EARLY DAYS: THE BEST OF LED ZEPPELIN VOLUME ONE

For the young generation who really want to explore the roots of classic rock music, this compilation serves the purpose of introducing rock music in the 70s. It contains tracks that represent the early days of one of legendary heavy metal bands Led Zeppelin. It starts with first album in 1969 and ends with masterpiece fourth album. Many people reckon that Led Zeppelin IV is the peak of Led Zeppelin in their rock music career even though I disagree with this. As far as "hit" oh yeah . every one knows that "Stairway to Heaven" has been the most favorite song of all time. People don't even bother that this is basically rock music.

The young would see the power of blues-influenced track like "Good Time, Bad Time", "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave" and of course one of the best blues songs "Since I've Been Loving You" to a full-blown heavy metal tunes like "Whole Lotta Love", "Black Dog" and "Rock and Roll". For those who were there in the 70s would see these tracks as so memorable tracks that would last forever. Actually, this compilation has missed one excellent track from second album "The Lemon Song". I don't know why this powerful song which has become my true favorite of all time has never been captured in any "the best of" kind of thing. Do I have weird taste? Well, I don't think so! Lemme tell you . "The Lemon Song" is a song with tight composition which demonstrates how powerful John Paul Jones as bass player - it's like a walking bass, I think. He provides great bass lines throughout this track. Nevermind it's not here, but I would advise all of you to have Led Zeppelin II and come taste this track!

Back to this compilation, once you are okay with this one, I would advise you to purchase each individual album starting from Led Zeppelin II, and then IV, III and I is the latest one to purchase. Keep on rockin' .!

"To admit you don't know is to demonstrate your intelligence."

I remember when I first got into Led Zeppelin I first bought their anonymous or "IV" album. I just got amazed by it until today. And then I bought this. Well, it served me as an introduction to their early work, being all of the songs on this compilation are the most known ones and maybe the highly liked songs from Zep, but I'd prefer to buy the studio albums because some songs are missing, like "Heartbreaker", "You Shook Me" (despite it's a cover it shows the big fame of Zep covering songs from other artists, something that can be well appreciated in the compilation "BBC Sessions", my favorite compilation of the band), "Thank You", "Living Loving Made (She's Just A Woman)" and the tremendous drum of "Moby Dick", among others. From the fourth album there are songs from almost all of it, the obvious to be included masterpiece "Stairway To Heaven", the powerful "Black Dog" and "Rock And Roll", the folkish "The Battle Of Evermore" and a song I really don't understand why is here, "When The Leeve Breaks", which is not representative at all of the sound of the band on their early days. On this compilation there are also the good ol' classic ones, "Good Times, Bad Times" (which starts the album), "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You", "Dazed And Confused", "Communication Breakdown", the rocker "Whole Lotta Love", "What Is And What Should Never Be", "Immigrant Song" and the amazing blues "Since I've Been Loving You", which are a good introduction to the band. Also, the booklet comes with pictures in a timeline sequence starting from their earlier days on stage to their later days.

Overall, it's a good intro to Zep, but the four first albums are so good that can't be 'reduced' into 13 songs, there are great songs that are missed, it's not essential. So, if you haven't got into Zep yet, you should buy the "IV", then the amazing compilation "BBC Sessions" to have a great idea of the sound on the early days, and then their first 3 albums.

Rating: 3/5

A GOOD OVERVIEW OF PART ONE

The only reason why I can imagine Led Zep releasing such a compilation, is that they were probably targeting the old fan database who had not yet switched their vinyl catalogue into CD or / and introduce new fans to their most glorious era : from their debut album to the untitled one (their fourth one). This is by far the one I prefer. During this period of time, Led Zep will write almost all of their legendary tracks. One might of course argue (rightly IMO) that tracks like "The Battle..." or "The Levee" are featured here and that they do not belong to the best repertoire of Led Zep. But, Mr. Jimmy Page personnaly selected the songs here, so ...

One has also to remember that the wonderful "Remasters" featured most of them and therefore this one must be considered as a second choice compilation. Still several monster tracks are here (six of them) and some great tracks as well (five).

This album can almost not be purchased separatley today. It comes together with its little brother "The Latter Days". In this packaged version, disc one (the early days) features a video of a live performance of "Communication Breakdown". This two CD set can be purchased for approx. 17 US $ (12 ?) but my recommendation is to stick to "Remasters" for the tracklist.

Four stars.

Compilation albums serve one purpose: to let record companies cash in on a band's music. But sometimes they also serve as a great introduction to a band you are not familiar with. This compilation does just that. This set is divided into two parts (the "early" and "latter" days) because Led Zeppelin simply has so much good material. This one covers everything from Led Zeppelin I - IV. It focuses more on Zeppelin I and IV, which is a shame, but you'll get the point by the time the album is over. Be sure to get the "latter" days companion compilation in order to get the full spectrum of Led Zeppelin.

Personally, I think this is fantastic as a compilation. It serves as quite literally, Led Zep's best work, from Good Times Bad Times, to my favourite ever Zep song When The Levee Breaks to the progressive classic Stairway To Heaven, I cannot find anything wrong with this compilation. OK, it has missed out some of their best work, i.e. Moby Dick, but most compilations do that, and so I will give this a 4star rating, for the awesome songs and for the great remastered sound quality. This will et you into Zeppelin for sure.

Would you like to spend an hour with some of the best known Led Zep tracks? Then get this!

Lately i have listened to some albums that i had hidden somewhere in my collection, music that i dont really listen that often but when i do it i can enjoy it's content. This morning i took my Early and Latter days albums from Zeppelin and now i am listening to the second one, but to be honest with you, i didn't remember the band was here in PA, that is why i had never reviewed any Led Zep before.

And as usual, reviewing a compillation is much easier than an studio or even a live album, so my apollogies to the readers for starting with this instead with the studio and epic albums.

This compillation is about the early years, that means the 70s mainly the very first albums the band released, and here we can listen to the probably better known tunes of the band, those songs that every rock fan must recognize when te first notes appear, what you will find here are songs like Dazed and Confused, Whole Lotta Love, Immigrant Song, Black Dog or Stairway to heaven among others, all of them are songs immortalized by the band that we can enjoy anytime.

Nice compillation is this, for both the starters and the people who like the band, if you have a party or something when you want to play the know stuff, this is good. But it is always better a studio album.

3 stars, enjoy it!

Unless the sound is altered in some big way or major liner notes are offered, compilations such as this one are essentially judged based on what was deemed to be the cream of the crop; in other words, if the songs listed are largely in agreement with what I feel are some of a band's best work, then it's likely to get a good grade. Led Zeppelin pretty much hit the nail on the head with volume one, which contains songs from the first four albums. There's a few I could do without, such as "Since I've Been Loving You," but I suppose a standard blues number is called for. Five of the eight tracks from IV are present, which I suppose says something regarding which album is band's most popular (as if it were a mystery). Essentially, what that says to me is, unless someone is a compulsive completionist, wants the booklet, or is new to Led Zeppelin, the person should bypass this compilation and just grab the fourth album. I was surprised to see "The Battle of Evermore" there instead of "Misty Mountain Hop" or "Going to California," two tracks that still get significant airplay, but I'm not complaining by any means!

'Early Days: Volume One' - Led Zeppelin (Compilation)

This is a very good compilation of the band's earlier works (encompassing the first to fourth Zeppelin's work.) However, this compilation really can't be complete without it's companion, the latter days half. On the 'Latter Days' compilation, there are classics like 'Kashmir' and 'The Song Remains The Same' that for chronological reasons cannot be put on here.

Constraints of the compilation aside, this is a pretty good choice of songs for the band up to that point in their career. The only song that could have possibly been left out was the droney 'Dazed and Confused' which although being a popular song could have made way for so many other classics such as 'Heartbreaker' or 'Ramble On.'

Good compilation of early material, but really shines with it's companion.

The packaging of this Zeppellation is simply amaze balls, and being a NASA addict, I was drawn into the sticky web of yet another Zeppelin's greatest Treasures. It is definitely for newcomers to the band and serves them well with 5, count them, 5 sapphires of rock from Led Zeppelin IV the masterpiece. The other tracks are slices of granite carved out of the first 3 monolithic albums and they are a good choice. The only qualm I have is that the CD on its lonesome is now fundamentally redundant as it is now only served up with its Latter day counterpart. Grab them both in one package and you have an excellent addition to your classic proto prog collection.