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Led Zeppelin - The Soundtrack from the Film - The Song Remains the Same CD (album) cover

THE SOUNDTRACK FROM THE FILM - THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME

Led Zeppelin

 

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3.83 | 347 ratings

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Gatot
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Where Sloppiness Leads to Excellence .

This is one of great live records I've ever known. Especially during those days when not so many bands released live album. I remember vividly this record was among other excellent records like Deep Purple "Made In Japan", Uriah Heep "Live 73" and Genesis "Live" as well. Of course, by the time I got this live record in cassette format, I was quite familiar with the band material and I was a big fan of Led Zeppelin. Once I got this album which blew me away at first spin, it quickly became my favorite album for radio play. I was so proud that "Whole Lotta Love" could be aired at my radio.

As far as rock music concerns, I always envy on most of you who lived quite close to the center of the acts when rock music first came out - either those of you who stayed in the Europe or in the US. You guys were really "there" physically when the rock music waves swept the music industry during the glory days of seventies. While, people like me who lived at the rest of the world (as the terms is typically used by many internet stores locating where I live) at the small town far away even from the capital city of Indonesia, i.e. Jakarta. But that's okay, I was quite happy by the time there were some great music magazines like Aktuil, Top and Dutch Muzik Ekspress (which was quite famous in my country) which supplied me with many rock information. Remember, that was the era before internet revolutionizing the entire information flow. The positive side of living far away from the center of the acts was that I fantasized a lot about how rock music was created and how the live performances were conducted. I was fortunate then .. in this case. So, even though I was NOT there physically but I imagined myself being THERE in the center of rock acts like London or New York.

Why liking this album?

Great live vibes. Oh man .. this record has great live ambient that stirs my emotion when I play it. It's been such a long time that I do not play this album and when I'm writing this I've just completed spinning this double CD in its entirety without skipping any track. Usually I skip "Dazed and Confused" due to long guitar solo by Page. But now I just want to enjoy all the subtleties of this live record and I feel terrified with it. It's an excellent performance by the band, I think. Each member of the band contributes their parts they best they can. No wonder that during my period with the amateur radio dated back in the seventies, this live album became my all-time favorite. I think there was no day without broadcasting any song from this live set. The live ambient really start from the opening track "Rock and Roll" with daunting and jaw dropping drumwork by Bonham followed with powerful riffs by Page. Oh man .. this is a great opening.

The great live vibes carry on from opening track to another like "Celebration Day" to the title track "The Song Remains The Same" until the end track "Whole Lotta Love". I am sure that whenever you listen to this album, you will be carried away with the ambient regardless you like or not rock music. That's the beauty of great live records.

Structured Sloppiness .. what is this? Oh yeah .. this is a paradox, I think. This is my true expression on how Jimmy Page plays his guitar. Honestly, I have been listening this album for years and I don't know why I do enjoy this live record even though I know very sure that Page had many mistakes with his chords and notes. He played with not precise time signature that sometimes makes me think how sloppy his playing is. Come to think of it .. one at December 21, 2006, the organization which my friends and I built down here at my country, i-Rock! conducted a tribute nite to Led Zeppelin. In that occasion, as an event host, I interviewed my friend who is a hard core fan of Zeppelin (he owns roughly 200 records on many Zeppelin gigs in the world), Tatan A Taufik. One of the comment he made that the guitarist who played in the tribute band played better and cleaner than Jimmy Page. Oh, I think something about it and finally I have this expression of "structured sloppiness". I don't care what made Jimmy Page the way he played in the record but in my ears, his sloppiness sounds great to me. It might be he did the guitar work while he was heavily drunk.

Good improvisation. This term usually come out with jazz music. But I disagree with this. In fact I can find the attracting point of this album is hw the band played differently from the original studio album. The extreme case is "Dazed and Confused" which takes much longer than the studio version. But for me personally, the best improvisation from the band with this live album is "Whole Lotta Love". Why? I can find dynamic basslines by John Paul Jones and powerful riffs and melodies by Page guitar work. "No Quarter" is also another good example for this.

Why (you are) NOT liking this album?

If you rock, it's hard to believe if you don't like this song. Only those who do not rock that dislike this live album, I think. For whatever reason I think you might not like this album because of some of these things:

Do not enjoy live album. If this is the case, don't ever try to purchase this album because typical reason is record quality. I can assure you the sonic quality is inferior if you compare with studio version. But that's typical live album, isn't it? But if you compare this live album with others, I can say that this is the good one, at par quality with Deep Purple "Made In Japan".

Do not enjoy improvisation (from original version). Friends, this is not Genesis live where you expect something as close as original studio version. This is heavy metal music, .. so .. accept improvisation, if I can advise you.

Conclusion

It's an excellent addition to any rock music collection, especially for those of you like the heavy metal music. This is one the band's great performances from three days show at Madison Square Garden in 1973. If you are a true rocker, get this one! Keep on rockin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild, GW

Gatot | 4/5 |

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