LED ZEPPELIN - Complete Studio Recordings (1993)

As Basil Bunting wrote about Ezra Pound's Cantos, "There are the Alps... you will have to go a long way round/if you want to avoid them." Led Zeppelin's work is the central fact of 1970s rock & roll; in its loving homage to and shameless piracy from the blues, its glorious and wretched excess, its transformation of hippie and folk-rock graces into a foundation-shaking kaboom, and its offhanded myth-making, the band turned everything caught in its wake into a reaction to it--or against it. The three non-album tracks the box includes are grace notes rather than lost jewels, but the point of the set is to be a Rosetta stone of album rock, the stairway to a gaudy paradise that they constructed. --Douglas Wolk


Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Good Times Bad Times
2. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You - Led Zeppelin, Bennett, Paul
3. You Shook Me - Led Zeppelin, Dixon, Willie
4. Dazed and Confused
5. Your Time Is Gonna Come
6. Black Mountain Side
7. Communication Breakdown
8. I Can't Quit You Baby - Led Zeppelin, Dixon, Willie
9. How Many More Times

Disc 2:

1. Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin, Bonham, John
2. What Is and What Should Never Be
3. The Lemon Song
4. Thank You
5. Heartbreaker
6. Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)
7. Ramble On
8. Moby Dick - Led Zeppelin, Bonham, John
9. Bring It on Home

Disc 3:

1. Immigrant Song
2. Friends
3. Celebration Day
4. Since I've Been Loving You
5. Out on the Tiles
6. Gallows Pole - Led Zeppelin, Traditional
7. Tangerine
8. That's the Way
9. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
10. Hats off to (Roy) Harper - Led Zeppelin, Traditional

Disc 4:

1. Black Dog
2. Rock and Roll
3. The Battle of Evermore
4. Stairway to Heaven
5. Misty Mountain Hop - Led Zeppelin, Jones, John Paul [1
6. Four Sticks
7. Going to California
8. When the Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin, Bonham, John

Disc 5:

1. The Song Remains the Same
2. The Rain Song
3. Over the Hills and Far Away
4. The Crunge - Led Zeppelin, Bonham, John
5. Dancing Days
6. D'Yer Mak'er
7. No Quarter
8. The Ocean

Disc 6:

1. Achilles Last Stand
2. For Your Life
3. Royal Orleans - Led Zeppelin, Bonham, John
4. Nobody's Fault But Mine
5. Candy Store Rock
6. Hots on for Nowhere
7. Tea for One

Disc 7:

1. Custard Pie
2. The Rover
3. In My Time of Dying
4. Houses of the Holy
5. Trampled Under Foot
6. Kashmir

Disc 8:

1. In the Light
2. Bron-Yr-Aur
3. Down by the Seaside
4. Ten Years Gone
5. Night Flight - Led Zeppelin, Jones, John Paul [1
6. The Wanton Song
7. Boogie With Stu - Led Zeppelin, Bonham, John
8. Black Country Woman
9. Sick Again

Disc 9:

1. In the Evening
2. South Bound Saurez - Led Zeppelin, Jones, John Paul [1
3. Fool in the Rain
4. Hot Dog
5. Carouselambra - Led Zeppelin, Jones, John Paul [1
6. All My Love - Led Zeppelin, Plant, Robert
7. I'm Gonna Crawl

Disc 10:

1. We're Gonna Groove - Led Zeppelin, Bethea, James Alber
2. Poor Tom
3. I Can't Quit You Baby - Led Zeppelin, Dixon, Willie
4. Walter's Walk
5. Ozone Baby
6. Darlene - Led Zeppelin, Bonham, John
7. Bonzo's Montreux - Led Zeppelin, Bonham, John
8. Wearing and Tearing
9. Baby Come on Home - Led Zeppelin, Berns, Bert
10. Travelling Riverside Blues
11. White Summer/Black Mountain Side
12. Hey Hey What Can I Do

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Yngwie Malmsteen - Perpetual Flame (2008)

Yngwie is the undisputed King and master of his style of composition, music and guitar playing.
He does not change much and we respect him for it... He is his own man and we like knowing what to expect from him.

The only negative thing about this new album is a problem MANY new releases seem to suffer from.......

Over-compression, extreme limiting, digital pops and overloads and other Mastering problems that you hear on many new CDs because younger engineers are squashing the dynamics of the music to try and make the CD as loud as possible..... but in doing so, they squeeze the life out of the music and create all these harsh, edgy, abrasive tones on the new albums that make them hard to listen to.

The latest Metallica album was so bad in this regard that the digital overloads caused the CDs to stop playing on many people's CD players ---- that or they would keep hearing a POP and see the words CD ERROR or CD OVERLOAD on the LCD displays.

A Mastering and Mixing guy like Bob Katz could really make Yngwie's music shine like a work of art.

It would be nice to see Yngwie hook up with a guy like Bob Katz ..... it would be more like Chris Tsangarides who did nice engineering work for Yngwie's albums in the 90s too.

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Whitesnake - Good To Be Bad (2008)

I must admit, I've never been a fan of Whitesnake, but I am a fan of Coverdale (especially his short time with Deep Purple) when he isn't singing ballads (I hated "Is this Love"). The ballads of David Coverdale were always a turn-off for me, and alas, I thought that's all Whitesnake performed. How wrong I was!! I must rate this album a 5, in spite of the fact there are just a few songs I skip.

It was also my misguided belief that Coverdale and Whitesnake were still a relic from that bygone era of the hair-bands. Fortunately, I was wrong about him. I now realize that Coverdale was just doing what he loved all along: good, old fashioned rock n' roll!!!

I cannot remember how I discovered this album, but the first song I heard from it was the title track, "Good to be Bad." After that I listened to the other tracks and I was not disappointed. Four-fifths of this album impressed me. The guitars were booming, Coverdale's vocals were characteristically powerful, and the writing was excellent. Coverdale's creative genius again shines through this incredible album.

But for all David's extremely rocking tracks, there are the ballads he fell in love with, which I hate, because they are dramatic, cliché and Coverdale performs so much better when he is piping about sex, drugs and rock n' roll! I believe he sells himself short by writing those types of songs. But, even if you are like me, don't let the ballads deter you, there are just a few on this album (even though most of the songs are still about love and relationships)!

Here are how I grade the individual tracks:
1. Best Years -- Begins with awesome guitar work and maintains a rocking, bombastic sound throughout. Coverdale's vocals are top-notch and the lyrics are well written. Though I don't care for the "you came along..." line, this track is one of the best on the album. A-

2. Can You Hear the Wind Blow -- More profound guitar work, and even better vocals and lyrics. It begins, "Over the mountains, across the sea...". I love the rhythm and the chorus. I hear the wind blow, David!! A

3. Call on Me -- The guitar work is yet again very impressive and possesses that belligerent, aggressive feel. On this track, in my opinion, can be found Coverdale's best vocal work of the entire album. His voice hits peaks and lows, but never ceases to amaze. The lyrics are perhaps the catchiest on the entire album, and the solo around the three minute mark tops it all off. A+

4. All I Want All I Need -- Not by any stretch of the means is this a muse-inspired ballad from David. The vocals are, as always, good; the guitar work, although very pedestrian, is enjoyable; the chorus is catchy, but most of the lyrics are very trite and cliché. "You're all I want..." makes me sing along but the rest of the track just leaves something to be desired. The only way I can sum up this track to you is by telling you I'd put it on my iPod but I'd skip it more often than not. C+

5. Good to Be Bad -- WOW!!! What a song! Guitars are once again bombastic, vocals are very similar to Call on Me, as Coverdale's voice has more mood swings than a knocked up schoolteacher named Ethel. Features another top-notch guitar solo. A

6. All For Love -- Another cliché love-song from David, which has some promise, is sold short due to a mediocre chorus. That is unique because "All I Want" was exactly the opposite: good chorus, disappointing on the whole. The overly romantic chorus lowers this one's grade (although the beginning guitar work is good). C+, maybe B- at best.

7. Summer Rain -- This song leaves me thinking, "David, what the heck are you rambling about?" Very acoustic, feminine and not very Coverdale-like at all, even despite his tendency to get soft. If you enjoy Simon and Garfunkel you'll eat this number up. C-

8. Lay Down Your Love -- Even though he is constantly talking about how his heart (and your heart) feels in this one, he manages to win me over with an attractive main riff, the album's arguably best solo, and his rocking vocals. "All my life I've been alone, lookin' for somebody to call my own," gives me chills every time I hear it, and Coverdale's screeching of "lay it dowwwwwn" is a nice feature too. While not as freaking awesome as his first three tracks, I would not miss it. B+

9. A Fool in Love -- See? Even he thinks his romance is over-the-top! Anyway, this song rocks. The first thing I thought when I heard it was that it mixed styles: it has an 80s feel, but also a Southern/country/western rock motif, and that typical Coverdale sound. But it works well: chorus is nice, riff is good, and just an all-around feel-good song. B+

10. Got What You Need -- This song certainly has what I need: a quirky "aye-up" at the beginning, that aggressive guitar work, and that repetitive chorus that everyone loves to hear. Coverdale, at one point, seems like he is rapping about how well he satisfies women. I'm gonna be honest, it is very entertaining. B+

11. 'Til the End of Time -- Another slow, very acoustic song which showcases that emotional personality of Coverdale and assures you he will always love you. It is a decent song, and not as annoying as "All I Want," but it isn't my style and seems almost filler to me. No booming riffs in the song, no aye-ups, and Coverdale never appears to wow us with his vocal durability. C

Overall, a good album which features 2-3 songs which could have used work. The songs I liked were so good, I'm still giving it an A+.

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