Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains the Same

Rating:
Summary: For The Fans
Review: I had a different review posted before I rethought it, and decided that a rewrite was in order.

Originally, I based my four stars on this movie in the assumption that anyone that has ever listened to Zeppelin enough would come away a rabid fan. I realize that this is not so, and it bugged me enough to put forth a revised justification for those four stars.

To enjoy this concert/movie, you have to be a fan. If you lived in a vacuum and this was your first exposure to the band, there is no guarantee that you would walk away loving them as so many of us hardcore fans do. Bad editing, weird sound, the general creepiness that clings to some of the "music video before it was music video" scenes, and even those down to earth moments with the band are not something that just anyone can appreciate.

I have had it in my collection in some form or another since high school, and I still watch it when the mood hits me, enjoying it every time. It's not something that I watch every day, and it never was. But it's cool. It's enjoyable. It's fun. The creepy stuff has a haunting quality to it that draws you in, cheesy though it is, and the performances are not their absolute best (though Jimmy Page can never do wrong!). But if you are a true Zeppelin fan, it is an essential.

As I have grown older, I watch it less and less, but I still watch it, and may in fact, watch it tonight. Some of its magic is gone and I generally just prefer to listen to Zeppelin. However, it still shines with a certain timelessness that gives is a 4-star rating after all these years.

Rating:
Summary: Visual Conformation that Page is the BEST.
Review: Im 17, so i have not had the chance, and will never, to see this legendary band play live, but at least i can watch their unbelivable performances on dvd. Personally i think Page is the best guitar player who ever, and will ever live, and getting to see him solo with a violin bow for 20 mins is a blessing. Plant's vocals are mesmerizing, Bonham's drumming is undeniably some of the best, if not the best, and he also gets his 20 min solo in between Pages constant masterful guitar work, and Jones shows us he can carry rythm, while Page displays his skill. Have i mentioned Page is the best guitar player ever, yeah thats right i said he was better then Hendrix, what are you gonna do about it? Hendrix is defintly a true master, but unfortunatly he didnt write material worthy of his skill, but i mean how many guys do you know that can set their guitar on fire and play it with their teeth, and more, but i like Pages music better. The fantasy scenes were wierd, didnt make sense, but what do you expect from potheads, at least they keep playin kick ass music throughout, and the opening when Bonham shoots the guy and his head falls of and skittles spurt out was funny. 10 out of a 10 for the best band ever, playin the best music ever, cant wait to get the complete studio recordings box set, i just need the $100. RAP SUCKS, if you have taste listen to ROCK, if you want to hear black guys talk about drugs and shootin white people watch cops, dont give them millions for ruining music.

Rating:
Summary: Led Zeppelin
Review: I'm not that big of a Led Zeppelin fan at all. I never will be. However, I thought that this would open me to liking this band. It put me back a few steps.

The movie starts off with a mob "wacking" (am I using that right)? A man without a face, a man that's a bear-type of thing like Star Wars, and one guy gets his head blown off and multi-colored blood squirts out of his head. Sounds like something they'd make fun of on Monty Python. Who are these people, why are they killing these other people?

Then we see a kid my age on a bike, delivering a message to Robert Plant, who is watching his nude children run around in a river, with presumambly his wife next to him, I wouldn't know. We don't find out what the note says either.

Then John Paul Jones in drag, and John Bonoham on a farm, Jimmy Page with lazer eyes. This is what the band does before a show? I didn't really find it hillarious.

As for the music a third of it was quite good, but it just goes on and on and on. For example the Moby Dick thing, the "orgasmic" version of Dazed and Confused.

Stairway to Heaven is the greatest song ever? Led Zeppelin is the best band? Stairway has the best solo ever? Bonzo the best drummer ever? Page the best guitarist? Plant the best singer? Gimmie a friken break. I say Hey Jude;Beatles;Free Bird;Keith Moon;Jimi Hendrix;Roger Daltrey. I believe that the best live band is Pink Floyd or the Who. The best musical band is maybe the WHo, and the best songwriting is definatley the Beatles.

I'm not putting down Led Zeppelin. I have the BBC thing and it rocks. They have a number of good songs, but the group is very overated. I get tired of hearing "get the Led out", every friken day, not only on the radio, but from a classmate of mine.

Skip this, get their studio stuff, because they are terrible live. Leave these kinds of movies to Pink Floyd or the Who, who are veterans at making interesting Documentary/concerts films, and also real movies with stories. Check out "Live in Pompeii", "The Wall", "Live at the Isle of Wight", "The Kids are Alright", and the brilliant "Quadrophenia".



Rating:
Summary: Best visual quality available!
Review: Though the 2003 Led Zeppelin DVD set might even be a bit better than TSRTS musically, this is still the Zeppelin DVD with the best picture quality. All performances were filmed on 35mm film, not on video tapes or 16mm film. That's why TSRTS DVD has the most stunning footage of Led Zeppelin that you can get. The weird "fantasy"! sequences are excusable IMO, since the musical performances are all very good. I would rate the performances on this DVD as follows:

Rock & Roll 9/10
Black Dog (sadly cut) 9/10
Since I've been loving you (10/10)
No Quarter (10/10)
The song remains the same (10/10)
The rain song (10/10)
Dazed and Confused (9/10)
Moby Dick (8/10)
Stairway to Heaven (10/10)
Heartbreaker (only snippets, too short to rate)
Whole Lotta Love (10/10)

Robert Plant's singing is very good (in particular in TSRTS, Rain Song and Stairway to Heaven), Jimmy Page is in top form and Jones/Bonham are flawless as usual.

Killer versions of The Song Remains The Same and Stairway to Heaven!!! Maybe the best Stairway guitar solo ever!

All in all: highly recommended!