BBC SESSIONS

Precious few broadcast documents of Led Zeppelin can be found, and until recently, none of them in an official release. The BBC Sessions capture the essence of early Led Zeppelin as its rawest and freshest. [opening sentences of the CD's sleeve notes by Luis Rey, London, 1997].

I owned the CD quite late after the CD was available in the market with one assumption: I had had enjoyed the excellent live record under previous double CD "The Song Remains The Same" that showed the band's live performances at Madison Square Garden. The live record had made me satisfied so that I doubted the other live record in its "rawest" style would satisfy me as well. That's why I was no so anxious about this BBC Sessions. When the album was displayed at a supermarket, while I was shopping other things, I saw the retail price was quite cheap so I just purchased it. Oh man . to my surprise, this double CD album is superb! Oh yes, many of songs I had known them before but there were couple of tracks that I had no clue at all like "The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair" (3:00) captured at "Chris Grant's Tasty Pop Sundae", recorded 16.6.69 and transmitted 22.6.69; "Traveling Riverside Blues" recorded for "Top Gear" on 24.6.69 and transmitted 29.6.69; "Something Else", recorded 16.6.69 and transmitted 22.6.69 for "Chris Grant's Tasty Pop Sundae".

What surprised me was the excellent sonic quality of most of songs (even all of them) featured here. While musically, I find that the interesting point for live performance is the different nuance and style (especially with Page guitar work) from one performance to another. You can even see from the tracklist that "Dazed and Confused" was captured twice with totally different style, looking at the track duration - from 6 minuter to 18 minutes!

It's definitely an excellent addition to any rock music collection, especially for those who love blues-rock and/or classic rock. Keep on rockin' ..!