BOXED SET II

A Review for a Die Hard Fan: Tatan A Taufik

I think I have reviewed quite a lot albums of Led Zeppelin - even though not all albums - and I think I should have stopped it because I don't think that it's proper to review this heavy metal band at the site where majority of the music are progressive in nature. Most of Led Zeppelin music are blues rock or heavy metal in nature - that's why actually I do not feel comfortable tagging the band as progressive band, musically. But recently there has been great news in the music industry where the band will reunite for a concert in London, November 26, 2007. Not only that, my good friend whom I have known him as a true die hard fan of Led Zeppelin - Tatan A. Taufik (one of Directors of Amex Indonesia, Jakarta) - has won the ticket for the show! Sinc he bid for the tickets, he posted email to all of us in the rock community discussion and he did pray to win the ticket. He did! He was so proud sharing to all of us that he would be one of the 18,000 true die hard fan of Led Zeppelin in the world. I am so happy that he has won the ticket especially with the fact that he is an Indonesian.. and oh yeah .. he is my good friend! Congratulations, mas Tatan! Having considered this important moment, I would like to write another review of Led Zeppelin record, Boxed Set II. Sorry, it seems too personal for me, but I tell you, Tatan is a true die hard fan of Led Zeppelin! His collection of LZ`rarities is countless. He has something around 300 records in the forms of CDs, LPs, VHS, DVDs, Laser Disc, cassettes various LZ bootleg records. He sometimes traveled to Japan just to get the bootleg records! Couple years ago he was even invited by Jimmy Page for a dinner with Pagey. He is the man . really! That's why, I dedicate this review to Tatan my friend.

For those who have the complete set of Led Zeppelin individual albums, the purchase of this boxed set might be a waste of money. But for those who claim himself as a die hard fan of the band, this set is worth collecting because it has beautiful 54 colored booklet that tells the whole story of the band, written by David Fricke. I did purchase this boxed set because I knew that I would get two things: a remastered version of some critical tracks in the history of Led Zeppelin plus nice booklet. Well, I do enjoy reading book pertaining to the struggle of a band from its embryonic phase into their glory days and recent updates. This boxed set was released in response to Atlantic's request to Jimmy Page on the follow-up the successful release of the first remaster CD (double CD). By the time Pagey was still busy with mastering of Page-Coverdale album. The result of the compilation is a series of songs which were very critical in the career of Led Zeppelin even though most of them were not as legendary as the songs in the first remastered series which was released in 1990.

Never mind, for me personally, even though I love the first compilation (remasters), I see that this boxed set II contains on of my favorites which rarely be mentioned by other people: "The Lemon Song". I don't know why in many "best of" compilations this wonderful track was never included. Finally I knew the answer as this was originally credited to Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham until they received claims from publishers Jewel Music that the song was heavily based on Chester Burnett's "Killing Floor". This song has great combination of Jones tight basslines and Page's dynamic riffing and soloing throughout the song coupled with great vocal by Plant. I really enjoy this song and I feel very happy knowing that this song is featured right here in this boxed set. Still at the same Disc One, I find good tracks like "Night Flight", the bluesy "You Shook Me", the happy song which some of my friends hate: "Boogie With Stu", and the keyboard-based "Carouselambra". Oh yes, there is one track which is previously unreleased "Baby Come On Home". This track was taken from old master reel under the "Yardbirds" era on October 10, 1968. Style-wise, this is a blues-based composition with the opening part reminds me to the intro of Rolling Stones' "I Got The Blues" even though the melody is completely different. Surprising to me is the fact that the sonic quality of this song is really good - in fact, it's excellent. I'm sure that the remastering work has been so successful because it does not sound like the 1968 recording. I like the organ work that accompanies this song.

Disc Two contains a set of very good songs as well, in which some of theam are my favorites as well, like: "The Rover", "Four Sticks", "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper", "Hot's On For Nowhere", "Living Loving Maid", "The Crunge", and "Tea For One". It's pretty hard to deny the virtuosity of Page, Plant, Bonzo and Jones in composing very very good music as I explained before. Who do you think do not like "The Rover" which starts beautifully with Bonzo's acrobatic drumming? It sounds simple at the beginning but as the music rolls on, the flow seems intriguing the mind. I salute the band for creating solid compositions.

Well, to summarize, it's not just the music that should make you "buy" this compilation, really. It's the total package that matters to me and I hop to most of you. It is packaged beautifully with two jewel cases containing individual CD plus wonderful booklet with full color. Isn't it interesting to buy? Of course it is! For me personally, it has much more meaning now because I am writing this for my good friend Tatan A Taufik and it appears that this is the first review at this site. It's holiday season in my country now and I think I must say "Happy Idul Fitri" for all Moslems around the globe! - Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

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