WEA Led Zeppelin Live (2 DVD Set)

This double-DVD set includes over 5 hours of never-before-available concert and performance footage from Led Zeppelin, spanning the years 1969 to 1979. While enthusiasts have been trading poor quality versions of this material for years, this marks the first official archival video release to contain any footage of the band playing live.

The first disc includes highlights of the band's legendary set at the Royal Albert Hall on January 9th, 1970. If there was ever any doubt as to the power and legerdemain of Jimmy Page (guitar), Robert Plant (vocal/harmonica), John Paul Jones (bass/keyboards/mandolin), and John Bonham (drums), this performance will silence all detractors. The dozen songs from this show are derived primarily from the band's first 2 LPs, with a few well-chosen covers thrown in for good measure. One particularly interesting inclusion is Plant's spontaneous incorporation of a few lines from Neil Young's "Down by the River" and "On the Way Home" during an epic "How Many More Times."

Supplementary shorts on disc one feature a promotional video for "Communication Breakdown" (with the band miming to a prerecorded audio track), a half-hour mini-show for Danish Television, a clip of "Dazed and Confused" from the British TV program "Supershow," as well as a pair of tunes ("Communication Breakdown" and "Dazed and Confused") for the French TV show "Tous En Scene."

The second DVD fast forwards to the '70s and continues with a trio of main attractions and a slew of extras. First up is a composite video for "Immigrant Song," which contains some amateur footage married to a previously unissued live version of the song. This is followed by outtakes from the motion picture "The Song Remains the Same" (1976), which finds the quartet at Madison Square Garden in 1973. The oft-bootlegged 1975 Earl's Court concert is up next, highlighted by acoustic renderings of "Going to California" and "That's the Way." The last extended set finds Zep during their triumphant return to England in 1979. It would ultimately be a bittersweet affair, as it was likewise their final performance in their homeland prior to the death of Bonham the following year.

Extras on disc 2 include interview clips, promotional videos for "Over the Hills and Far Away" as well as "Traveling Riverside Blues" -- both circa the (1990) Led Zeppelin 4-CD box set.