LED  ZEPPELIN  -  2003  HOW THE WEST WAS WON  3cd.

How the West Was Won is a triple live album by English rock group Led Zeppelin, released by Atlantic Records on CD on May 27, 2003 and DVD-Audio on October 20, 2003. These original performances are from the band's 1972 concert tour of the United States, recorded at the L.A. Forum on June 25, 1972 and Long Beach Arena on June 27, 1972. Guitarist Jimmy Page considers Led Zeppelin at this point to have been at their artistic peak, as mentioned in the liner notes.

For many years, live recordings of these two shows only circulated in the form of bootlegs, and even then only certain audience recordings were available to fans and collectors (for example, Burn Like A Candle). Though several soundboard recordings of Led Zeppelin concerts were circulated amongst fans after having been stolen from Page's personal archive some time in the 1980s, no soundboards of the 1972 Long Beach or LA Forum shows were taken, meaning the release of How the West Was Won was the first chance fans had of hearing the soundboard versions of these concerts.

The songs from the two shows underwent some extensive editing and audio engineering by Page at SARM West Studios in London before being released on the album. A comprehensive analysis of live tracks edits for the album can be found at The Garden Tapes. Some songs which were played at the concerts, such as "Communication Breakdown" and a rare version "Louie Louie" from the June 25 show, were left off How the West Was Won.

The album debuted on the Billboard 200 chart on June 14, 2003 at number 1, with sales of 154,000 copies. It remained on the chart for 16 weeks. It was certified gold and platinum record awards by the RIAA on June 30, 2003. The album became the first Led Zeppelin album since 1979's In Through the Out Door to reach the #1 position.

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LED  ZEPPELIN       -      1973  LIVE AT  INGLEWOOD -  CALIFORNIA.

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LED  ZEPPELIN   -   1975 A TRIBUTE TO JOHNNY  KIDD and the PIRATES (flac).

This is what bootlegs are all about: 28 tracks of unrehearsed Led Zeppelin goodness. If you’ve ever wanted to be in the room while the mighty Zep dicked around with their instruments, this is as good as it gets. False starts, a few measures of this or that, Bonzo banging the shit out of his drum kit,  Jimmy noodling on the same riff like a kid amusing himself on the front porch, come on!

A Tribute to Johnny Kidd and the Pirates isn’t what the title suggest. This bootleg captures a 1975 sound check before a show at the Minneapolis Sports Center and some 1970 acoustic jams at Bron-Y-Aur cottage, Wales. The latter tracks are what really custard my pie. Fast forward to the 30 minute mark for the lovely jam named “Bert Jansch”:

So what’s with the title? Johnny Kidd and the Pirates were a first wave British rock and roll band, and as such a huge influence on ’60s era UK rockers. The Who’s cover of “Shakin’ All Over” is probably their best known song, and you can hear Zep cover it here. Like all bands, Led Zeppelin played the songs they enjoyed during sound check, so here you get lots of ’50s rockers; heck, album opener is the Chuck Berry classic “School Days.” It’s like listening to the full Zep lineup playing a Honeydrippers set.

There are a couple of versions of this bootleg floating around, both on vinyl and CD. 

BY JAMES STAFFORD ON MARCH 29, 2015

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