Back on Black: LED ZEP 1-3


Available on preorder through Music Direct and Acoustic Sounds. Remastered by Jimmy Page on Atlantic label. The fact they are available packaged with a CD is kind of a red flag for me. Hopefully they are sourced from the best available masters, and there is NO NO NO digital in the chain. Slab weighs 180 grams, $24.99 US!
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Actusreus...Whenever I've voiced my complaints about Mothership, I appear to be in the minority of opinion.
When listening to this boxed set, I always have various copies of the Atlanic releases to use as a baseline; they are no high-quality sound achievement, but I can hear the cohesiveness of this great combo as I remember them.

The good...the Mothership remaster has almost none-existent tape hiss, air around the instruments, Plant's voice sounds very clean; IOW, they did a great job cleaning up these old recordings. But where is the deep soulful bassline, and where is the thunderous boom of Bonzo's 26" kick-drum ... it's gone. I don't mean to turn this into a review, but it lacks dynamics. I would rather hear some tape hiss in lieu of a lifeless recording.

That's why I was looking forward to these new releases in the hope that they reproduce that LZ monster sound.
If u were dissapointed with Mothership then I would probably pass on these Zep reissues...all others...enjoy the excess of riches....
I had high hopes for sound quality of the new versions until I read Analog Planets take on it.

Mothership is on the shelf behind me, never play it due to sound quality. It's amazing to see some people here saying it sounds good. Mine sucks big time.

I will wait until Analog planet does the reviews on them before wasting more money on inferior recordings that could have had great promise.
It's amazing to see some people here saying it sounds good.

I'm not sure why there is such disagreement regarding the SQ of Mothership. Everyone on this forum has a good ear for high quality sound; could it be that the people who grew up with LZ and know their sound intimately know that Mothership's sound does not do them justice?

In my case, I was in a drummer in my teens in the 1970's playing Led Zep covers. I had a drum kit with a 24" kick drum, 2 floor toms and I learned every trademark lick that Bonham was known for.
I will also wait for the reviews to come in for these rereleases