with music and everything to do with trying to recapture that brief shining moment before our lives and everything in it became so complicated. The people who will enjoy this recording fall into two camps: Nostalgic baby boomers like me who ran out immediately and bought it (and who would run out immediately and buy another live set if Led Zeppelin was to release it) and those members of Generation X and younger who want to get some notion of what the commotion was all about.

After reading my review again after a little over two years had passed, I wanted to add a postscript. By way of background, I saw two Led Zeppelin concerts, in 1973 and 1977. Both of them were in San Diego. I missed the 1972 tour because I attended Boy's State. I missed the 1975 tour because I was attending college in a small town in New Hampshire. Led Zeppelin's last tour of the United States was in 1977. This was 28 years ago. What this means is that the youngest people who actually saw Led Zeppelin in concert are now in their 40's. I have read many of the posted reviews. I suspect that the majority of these reviewers are in their 30's or younger. Now, I am not trying to pull rank here. What I am suggesting is that these reviewers may be trying to overcompensate for not having actually seen Led Zeppelin in concert by overly effusive, even slobbering praise of this CD. For those who never saw Led Zeppelin in concert, let me say that it was not the most awesome event ever. Yes, there were some awesome moments, but there were also some dull, boring and tedious ones, too. On this CD, like the Led Zeppelin concerts I remember, there are some awesome moments, but there are also some dull, boring and tedious ones, too.

Let me turn again to the CD itself. I have two additional issues, which have influenced my opinion of the CD:

First, I question whether or not the CD is actually the original artifact. The CD comprises a compilation of several concerts, one in Long Beach and the other in Los Angeles. The concert in Los Angeles at the Forum has been long available on the audience bootleg CD, "Burn Like a Candle." In comparing the bootleg with this CD, it appears to my ear that "How the West Was Won" was not only remixed, but also "touched up," meaning overdubbed in parts. This would not surprise me; Mr. Page is a perfectionist. Most live performances have mistakes. They also contain parts that, for one reason or another, did not record properly. I doubt Mr. Page would allow anything to be officially released that did not live up to the legend.

Second, I question whether or not the CD is actually the best Led Zeppelin concert available. To my ear, the "Holy Grail" of Led Zeppelin concert recordings is the soundboard bootleg, "Flying Circus" (Madison Square Garden, New York: 1975). Three years had passed between the concerts which comprise "How the West Was Won" and the concert comprising "Flying Circus." During this interim, mobile recording technology had improved, I would say dramatically. In "How the West Was Won," the sound is distant. You feel like you are listening from the balcony. In "Flying Circus," the sound is immediate. You feel like you are on stage listening. Also, "Flying Circus" is a complete concert. It is not compilation. Because the recording is a bootleg, there are, additionally, no overdubs. Finally and most important, Led Zeppelin is playing at what I think was its peak. I should add that other concert recordings that are as good or, to my ear, better than this CD include the soundboard "Listen to This, Eddie" (Los Angeles Forum, Los Angeles: 1977) and the soundboard "Destroyer" (Richfield Coliseum, Cleveland: 1977).
More How the West Was Won free music reviews:
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Description of How the West Was Won

LED ZEPPELIN HOW THE WEST WAS WON (3CD)
For a band with such an overarching legacy, the official record of Led Zeppelin's legendary--and unpredictable--live act has heretofore been poorly represented by the disappointing, scattershot soundtrack to The Song Remains the Same. But this triple-disc live set (culled from 1972 Long Beach/LA shows in advance of Houses of the Holy) addresses history with a vengeance, if a few decades late. These shows have rightfully assumed cult status in the bootleg market, showcasing a band at the peak of its creative and performing powers. Zep faithful will welcome the belated release as evidence for enduring loyalty, but younger fans may find its diversity and dynamics even more enlightening--indeed, whole careers have since been built on the musical ideas Jimmy Page and company toss off here as decorative filler. Crucially rooted in the amped-and-hammered American blues of the guitarist's former band, the Yardbirds, the marathon workouts of "Dazed and Confused" and "Whole Lotta Love" (which consume nearly an hour all by themselves) somehow encompass Ricky Nelson, Morocco, James Brown, Holst, Elvis Presley, and Muddy Waters amidst their trademark sturm und drang, while the acoustic set that closes out disc one showcases the band's--and particularly Robert Plant's--good-natured, crypto-Celtic folk appeal with energetic aplomb. Bigger and brasher than just about any rock act that followed in its historic wake, yet ever fan-loyal to its myriad influences, Led Zeppelin's live juggernaut finally gets the monument it deserves. --Jerry McCulley

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