 "The more eclectic of the two box sets, filled with gems..." | 2009-02-15 |
| - Reviewed By Grigory's Girl from NYC |
It might be heresy, but I actually like this box set better than the offical one. This set proves conclusively how eclectic and diverse Led Zeppelin really are. Too often they are labeled as a heavy metal band, which doesn't do them justice. They incorporated folk, blues, country, reggae, well, almost every musical genre in their work. They weren't a simplistic heavy metal band screaming about drinking and partying.
This album has some of my all time favorite Zeppelin songs, and has some stuff that should have made it on the big box set. The song We're Gonna Groove (recorded in 1969, but not released until Coda in 1982) is awesome. Other gems include the beautiful That's the Way (from their 3rd album), Boogie with Stu (from Physical Graffitti), the beautiful, lilting Down by the Seaside (also from Physical), Hot Dog (a country number from In Through the Out Door), and Carouselambra (a boogie (!) epic from In Through the Out Door as well). And that's just the first disc!
The 2nd disc has South Bound Saurez (a piano raveup from ITTOD), the epic blues thunder How Many More Times (from their 1st album), Four Sticks (the lone track from IV/Zoso), the awesome The Rover (from Physical), and the weary, tired, brilliant blues number Tea for One (from Presence). I play this set more than the other one, surprisingly. Zeppelin was a much more nuance, complex band than critics ever gave them credit for, and the proof is here. |
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 "Should have just been done as a 6 disk set...." | 2008-11-11 |
| - Reviewed By wildwielder from Macungie, PA United States |
A word of warning on this box set: It is not complete in itself; nor is it for the casual fan looking for a hits collection, or anyone who does not already own the first Led Zeppelin 4 CD set. This is for those who started their Zeppelin collection with that set and now would like everything else LZ recorded (with the exception of the BBC Sessions, for which there is a separate compilation). And as such, it does well.
Again, Jimmy Page personally did the remastering of these tracks and arranged the sequencing of them, in an attempt to continue the excellent listening experience of the first set. The sad thing is it does not work quite as well, somehow. Oh, you get the handful of hits the first set inexplicably misses, most notably "Good Times, Bad Times" and "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)" as well as "We're Gonna Groove". And some fantastic album cuts, "Carousellambra" being among my personal favorites. And it's not as though any of the music here is not as highly entertaining as anything Zeppelin has recorded (although the previously unreleased "Baby Come On Home" is actually nothing remarkable; other artists have done this sort of thing much better).
No, but the problem is that one gets the feeling that Page was frustrated with not being able to fit some choice cuts on the first set, so he included them on a second, surrounding them with everything else to justify the compilation of five or six songs. This appears to be the result of not thinking the sequencing through as well as was done on the first set or the original albums.
He probably should have just planned a six-disk set from the beginning. That way there would have been no left-overs to try to "fit in"; they would have been part of the master plan from the inception of the project.
And really, the way to view the first box set was not simply a way to get the "hits", but as a re-sequenced masterpiece of a listening experience, not meant as a replacement for the original albums, but as an alternate way of enjoying and thinking about this ground-breaking group's music. For hits, you would be better off buying Mothership. But for deeper insight into the music of Led Zeppelin, the first Box Set and the albums are the way to go.
To sum up, buy this if you have Box Set 1 and love it. You'll complete your collection economically; but don't expect it to be the great work the first was. But, if you don't have Box Set 1 and really appreciate Zeppelin's music, you might be better served to buy the re-mastered albums. And if you are devoted fan and already have the albums, put the first set down as a hint for your spouse to buy as an anniversary gift and forget Box Set 2 altogether! At that point, it's little more than a redundancy. |
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 "At last, my collection is complete." | 2007-07-22 |
| - Reviewed By JoeCoolinAZ from Phoenix, AZ United States |
| The rest of the songs in the catalog not in the first box set. Frankly some of these should have been in the original; 'Good Times, Bad Times', 'You Shook Me', 'Bron-Yr-Aur', 'Hot Dog', 'Darlene', 'Hots on For Nowhere', 'Down By the Seaside' and 'How Many More Times' all great tunes that would be better off in box set 1 as opposed to some of the dreck that somehow got on there, particularly some of the stuff from the 3rd album. |
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| "Completer set" | 2006-02-11 |
| - Reviewed By Disciple from FL |
| If you have the four disc boxed set you know you are missing quite a few essential Zep cuts so, spend a little more and get this two disc set to complete your collection. |
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| "Great songs, not the right way to get them" | 2005-11-17 |
| - Reviewed By mattmattmattmattv |
This box set has some terrific Zeppelin songs on it ("Good Times Bad Times," "How Many More Times," "Out On The Tiles"), but this is not the best way to get them. Because, the truth is, Led Zeppelin's masterpieces were their first four, self-titled albums. Pretty much every worthy track from the band's post-Led IV output is on Box Set 1. Don't misunderstand, there are definitely essential songs missing from Box Set 1--but they are virtually all from Led I-IV.
So, the best way to complete your Zeppelin collection, if you have Box Set I, would be to get the individual albums Led I through Led IV, rather than Box Set 2. You get the original packaging and artwork, as well as the original running order, instead of the ugly packaging and mish-mash running order of Box Set 2. And literally the only good Zeppelin songs you would miss out on by doing this are "Boogie with Stu," "Hot Dog," "South Bound Suarez," and "Hots on for Nowhere." Good songs all, but not essential. All the rest of the songs from Box Set 2, besides those four, are either (1) from Led I-IV, or (2) fairly worthless. |
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| "An Excellent Companion To The First Boxed Set" | 2005-10-04 |
| - Reviewed By Tony from Staten Island, New York United States |
Led Zeppelin's first boxed set was an excellent starting point for casual fans, but also left out a lot of great stuff. With many newbies craving for more Led Zeppelin, another boxed set was compiled called "Led Zeppelin Box Set, Vol. 2". How does it hold up? Read on for my review.
Positives:
-If you own the boxed set and are interested in having all the tracks omitted from it, than this collection will do just fine. This has all the important stuff left off the first collection, including "Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)", "The Lemon Song", "Good Times, Bad Times", "Sick Again", "Moby Dick", "The Crunge" and "Bron-Yr-Aur".
-The songs sound really good.
-It's reasonably priced.
-There's a previously unreleaed song called "Baby Come On Home". It's a really good song.
Negatives
-As great as this collection, it would have been better to have the two cds split into two separate cds and inserted onto the first boxed sets.
-This cd is very hard to locate.
Overall, if you have the first Led Zeppelin boxed set, than you should definitely get this second editoion as well. |
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