Led Zeppelin - The Complete BBC Sessions (2016) [5LP, Vinyl Rip 16/44 & mp3-320 + DVD] Re-up

Back in 1997, Led Zeppelin released BBC Sessions, the band's first attempt to chronicle its heavily bootlegged live recordings for the British Broadcasting Corporation. That double-disc set didn't contain all of Zep's BBC Sessions: a full nine songs from 1969 were left behind, including three songs recorded in March – a session highlighted by the otherwise unavailable original "Sunshine Woman" – that were believed to be lost. The 2016 triple-disc set The Complete BBC Sessions adds those songs as a third disc to a remastered version of the original 1997 compilation, an addition that doesn't greatly alter the overall picture of Zeppelin's BBC Sessions but offers a whole lot of additional value. Without those sessions, the compilation remains a stellar showcase of Led Zeppelin in ascendancy but with them the portrait deepens, particularly in how "Communication Breakdown" winds up being a place for the bandmembers to stretch their legs, incorporating covers or even interpolations of their own songs; it's a place where their intensity is married to their thirst for adventure. Elsewhere, there are plenty of extended blues jams – "I Can't Quit You Baby" and "You Shook Me" from the lost March 1969 session are condensed and sound all the more powerful for it; similarly, the woozy rearrangement of Robert Johnson's "Travelling Riverside Blues" resonates because it's concise – but the music that hits hardest remains the live-wire rockabilly ("Somethin' Else") and revved-up blues-boogie, the latter coming to the forefront on the otherwise unavailable "The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair" and that unearthed "Sunshine Woman," a throwaway raver that shows just how loose, muscular, and invigorating Zeppelin were at the outset. [The Complete BBC Sessions was also released on LP.]

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, allmusic

Tracklist:

Side 1

A1 - You Shook Me 5:14
Written-By - J.B. Lenoir, Willie Dixon
A2 - I Can't Quit You Baby 4:22
Written-By - Willie Dixon / Written-By [Sample Of '19 Years Old'] - Muddy Waters
A3 - Communication Breakdown 3:12
Written-By - Jimmy Page, John Bonham, John Paul Jones
A4 - Dazed And Confused 6:39
Written-By - Jimmy Page

Side 2

B1 - The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair 3:00
Written-By - Jimmy Page, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, John Estes
B2 - What Is And What Should Never Be 4:20
Written-By - Jimmy Page, Robert Plant
B3 - Communication Breakdown 2:40
Written-By - Jimmy Page, John Bonham, John Paul Jones
B4 - Travelling Riverside Blues 5:12
Written-By - Jimmy Page, Robert Johnson, Robert Plant

Side 3

C1 - Whole Lotta Love 6:09
Written-By - Jimmy Page, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, Willie Dixon
C2 - Somethin' Else 2:06
Written-By - Bob Cochran, Sharon Sheeley
C3 - Communication Breakdown 3:05
Written-By - Jimmy Page, John Bonham, John Paul Jones
C4 - I Can't Quit You Baby 6:21
Written-By - Willie Dixon

Side 4

D1 - You Shook Me 10:19
Written-By - J.B. Lenoir, Willie Dixon
D2 - How Many More Times 11:51
Written-By - Jimmy Page, John Bonham, John Paul Jones
Written-By [Samples From 'The Lemon Song'] - Chester Burnett, Jimmy Page, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant

Side 5

E1 - Immigrant Song 3:20
Written-By - Jimmy Page, Robert Plant
E2 - Heartbreaker 5:16
Written-By - Jimmy Page, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant
E3 - Since I've Been Loving You 6:56
Written-By - Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant
E4 - Black Dog 5:17
Written-By - Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant

Side 6

F - Dazed And Confused 18:36
Written-By - Jimmy Page

Side 7

G1 - Stairway To Heaven 8:49
Written-By - Jimmy Page, Robert Plant
G2 - Going To California 3:54
Written-By - Jimmy Page, Robert Plant
G3 - That's The Way 5:43
Written-By - Jimmy Page, Robert Plant

Side 8

H1 - Whole Lotta Love (Medley): Boogie Chillun' / Fixin' To Die / That's Alright Mama / A Mess Of Blues 13:45
Written-By ['Whole Lotta Love'] - Jimmy Page, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, Willie Dixon
Written-By [Samples From 'A Mess Of Blues'] - Doc Pomus, Mort Schuman
Written-By [Samples From 'Boogie Chillun''] - Bernard Besman, John Lee Hooker
Written-By [Samples From 'Fixin' To Die'] - Bukka White
Written-By [Samples From 'That's Alright Mama'] - Arthur Crudup
H2 - Thank You 6:37
Written-By - Jimmy Page, Robert Plant

Side 9

I1 - Communication Breakdown - 3:00
I2 - What Is And What Should Never Be - 4:15
I3 - Dazed And Confused - 11:08
I4 - White Summer - 8:23

Side 10

J1 - What Is And What Should Never Be - 4:44
J2 - Communication Breakdown - 4:55
J3 - I Can't Quit You Baby - 5:27
J4 - You Shook Me - 4:10
J5 - Sunshine Woman - 3:06