Led Zeppelin
How the West Was Won

THE REVIEW

If the end of the last millennium with the release of the double CD BBC SESSIONS (later further expanded in 2016 with a maxi version of 3 CDs/5 vinyls!) was a surprise for the fans of Led Zeppelin, in which not many believed, the release of the live HOW THE WEST WAS WON in 2003 turned out to be the so-called explosive release! The band's live discography, except for the event-disc THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME, has been anything but abundant over time, thus providing great satisfaction with the well-timed releases over the years. It is fair to say that the Zeppelin have greatly fueled the bootleg market, both during their active period and post, with products of even high quality that have over time achieved a semi-official status that might have been predictable. A temporal coverage with the introduction of alternative products to the market that still today serve as surprising testimony to spontaneity and artistic vigor, that not always comes across in the official discography. Thus, FILLMORE WEST 1969 or LONDON 1969 fully reflect the fire of the beginnings, while DESTROYER (Cleveland, April 27, 1977) and BONZO'S LAST GIG (July 7, 1980) reflect the final chapter of shows – sometimes self-referential and justifiably characterized by some moments of fatigue, – but always with high caloric power, mesmerizing even the least fervent rocker with titles such as BURN LIKE A CANDLE or WILD BEACH PARTY, documenting that unrepeatable period that remained the eighth number among the tours carried out in the U.S.A. by Page & Co..

Acknowledgment is due to the last two titles (in particular the second, which seems to have also served as a reference for the cover) cited, for having duly drawn from the dates of June 25 and 27, 1972, held respectively at the The Forum in Inglewood and at the Long Beach Arena, pivotal dates of the eighth U.S.A. tour by the Led Zeppelin which can now be enjoyed as a single performance on HOW THE WEST WAS WON. A triple CD (also available in a quadruple vinyl version) showcasing a full yet essential sound, far removed from the nights at the Madison Square Garden that we all know, where the intentions of this publication remain clearly a thanks to the U.S.A. which, unlike the scant generosity shown at the beginnings by the British press, had always paid the right acknowledgments to Page, Plant, Jones, and Bonham since that first date held in Denver on December 26, 1968. Thanks which, however, should not overshadow the devotion of the four musicians to their uncontainable love for blues (and for its forefathers), which would lead them to learn and elaborate its foundations, forging an incandescent sound and an enduring identity.

The introductory distortion, usually much longer than "LA Drone", propels us instantly into "Immigrant Song" (taken from the first night), whose rhythmic compactness and chilling scream would always remain its distinctive traits, along with the power of a riff destined to make history, eventually becoming an essential precursor of the forthcoming heavy metal. A fitting continuation is the incandescent "Heartbreaker", which with "Black Dog" and "Over the Hills and Far Away" (the latter two instead taken from the second night), mirror a blistering performance initiated just twenty minutes earlier. The atmosphere becomes quieter (at least in some parts) with the blues of "Since I’ve Been Loving You" and a shiver-inducing rendition (how could it not be) of "Stairway to Heaven", for which the mellotron part (obviously played by Jones), Page draws from the show in Southampton on January 22, 1973! With "This is … "Going to California" (as in IV, placed as the seventh track), Plant introduces a good quarter-hour of intimate music, where arpeggios and plucked strings reign, allowing enjoyment of that pastoral climate which, with "That’s the Way" and the skiffle of "Bron-Yr-Aur-Stomp", it would suffice to close one's eyes to imagine oneself more at a country fair than southwest of Los Angeles. CD 2 opens with the extended version of the psychedelic heavy sounds of "Dazed and Confused", where it is possible to recognize elements from the sessions of what many recall with the supposed title ZOSO, "The Crunge" (eventually ending up on HOUSES OF THE HOLY), "Walter’s Walk" (ten years later on the concluding CODA), and Jimmy Page's jabs with the violin bow on the defenseless strings of his Gibson. A sequence of relaxed melodies and Jones’s elegant bass line in "What Is and What Should Never Be" lead to the carefree hard rock of "Dancing Days" and to "Moby Dick", where the heated and precise instrumental evolutions of the three provide a podium for the explosive percussive creativity of John The Beast Bonham! The striking three notes played over two measures of 4/4 launch a long performance of "Whole Lotta Love" (a hefty 23 minutes!), from whose womb are liberated among others, "Let’s Have Party", "Boogie Chillen’", and "Going Down Slow", which due to a refined mixing effort conceal the various chops to Plant’s vocals, particularly occurring between the fifth and sixth minute. It makes way for the seemingly more recent yet in its own way primordial "Rock and Roll", evidently an example of an insistent 12 blues bar progression, followed by the yet unpublished and energetic "The Ocean", appropriately dedicated to the substantial human mass present at the Zeps concerts, yet also revealing, from the conclusion of the text, an affectionate dedication of the singer to his little daughter Carmen Jane, who was just three years old at the time. The finale belongs to a plunge between the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta with "Bring It On Back" (thus mentioned as part of the medley), dusty and discontinuous, but enclosed in that homage to Sonny Boy Williamson II and to blues overall, citing that apple of discord which was "Bring It On Home", at the beginning and end of the piece.

Not just a product destined to be purchased at all costs, but also an exhaustive summary of the English band’s career up to that point. Between the reverb of IV and an unexpected masterpiece to come such as HOUSES OF THE HOLY, it reveals how Jimmy Page's group began to undergo that natural metamorphosis that led to surpass the thin line distinguishing two apparently similar terms like legend and omnipotence. An unmissable opportunity to take a sonic ride into a past turned history and understand how four young Englishmen came … To Conquer the West!