Remasters - Led Zeppelin > Reviews > Hammer of the Gods

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	A Great Introduction to the definitive heavy metal band
Disadvantages:	Two CDs is not enough for music of this calibre

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The op title is taken from a biography of the band during their hedonistic heyday.

Led Zeppelin were formed when Jimmy Page was left with gigs to fulfil when the Yardbirds finally called it a day. Page had the right to the name "The Yardbirds" and set about calling a few mates to for "The New Yardbirds". Rumour has it the Keith Moon said that the band would go down like a "Lead Zeppelin" and thus the band were named. The "a" was dropped from "Lead" to avoid possible confusion with the name. Page was the last great guitarist to be associated with the Yardbirds, the others being Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck (see previous op).

Led Zeppelin released eight studio albums between 1969 and 1979 (from which this compilation is drawn), plus a great soundtrack to their terrible concert film , "The Song Remains The Same". A final studio "out takes" album was released in 1982 , compiled by Jimmy Page but by then the group had disbanded.

The band defined the heavy metal genre, in both their music and lifestyle, and still cast a huge shadow over heavy metal music over twenty years after their demise. Jimmy Page pushed production techniques to the edge to get the loudest clearest sounds on their records which were all released on vinyl in their initial incarnation. Page came to the conclusion that the ideal length for an album side was around 18 minutes, and if you grab a copy of Led Zeppelin I you should find that the run off groove is virtually non existent in order to squeeze the maximum amount of high quality volume on to the album.

So to the Remasters album itself....

This consists of twenty six tracks taken from their eight studio albums proper. Because so much of their music , especially on the first four albums and Physical Graffiti, is essential listening , there have had to be apparently glaring omissions, but when you are compiling music of this stature , the CD does show it's limitations. The alternative is to go out and buy all the single albums, but this is still an awesome compilation. It's price is around 17.99 GBP (Amazon) , but I've seen it as low as 9.99 GBP (HMV Sale) and as high as 25 GBP.

The track listing is:

1. Communication breakdown
2. Babe I'm gonna leave you
3. Good times bad times
4. Dazed and confused
5. Whole lotta love
6. Heartbreaker
7. Ramble on
8. Immigrant song
9. Celebration day
10. Since I've been loving you
11. Black dog
12. Rock 'n' roll
13. Battle of Evermore
14. Misty mountain hop
15. Stairway to Heaven
16. Song remains the same
17. Rain song
18. D'yer mak'er
19. No quarter
20. Houses of the holy
21. Kashmir
22. Trampled underfoot
23. Nobody's fault but mine
24. Achilles' last stand
25. All my love
26. In the evening

Immediately you can see the number of classics that the band have produced. "Whole Lotta Love" is still used as the theme tune to "Top of The Pops", "Kashmir" is a superb epic using ethnic phasing, only the jokey cod reggae of "D'yer mak'er" could bee deemed to be inessential, although I love the song. The full range of Zeppelin's talent is on show from the acoustic "Battle of Evermore" featuring the beautiful voice of the late Sandy Denny to the out and out guitar frenzy of "Rock 'n' Roll" and the grandeur of "Kashmir" and "Stairway to Heaven" to the funk of "Trampled Underfoot". This is an excellent introduction to the band and despite omissions such as "When The Levee Breaks" from "Led Zeppelin IV" is a brilliant purchase for anyone who wants to get a taste for the band.

One small gripe is that the inlay booklet contains no information whatsoever, just a track listing and some band photographs. A history of the band would have been appropriate, and most compilations of this sort usually provide at least some background on the band. The "corn circle" effect on the cover looks impressive though.

By listening to this you can hear their influence on countless other bands (especially yearly Rush and Def Leppard), and more recently "Kashmir" was hijacked for Puff Daddy's theme to Godzilla , which I think was called "Come With Me".

Led Zeppelin are still the definitive heavy metal band, and this is and excellent introduction to them. Buy it and play loud, as intended.