Led Zeppelin ‎- 4 Compact Set ( Japan, 1990)

This excellent 4 CD box-set also comes with a brilliant booklet, filled with great essays on Zeppelin from people like Cameron Crowe & Robert Palmer, topped off with great photos of the band & concise recording information for each song. The box-set touches on every Zep release, bar the live collection 'The Song Remains the Same'. Disc One takes in tracks from the first three albums, from the obvious (Whole Lotta Love, Ramble On, Communication Breakdown, Dazed & Confused) to the more obscure (the 'Coda' take of I Can't Quit You Baby from a sound check at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970; the Jimmy Page solo White Summer/Black Mountain Side & Immigrant Song b-side & Hey Hey What Can I Do). The second disc is more varied - the 15 tracks coming from the bestselling untitled fourth album. We have several acoustic tracks (Battle Evermore, Bron y Aur Stomp, Tangerine, Going to California) before the epic blues of Since I've Been Loving You. The third disc takes in the more epic side of the band. Physical Graffiti is well represented by the vast Eastern inflected Kashmir, Trampled Underfoot (the next step on from the Doors LA Woman album), the fragile beauty of Ten Years Gone & the 11-minute in My Time of Dying (which was re-quoted on Spacemen 3's 'Come Down Easy' from 1987's 'The Perfect Prescription'). There are three tracks from 'Houses of the Holy': The rockin' Dancing Days, the powerfully structured Song Remains the Same & the epic keyboard-based No Quarter. When the Levee Breaks is included here & still sounds great- the drumbeat being sampled/mimicked on records such as Beastie Boys Rhymin & Stealin and Chapterhouse's Pearl. Great to see two of the best tracks from the underrated Presence album: The huge hurt of for Your Life & possibly the band's finest moment- the 10 minute primal thrash of Achilles Last Stand. The final disc contains 14 tracks- a reworked Coda-track, alongside several other Coda-songs: Ozone Baby, Poor Tom & Wearing and Tearing. There's also another Houses of the Holy song, 'The Ocean'. There are more delights from 'Physical Graffiti': The experimental 'In the Light', the belated title track Houses of the Holy & the acoustic based 'The Wanton Song'. Finally we have a few songs from the 'In Through the Outdoor' album: The vast 'In the Evening' the blue I'm Gonna Crawl & arguably the best track from that album - the touching All My Love - which ends a suitably great box set from a suitably great band.