Led Zeppelin
Mothership

Review By Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck
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  Casey DesIt's all starting to take shape now; the imminent reunion of Led Zeppelin is right on the horizon. Some of the recent events that have been leading up to this are as follows: The tribute to Atlantic Records guru Ahmet Ertegun. A one-off concert in England that started all the reunion chatter, although the gig never happened, the talk is still heating up. The release of this set titled Mothership, a Jimmy Page remastered set of Zep's best tracks with a special DVD package available with live concert footage in 5.1 surround sound available in lieu of the CD. The upcoming release of The Song Remains The Same, a remastered (by Jimmy) and expanded set. The sudden appearance of Zep music all over programs on TV. And perhaps most importantly to today's music fans, the release of the entire Zep catalog on iTunes. Also Robert Plant's entire solo catalog was remastered and released over the past year. Recently the three surviving members had their photos appear on the cover of Rolling Stone and Classic Rock Magazine.

I would go to reunion concert at the drop of the hat. Like a fool, I missed them when they were at their peak in the 70s. Jason Bonham certainly would be first choice to take his father's seat behind the drum kit. The last I heard of Bonham he was playing with UFO. We shall see what happens.

What can one say about the songs? Yes they are very old but oh so good! What can I add to this? I dare say very little as over the years everything got coverage many times through their box set, remastered catalog, live releases such as the BBC set and How The West Was Won. All the tracks still sound great and even better than ever now because Page decided to give them all the remastered treatment. The best part of this set was watching a band on fire playing their music to stadiums filled with insane fans that worshipped the very ground they walked on. Zep live must been an incredible thing to be a part of. The DVD gave me a taste of what it was like. Swan Song/Atlantic did a great job with this package from artwork to sound and the remastering the live footage for optimum quality video and making you feel like you were right there in your seat listening with the awesome surround sound.

After taking all this in I can hardly wait for the remastered Song Remains The Same. As I write, Mothership sits at the number 16 position on the Billboard Charts, not bad for a band that called it a day 27 years ago.

This is must for any Zep fan, if not for the DVD, for the remastered studio tracks, but if you are a fan, you probably already have all remastered albums and are now salivating about the DVD. Nobody makes music like this anymore so now is our chance to relive it all and dream about having another chance to see rock legends reach back for their youth just one more time.

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