For a long period of my life, including my early teens, I was not much interested in music of any form other than the classical music that my grandmother enjoyed. It was not until sometime early in high school that I discovered a copy of Led Zeppelin IV among some cassette tapes that my father had purchased at a garage sale — this was 1991, after all, and you found a lot more cassettes at garage sales than almost anything else musically speaking. It was one of the most powerful musical moments of my life and I am pretty sure that it changed my life for the better as I might not have nearly the musical taste I have now if I had not discovered the tape.

I was quite pleased to find out that Led Zeppelin had reunited in order to play a benefit concert. If you are wondering as I was how it could be possible as drummer John Bonham passed away quite a number of years ago. As it turns out, John Bonham’s tremendously talented son Jason sat in the drummer’s seat. The concert took place over five years ago but it was only recently released on DVD and as an album due to the time that it took to mix everything and get it all sounding just right.

The concert opens with one of my favorite Led Zeppelin song, Good Times Bad Times. Some other songs that they played that I particularly liked are Since I’ve Been Loving You as well as The Song Remains The Same and Misty Mountain Hop. Listening to the reunited band play the concert took me back to my time mowing my parent’s lawn, listening to Led Zeppelin on a walkman and singing along while my mother wondered why I sounded like I was crying.

If you have ever been a fan of Led Zeppelin or just are fond of rock music in general I think this might be a great listen for you. If you have Spotify you will be quite happy to know that it is freely available for your listening pleasure there as well.

2 Comments

  1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Great review, Gordon. I really wanted to love this album, but I came away wanting. The whole concert sounds like it was recorded in a tin can. The drums are in the front and drown out the guitar and the vocals. I was stunned how poor the whole thing sounded.

    1. Gordon Davidescu – Born in Perth Amboy, Gordon Davidescu lives in Queens with his wife, children, cat, and plush bears. He loves reading a good book whether it is cloth and paper or digitally.
      Gordon Davidescu says:

      That’s a real shame. I thought that with the time they put into mastering it that it would sound great. I suppose I just didn’t realize how poor it was because I don’t have particularly good speakers! 🙂

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