Led Zeppelin's Mothership - A "Remasterpiece"

Led Zeppelin's Mothership is a compilation of 24 works from Led Zeppelin’s studio recording days from 1968 through 1978. But it’s so much more than a mere rehash of the group’s greatest hits!

All the tracks were painstakingly cleaned up, the subtleties of highs and lows meticulously restored and enhanced under the watchful supervision of all three surviving Led Zeppelin musicians.

Who better to oversee the masterful remastering than Jimmy Page, who produced the originals in such an intelligent and avant-garde fashion given the technological constraints at the time?

Surely the late Peter Grant would have approved of the lads’ timing and marketing. The November 2007 release occurred during the feverish run-up to Led Zeppelin’s long-awaited reunion at the Ahmet Ertegün tribute held at London’s O2 Arena.

Proud Papa Page

The tracks Jimmy Page chose to feature on Mothership are indicative of his tremendous pride in the band’s entire catalogue, right from the start. Over time, it’s not unusual for artists to fall out of love with their early endeavours.

Page and Jones, especially, never wanted to release singles. They felt albums were necessary to fully appreciate the music. There was also a cultural aversion. Singles had a stigma attached to them in Britain that didn’t exist in the States.

However, in 1969, Atlantic Records made a promotional EP to launch the mighty Zeppelin to U.S. radio stations. It featured Babe I’m Gonna Leave You with Dazed and Confused on the flip side.

Another single was produced for the record-buying public. That one featured Good Times, Bad Times and Communication Breakdown. All four of those early tracks I just mentioned made the cut for this compilation.

These songs were leading-edge in their day. Now, forty years later, they still sound fresh and energetic. Never dated or inferior. That’s an amazing comment on both the quality of the music and Page’s production expertise at the time.

The Other Twenty Tracks

Here’s an album by album listing of the other tracks the band chose to include on Mothership.

From Led Zeppelin II: Whole Lotta Love, Ramble On, Heartbreaker
From Led Zeppelin III: Immigrant Song, Since I’ve Been Loving You
From Led Zeppelin IV: Rock and Roll, Black Dog, When the Levee Breaks, Stairway to Heaven
From Houses of the Holy: The Song Remains the Same, Over the Hills and Far Away, D’Yer Mak’er, No Quarter
From Physical Graffiti : Trampled Underfoot, Houses of the Holy, Kashmir
From Presence: Nobody’s Fault but Mine, Achilles’ Last Stand
From In Through the Out Door: In the Evening, All My Love

photo credits

Important To Any Collection

Whether you’re a long-time, diehard Zeppelin fan or you’re among the legions of young people just starting to learn about Led, Led Zeppelin's Mothership is a must-have album. It showcases what the band members themselves consider to be their best work.

The “crown in the jewel case” is, of course, Stairway to Heaven. After forty years, this is still the most-requested song on classic rock radio. This version was taken from the group’s untitled fourth album.

Stairway is often called “the perfect rock’n’roll song”. And Jimmy Page’s guitar solo is considered the best ever. When he recorded this particular track, he played the solo on his 1959 Telecaster guitar.

Several tracks, including Dazed and Confused and In the Evening, showcase Page’s pioneering technique of drawing a violin bow across his guitar strings. This was a mind-blowing visual AND audio experience back in the day.

Although Jimmy Page had a flair for showmanship, this pioneering technique was a genuine enhancement to Led Zeppelin’s music, not merely a showy gimmick devoid of sonic substance.

Led Zeppelin's Mothership was released in Standard and Deluxe Editions. Both included two audio CDs, a commemorative booklet of photos and excellent liner notes by David Fricke.

The Deluxe Edition also included a DVD with bonus video footage whose material was excerpted from the landmark release of Led Zeppelin: DVD (May 2003).

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