June 1972, Led Zeppelin had reached the summit, America at their feet, as indicated very immodestly by the claim “conquest of the west”, chosen to baptise this live album that we had finished waiting for with its release in May 2003. The stage was their kingdom, but it was especially good for bootleg dealers, because for almost thirty years, the only official live record available was The Song Remains the Same. Released in 1976, to accompany the film of the same name, it was barely representative of the power and the unconstrained creativity of the quartet, despite some really exceptional moments. The very different BBC Sessions of 1997 had filled the gap a little, but it was not until six years later that Jimmy Page had finally consented to give up the tapes that they had kept, with some underlying paranoia up to that point. As we are about to celebrate the group's 50th anniversary, the first rehearsal had took place on August 12th, 1968, and the 18 tracks from the two concerts at the Los Angeles Forum and Long Beach Arena on June 25th & 27th, 1972, will almost act as a a better "Best of". In addition to the immortal Stairway To Heaven, which is presented in a version far superior than on The Song Remains The Same or BBC Sessions, the tracks Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Black Dog, Since I've Been Loving You, Dazed And Confused, Whole Lotta Love Rock'n'Roll are all delivered with as much freedom as mastery. So much so that we will soon listen to them more willingly than the studio versions.
The great quality of Zeppelin was obviously this incredible ability to improvise and therefore to invent constantly without the performance being felt as being extremely technical, quite the contrary. However, we must believe that the digital format was not yet at a high level in 2003 since Jimmy Page felt the need to resume the work of mastering the record. The differences may seem subtle, but for those who tend to turn up the volume unreasonably, it will be more than appreciated. We can nevertheless regret the fact that the guitarist did not shell out a deluxe version with his "companion disc" by offering new unpublished tracks, as Tangerine and Communication Breakdown are still missing. Unless the trickster concocts an even more substantial live album that will include the period 1973-1980, covered so far only through The Song Remains the Same (with three concerts in July 1973) and the Led Zeppelin DVD. This would finally allow the opportunity to hear a decent version of the immortal Kashmir ... With its 02h 27m 23s of listening, this updated How The West Was Won will nevertheless make you wait.
Stairway to Heaven Live
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