Artist: Led Zeppelin
Label: Atlantic Records
Release: 2007
Rating: 4/5
The reunion of rock legends that sent a wave of mass excitement racing through our solar system at the speed of light and nearly bent the magnetic fields on Earth – yes, we’re talking about the one and only concert, the O2 show by the three surviving Led Zeppelin members in London in December 2007 – just had to be accompanied by a new Led Zeppelin “best of” compilation. The best of the best. The Zeps never made a creatively expressive blunder at any point on their musical evolutionary path. Picking a batch of songs that captures the essence and timeless spirit of Led Zeppelin, one of the biggest rock bands of all time, across a 13-year career is therefore a seriously tough nut to crack.
Even though this new compilation was supposedly put together by band members Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones, they sure didn’t reinvent the wheel. Anyone who already has Zep compilations at home, like “Remasters” (1990) or “Early Days: The Best Of Led Zeppelin Volume One” (1999) and “Latter Days: The Best Of Led Zeppelin Volume Two” (1999), will be better off sticking with those instead of wasting money on a new compilation whose track list only confirms that the earlier ones already picked the best of the best.
Compared to the nearly 20-year-old “Remasters”, let me point out the most important thing right away: on “Mothership” you get two songs fewer in total. “Led Zeppelin IV.” is once again represented by the eternally essential Black Dog and Stairway To Heaven, with When The Leeve Breaks replacing Misty Mountain Hop and The Battle Of Evermore from “Remasters”, so the rock punch of “Mothership” is a notch more pronounced than on “Remasters”. Celebration Day (“Led Zeppelin III.”) is also “scrapped”, though it does appear on “Remasters”. Minimal differences, then.
The same goes for the second disc. If we stick with the closest comparison (and the only other double compilation), “Remasters”, we find that Over The Hills And Far Away now replaces The Rain Song, which is on “Remasters”, meaning yet another dose of the band’s rock spirit on “Mothership”.
One more single, solitary remark is worth making. The songs on “Mothership” are arranged in the order they appear on the studio albums, while “Remasters” allowed itself more freedom here and shuffled the material around (the first disc of “Remasters” opens with Communication Breakdown, while “Mothership” opens with Good Times, Bad Times).
The novelties are so minimal that they’re practically nonexistent. “Mothership” is, in fact, a perfect commercial move, serving to promote Led Zeppelin’s one-of-a-kind 2007 concert. And yet. For all you youngsters who don’t know where to start digging into Led Zeppelin’s mammoth legacy – the original catalyst among all the rock n’ roll elders who emerged at the turn of the sixties into the seventies and built and shaped rock and rock culture – it makes no difference whether you start with “Mothership” or “Remasters”.
Mothership sits on store shelves in a special double “jewel” case and a special triple “digipack” edition, where besides CD1. and CD2. you also get a DVD with excerpts from live performances, all of which can be found in full on the ultimate “Led Zeppelin” (2003) DVD. The bonus DVD is pointless. Strictly promo. What counts here is only the double “Led Zeppelin” (2003) DVD, which you absolutely must already have at home and which I’m convinced you know by heart, like the multiplication table! Both “Mothership” packages cost the same. Follow your inner voice and grab the packaging you like better. This compilation is tailor-made for all the clueless but curious and all the die-hard fans who have to buy absolutely everything that smells like Led Zeppelin, while the level-headed ones, with both feet planted firmly on the ground, won’t even bat an eye. “Mothership” is a compilation that, even though it mostly recaps everything already said on “Remasters” and other compilations of this kind, reflects the time when rock was young and lifts the first veil, offering the most authentic glimpse into the studio timelessness of the one and only. Led Zeppelin. Every household without “Mothership” or a similar Led Zeppelin compilation is like a household without a toilet or a kitchen. It’s the basic rock ABC that belongs to anyone’s general education!
Lineup
Robert Plant – vocals
Jimmy Page – guitar
John Paul Jones – bass guitar, keyboards
John Bonham – drums
Production
Jimmy Page
Track list
CD 1.
1. Good Times, Bad Times
2. Communication Breakdown
3. Dazed and Confused
4. Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
5. Whole Lotta Love
6. Ramble On
7. Heartbreaker
8. Immigrant Song
9. Since I’ve Been Loving You
10. Rock and Roll
11. Black Dog
12. When the Levee Breaks
13. Stairway to Heaven
CD2.:
1. The Song Remains the Same
2. Over the Hills and Far Away
3. D’yer Mak’er
4. No Quarter
5. Trampled Under Foot
6. Houses of the Holy
7. Kashmir
8. Nobody’s Fault but Mine
9. Achilles Last Stand
10. In the Evening
11. All My Love
DVD (excerpts from the Led Zeppelin DVD):
1. We’re Gonna Groove
2. I Can’t Quit You Baby
3. Dazed and Confused
4. White Summer
5. What Is and What Should Never Be
6. Moby Dick
7. Whole Lotta Love
8. Communication Breakdown
9. Bring It on Home
10. Immigrant Song
11. Black Dog
12. Misty Mountain Hop
13. The Ocean
14. Going to California
15. In My Time of Dying
16. Stairway to Heaven
17. Rock and Roll
18. Nobody’s Fault But Mine
19. Kashmir
20. Whole Lotta Love
Album length: 135.23
