Untitled Zeppelin post (take 4)

On with the Olympic edition of my temporarily recurring feature here at the Licorice Pizza: The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Sessions disks.

Of the four disks posted so far, this is right up there with the best. There are limited “untitled instrumentals,” and you get to hear the band working through early versions of some classics. The versions of “Stairway to Heaven” alone are worth the price of admission: Listen close and you can hear alternate lyrics as Zeppelin puts the song together. Classic stuff.

These tracks all come from sessions at Headley Grange Studios in England, during January and February 1971, while Zeppelin was recording the fourth album. These songs are all so well known they really need no introduction or additional information. I did, however, come across some interesting trivia about the album itself:

• The painting on the front of the album, showing an old man carrying a bundle of sticks, was supposedly purchased by a Led Zeppelin roadie from a junk shop in Reading, Berkshire, (although Jimmy Page has said it was actually Robert Plant who bought it). The painting was affixed to the internal, papered wall of a partly demolished house for the photograph to be taken.

• At one time, Led Zeppelin had considered releasing the fourth album as four EPs, but because of various delays, they ultimately decided to release the single album.

Stairway to Heaven.mp3
untitled instrumental.mp3
Black Dog.mp3
Black Dog.mp3
Black Dog.mp3
Black Dog.mp3
Black Dog.mp3
Black Dog.mp3
Black Dog.mp3
No Quarter.mp3
Stairway to Heaven.mp3
Stairway to Heaven.mp3
Stairway to Heaven.mp3
Stairway to Heaven.mp3
untitled instrumental.mp3
Stairway to Heaven.mp3
Stairway to Heaven.mp3
The Battle of Evermore.mp3
When the Levee Breaks.mp3
Four Sticks.mp3
Black Dog.mp3

UnZip 'em all here.

Labels: classic rock, guitar heroes, Led Zeppelin, outtakes

posted by aikin @ 6:55 PM