Hear an Exclusive Live Track From Led Zeppelin’s Deluxe Reissues
Led Zeppelin are gearing up for a massive re-release campaign of their entire catalog, kicking off with their first three albums on June 3rd. The discs will have remastered sound and tons of previously unreleased bonus material on companion discs.
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“The material on the companion discs presents a portal to the time of the recording of Led Zeppelin,” Jimmy Page said in a statement. “It is a selection of work in progress with rough mixes, backing tracks, alternate versions and new material recorded at the time.”
Led Zeppelin 1 will feature a concert taped October 10th, 1969 at the Olympia in Paris. Here’s an exclusive preview of “Good Times Bad Times/Communication Breakdown” from the show. “This is how we started off the set at Olympia,” Jimmy Page said a statement. “And you can just feel the energy on this. It’s wild, but it’s contained.” Adds John Paul Jones: “These were usually openers ’cause they made you sit up. Concise and hard-hitting.”
Robert Plant says that “Communication Breakdown” was his “tip of the hat to the land of Eddie Cochran, the late-50s rock & roll.”
“But it was supercharged by absolute powerhouse playing,” he says. “‘Good Times Bad Times’ is the nearest thing you’d ever come to a sort of rock ditty. I mean, how did I know about the ‘days of my youth I was told what it means to be a man’ and all that stuff? It’s almost Tin Pan Alley, but played brilliantly. And Bonzo’s bass drum work. They were just really vigorous, joyous, uncomplicated pieces of music, which were great fun.”
The track will be available on iTunes and other digital retailers on April 15th.